Meals on a Budget Ideas
Dec. 29th, 2018 02:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
megatronixThere was a huge thread on a facebook group where someone asked for inexpensive recipes/meal ideas for her family of 3, and people threw out a million suggestions. I copied the ones I found most helpful to compile into one place, and here's what I got!
Links:
Good and Cheap Cookbook
Budgetbytes.com
Cooking on a Bootstrap
Mashup Mom
Meal Ideas:
Eggs! Quesadillas, beans, dal. Make sure to shop at the discount grocer AND any "ethnic" grocers your area has--produce and food will be a little different, but just as fresh and tasty, and much much cheaper.
Ground beef
Brown gravy packet made
Over instant mashed potatoes
Chicken alfredo. Alfredo sauce, linguine noodles, chicken. Maybe some steamed broccoli added
Option: get a rotisserie chicken. Debone it and you can divide the chicken up and make at least 3 different meals out of it.
Egg noodles with some cream of chicken soup. 2 cans per bag of noodles but that’s a lot of food. Could add broccoli too
Baked Potatoes, PB&J, Ramen Noodles, Veggie Scrap Soup, Instant Mashed Potatoes, Rice and Beans
refried bean and cheese tacos. If you use corn tortillas and heat them on a skillet with butter they taste like heaven so it doesn’t feel as much like a meager meal.
Kielbasa with a veggie and potato (green beans work well)
Sausage with BBQ sauce, and instant mashed potatoes. Maybe a box of mac n cheese to go with.
(Sausage= about $3, bbq sauce, $2 , mashed potatoes, $2 for a family portion)
Pre-made perogies are pretty cheap too and filling.
Tacos
Enchiladas
Hamburger and cream of mushroom soup
pancakes! i love them! 1.50 for a box. if you have a waffle maker, the hungry jack pancake and waffle mix is delish. eggs. bacon. english muffins.
also use english muffins with some pizza sauce and cheese, you can make mini pizzas.
a cheap sausage cooked with cabbage and soaked in beer (if available) over mashed cauliflower or potatoes is one of my faves.
mac and cheese from a box but then add in some bacon. find out what day the meat goes on sale -- for my kroger stores, it's always thursday nights.
taco kits are cheap as hell usually and you can experiment, like make breakfast burritos with the tortillas, or make fajitas with a rotisserie chicken. then take the rest of the chicken and use it in a salad
Beans and rice. Love me some beans and rice.
I like to cook my rice with a little bit of tomato sauce and some seasonings (like cumin, hot sauce, Chili) then I take bean of choice (if you know how to cook from dried tou can save lots of money but cans are like 1-2$ regular and often on sale, and one can feeds three adult meals)
I like to add salsa, cheeses, maybe make tacos with the mixture to keep it exciting
Or add lettuce, tomato, sour cream, Avocado, to make tacos or taco bowl
Baked Chili Dogs - Hotdogs, buns, canned hormel chili (no beans), and shredded cheese. Depending on how big your bakedish is, you can fit 8 into it.
Oven to 350* put the hot dogs in the buns and line the dish, cover in chili, top with cheese. Bake for about 20-ish minutes or so
Casserole. We do black beans, chicken, garbanzo what ever main protein with some enchilada sauce or pace picante depending on your taste, rice, some onion and cheese layered between either corn or flour tortillas.
Angel hair pasta cooked in beef broth, with two hard boiled eggs sliced in half dropped in after cooking. Add soy sauce. Also, add a big ol spoonful of crunchy peanut butter and some sriracha to ramen. It tastes like Thai peanut curry and it's heavenly.
We also do nachos a lot! Chips, ground beef, queso sauce, salsa, sour cream, guac, olives, and sliced jalapenos. Probably $15 for enough for 3-4 people.
