Any Inexpensive But Nice Valentine's Day Dinner Ideas?

SnowWtch

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We can't afford to go out to eat for Valentine's Day and we're in the middle of packing to move to a new apartment next month but I wanted to fix something kind of nice for dinner. Any ideas of something not too expensive but still nice for the occasion?
 
I have in years past for Valentine's Day done Italian Grilled Chicken, Pasta-A-Roni Herb Noodles or Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans or Salad, then a really nice dessert normally cheesecake. Its still a nice dinner but it definately is inexpensive.
 
I make a home made alfredo sauce. Not something we usually eat, I think it was under $5 to make and we ate by candle light which was a huge hit with dd.
 
I love raspberry chicken breasts. You can use fresh berries and vinagar for the maranaide or I like to use raspberry vinagrette and some frozen berries. I make wild rice, fresh (frozen) veggie mix (the steam in the bag kind) and for desert, a hot fudge sundae for two.

I grill the chicken on the George Foreman, supper yummy!
 

It's hard to say what someone else would find romantic. When I want to make my husband happy, I serve porterhouse steak topped with caramelized onions and mushrooms, a side of twice baked potatoes, green beans, and something either coffee-ish or chocolatey for dessert. Steak may be pricey, but all in all, it's cheaper than delivered pizza even if I stick to a proper portion (and, honestly, who does on a holiday?). If steak's out of the budget, my go to meals are beef burgundy with potatoes au gratin (Jeff Smith's and Julia Childs' recipes respectively) or fondue. Dessert usually comes from a bakery, but if you needed to go thriftier than that, brownies ala mode never fail to please.
 
We're having "Ohana's" night. I'm making grilled (inside) shrimp (with a teriyaki marinade) and grilled chicken kebabs with pineapple. I'm also making pork dumplings and 'Ohana's bread pudding for dessert. I asked him what he wanted and he chose this (I even offered bacon wrapped filet mignon and chicken and shrimp won!). I have a playlist on my iPod full of songs that mean a lot to us to play through dinner :lovestruc and lots of candles and decorations. We always spend Valentine's Day night slow dancing to our favorite songs. I love Valentine's Day! :cloud9:
 
I know someone that always makes a heart shaped meatloaf with tomato soup or ketchup topping.

I like a pasta with a rose sauce and a bit of some kind of seafood in it like shrimp, crab or scallops. festive, a little fancy and easy. add a nice salad, fresh bread and something chocolate for desert and you are set!
 
I see you're from Florida - Publix has ribeyes on sale for $5.99/lb. this week. Not cheap cheap but they're normally $9.99/lb. Add a potato, salad, wine, something chocolate, candles . . . men are generally pretty easy to please. :)
 
My favorite romantic at-home dinner is Shrimp Scampi. I serve it with Pasta-Roni herb garlic flavor, a small dinner salad, cheddar garlic biscuits (use Bisquick recipe and add a bit of cheese) and usually snow peas. For dessert I buy the puff pasty dessert shells and put chocolate pudding, cool whip and a couple of raspberries on top. We'll usually have an inexpensive wine with dinner and ice water with lemon.

We love the meal but it make it extra nice I set the table with the good china, a matching tablecloth and candles and use the nice wine glasses.

Prep time takes awhile but I try to have it all ready to go so I don't have to keep getting up while we're eating.
 
Hi !

I love all of the ideas that have been posted here !

We have never, in 11 years of marriage gone out for dinner for Valentine's - it is just so crowded and busy. We usually have some sort of pasta meal with homemade bread & a special bottle of wine - we found a nice winery here in Florida that makes some wonderful fruit wines that we LOVE ....

For dessert, I always make homemade chocolate-covered strawberries. They are so much less expensive when you make them yourself. Very easy to make ! ;) (I cringe when I see how much stores charge for them !!!:sad2:)

Whatever you decide to do, have fun, relax, don't stress and spend some quiet time together. :)
 
Our V-Day dinner is only inexpensive when compared to what it costs for a nice restaurant dinner.

NY Strip (Prime was on sale)
Crab legs (also on sale)
potatoes
asparagus
homemade dipped strawberries for dessert

Good bottle of wine.
 
Sometimes we order 1 nice steak dinner from a local steak house, go pick it up and then split it between the two of us. That way I don't have to cook or clean it up.
 
All I have so far is dessert- molten lava chocolate cakes from Trader Joe's. And some Pink bubbly lemonade from there too.

The meal - not sure yet.
 
Aldi always has special items in their freezer section. The last time I was there I saw some filet's wrapped in bacon for $4-5 each. They also have shrimp scampi regularly or herb crusted salmon.
I see they have lobster tails for $13 for a package of 2.
 
I am making swiss cheese fondue with ham, apple and toasted french bread dippers. Not sure about dessert yet. Something chocolate probably...

We just got back from our 2 week WDW vacation so we spent a lot of time together and had a lot of great meals.

I did just make Le Cellier's Beer Cheese soup for Super Bowl Sunday. Yummy!

