Super budget meal?

[GatorMama]

Low funds until pay day and we're a little low on groceries too so I'm trying to use what we've already got on hand...

I have a box of taquitos in the freezer from getting them on sale with a doubled coupon... and I have some white rice. If I got a can of store-brand rotel, I could make Spanish rice and that'd be a decent meal, right?

Tonight we were supposed to have breakfast sandwiches, but we're low on bread and eggs, so instead it will be pancakes and bacon.

I do have some frozen sausage I could pull out to have with... something. It's just bulk pork sausage. Any yummy ideas for it? I have a few cans of biscuits, so I considered sausage gravy and biscuits one night.

I have half a pack of hot dogs, but no buns. (only $1 for buns... not too bad if we need to grab some- I also have a can of chili so we could make chili dogs)

I have a few bags of frozen veggies and some pasta... and a HUGE bag of onions I can utilize, but almost no meat left. I have a pack of chicken, but I'd really rather not take it out if I can avoid it (I got it on sale to use for when guests come a few days after payday... hopefully its enough for chicken alfredo AND chicken salad sandwiches). I wanted to save our chicen carcass last week for soup this week, but DH chucked it before I could stop him. :-(

We're low on some staples so it's hard to think of things I can make easily!

 

[dizkids]

If you have 1/2 pack of hotdogs is that 4? If you cut each one in 4 thats 16 pieces of hotdogs, wrap them in the biscuits and bake them. If it is a can of 8 or 10 biscuits cut the biscuits in 1/2 and wrap around the hotdogs. Maybe serve them with your veggies.

Do you have garlic, fresh or powdered on hand? Saute veggies in olive oil (or similar) and toss with the pasta. Season to your liking with whateve you have.

 

[JandJ]

Do you have a can of tomatoes? I think they're at Wal-Mart for less than 90 cents a can. Sautee a chopped onion (and a pepper if you have one) and add that, the can of tomatoes (with the liquid), and 1.34 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, some seasoning (turmeric and paprika if you have it, a little chili powder or hot sauce, or just s&p) and that will make a nice "Spanish" rice. Boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is cooked. I've done that a bunch of times to great reviews (I don't use instant rice so if what you have is instant you'll have to adjust the cooking time). You could make double and add some browned pork sausage to half of it and it's another dinner - like homemade "rice a roni."

Do you crockpot? Cut up the hot dogs and crockpot them with the chili (you can add some BBQ sauce if you have any) on low for like 1 hour and that will blend the flavors nicely. No crockpot - simmer for 30 minutes or so. That's decent over noodles, or rice in a pinch.

Cook the pasta and the frozen veggies and mix them together, add a sauteed onion, garlic (powdered or garlic salt if you have it), add some parmesian or mozzarella if you have it - pasta primavera!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[marmalade]

Wow, you just named off almost word for word what we have in my house. We have had 3 weddings (I'm in one and DH is in another), bridal showers, bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, 4 birthday parties and a graduation party all within 6 weeks and we are closing on out house soon. Groceries are currently being neglected.

Actually last night I made mexican lasagna with left over taco fixings and spanish rice. I didn't have rotel, but I used a can of diced tomatoes and a friend gave us some green peppers and banana peppers that I added and a packet of taco seasoning and some cayane pepper. It was very good.

As far as the sausage, (I have one in my freezer also) I would brown it and add it to the pasta and veggies you have. Only because I wouldn't want breakfast 2 nights in 1 week.

 

[Suz D]

Do you have potatoes? If you do and since you have sausage on hand, this is what we're having tonight...

The recipe is here:
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/ho...skillet/8b809981-76c0-4680-a586-69177e69e36c/

I'm serving it with some fresh green beans that need to be used and following this recipe:

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Directions
1.Fill a saucepan half full with water and bring to a boil. Add the green beans; cook until just beginning to become tender, about 4 minutes. Pour into a colander to drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
2.Return the empty pan to the stove and set heat to medium. Pour in the olive oil and let it heat for a minute. Return the green beans to the pan. Season with basil, salt, and pepper; cook and stir until coated and warm. Transfer to a serving dish and toss with feta cheese.

I have tomatoes from the garden and I'm going to dice them and add right near the end just until they are warm.

I'm sure I'll have lots of the sausage stuff left so I plan to add scrambled eggs and serve it either tomorrow night or Sunday morning as breakfast burritos with salsa. Doesn't it look delish?

