CHEAP,Yummy,Quick recipes...share please!!

WeLoveLilo05

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Please share your cheap and yummy recipe ideas, trying to save some money any way I can and I feel as though I end up throwing so much food away at the end of the week.
 
Chicken and salsa. It can't get any easier that. wash chicken and put in the pan and pour salsa over the chicken and cook until it's done.

Chicken and Italian dressing can be done the same way.

Can tell I eat a lot of chicken in my house.
 
Chicken and salsa. It can't get any easier that. wash chicken and put in the pan and pour salsa over the chicken and cook until it's done.

Chicken and Italian dressing can be done the same way.

Can tell I eat a lot of chicken in my house.

haha thanks!
We are the same way, its chicken, pasta, pizza, and meatloaf.
 
Tater Tot Casserole and Potato Soup come to mind off the top of my head.

I like surfing the allrecipes.com website for ideas when I get stuck in a rut.
 


Equal parts mayo and zesty italian marinate chicken in it overnight and bake it in the oven in it's marinade.

I also boil chicken with soy sauce (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 c.) and water to cover the chicken and throw in whatever veggies I have, usually it's celery and carrots. I boil the chicken until it's brown with soy sauce.


I eat both of them with rice.
 
This isn't really a "recipe" but one thing I buy to make an inexpensive, easy meal is a bag of frozen meatballs. I add a few meatballs to pasta and jar sauce and bake it for 20 - 30 min. (5 min before it's ready you can put some cheese on top). Frozen cheese ravioli, with veggie side or salad, make a cheap meal too.

Tilapia and Pollack are inexpensive fish, especially if you buy frozen. I dip the filets in milk and then into a mix of grated romano or parm cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs. You can bake it or fry it. My kids will even eat this. :)

I also make my own mac n' cheese by mixing hot cooked pasta with evaporated milk and bagged, shredded cheddar. It's not really cheaper than the boxed stuff - but it's still inexpensive and it tastes much better. If you want it to be more like baked mac n' cheese - then put it in a casserole dish, top it with crumbs and bake it for 20 minutes ;) It's a super easy way to make "homemade" mac n' cheese.:thumbsup2
 


I do homemade chicken pot pie by mixing a cream-based soup (cream of chicken, cream of potato, cream of mushroom or some combination of) w/leftover chicken and canned veggies (drained). Pour into a ready-made deep dish pie shell, top with a second pie shell, and pop it in the oven. It's also pretty easy to make several and freeze the extras for later. I've never really priced it out to see how cheap it is but it's an easy way to use leftover chicken and whatever soup and veggies I have on hand. I usually keep a couple pie crusts in the freezer and vary the soup and veggies I use.
 
Chicken and salsa. It can't get any easier that. wash chicken and put in the pan and pour salsa over the chicken and cook until it's done.

Chicken and Italian dressing can be done the same way.

Can tell I eat a lot of chicken in my house.



I've also done pork chops in Italian dressing and then cooked them on the grill. Very good!:thumbsup2
 
We like taco pasta in our house ;)

Brown a lb of ground beef, and add taco seasoning. Mix it in with spaghetti or elbow macaroni noodles - quick and easy .... cheap too if you can catch ground beef on sale!

I also make a great Chinese type dish with Top Ramen, chicken, broccoli, & carrots. Boil the ramen and throw away the seasoning packet/ Dice up leftover chicken. Add the chicken frozen broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms to the pan. Toss with a few Tablespoons teriyaki sauce.
 
Just about any kind of leftover baked or grilled meat can be added to spaghetti sauce and served over pasta the next night. I've done this with steak, chicken, and sausage.

Freeze leftover taco meat to add the next time you make chili.

Cowboy pasta - brown 1# ground beef, add 1/2 cup bbq sauce, 1/2 bag frozen corn, 2 cups of small wagon wheel (or other small) pasta, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1.5 cups water. Cook until the pasta is done.

Most store brand canned veggies taste just as good as name brand, for a lot less.

You can cut the meat in most casseroles by adding more pasta or veggies.

Buy meat in bulk and freeze what you don't use. I individually wrap pork chops or chicken breasts so I can pull out only the number I want to fix. Buy ground beef in bulk and brown it all at once. Drain, cool and then portion into freezer bags. I go from very small bags to add to spaghetti sauce up to 1.5# for larger casseroles. Then I can pull out the one I need and thaw in the microwave.

I go to Kroger early in the morning and get the pick of the "ready to expire" meat, take it home and freeze it immediately for future use.
 
My blog is full of recipes that are easy, cheap and yummy. Here's a link to a post of meals that cost under $1 per serving, some lower than that.

Eat at Home - Low Cost Meals

Those are the absolute cheapest on my blog, but check out the others too.
 
not quick but very easy..

Crock pot pulled pork

pork tenderloin
12 oz root beer
1 bottle bbq sauce ( i like sweet baby rays)

put pork and rootbeer in crock and cook 6 hrs or so on low. during last hour, drain some of the liquid and add the bottle of bbq sauce. Cook for 1 hr, then just pull apart with a fork.

Serve on buns.

My husband LOVEs this recipe.
 
I do homemade chicken pot pie by mixing a cream-based soup (cream of chicken, cream of potato, cream of mushroom or some combination of) w/leftover chicken and canned veggies (drained). Pour into a ready-made deep dish pie shell, top with a second pie shell, and pop it in the oven. It's also pretty easy to make several and freeze the extras for later. I've never really priced it out to see how cheap it is but it's an easy way to use leftover chicken and whatever soup and veggies I have on hand. I usually keep a couple pie crusts in the freezer and vary the soup and veggies I use.

My version of this is very similar, but I put my veggies, meat and soup (and sometimes a bit of cheese) in a casserole and top with a biscuit crust. (Your own recipe or Bisquit mix - made with extra milk to keep it pourable. I also add some garlic powder or garlic salt and a bit of cheese to the crust.)
 
I make a quick sukiyaki beef and it tastes like the one at the Yakitori House at EPCOT. Take a pound of shaved ground beef (I just get a pound from the deli) add equal parts soy sauce and sugar and just toss it in with the meat. Let that sit for a few minutes for a quick marinade. Thinly slice an onion and brown it in the pan. Add the already cooked meat to warm it and pick up some of the onion flavor then serve it over white rice. We can make several meals out of that.
 
I throw a few frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot with taco seasoning and some rotel tomatoes, or I used salsa last time because I didn't have any rotel tomatoes. Cook on low all day and you have fixin's for:

tacos
burittos
salad
tostadas
quesadillas

This chicken seriously makes the best chicken quesadillas ever!

I do this on Monday and I get 3 dinners out of it usually. Buritto's one night, salad one night and quesadillas one night.

LOVE IT!!!
 

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