Baked beans and cut up hotdogs
Bolognese! Buy 1kg of beef mince, add plenty of veg (onions, peppers, mushrooms etc. I use frozen as it’s cheaper and goes further), then You can split it into 2 or 3 portions depending on how many people you need to feed :) Then you can serve with pasta, jacket potatoes, or chips/potato wedges and maybe some salad
Jacket potato (serve with baked beans and cheese or tuna salad)
Roast a chicken then eat half for dinner (serve with rice and veg or potatoes/fries) and make soup out of the other half for the next days lunch/light dinner
Cottage pie with plenty of chopped veg if you make one with about 800g mince beef and about 500g veg 800g potatoes should last two dinners
Chicken/cheese quesadillas
Haluski. Cabbage, egg noodles, and kielbasa
Sausage Hotpot! Beans, Tinned tomatoes, Onions, sausages and mushrooms. Cook and mix together! My mum makes a huge batch and freezes it. One batch in a large pot feeds 4 of us, 3 times over
Cup o' noodles for lunch
Potatoes and eggs
Curry can be really cheap too to make and can be made in a large amounts
German pancakes, three bean soup, chili, baked beans over rice, bake a whole chicken and use the leftovers, pot pie is cheap to make too
Shepherds pie!!! Minced meat and potatoes
We make salsa chicken. Literally just chicken breasts and salsa in the crock pot. You can shred and eat as it or add to a tortilla
I'll generally buy whatever veggies I can find on sale (potatoes, squashes, and cauliflower currently) and chop them up and roast them. I'll spend like $60 on veggies for me and my three room mates for almost 2 weeks. Just season with oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Roast at 350 for about 45 minutes
you can roast garlic and squish em out into ice cube trays (I used silicone ones to make it easy to pop out once frozen). Roasting them is like: chop off the tops put some olive oil on and wrap in foil.
taco tatos (taco seasoned ground beef and whatever toppings you want/can afford) and sloppy joe over baked potatoes.
When money gets tight I make a crockpot full of beef ( hamburger) and vegetable (canned) soup. Pretty cheap and Makes a lot that stretches for days.
Minestrone soup, mujadara (lentils, carmelized onions, and rice), stuffed peppers, and red beans and rice with bacon
You can make chicken soup like 3 liters and then split it and make different types of soups using chicken soup as a base. You can make egg drop soup, or pop in different kinds of small pasta, or add some chopped up veg. Chicken soup really goes a long way.
Buy a whole chicken (sometimes the cooked rotisserie ones are actually cheaper than the uncooked ones!)
Roast chicken and use meat for 2-3 meals...with rice and broccoli one night, as tacos or tostadas with tomatoes and lettuce another night, etc.
Throw all the bones and cartilage into a pot, cover with water, add salt, an onion in quarters, any veggie scraps, and 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil then cover and put on low overnight. (Or in a crockpot.)
Strain broth and refrigerate. After it's cold, remove any hardened fat from the top.
Use as a soup base with a few days or freeze if you don't want to use it immediately.
Quiche: 6eggs, 1/2 c.shredded cheddar, pie crust, maybe spinach.
Leak Soup- shredded leaks, veggie or chicken bouillon, potatoes.
Beans and rice- red or black beans cooked with garlic, onion and parsley.
Noodles + ham (diced) + cream of mushroom soup + cheese. Cook noodles & drain. Mix together the noodles, ham & soup. Put into baking pan & bake for about 20 min on 325. Add shredded cheese to the top & bake another 10 min. Will feed all three of you & still have leftovers.
UK ideas: Beans and cheese on toast
Sausage and mash
Make a large batch of soup
Scrambled eggs on toast
Corn on the cob with cheese
Goulash. Tastes allot like lassagna if you use spaghetti sauce instead of just tomato sauce. I can make a massive pot for under $9.
Tacos: 1 can of black beans, 1 of corn, 1 pound of ground beef and tortillas. Brown the beef and then add the beans and corn. Season with cayenne, chili powder, and cumin to your taste. Cheese or salsa
Ground Italian pork, 2 can rotel. Brown meat, throw in rotel, simmer 30-60 min, serve with tortillas & sour cream
Tuna Noodle casserole (I don't think this is the actual name but its what my mom calls it)- take some wide egg noodles, cook and drain. Add in a can of peas, 1-2 of tuna (in water works best), and 1-2 can of condensed soup- either cream of chicken or cream mushroom, whichever you like, as long as its cream of something. My mom usually uses 1 bag a noodles, so you might have to adjust for it.
I like frozen peas in mine. Also season it with some black pepper and a dash of hot sauce (tabasco or Louisiana Hot sauce are my faves), maybe a drop of worcestershire. TOP WITH CHEESE!! And squeeze some lemon over it.
