What is the cheapest meal you make that isn't breakfast food?

[DisMommyTX]

Pantry Tacos-

1 can shredded chicken
1 can black beans
Mix together with fajita or taco seasoning

Serve on soft corn tortillas with preferred toppings (onion, cheese, tomatoes ).

This is also the starting base for some great soups or southwestern chili, each under $10 for a family of four.

 

[crisi]

Polenta with a vegetable saute (usually spinach, mushrooms, peppers) comes to pretty cheap.

Hard to go wrong with any bean based dish - chili, bean soup, rice and beans.

Fried rice

 

[kidshop]

I can do homemade pizza cheap. Frozen dough 1.50 for 2, mozzarella $2 something a pound at SAMs, a jar of spaghetti sauce $1-1.80 ( I don't use the whole jar), turkey pepperoni $2.00 (makes at least 4 pizzas), and some onion.

Feeds 5 with generally a lunch or two left over.

 

[barkley]

cabella's dutch oven jambalaya- (and I only know this b/c I was helping dd price it out earlier today). this is for a half batch which fills a large crockpot and provides enough for 3 people to have 2 LARGE servings (or 2 full meals)-between the mix, 2-canned items, 1/2 bell pepper, 1/2 onion, 1/2 pound of chicken, 1 andouille sausage, and 1/4 pound shrimp-it all comes in at right under $11 so $5.50 for that. we make a loaf of bread in the bread maker that ends up lasting several meals and throw together a salad for a grand total of much less than $10 per meal.

the other cheapest would be either rotisserie or crockpot carribean chicken b/c I can get whole chickens on sale occasionally (and I stock up) for 88 cents a pound, so a 5 pounder runs me about $4.40 to which I use 1 packet of weber's just add juice marinade (and half a cup of o.j.). I serve it with a box of zataran's carribean rice ($1.50 a box) which takes a dab of butter, and serve it with a salad. the chicken ends up lasting us at least 3 meals (I debone and make the rest into chicken salad or sauté it w/onions and mushroom to serve over pasta) but even if we ate the entire chicken it would come to maybe $7 for the entire meal.


btw-kudos to the bean lovers who have posted. we use allot of them, right now my pantry has bags of12 bean, kidneys, pintos, great northern and black stocked up.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Egg salad sandwiches, grilled cheese and tomato soup- in general you can eat lunch things for dinner, roasted chicken with potatoes (I can get a whole chicken for under 5 bucks) or roasted chicken and homemade rice pilaf. Cut up apples and bananas. Simple salads, veggies you buy on sale. Pasta is great too. And beans!!!

I find that cheap is often healthy. It doesn't have to be bad for you!

 

[Happyjen27]

My cheapest meals are the ones that stretch for days. 1 organic whole chicken for 15 bucks. And you're like "whoa, I said cheap". I oven roast that, with some mashed potatoes (1.50 for the portion of the bag used) and some broccoli (2.99). That's meal 1. Then, I pick the meat off the bird that we don't eat, and make chicken salad sandwiches (mayo and celery and bread maybe 2.00) with salad made of the broccoli stalk peeled and olive oil/salt/pepper, feta if I have some (0.30). That's meal 2. Then I throw that carcass in the crock pot and add water and cook it overnight. That becomes soup (celery again and carrots and onion and noodles, maybe 3.00) with some homemade bread (maybe 2.00). That's meal 3. The soup will then become leftovers for lunch at least once more, that's meal 4. So, that's 4 meals for 27 bucks, roughly. 4 healthy, delicious, organic meals feeding 4 people for like 6.50/meal.

The soup base can be frozen as long as you don't add noodles, so if you're all chickened out, you can just save that for another time.

 

[wendow]

Another beans & rice fan here if going for a cheap meal. It's also very nutritious, filling and delicious. I change mine up a lot in terms of how I season, and what I serve it with. We eat them with cornbread, topped with corn chips and salsa, topped with a lettuce and tomato, jalapenos, etc. Whatever we have really seems to work.

 

[Jankam]

Thank you! I will have to see if family likes that. Do you cook the beans for a long time?

I usually buy the cans on sale but the dry beans are much cheaper! If you buy dry, yes, cook for a long time and they'll be nice and soft. Honestly this meal is about 40 cents per person or so.

 

[Gigi22]

Well, sort of a breakfast food meal. Cheese soufflé with a salad.

 

[NewRVLady]

Eggplant Parmesan......we had LOTS in the garden-have 2 more to pick today

Red beans and rice-s BIG south Louisiana meal-super cheap

 

[tasha99]

Burritos. We start with dry beans, which makes them cheap.

 

[Dopey420]

Pasta with browned butter, mizithra and parmesan cheese, just like the Old Spaghetti Factory. Delicious and costs LITERALLY pennies. you can find recipe online.

 

[taymaesmom]

Chicken Tacos! Once a month I throw about 8 boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot with 2 packs of taco seasoning then fill with water. Once cooked I shred the chicken and use it for chicken tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos, etc. One pot usually makes us 3-4 meals depending on how I break it down, I freeze it in 3-4 bags and takes no time to thaw in the microwave when needed.

