$5 dinner ideas?

[figaromeetsmarie]

I am looking for some $5 dinner ideas. We are really on a budget right now!! It is just two people so that helps a little with the budget

 

[21yankees]

Quesadillas
Homemade Pizza
Baked macaroni & cheese
Roast (whole) Chicken w/ rice
Pasta w/ homemade sauce

 

[tar heel]

Do you mean $5 each? If so, just look at what's on sale this week and plan around it. The vast majority of things should come in under $10.

 

[curly5]

Go to 5dollardinners.com (I think that's it...or google it) It's a blog that this woman did/does most things are around $5. I think she planned for a family of 4, so you might have leftovers. $5 a dinner for 2 ppl is very doable. Good luck!

 

[amylynne01]

-Grilled cheese and soup. You can do a big pot of homemade soup for cheap.
-Fried rice. Use leftover meat for protein.
-Breakfast. Eggs, bacon, and home fries.
-Baked potatoes with fixings. I cook them in the microwave for a super fast dinner.
-Chicken wings/drumsticks are usually really cheap ($0.99/lb). Throw them in the crockpot or grill them.

 

[Branabb]

Go to 5dollardinners.com (I think that's it...or google it) It's a blog that this woman did/does most things are around $5. I think she planned for a family of 4, so you might have leftovers. $5 a dinner for 2 ppl is very doable. Good luck!

SHe also has two cookbooks : $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook and $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook. They're cheap, but I just check them out at my library.

I actually have the dinner cookbook on my kitchen counter right now.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I love to have frozen ravioli on hand on all the time. It is like $2 a bag, so add some pasta sauce and a salad and maybe some bread and we have a quick and inexpensive meal

 

[tefrench]

the Taste of Home magazines used to have an economical section, where the cost per person was $3 or under. I can buy those at my local thrift store. You can also check out their website, maybe find some cheap recipes that way?

Also the books by Amy Dacyczyn; and the Mennonite cookbook More with Less is very popular.

 

[lizabu]

I make a batch or something and we have dinner for 2 days from it. The cheapest things to start with are rice, pasta and potatoes. You don't have to eat meat every day either. Eggs and beans are a good protein source. If you do use meat ground beef and chicken are usually the cheapest options. I buy those bags of chicken legs that are real cheap. I think the dark meat is tastier and moiser than dry breast meat anyways.

Examples of a meals under $5 (for 2 people you will definitely have leftovers for a 2nd meal)
spaghetti (make a big batch and eat dinner from it twice)
chili (lots of beans, kidney, pinto etc)
meat loaf with mashed potatoes and canned or frozen veggies (2 meals or more)
potato omelettes with onions
lentils and rice (recipe http://mideastfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/mujadarra.htm )
lasagna
stuffed green peppers
cabbage rolls

(notice a theme? most of these recipes have the same ingredients...ground beef, onions, green peppers, canned tomatoes. Using the same palette of ingredients and putting a twist on it each meal will save you lots of $)

 

[Juliet25]

Do you have a Target near you? If so, pasta and pasta sauce is on sale for $1 each. There's a coupon on the Target website for $1 off the purchase of pasta and sauce, so this drops it to $0.50 each. Add a Caesar salad or Fresh Express. They were $2.99 at my store. Not cheap, but the meal is only $3.99 before tax if you use the coupon. You should get two meals out of the pasta, so it's even less.

 

[scootch]

A little more than $5 when you add a side... but get your money back as you can use for more than one meal.... A Rotisserie Chicken. We have it usually on monday with mashed potatoes/noodles, then the leftover I put in enchiladas, chickensalad, chicken casserole, ect....

 

[mommytoxzande]

One of my favorites is a crockpot recipe. All you have to do is put a pound of boneless chicken breast in the crockpot, than take a package of taco seasoning and mix it with one cup of chicken broth. Pour the broth/mix over the chicken and cook. Use the meat for chicken tacos, nachos, burritos, etc. It may cost a little more than 5 dollars, but it will be enough for at least two meals.

Good Luck!

 

[QuickRewardsBecky]

Breakfast for supper is something we do about once a week -- we may go with ham, onion, and cheese omelets with toast and jelly, or we get store brand pancake mix that you just add water to and whatever kind of syrup's on sale, and that's quite a few pancake meals for $5!

Sometimes we hit up the local produce stand and do a vegetarian supper with a baked potato and steamed broccoli and a salad.

Also, I make a Mexican dip thing we'll make a meal out of - I'll pick up a bag of $1.99 tortilla chips (off-brand) that Walmart carries. Then I'll mix up a can of store brand refried beans, some salsa (I get the jumbo size Pace at Walmart in a giant plastic jug, it's way cheaper than the glass jars), some onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder, cover it in cheese, and stick it in the onion to melt. When it comes out of the oven, cover it in diced onions, jalapenos (I get the jars of those because they can be resealed), sour cream, and diced tomatoes and we have a big party-type dip for supper. That's at least two meals for two with chips left over!

For $5, you could easily do grilled cheese sandwiches and a can of Campbell's soup, with a whole package of off-brand Oreos for dessert!

Your slow-cooker is your friend. Catch a roast on sale and you can eat off it for a few meals - go with rice and gravy and veggies one day, make roast beef sandwiches the next, etc.

$5 for two is easy. Just stay away from steak and seafood and go heavy on veggies!

 

[pooh2001]

Look for sales at your grocery store....
I found 2 large Perdue chicken breasts buy one get one free.