Cabbage and noodles- 1 larger head of cabbage, 1 small pack of hamburger, 1 medium sweet onion, and 2 boxes bowtie noodles- plus other vegetables if you want them, and salt and pepper. Fry hamburger and drain off the grease, and fry the onions. Cook the noodles and drain. Cut up the cabbage and start cooking it in the pan- fair warning ,it takes a long time to cook down- and put maybe 1/4 cup of water in the bottom, it kinda steams it. When the cabbage is about 1/2 its original size, toss everything in the pan and cook together until the other stuff warms back through.
I buy a curry sauce and just pack full the curry with meat and a tonne of vegetables (frozen and fresh). This is what I do for my lunches for work and I can fill up 5 containers with taking cooking as far as I can.
Pumpkin black bean soup is always huge hit.
4 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed, then mashed
1 can pumpkin puree
8 cups strong broth (or double strength bullion)
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 caramelized onion
1 stick butter
Carrots, celery or other veggies to preference.
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste.
Combine in huge pot and cook until hot and flavors are combined.
My family always fights over it, and it's healthy too!
I make quiche! Buy cheapo frozen pie crusts at Walmart, 4-5 eggs, a cup of half and half, a cup of shredded cheese, and whatever else you want in it (I put dried chopped onion and canned mushrooms in mine for the vegetarian husband)
1 lb chicken, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup salsa, 1 packet of taco seasoning.... crockpot high 4 hours. Boom. Salsa chicken. Throw on tortilla or rice or salad or whatever.
Pizza casserole. Whatever pasta you like best (we usually use that spiral pasta). Shredded mozzarella. And whatever toppings you'd usually like on a pizza. It's very adaptable. Sometimes I put ricotta in it to make it a little creamier, but not always. I'm sure you can Google a recipe, but it's mostly a to-taste sort of thing.
chop up a package of soup veggies (you could also take frozen premade soup veggies) and put it in a pot. after 5 mins you add 1 litre of veggy broth and as many potatoes as you like. boil for 20 mins so the potatos are done. finally you add 2 cans of baked beans in tomato sauce and some spices if you like. cayenne is best but you can play around. if you have/want hot sausages, you can throw them in there too! i promise, it's a great comford food and easily feeds 4, especially if you have some more potatos. give it a try!
Links:
Good and Cheap Cookbook
Budgetbytes.com
Cooking on a Bootstrap
Mashup Mom
Meal Ideas:
Eggs! Quesadillas, beans, dal. Make sure to shop at the discount grocer AND any "ethnic" grocers your area has--produce and food will be a little different, but just as fresh and tasty, and much much cheaper.
Ground beef
Brown gravy packet made
Over instant mashed potatoes
Chicken alfredo. Alfredo sauce, linguine noodles, chicken. Maybe some steamed broccoli added
Option: get a rotisserie chicken. Debone it and you can divide the chicken up and make at least 3 different meals out of it.
Egg noodles with some cream of chicken soup. 2 cans per bag of noodles but that’s a lot of food. Could add broccoli too
Baked Potatoes, PB&J, Ramen Noodles, Veggie Scrap Soup, Instant Mashed Potatoes, Rice and Beans
refried bean and cheese tacos. If you use corn tortillas and heat them on a skillet with butter they taste like heaven so it doesn’t feel as much like a meager meal.
Kielbasa with a veggie and potato (green beans work well)
Sausage with BBQ sauce, and instant mashed potatoes. Maybe a box of mac n cheese to go with.
(Sausage= about $3, bbq sauce, $2 , mashed potatoes, $2 for a family portion)
Pre-made perogies are pretty cheap too and filling.
Tacos
Enchiladas
Hamburger and cream of mushroom soup
pancakes! i love them! 1.50 for a box. if you have a waffle maker, the hungry jack pancake and waffle mix is delish. eggs. bacon. english muffins.
also use english muffins with some pizza sauce and cheese, you can make mini pizzas.
a cheap sausage cooked with cabbage and soaked in beer (if available) over mashed cauliflower or potatoes is one of my faves.
mac and cheese from a box but then add in some bacon. find out what day the meat goes on sale -- for my kroger stores, it's always thursday nights.
taco kits are cheap as hell usually and you can experiment, like make breakfast burritos with the tortillas, or make fajitas with a rotisserie chicken. then take the rest of the chicken and use it in a salad
Beans and rice. Love me some beans and rice.
