Cheap Meal Ideas

[True North]

Just wanted to add that for a poor university student, this thread is a life saver!

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Does anybody have a really easy and inexpensive chicken & dumplings recipe? This is a great thread...all of the recipes sound so good!!!

Thanks!
Ginny

I've always use the one on the bisquick box. The trick to dumplings is to make sure you have a reall y good rolling boil going before you drop in the dough.

 

[gdulaney]

Maybe that's the problem....I need to get a rolling boil. My dumplings have always turned out as soggy lumps of dough. yuck

Thanks!!
Ginny

 

[Jodi3530]

I have a recipe for potato dumplings. I use it in chicken soup.
3 raw potatoes grated
2 med onions grated
1 tsp. salt
2 to 3 cups of flour
1 stick butter
4 eggs

Add salt to 4 beaten eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients (add as much flour as you need to make a not real stiff dough) drop by spoonful into chicken broth(or your choice) that is at a rolling boil. I have cooked and deboned chicken in the pot before I add the dumpling. These are very good. My husband who hates onions loves this.

 

[gdulaney]

That sounds really good!

Ginny

 

[toystoryduo]

These are great ideas! Thank you!

 

[disneyred]

Can someone add here a simple recipe for making a pound cake that is super moist ?? It beats buying all that sugar loaded snacks.. which by the way do not come cheap !!

Also with a pound cake recipe .. can I just add some juice from fresh lemons to make it a lemony flavor ... !
thanks for any tips...

 

[smfritz03]

Does anyone have any good --quick and easy Chicken recipes? My kids are picky and Im at a loss on what to cook tonight and trying to avoid a trip to the grocery!

 

[MEM]

At my house I have the dual challenge of cooking low-cost and low-fat. One favorite of my family is a simple chicken chili that I threw together one night from what we had in the house.

Cut 1-1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless, chicken breast into one inch chunks and place in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle with one tablespoon chili powder. Pour in one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes. Rinse and drain 2 15 ounce cans of kidney beans and spread over crushed tomatoes. Sprinkle top with one tablespoon chili powder. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve over steamed white rice. The beans stay firm because they stay near the top and my family prefers them that way. Not the most exciting recipe, I admit, but it appeals to everyone at my house.

 

[MEM]

Does anyone have any good --quick and easy Chicken recipes? My kids are picky and Im at a loss on what to cook tonight and trying to avoid a trip to the grocery!

Do your kids like spicy? Another simple, low-fat recipe I have consists of 3 ingredients: 1/2 cup orange marmalade mixed with 1-2 tablespoons chili powder, 1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into one inch chunks. Add everything to a ziploc bag and squish together to coat. Remove from bag and place in shallow baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked.

 

[Ellester]

Our cheapest meal is glorified ramen. I put any veggies I have around in with the water while it is boiling. Usually carrots, peas, onion; sometimes broccoli, green beans, corn. If we have any little bits of leftover meat I put that on top of the soup after it's in the bowls. We put some sabal bajak (spicy oriental chili sauce) and hoisin sauce in and it's almost like a bowl of Vietnamese pho. Very yummy, pretty good for you and exceptionally cheap!

 

[Colleen456]

At my house I have the dual challenge of cooking low-cost and low-fat. One favorite of my family is a simple chicken chili that I threw together one night from what we had in the house.

Cut 1-1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless, chicken breast into one inch chunks and place in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle with one tablespoon chili powder. Pour in one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes. Rinse and drain 2 15 ounce cans of kidney beans and spread over crushed tomatoes. Sprinkle top with one tablespoon chili powder. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve over steamed white rice. The beans stay firm because they stay near the top and my family prefers them that way. Not the most exciting recipe, I admit, but it appeals to everyone at my house.

This sounds so easy! Dh and I were just talking about making chili this week since as of tomorrow we're supposed to have fall like weather finally. Thank you! I think this is a new twist on Chili that we will like

 

[smfritz03]

Thanks!!! Im going to try those chicnen recipes this week--but will have to go and get some orange marmalade!!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

A quick thought - I tried making corn tortillas with corn flour from whole foods, but it didn't come out right. I only use Ma-Se-Ca brand now.

Here's another favorite of ours - AND it has the added bonus of being a WDW recipe from Boma!


Chicken Corn Chowder

2 cups cooked chicken, diced (if you don't have this pre-cooked, boil it in one cup of water for ten minutes - save water -see below)
1 pound russet potatoes, diced (can also be pre-cooked - say, if you have leftover baked potato)
2 cups frozen corn
1/8 cup bell pepper (I omit this!)
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock (you can use bouillon, canned broth, or the water from boiled chicken)
1 cup of cream (or milk, but cream is better)
1 teaspoon sugar
hot sauce to taste
1/8 cup fresh parsley
1 bouillon cube

Bring chicken stock to boil.
Add everything but the parsley and the hot sauce.
Simmer for 40 minutes.
Add parsley and hot sauce.