So I pay $7 for 4 large chicken breasts, each about 1/2 a pound of meat.
I debone them, season and bake - for our family of 4, more than enough meat for each person at $1.75 a person.
Add on each plate some cut up apples and fresh carrots, about $1 or less per person. We drink milk - so about 50 cents for 8 oz.
Total per person = $3.25.
A bit higher than your $5 budget for 2 people - but a healthy and less caloric option.


Pre-packaged foods contain more salt and calories, plus cost more money.



Another option is home made meat sauce and a fresh salad.
Left over meat sauce for another meal too.
1 pound 80% fat chop meat cost about $3.00
Brown meat and drain off all the excess fat and grease before adding tomatoe sauce and seasoning.
Store brand tomatoe sauce - large can, about $2.00
Season with garlic powder, onion powder, some oregano, a pinch of salt and some pepper.
Box of pasta (use 1/2 box for 2 people) about $1.50 for the whole box
Salad (lettuce, tomatoe, carrots, celery, cucumber) about 1.00 per serving.

For 2 people make the meat sauce, but only use 1/2 of it = $2.50 per meal for 2
Pasta 1/2 box = $75 cents per meal for 2
Salad = $2.00 for 2 people.
Milk = $1 for 2 people
Total = $6.25
Again healthy and less salt (only the amount you add to the sauce)

 

[SandrA9810]

I love Safeway for their coupons on the sell by meats. 95% of the time, the meat is just fine. I always freeze it when I get home, and don't take it out more than a day before I'm going to use it. I create my meals around what I find there. I'll also buy meats if there's a good sale on it. One week they were already having a really good sale on meats, and the guy stocking the shelves. He asked me if he could help, and told him "can you mark any of these down?". I picked up about 5 packages that day, all marked down.

Whole chickens and beef briskets are great for a slow cooker, and multiple meals.

I found a website for slow cooking. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2005/12/soups-stews.html
It's a bit old, since it was created. But I like the fact that she writes everything she served with the meal.

I also get emails from slow food USA, this month their doing a special thing asking for recipes that cost under $5, using slow grown foods (nothing processed).
http://5challenge.tumblr.com/

I can't wait till the recipes come out. It'll be really helpful when it comes to using ingredients of the season.

 

[vickalamode]

I love Safeway for their coupons on the sell by meats. 95% of the time, the meat is just fine. I always freeze it when I get home, and don't take it out more than a day before I'm going to use it. I create my meals around what I find there. I'll also buy meats if there's a good sale on it.

I do the same thing. Out of the 2 big grocery store chains in my area, I have pretty much figured out when they do the markdowns on meat. I shop on Mondays, and at one store I find they do the markdowns between 12-2pm and at the other big grocery store they usually do them around 6pm. I get a lot of good deals this way. When I get there at a good time and find lots of good markdowns on meat, I end up spending around $40 but it almost always lasts us 2 or 3 weeks and it forces us to deviate from the normal and make things we wouldn't normally cook, like veal and lamb etc.

OP, if you can call your grocery store and ask when they do meat markdowns this would be a big help. They mark it down for quick sell because it only has a couple more days left on the "Sell by" date, but I always find that the meat is still fresh. I just stick it in the freezer immediately. It is just two people in our household, and I find that by looking for the marked down meat and paying attention to the sale flyers that come in the mail, I do really good on groceries. We probably average about $50.00 spent per week at the grocery store.

 

[java]

Not the healthiest, but Oriental Ramen with chicken and broccoli is our go to cheap meal. The ramen are like 15 cents, chicken cutlet chopped and broccoli florets chopped.

We had pancakes with turkey bacon(it was on sale 2 for $3 this week) for dinner last night and it was a hit.

Chicken thighs are my favorite cheapo meat!

Less ingredients in a recipe help keep the cost down and simply pan frying a chicken thigh with salt and pepper- till the skin is crispy- into the oven to finish off the cooking mmmmm simple and delish!

 

[HeatherC]

A crustless quiche? I make them with frozenmspinach or diced ham, etc. Tons of recipes on Allrecipes.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

One of my favorite cheap meals is the following (it doesn't have a name, I don't think, but I grew up eating it about once a week!):

• A package of egg noodles (or any noodles you have, I prefer egg noodles)
• A package of kielbasa (I can usually get it on sale for $1.50-$2)
• A head of cabbage
• One onion (I buy a bag of onions as it last me a long time)

While the water is boiling for the noodles, saute the sliced onion (with garlic if you want). While the onion is cooking, I chopped the cabbage into 1-inch'ish squares. I add the cabbage to the onions and cook until the cabbage is soft (approx. 10-15 minutes). After adding the cabbage, the water should be ready. Cook the noodles per the instructions. I also add whatever seasonings I want to the cabbage/onion mixture (Italian seasoning, garlic powder, S&P, etc.). I transfer the cabbage/onion mixture to a bowl and cook the sausage (cut into chunks or circles) until it's brown and crispy on the outside. I then dump the cabbage/onion mixture back in with the noodles and mix all together. My Dad adds butter at this point, but I usually drizzle some olive oil (bought for less than $5 at Trader Joe's) and grated parmesan cheese. I've also added chopped jalapenos to this before. Delicious!

 

[wish*i*was*in*the*vi]

Zatairans (not sure I spelled that right) dirty rice mix, and you add ground beef. Makes a ton of it (enough for my family of 4 plus leftovers) and it's definitely under $5