I like to cook my rice with a little bit of tomato sauce and some seasonings (like cumin, hot sauce, Chili) then I take bean of choice (if you know how to cook from dried tou can save lots of money but cans are like 1-2$ regular and often on sale, and one can feeds three adult meals)
I like to add salsa, cheeses, maybe make tacos with the mixture to keep it exciting
Or add lettuce, tomato, sour cream, Avocado, to make tacos or taco bowl
Baked Chili Dogs - Hotdogs, buns, canned hormel chili (no beans), and shredded cheese. Depending on how big your bakedish is, you can fit 8 into it.
Oven to 350* put the hot dogs in the buns and line the dish, cover in chili, top with cheese. Bake for about 20-ish minutes or so
Casserole. We do black beans, chicken, garbanzo what ever main protein with some enchilada sauce or pace picante depending on your taste, rice, some onion and cheese layered between either corn or flour tortillas.
Angel hair pasta cooked in beef broth, with two hard boiled eggs sliced in half dropped in after cooking. Add soy sauce. Also, add a big ol spoonful of crunchy peanut butter and some sriracha to ramen. It tastes like Thai peanut curry and it's heavenly.
We also do nachos a lot! Chips, ground beef, queso sauce, salsa, sour cream, guac, olives, and sliced jalapenos. Probably $15 for enough for 3-4 people.
Baked beans and cut up hotdogs
Bolognese! Buy 1kg of beef mince, add plenty of veg (onions, peppers, mushrooms etc. I use frozen as it’s cheaper and goes further), then You can split it into 2 or 3 portions depending on how many people you need to feed :) Then you can serve with pasta, jacket potatoes, or chips/potato wedges and maybe some salad
Jacket potato (serve with baked beans and cheese or tuna salad)
Roast a chicken then eat half for dinner (serve with rice and veg or potatoes/fries) and make soup out of the other half for the next days lunch/light dinner
Cottage pie with plenty of chopped veg if you make one with about 800g mince beef and about 500g veg 800g potatoes should last two dinners
Chicken/cheese quesadillas
Haluski. Cabbage, egg noodles, and kielbasa
Sausage Hotpot! Beans, Tinned tomatoes, Onions, sausages and mushrooms. Cook and mix together! My mum makes a huge batch and freezes it. One batch in a large pot feeds 4 of us, 3 times over
Cup o' noodles for lunch
Potatoes and eggs
Curry can be really cheap too to make and can be made in a large amounts
German pancakes, three bean soup, chili, baked beans over rice, bake a whole chicken and use the leftovers, pot pie is cheap to make too
Shepherds pie!!! Minced meat and potatoes
We make salsa chicken. Literally just chicken breasts and salsa in the crock pot. You can shred and eat as it or add to a tortilla
I'll generally buy whatever veggies I can find on sale (potatoes, squashes, and cauliflower currently) and chop them up and roast them. I'll spend like $60 on veggies for me and my three room mates for almost 2 weeks. Just season with oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Roast at 350 for about 45 minutes
you can roast garlic and squish em out into ice cube trays (I used silicone ones to make it easy to pop out once frozen). Roasting them is like: chop off the tops put some olive oil on and wrap in foil.
taco tatos (taco seasoned ground beef and whatever toppings you want/can afford) and sloppy joe over baked potatoes.
When money gets tight I make a crockpot full of beef ( hamburger) and vegetable (canned) soup. Pretty cheap and Makes a lot that stretches for days.
Minestrone soup, mujadara (lentils, carmelized onions, and rice), stuffed peppers, and red beans and rice with bacon
You can make chicken soup like 3 liters and then split it and make different types of soups using chicken soup as a base. You can make egg drop soup, or pop in different kinds of small pasta, or add some chopped up veg. Chicken soup really goes a long way.
Buy a whole chicken (sometimes the cooked rotisserie ones are actually cheaper than the uncooked ones!)
Roast chicken and use meat for 2-3 meals...with rice and broccoli one night, as tacos or tostadas with tomatoes and lettuce another night, etc.
Throw all the bones and cartilage into a pot, cover with water, add salt, an onion in quarters, any veggie scraps, and 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil then cover and put on low overnight. (Or in a crockpot.)