 

[marmalade]

Suz D that looks delish! OP if you have potatoes you can make a potato/bacon soup. I don't use recipes, but this is what I do

I cut my bacon into bite size pieces and brown it, take it out of the pan (I use a dutch oven) add diced onions and cook until soft. Add salt and pepper, then add chopped potatoes and enough water to cover. I add chicken boullion and let it boil until the potatoes are cooked and started to fall apart. The liquid will thicken up from the potatoes, add the bacon and serve. I will sometimes add cheese when it's done, but if you don't have cheese it tastes fine without.

 

[thebeesknees]

Make a white sauce for the sausage and onions(thicken it with some powdered milk if you have it) and serve over noodles. If you have any peppers you can throw them in, too, but they aren't absolutely necessary. Then you can use the biscuits to make pigs in a blanket for another night and not have to buy buns. Or do what my kids love and slice 1/2 way up the hot dog about 5 times after it is cooked, spread out the slices and it makes an "octopus" on the plate with your veggies/mac n' cheese/whatever. Could you make French onion soup with the onions?

Good luck - I hear ya. We've had some, er, interesting meals toward the end of the month sometimes!

 

[GatorMama]

I don't have potatoes but they're cheap and good for several things so that is a purchase I'd be willing to make... especially because that picture made me drool on my keyboard!

I'm not really a potato soup person, but that even sounded good... AND EASY! I actually DO have some cheese in my fridge too... but I was worried people would suggest highly cheesey meals... which pretty much make me want to hurl and would be a total waste of cheese. I think we even have sour cream left from taco night that we could add in!

I don't have canned tomatoes at all... so if I have to buy them, I'll just buy them with the peppers in them already to skip a step. I'm HOPING I have some frozen soup left in the freezer, but I worry it will be a vegetarian soup that DH wasn't fond of... and it wasn't very filling so he'll want something else to go with it....

 

[MEM]

A Chinese friend of mine likes to use a hotdog or two in her fried rice...you have the rice and the onions - cut the hotdogs into bite-sized pieces.

 

[Minnesota!]

Do you have a jar of salsa? I would just mix that with the rice and serve with the taquitos.

Do the gravy and biscuits.

Cut up the hot dogs, mix with chili, serve over noodles. Like Cincinatti chili but with hot dogs in it. Cut up an onion too, to top. Throw some cheese on top. Voila.

Take veggies, run under some water to thaw. In a skillet, melt butter, or use oil. Throw veggies in when hot. Add seasonings (garlic, s & p, dill, whatever). Add some lemon juice or more butter, toss with pasta. Top with some shredded cheese or grated parm.

One thing we love is sautee up some onions in an oil based salad dressing (we like using balsamic for this). Boil up noodles and when almost finished, toss frozen veggies (we usually use frozen spinach) into the pasta water. Finish cooking, drain. Mix with the onions/balsamic. Toss more dressing in, too. Top with parm.

It's really good, super cheap, uses up "whatever" is in the house. works with any oil based dressing...Italian, Greek, Asian, etc.

 

[GatorMama]

We don't have any parm cheese... or any salad dressing at all. Those things all got tossed when our power was out during Irene and they're not necessities for much so we haven't re-purchased them yet. I've gotten some great ideas though! I DO have balsamic vinegar and EVOO, so I could make my own dressing for that last meal idea!

 

[tlbwriter]

When I was in college we used to heat up a can of condensed soup (something beefy) without adding water to it and pour it over cooked rice.

 

[ccgirl]

Low funds until pay day and we're a little low on groceries too so I'm trying to use what we've already got on hand...

I have a box of taquitos in the freezer from getting them on sale with a doubled coupon... and I have some white rice. If I got a can of store-brand rotel, I could make Spanish rice and that'd be a decent meal, right?

Tonight we were supposed to have breakfast sandwiches, but we're low on bread and eggs, so instead it will be pancakes and bacon.

I do have some frozen sausage I could pull out to have with... something. It's just bulk pork sausage. Any yummy ideas for it? I have a few cans of biscuits, so I considered sausage gravy and biscuits one night.

I have half a pack of hot dogs, but no buns. (only $1 for buns... not too bad if we need to grab some- I also have a can of chili so we could make chili dogs)

I have a few bags of frozen veggies and some pasta... and a HUGE bag of onions I can utilize, but almost no meat left. I have a pack of chicken, but I'd really rather not take it out if I can avoid it (I got it on sale to use for when guests come a few days after payday... hopefully its enough for chicken alfredo AND chicken salad sandwiches). I wanted to save our chicen carcass last week for soup this week, but DH chucked it before I could stop him. :-(

We're low on some staples so it's hard to think of things I can make easily!

