Cheap Meal Ideas

[HaleyB]

Sorry, TVP is a vegetarian meat replacement. It stands for Textured Vegetable Protein. It is sold at most health food type grocery stores (Whole Foods) in a flake form. Extremely cheap and fat free. Many people mix it in with ground beef.

 

[KristinU]

1 can of corn
1 can of creamed corn
1/2 stick of butter or margarine (melted)
1 cup sour cream (regular or reduced fat)
1 box of corn muffin mix (Preferably Jiffy)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese


Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Grease an 8X9 casserole dish. Pour in mixture. Bake 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Top with cheese and bake another 5 minutes.


This is a great and cheap side dish. My kids love it and inhale it whenever I make it.

Thank you Paslea_Pooh!!! This recipe is awesome and sooooo simple! We LOVED it. Have you ever tried freezing it before baking it? I've just started getting into freezing dinners and sides ahead of time and this one seems like it would be great, but I wonder if the sour cream would seperate or something...I'll give it a shot soon and see how it goes!

Thanks again!!!

 

[minniedisney1]

I really like Kraftfoods.com It has a ton of different recipes, but they are all easy & inexpensive to make. Usually a meat, some kind of soup, a few veggies & cheese. My monthly grocery budget for a family of 3 (including leftovers for my dh to take for lunch the next day) is $200. I buy all my meat, milk, bread & eggs at Sam's or BJ's. All my staples & fruit @ Superwalmart. **No flames about Superwalmart pls. I already know how people feel about them.** In my defense, I live in the middle of nowhere, & they are the closest (10 miles) grocery store to me.

I have been looking at some of the recipes posted here & they look great!!! I have been emailing the pages to myself so I can try them!!!

 

[hallie615]

kimmumum,
now here is my stupid questions for the day. For your chicken and rice , Is the rice cooked before you put it in the crockpot?? And when the chicken is done, is it shredable or in breast form?? I feel really dumb asking but I really wanna try it this week. As you may guess I am not the best cook.

 

[MayMom]

White Chicken Chili

2 cans chicken broth
1lb block monteray jack cheese (cubed)
1 jar mild salsa
1 jar Randall's White beans (or 2 cans white beans)
1 package "southwest seasoned" chicken strips -chopped

Put all ingredients into a large pot and cook on medium until cheese is thoroughly melted. Tastes like Ruby Tuesday's White Chicken Chili...YUM!

 

[DJT]

Subscribing. Haven't had time yet to read all the posts and I don't want to lose the thread before I can read them all. Thanks everyone.

Donna

 

[kenandlaura06]

What a great thread!

What I do for cheap meals: This is for two people: Roast a 3 pound chicken on night one and serve with potatoes or rice and veggies(cook for 1 1/2 hours tops, stuffed with 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 and onion). Night two, I make a hot chicken salad casserole--Mix 1 cup shredded chicken with 1/2 C mayo (light is fine), lemon juice, celery and 1/4 cup almonds. Sprinkle with crushed crackers or potato chips or bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Night three: take remaining chicken, heat with some chili powder or mexican seasoning, and saute peppers and onions and mix together. Serve in tortillas as Fajitas.
We can do three very different meals for two people for less than $10 easily...If I get the chicken on sale, we can do it for less than $8--can't beat it!

When I was younger, my mother would make pasta, garbanzo beans and mix with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese for a cheap meal...yummy and nutritious.
Also thought I would share our favorite crock pot recipe:

A pork tenderloin (you can get these on sale for a good price) with a bottle of BBQ sauce...cook on low all day long and shred with a fork for BBQ pork sandwiches that are to die for!

 

[Mary6949]

Subscribing. Thanks all, these recipes are great!!

 

[tink38]

This recipe is from a vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Pot Roast

You can use any type of roast (Really!) about 4 lbs.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope Lipton onion soup
pepper to taste

Line a 9 x 13 pyrex dish with foil. Pour soup over roast. Sprinkle soup mix over that. Season with pepper to taste. Cover and form a tight seal with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour per lb. ( I add 1/2 cup red wine and/or mushrooms to this if I have it.)

Delish!

 

[TriMom]

Ok - here's mine - Cheap, quick, and relatively healthy

Chicken Dressing Casserole
1/2 of a Rotisserie Chicken - take off skin, then hand shred. (I get mine at Wal-Mart for $3.98 for whole)
1 can of low sodium chicken broth
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8 oz bag/can of stuffing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix everything together and put in a greased casserole dish
Bake at 375 uncovered until firm. My 9x11 pan takes 35-45 min.

