Lolling for budget meal ideas like our parents made

[DisneyYahoo]

You all have amazing ideas. I have bookmarked this thread so I can peek at it now and then for ideas. Thank you!

 

[tonilea]

For the inexperienced cook, I always recommend the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. It doesn't assume you know what "jullianne" or "dice" or "roux" or what any cooking terms mean. I was never able to make gravy - even though I was a fairly experienced cook... until I got my hands on the Fanny Farmer Cookbook - awesome!

 

[of the seas]

This was something my great grandmother, grandmother and mother made when we were growing up and it is still a favorite of mine (and now DH's).

Tuna noodle:
1 can white tuna (in water)
1 can cream of mushroom condensed soup
1 small can of sweet peas
1 bag large egg noodles
Breadcrumbs

Cook noodles and drain. Break up tuna and mix with noodles, peas, and soup mix. Pour into baking dish and cover lightly breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 until bubbly around the edges.

I do this too, but I start on the stovetop. I saute some onion, celery(if I have some in the fridge), then I add the (I use 2 cans)tuna, soup and some cheddar cheese, and frozen peas. Then I add the cooked noodles to the mix, put buttered bread crumbs on top, bake in the oven, not to long, until brown.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Not a big fan of tuna, but I never minded this much but I wonder if the can of white chicken would work too?

Chicken works just fine, I use it all the time. You can also sub cream of chicken or cream of celery soup.

I make skillet chicken and rice alot. Just brown seasoned boneless skinless chicken breasts in a little olive oil in a deep pan that has a lid. Remove the chicken and add diced onion one cup of rice. Brown the rice and onion for a bit and cover with a can of chicken broth (add some water if needed to cover). Bring the broth to a boil, return the chiken breast to the pan, cove and reduce the heat to med - low. Cook for about 25 minutes until the rice is done. To mix things up I add diced carrots and zucchini to the rice. You can also add 2 or 3 table spoons of enchilada sauce to the broth (I use Trader Joes) then when the dish is done put a little more sauce on the chicken and sprinkle a little cheese on top.

 

[pigletof4]

My mom is a home ec teacher (although she was a SAHM while I was growing up) so all our food was from scratch. One of the things she made was Mashed Potato Meat Pie.

Press hamburger into a sturdy pie pan (I use Pyrex, foil won't be able to hold the weight of the completed dish). The hamburger will shrink a lot, even the extra lean variety that I grind myself, so really spread it to the edges. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder then bake until the hamburger "crust" is thoroughly cooked. Top the cooked crust with homemade mashed potatoes and then pile on the shredded extra sharp cheese (but be careful as this will run off the edges and onto the bottom of your oven if you don't put foil under the pan). I like to kind of make a lip around the edge with the potatoes so that the cheese stays in the middle. Put the pie under the broiler until the cheese melts and gets a little brown. Slice and enjoy

I was wondering. What kind of meat do you use when you grind your own hamburger? We usually get a 1/2 a cow, but usually run out of hamburger before the next one is butchered. I just got a meat grinder attachment for my mixer and thought right away about making my own hamburger.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Some the favorites around here are:

Roast chicken. Chickens are usually less than a $1.00 a pound, there are only 3 of us so we have enough left over chicken to make a noodle casserole, enchilada pie, chicken tacos or chicken salad sandwiches.

Hubby loves meatloaf and spaghetti.

DD loves porcupine balls. http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1626,146171-224194,00.html

Albondigas soup- One large can of V8 and a can of water. Chopped onion, potatos,carrots and celery. Add seasond meat balls and simmer. Serve with warm flour tortillas and butter . You can also omit the potato and add some small pasta like stars or the little rice shaped ones.

Growing up we always had chipped beef on toast.
And we usually had a roast on Sunday and hash on Monday.

 

[mtblujeans]

Easy way to get tomato paste out of 6 oz. can: open one end of the can with your can opener, leave the lid intact and turn the can over. Open the other end of can (top and bottom are open). Remove the lid from one end and push the lid thru the can from the other end. The paste will neatly and easily push thru the can into your dish. Remove the lid from the paste and throw the lid and can away.

Spaghetti sauce is neat, tasty, healthy, and easy when made in a crockpot. I think all crockpots come with a recipe book and you can follow the sauce recipe that comes in that cookbook. I always try to add fresh veggies like chopped onion, green peppers, shredded carrots, and chopped celery. I used canned stewed italian-seasoned tomatoes and add more italian seasoning. You can always season the sauce to taste.