I buy most mexican meal ingredients in bulk and I can throw something together all the time. I always keep refried beans, salsa, sour cream, tortillas, taco shells, shredded cheese, enchilada sauce, green chilis, etc. in the house.

 

[vaDisneyGuy]

It would have to be my "free" soup. During the fall and winter, I keep small amounts of leftovers of veggies, bits of roast, pork trimming, extra bits of tomato based things etc and freeze them. I then make a big pot of soup. I often add a can or two of tomato and sometimes a handful of pasta or rice and cook together. So yummy and free or almost free. For a meat based meal, whole pork loins at Sams is a cheap meal. A 12.00 piece can make like four meals for us. grill or fry. Add rice or potato and a veggie for not much at all.

I was hoping some one would say this, I do it too.

 

[NorthshoreTigerFan]

We eat a LOT of dried beans!

Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
1 lb dried red beans
2 tbs olive oil
8 oz tasso (You can sub smoked ham, pork hocks or turkey wings)
1 large onion
1 large bell pepper
3 ribs celery
3 cloves garlic minced
Bay leaf
Salt/pepper/cayenne to taste (I use Tony Chachere's)

Cooking Directions
Soak red beans overnight.

Place large heavy (I use cast iron) pot over medium-low heat.

Dice tasso, onion, bell pepper, celery and celery.

Add olive oil to pot, then add diced tasso and vegetables. Sauté until vegetables are wilted and cooked down.

Add minced garlic and sauté 30 seconds.

Drain and rinse red beans. Add beans and bay leaf to pot and cover with water. Cook over medium heat until beans are very soft and some have begun to break down and become creamy, 2-3 hours. Add more water as needed.

Season with salt, pepper, cayenne. Simmer while rice cooks.

Serve over hot rice. Greens are the traditional side.

(This is a healthier version. They're even better when you use bacon drippings for the sauté and add rendered andouille sausage with the salt/pepper.)



Hopping John
Substitute 1 pound dried black-eyed peas for red beans.
Substitute two jalapeños for bell pepper.
Serve with hot rice.


White Beans
Substitute 1 pound dried large white lima beans.
After beans soften add 1 can undrained Rotel tomatoes with the add salt/pepper.
Serve over hot rice.

Pinto Beans
Substitute 1 pound pinto beans
Substitute two jalapeños for bell pepper.
Substitute ham for the tasso.
After the water boils down the first time add chicken stock as needed instead of more water, you want these to be soupy.
Serve in bowl (omit rice) and top with diced sweet onion. Goes well with hot cornbread.

(For Mexican-style pintos I omit the bay leaf, add a handful of minced cilantro and replace the red/black pepper with chili powder to taste. We use these to make bean burritos or as a side with tacos. The are also good for nachos or served alone topped with pico.)

You are the FIRST person that I've come across that knows what Hoppin John is! Do we know each other?

One thing to point out when cooking dried red beans....if you don't eat them on a somewhat regular basis (which the high majority of people outside of Southern Louisiana lol), you will want to soak the dried red beans for a few hours before you cook them. After soaking them and before putting them in the pot, soak them. This will greatly reduce how "gassy" they may make you.

 

[traviesojmt]

It would have to be my "free" soup. During the fall and winter, I keep small amounts of leftovers of veggies, bits of roast, pork trimming, extra bits of tomato based things etc and freeze them. I then make a big pot of soup. I often add a can or two of tomato and sometimes a handful of pasta or rice and cook together. So yummy and free or almost free. For a meat based meal, whole pork loins at Sams is a cheap meal. A 12.00 piece can make like four meals for us. grill or fry. Add rice or potato and a veggie for not much at all.

I have always done this for vegetable soup. Any leftover veggies (green beans, corn, tomatoes of any type, limas, etc) are thrown together in a container and frozen. I just keep adding to it. When time to make soup, I put the frozen veggies in a pot, add a potato or two, tomatoe juice and seasoning. Yummy veggie soup.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Put a large can Bush's baked beans (any flavor) in a 8X8 dish. Add to the beans some cut up hot dogs. Top the beans/hot dog mixture with some corn bread and bake till corn bread is done. We call is hobo dinner.

 

[sunflowerfields]

these soups are prob. the cheapest meals I make because I make large amounts then freeze. hamburger soup, chicken & rice, ham & bean (using the ham bone) and chili. Last night I made creamed chicken over biscuits with mashed potatoes. That was inexpensive because it only took a couple chicken breast.

 

[dfchelbay]

I fry up cabbage with turkey bacon, adding a little butter. Make a bag of pasta & mix it all together

Pasta 78 cents (1 lb)
Cabbage about 50 cents worth
Turkey bacon Jenny-O $1.00

This gives us a dinner & a leftover meal, either lunch next day or a leftover dinner. So, two meals for about $2.28 ($2.50 adding butter)

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Chicken and orzo with frozen peas or broccoli. 4 chicken thighs, roasted then chopped. A box of orzo, toasted in butter or oil first, then add 3 cups of water or chicken broth. (I use Better'n Bouillon.) Simmer the orzo until most of the water/broth is absorbed, then add your peas or broccoli. I don't thaw them because the water that melts off of them finishes off the orzo. Season as you like. Makes dinner for me and DH, plus 4 work lunches for me and one day off lunch for DH.