Strain broth and refrigerate. After it's cold, remove any hardened fat from the top.
Use as a soup base with a few days or freeze if you don't want to use it immediately.
Quiche: 6eggs, 1/2 c.shredded cheddar, pie crust, maybe spinach.
Leak Soup- shredded leaks, veggie or chicken bouillon, potatoes.
Beans and rice- red or black beans cooked with garlic, onion and parsley.
Noodles + ham (diced) + cream of mushroom soup + cheese. Cook noodles & drain. Mix together the noodles, ham & soup. Put into baking pan & bake for about 20 min on 325. Add shredded cheese to the top & bake another 10 min. Will feed all three of you & still have leftovers.
UK ideas: Beans and cheese on toast
Sausage and mash
Make a large batch of soup
Scrambled eggs on toast
Corn on the cob with cheese
Goulash. Tastes allot like lassagna if you use spaghetti sauce instead of just tomato sauce. I can make a massive pot for under $9.
Tacos: 1 can of black beans, 1 of corn, 1 pound of ground beef and tortillas. Brown the beef and then add the beans and corn. Season with cayenne, chili powder, and cumin to your taste. Cheese or salsa
Ground Italian pork, 2 can rotel. Brown meat, throw in rotel, simmer 30-60 min, serve with tortillas & sour cream
Tuna Noodle casserole (I don't think this is the actual name but its what my mom calls it)- take some wide egg noodles, cook and drain. Add in a can of peas, 1-2 of tuna (in water works best), and 1-2 can of condensed soup- either cream of chicken or cream mushroom, whichever you like, as long as its cream of something. My mom usually uses 1 bag a noodles, so you might have to adjust for it.
I like frozen peas in mine. Also season it with some black pepper and a dash of hot sauce (tabasco or Louisiana Hot sauce are my faves), maybe a drop of worcestershire. TOP WITH CHEESE!! And squeeze some lemon over it.
Cabbage and noodles- 1 larger head of cabbage, 1 small pack of hamburger, 1 medium sweet onion, and 2 boxes bowtie noodles- plus other vegetables if you want them, and salt and pepper. Fry hamburger and drain off the grease, and fry the onions. Cook the noodles and drain. Cut up the cabbage and start cooking it in the pan- fair warning ,it takes a long time to cook down- and put maybe 1/4 cup of water in the bottom, it kinda steams it. When the cabbage is about 1/2 its original size, toss everything in the pan and cook together until the other stuff warms back through.
I buy a curry sauce and just pack full the curry with meat and a tonne of vegetables (frozen and fresh). This is what I do for my lunches for work and I can fill up 5 containers with taking cooking as far as I can.
Pumpkin black bean soup is always huge hit.
4 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed, then mashed
1 can pumpkin puree
8 cups strong broth (or double strength bullion)
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 caramelized onion
1 stick butter
Carrots, celery or other veggies to preference.
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste.
Combine in huge pot and cook until hot and flavors are combined.
My family always fights over it, and it's healthy too!
I make quiche! Buy cheapo frozen pie crusts at Walmart, 4-5 eggs, a cup of half and half, a cup of shredded cheese, and whatever else you want in it (I put dried chopped onion and canned mushrooms in mine for the vegetarian husband)
1 lb chicken, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup salsa, 1 packet of taco seasoning.... crockpot high 4 hours. Boom. Salsa chicken. Throw on tortilla or rice or salad or whatever.
Pizza casserole. Whatever pasta you like best (we usually use that spiral pasta). Shredded mozzarella. And whatever toppings you'd usually like on a pizza. It's very adaptable. Sometimes I put ricotta in it to make it a little creamier, but not always. I'm sure you can Google a recipe, but it's mostly a to-taste sort of thing.
chop up a package of soup veggies (you could also take frozen premade soup veggies) and put it in a pot. after 5 mins you add 1 litre of veggy broth and as many potatoes as you like. boil for 20 mins so the potatos are done. finally you add 2 cans of baked beans in tomato sauce and some spices if you like. cayenne is best but you can play around. if you have/want hot sausages, you can throw them in there too! i promise, it's a great comford food and easily feeds 4, especially if you have some more potatos. give it a try!