$5 dinner ideas?

[pannm]

For a few that I use:

scallopped potatoes and ham cubes, boxes of sc. potatoes are around $1, add some ham cubes (around $3) and add a veggie side (FULL bag around $1 without coupons, but would only use 1/3-1/2 of the bag). This one works in the oven OR slow cooker.

Beef Stew, small pkg. of stew meat, 3 lg. carrots, 2 stalks celery, sauce packet, all in the slow cooker or oven. I serve mine with biscuts that I usually get with coupons quite cheap.
Mine ususally costs about $8.50, but it's enough to feed 5 people...and there are times where we've had leftovers.

Chili- we make chili a lot starting in the fall through the winter. Ground beef, 1 onion, three cans of beans (2 chili beans, 1 kidney beans), 2 cans of beef stock, a bunch of my favorite seasonings are added (you could also use a seasoning packet)...
YES, this one costs around $9-$10 to make... BUT, it makes 2-3 meals!
I make it one night, put a few single serve freezer bowls of it into the freezer for DH's lunch at work. Then, a night or two later I'll make loaded baked potatoes- baked potatoes topped with chili, cheese, sour cream.
I also get a few extra lunches out of it for myself...it's a very thrifty meal.

 

[maleficentmom]

Lately we have saved by switching to ground turkey(turkey burgers with spinach and Indian seasoning mixed up in meat and patted out and grilled makes 6 with a 1.25 pound pack)...also sloppy joes with turkey meat and Rotel tomatoes,sugar,onions,red wine vinegar. We grew a little raised garden that helped out with tomatoes,cilantro,peppers,etc...just put out broccoli and cabbage plants for fall..and I am making homemade banana and zuchinni breads and buying large containers of yogurt and chips and putting in containers for kids lunches. .......Also, we do homemade pizzas,soup(2 cans tomato and a block of cream cheese and a little water for cheap tomato bisque) and sandwich...Also, we use leftover chicken on a tortilla with canned beans onions, cheese, mushrooms,etc and grill on george foreman.

 

[GatorMama]

Red beans and rice? I used a vegan recipe for red beans and rice a couple weeks ago and it was DELISH... of course... I added meat for my carnivorous husband, but it was still under $6 for everything and it made enough for us to each have dinner and lunch... AND freeze enough for us to to each have dinner and lunch again next week.

 

[SandrA9810]

I am making homemade banana and zuchinni breads and buying large containers of yogurt and chips and putting in containers for kids lunches. .......

This might interest you if you've got a long boring weekend. It's a recipe to make yogurt at home in a slow cooker, using a bit of yogurt in the store. Kind of reminds me of the story my aunt told me about her "herman" for making sweet bread. Use half, make another half....

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

 

[lizabu]

I don't know what time the Walmart in your area closes but if I go there at 10 or 11 pm I can find rotisserie chickens for $1.50. I will buy as many as they have and freeze them for easy meals. You can make sandwiches or quesadillas or anything you want. Even places that don't do this every night will do it the night before a holiday that they won't be open for. You can get bags of rolls for $1.50 at that time of night too