Chicken Enchilada
1/2 of Rotisserie Chicken - take off skin, hand shred
8 oz low fat Riccotta Cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 med onion, diced
8 Flour Tortillas
1 can enchilada sauce

Mix first 4 ingrediants together, Fill tortillas burrito style, and place in a baking dish, cover with enchilada sauce. Bake at 350 for 30 min or until warm.

Each dish makes 4 large servings. It costs me about $14 for both meals.

 

[TEXASPRINCESSES]

wow--you ladies have some great ideas!!!!!!

 

[Kimmumum]

hallie615,

The rice is uncooked when you put it in the crockpot. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. The rice cooks and sucks up the liquid in the crockpot. The chicken is really tender. It sort of stays in breast form. It falls apart really easy though. Enjoy.

Kimmumum

 

[paslea_pooh]

Thank you Paslea_Pooh!!! This recipe is awesome and sooooo simple! We LOVED it. Have you ever tried freezing it before baking it? I've just started getting into freezing dinners and sides ahead of time and this one seems like it would be great, but I wonder if the sour cream would seperate or something...I'll give it a shot soon and see how it goes!

Thanks again!!!

I actually did try freezing it once. I made it over Xmas and put it in two smaller baking dishes, baked one and froze the other one. I baked the other one after it thawed out . It came out fine.

 

[Miniefan]

Here are some quick and easy chicken recipes, most all of these are made with one big bag of Tyson boneless skinless chicken tenders

Chicken and Rice (two versions)
Portion of frozen chicken in bottom of casserole pan
Mix one can cream of chicken, one can cream of celery, 2 cups of instant rice brown or white season with your fave seasonings maybe a little water if it seems dry I don't measure I just eyeball it, pour ontop of chicken, cover and bake 30 or 45 minutes until chicken is cooked and rice is nicely cooked.

2nd version
Portion of chicken, chop some onions and carotts, cook on top of stove throw in some chicken flavor boullion, cook in water until veggies are tender and chicken is done, throw in some yellow saffron rice, make sure there is enough water for the rice, but not too much or it will be chicken and rice soup

Chicken and Dressing
Portion of chicken, can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup of sour cream 1 box stove top stuffing, In a casserole dish place chicken, mix soup and sour cream, season how you like, top chicken, prepare stuffing, place over soup, bake 30-45 minutes

Easy and cheap! plus they all taste good too.
Kim

 

[Miniefan]

Here are some quick, cheap ground beef recipes too....

Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1tbs. onion flakes
1 can cream of mushroom
1 cup milk
1package tater tots
brown beef with onion flakes, season how you like, drain, mix with all ingred. except tater tots, put in casserole, top with tots bake about 30, this is also good with a drained can of french style green beans inside the meat mixture

Easy Meatloaf
1.5 lb ground beef
1 jar salsa
1egg
1-1.5 cup bread crumbs
some parmesan cheese (in jar)
Mix all ingredients shape into a loaf bake in casserole at 375 about 45 mins, top with ketchup or tomato sauce before baking

Enchiladas
1lb ground beef
1 can rotels
1pkg taco seasoning
1 can enchilada sauce
1 pkg flour tortillas
shredded cheese
Brown beef, drain, mix in rotels and taco seasoning, roll in tortillas put in a casserole, top with enchilada sauce and cheese bake 30 min

All easy and good, cheap too
Kim

 

[keerymom]

Just came across this thread and it is wonderful!! Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share.

 

[keerymom]

OOPS! One more thing I wanted to mention... another good web site for recipes is allrecipes.com. You can even do an ingredient search with things you have in your pantry.

 

[PaMom001]

I haven't searched the whole thread, but, here is a receipe I like:

1 package of your favorite meat(pork chops, boneless chicken pieces(whatever you like/on sale)
1 can cream of celery/chicken/mushroom soup
1 bag of noodles
veggies

1) Brown both sides of meat.
2) While meat is browning warm veggies and start noodles.
3) Dilute soup with half can of water. Pour soup over meat. Simmer 5-10 minutes.

 

[PaMom001]

A grocery store I go to sometimes has buy one Perdue oven stuffer roaster and get one free about once a month. I get two and in a Rynolds Foil bag(buy them or just take foil and make one big enough for the chicken). I season the chicken and put it in the bag. The bags you buy say to put in 1 tbsp. of flour so it won't explode. Then around the chicken I put some red potatoes that I've quartered. Then I put in 3-4 whole cloves of garlic. One inside the chicken and the other three around the chicken. I always make chicken noodle soup from the bones of the chicken when we're all done with it.

 

[punkin]

Does anyone on this board cook without salt and fat laden canned soup?