One of my (and my children's) favorite inexpensive meals lately are cheese quesadillas. I just put some cheese in between the two shells and walla! You can mix in veggies if you want.

What about pasta primavera?

You could cut up the hot dogs and put them in with a can of baked beans.

Good luck.

 

[Marionnette]

Low funds until pay day and we're a little low on groceries too so I'm trying to use what we've already got on hand...

I have a box of taquitos in the freezer from getting them on sale with a doubled coupon... and I have some white rice. If I got a can of store-brand rotel, I could make Spanish rice and that'd be a decent meal, right?

Tonight we were supposed to have breakfast sandwiches, but we're low on bread and eggs, so instead it will be pancakes and bacon.

I do have some frozen sausage I could pull out to have with... something. It's just bulk pork sausage. Any yummy ideas for it? I have a few cans of biscuits, so I considered sausage gravy and biscuits one night.

I have half a pack of hot dogs, but no buns. (only $1 for buns... not too bad if we need to grab some- I also have a can of chili so we could make chili dogs)

I have a few bags of frozen veggies and some pasta... and a HUGE bag of onions I can utilize, but almost no meat left. I have a pack of chicken, but I'd really rather not take it out if I can avoid it (I got it on sale to use for when guests come a few days after payday... hopefully its enough for chicken alfredo AND chicken salad sandwiches). I wanted to save our chicen carcass last week for soup this week, but DH chucked it before I could stop him. :-(

We're low on some staples so it's hard to think of things I can make easily!

If my cupboards were as bare as what you've listed, I would not be worried about saving anything for company that is coming after I'm paid. I'd be breaking out that pack of poultry and serving it to my family.

With what you have, I would be making pasta with sausage (buy a couple of cans of tomatoes and make your own sauce). For another meal, flatten out the biscuits and grill them then add leftover tomato sauce with sausage and cheese to make grilled pizza. Use some of those frozen veggies as side dishes to those meals.

I would saute the chicken with onions, garlic and olive oil in a dutch oven. Remove the chicken, add a can of chicken broth (or homemade stock or even bullion dissolved in water) and deglaze the pan. Heat to boiling. Add an appropriate amount of rice to the liquid. Lay the chicken on top, skin side up. Sprinkle with rosemary and add a couple of bay leave. Cover and bake at 225 degrees for at least 90 minutes. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Use leftovers and bones to make chicken salad and chicken soup.

Sorry I can't help you with the taquitos. We don't eat Mexican foods often and consider taquitos to be an appetizer/snack. I wouldn't begin to think of a way to make them into a meal.

 

[McIntoshMango]

A big pot of sausage soup, with the veggies. You toss in beans and potatoes and feed a crew for several days.

 

[Suz D]

Quick report on the dinner from tonight. The sausage stuff was very good but the potatoes definately needed to cook longer than the 8-10 mins in the recipe. I cooked them at least 20 mins and they were just barely done.

The green beans? Oh my gosh, don't bother. They were awful in my opinion. DH & DD#1 thought they were okay but not as yummy as the recipe sounded.

 

[Suz D]

Really no money for food but you are coming off a vacation from Disney. Man the things some people do for Disney on here is amazing. I can't imagine how you can enjoy yourself when you know that you are in such dire need financialy yet you still go and plan again on going.
Here is my recipe for you build up an emergency fund so you are not worried how you are going to feed you family and worry about vacations after that. I seriously can’t imagine living like this especially when I didn’t have to.

Wow.

 

[marmalade]

Sorry I forgot to quote but this is in regards to wtccheermom:

How do you know she doesn't have an emergency fund? Maybe she doesn't consider this an emergency since she has food in her house that she can feed her family. I wouldn't assume because someone is trying to be frugal one week because they had some extra expenses that they don't have money set aside for a "real" emergency.

 

[reginaastralis]

Isn't there a rule about no personal attacks on this board?

If you've read the thread, she mentions losing food in Irene ... so possibly she doesn't have the money to replenish her food supply right now. But, obviously the advice you've given her will make sure she can feed her family until pay day.

 

[Princesca]

Everyone's suggested some great ideas.

I just wanted to say that I hope you experience some kind of good fortune soon. I know it has to be stressful to come to the end of the month and have so little to work with. Here's hoping you get some soon.