You can make this without the corn, cream, hot sauce, or parsley, and it still tastes pretty good. You can also add more potato, milk to stretch this further. It makes a decent sized pot of soup.

I've also made this with broccoli added (I use fresh broccoli - chop it up fine, and parboil it before adding it.)

 

[OceanAnnie]

I found a good website that has a lot of frugal cooking recipes and ideas.


http://oldfashionedliving.com/recipes.html

 

[rjthkids]

I've got a couple of *wonderful* chicken recipes that I'll have to post when I get a second. Yum, yum.

I use Fleischman's Rapid Rise yeast for the dough,

Depending on how seriously into natural foods you are, I much prefer Red Star yeast to Fleischman's. We mill our own flour, and if you make 100% whole wheat recipes, the gluten level of the grain is much lower than processed and refined flour. Fleischman's does pretty well on proccessed flours, but not so great on anything else. I find if I only have Fleischman's handy, I have to add gluten in order to get my breads to properly rise. When I use Red Star, I never have to add extra gluten.

 

[bear74]

Just subscribing will finish reding the great ideas later. off to bead to work in AM.

 

[TinkerPixxie]

Squash and macaroni

1lb box of ziti
1 frozen bag of butternut squash
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp sugar

Place frozen squash in a suace pan and just barely cover it with water. Simmer it until squash becomes "saucy" {soft} add sugar and oil and simmer for about 10 minutes longer. Cook ziti to directions on pack and toss together. Serve with sliced cucumbers drizzled with olive oil and vinigar.




Pepperoni and Macaroni

2 sticks of pepperoni
1 clove garlic crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large can of tomatoe paste
1 box ziti

slice pepperoni into thick slices, place oil , garlic, and pepperoni in pan on low heat and brown pepperoni. Keep moving it around so it wont burn. When pepperoni is brown add can of tomatoe paste and 3 cups of water. Stir vigorisly until well blended, simmer on very low heat stirring often as to not stick for 20 mintes. Cook ziti to pack directions. Top ziti w/ your pepperoni sauce and serve with a crusty bread and grated cheese.


Peas and Macaroni

1 can small peas in water
1 piece of salt fat back {choose a piece with some meat on it} cut into cubes
1 small onion chopped
4 tbls olive oil
1 box elbow macaroni

Heat oil on med/ low heat, add onion and fat back and brown, stirring often. Add can of peas with the water they come in. Add 2 cans of water and reduce heat to low, simmer for 45 minutes. Cook elbows to directions. Mix sauce and elbows. NOTE: Rinse fat back well as this can be extremely salty. Meat on fat back can get eaten however the fatty part most people dont eat and children probly shouldnt as I know it can cause a stomach ach. The kids do seem to like picking through the meat though.

All of these are extremely inexpensive and are recipes from my italian grandparents who needed to stretch a dollar but wouldnt compromise taste.
Hope they help.
Tink~

 

[Lars624]

I've enjoyed reading all of the wonderful recipe ideas! Thanks for sharing them

I'll share one of my family's favorties:

Recipe Name: Spaghetti Pizza

Ingredients:
1lb box of spaghetti
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg. Pepperoni
2 eggs
1 cup milk
8 oz. Grated mozzarella.

Preparation Instructions:
Cook and drain spaghetti mix with eggs and milk and put in 9x13 pan. Pour jar of spaghetti sauce over the top. Layer pepperoni on top of sauce. Put cheese on top. Bake at 350 till brown.

 

[blestmom]

Okay, I'll chime in here. I love this thread! I'll share a surprising recipe that my whole family loves. It sounds wierd, but it is cheap, healthy, delicious and fast!

Hummus Wraps:
Tortillas (any kind)
1 bag shredded cabbage (like for cole slaw)
1 bag broccoli slaw
1 small container hummus (any flavor...we like spicy, but garlic is good too!)
chicken (can use cooked chicken, or if really in a hurry, canned chicken breast)

Here comes the fast part:
All you do is put a bit of oil in a pan, heat it on the stove, add the broccoli slaw and cabbage for about 3 minutes. Then add the chicken for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, spread some hummus on a tortilla, then place the chicken/slaw mixture on top, roll it up, and that's it!

Like I said, it sounds wierd, but it tastes great! My kids and I tried this when they made a sample at the grocery store, and we bought all the ingredients right away. I have 5 kids (7-16) and ALL of them love hummus wraps. When we're running late, it is faster than fast food...and a lot better for you, too!