Dawn
 
I would do a tapas style meal.

You can buy one bottle of red or white wine and make a sangria with 2 citrus fruits, an apple, some fresh berries (like a handful, splash of brandy and 2 cans of pellagrino lemon or equivalent amount of orange juice (yes you can use cheap red wine) This stretches one bottle of wine into a pitcher of sangria and its pretty lol.

Tapas are small spanish samplers that are super easy.

Buy a nice loaf of french or other dense bread sliced thin with hummus. Have extra bread for dipping in other item.

garlicky shrimp literally warm up 4 tablespoons of olive oil one small dry chille pepper just throw it in 1 cup of shrimp 1-2 cloves of garlic. crush the garlic and add it to the oil heat on med-low till garlic begins to brown toss in shrimp and toss around for about 1-2 minutes depending on what size shrimp you bought. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Oil will continue to cook shrimp for an additional minute or so serve sizzling.

chorizo in red wine, slice one whole chorizo sausage into 1/2 inch slices saute till cooked. add 1/4 cup of red wine simmer for 1 minute before serving.

Jamon y queso manchego, at a good deli buy 1/4 lb of good spanish Jamon and 1/4 lb of manchego cheese. have them slices thinly serve on a plate drizzled lightly with olive oil and small amount of dry black olives.

spanish style frittata, 2 eggs, 1 small potato, 1 large shallot, 2 slices of ham, 1/2 med grilled red pepper. I nuke my potatoes because I'm lazy and want a faster frittata lol. Slice cooked potato, shallots, red pepper into thin pieces. chop ham into little cubes. scramble eggs. 1 tablespoon of butter in an oven proof pot. On med flame add butter and melt. then lay a thin layer of egg followed by a thin layer of all the other ingredients keep layering until finished.
You want to use a small pan something that will give you a good solid 2 inch frittata. cook on low flame covered for like 5 minuted then put in oven at 325 for like 20 minutes or till brown check for doneness don't over cook or it will be dry.

You can serve this with any number of veggies or a small salad.

You can always add something like a grilled beef with a chimichurri sauce or something else simple. Idea is keep portions small so like 1-2 cups of each item to be shared. For dessert make something that you will share you can buy a flan or make a custard or do chocolate dipped fruit. You can forgo cooking and find alot of tapa like items at trader joes but doing it at home will save you money.

Like a cheap bottle of wine is like 5 dollars and honestly when making sangria don't buy the 20$ bottle buy the cheaper bottle just buy a merlot or ask someone at liquor store wine shop. Shrimp for a cup is like 1/2 lb so its probably like 3 dollars, 1 chorizo is like 2 dollars, jamon and queso would be like 4 dollars in all it could be done very nicely for under 20$ and be a very romantic for two meal that you can share together making it more intimate.

I do Tapas alot for large group parties because it gives a little of everything and is essentially like having a cocktail party.

Have fun now you've got me planning what I want to do on valentines day lol
 
Everyone in our house loves my home made lasagna. However I don't love to make it too often because it is a pretty long process. So we will have the homemade lasagna and fresh Bread and a nice salad. Still thinking about dessert. Maybe a few things.. dd loves cheesecake but the others don't.
 
One of my DH and my favorite Valentines Days was the year I cleaned up the bedroom extra nice and then laid out a picnic (we have a roommate so the only place where he wouldn't be a pest was in the bedroom you could do it anywhere). I used an old (from the 30's) suitcase that I draped in some rose colored fabric I had and an old lace shall (I also put a pillow in the bottom so it would look over flowing) Then I filled it with french bread, roast chicken, sliced tomatoes, cheese, Grapes and Sparking cider. For dessert I placed a fondue pot of chocolate on the dresser with a candle under it, and added Strawberries Bananas and homemade pound cake to the suitcase. I laid a blanket on the bed and lit candles around the room. I made sure napkins, plates and everything else was in the room. I also had a carafe of ice water.

When he came I was waiting up there for him, we ripped the bread up and ate it with the other things, then we had fondue. It was cheap movie night so we went and saw 2 movies a huge extravagance for us lol. It was a fun and romantic night and the dinner and dessert only cost me $20 so that was extra nice!
 
Try this recipe...

http://www.recipezaar.com/The-Best-Garlic-Shrimp-in-the-Whole-Wide-World-47515


It's our favorite. You can find bags of frozen already peeled uncooked shrimp at Walmart for around $5 or so. They aren't big shrimp, but they work fine. If you want to splurge, try the $14 bag of really big shrimp at Sam's.



We're going to Moe's or Qdoba though....something simple that we all like. Plus we have coupons for either of those places and they don't exclude Valentine's day on them either.

Then we're going to go to Half Price Books!
 
I always think Costco has great steak and they always have something on special. Also DH really likes red velvet cupcakes and they are so easy to make.

We are going out this year we have a GC to outback and will probably head out Monday night so my Parents can watch DS (2). We rarely go out so this is a good excuse.
 


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