What's for dinner? Was it "budget"?

[bellebuzzandpooh]

Tonight we are making homemade buffalo pizza, probably under 15.00 for two huge pizzas.. YUMMY

You must share that recipe please!!

I'm thinking we might do Take and Bake pizza tonight. I like to have pizza night once a week.

 

[Plantlady]

I hate chopping onions too! I always stock up when they go on sale. It's a little more expensive, but it saves me so much aggravation.

I bought a hand chopper thing, it saves so much energy.. just put in your onion, and push the button several times. Instant small diced onions.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Tonight is budget but not very healthy.... Its a can we please, please, please night. Kids wore me down...

Cheeseburgers made on the George Foreman Grill - $1.50
Rolls $1.19
Tomato's, Onions, Lettuce, and condiments all from the fridge already there.
Baked French Fries $1.00
Creamed Corn 35cents

So dinner for about $5.00, not very healthy but much better than McD's.

 

[mom2my3kids]

You must share that recipe please!!

I'm thinking we might do Take and Bake pizza tonight. I like to have pizza night once a week.

Sure my family loves it..
I take boneless breast and cut up and cook it, then I put it in a bag with franks red sauce to cover. I let it soak for at least a hour.
We buy the already made pizza crust, we get the Kroger brand 2 in a package and it is usually hanging on the end cap. You put a very thin layer of ranch dressing, then top with mozz cheese and mixed cheese. Then on top add the chicken and be sloppy with the franks sauce, you don't want to much but you want enough to taste. We bake it per the directions on the back of the crust like 8 minutes. It is very tasty..

 

[Katy Belle]

My best budget meal this week was homemade pizzas. My grocery store sells fresh pizza crusts that they bake, soft, nice, sort of like boboli. They are very cheap, like 3 for $1. I used jarred sauce and leftovers, plus moz cheese and made 5 pizzas. One was bar-b-qu chicken pizza. Spread bar-b-que sauce on crust and topped with leftover chicken, chopped onions. One beef pizza, leftover ground beef. One cheese only. Two taco, spread with leftover re-fried beans, taco sauce, hamburger meat, monterary jack cheese, lettuce. All 5 of us were HAPPY and it was a great way to use up leftovers.

Katy

 

[IDoDis]

My family is vegan (although one of my sons does eat meat when he goes out, just not at family meals). Not buying meat is very helpful for the budget! If you don't want to go completely meat-free, you could always trying having a day or two of meat-free meals which would save you some money.

Even before we were all vegan, I liked Thomas Jefferson's approach of planning meals around vegetables and treating the meat as "seasoning." When I was younger, I planned meals by first deciding which kind of meat we'd have - chicken, ground beef, pork chops - then adding the other parts of the meal.

When I became more concerned about healthy eating, I learned to plan my meals around the vegetables instead. We always have at least two vegetables with dinner - that's important for us in achieving my goal of nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and getting plenty of variety. So I start by seeing what fresh vegetables I have that I want to use up, and then what other vegetables (frozen, usually) can be added. Then I'll add some kind of whole-foods starch (a whole grain like brown rice or barley, or a whole-grain pasta, or unpeeled sweet or white potatoes, or corn) and finally think about protein. That might be a peanut sauce on the vegetables, or some beans, or hummus. Or I might not worry about it, since there's usually plenty of protein in the starch/vegetable combinations.

I think that planning this way has helped me keep the costs of my meals low but nutritious.

Teresa

Oh, sounds great! I'm all for more veggies. Could you please post some of your favorite recipes? Do you stir fry your veggies in the peanut sauce? DH and I were on a stir fry kick a while back where we were eating it almost nightly with brown rice, and then got so tired of it, that we have't had it now in a long time. It's sounding good again.

 

[Sorsha]

We are going to Glacier in August, I'm so excited!!!

Fun! That's a great time to come visit... unless there's fires. LOL
Have you been to this area before?
If I can help you out with any of your planning, do let me know!

 

[Sorsha]

Well, last night's plan of "eat the leftovers" did NOT work out. SIGH.
We had some friends come over unexpectedly, and we all decided we wanted stir-fry. We went to the store and split the cost of the ingredients.

We got a chunk of beef, and DH took the time to trim off all the fat and cut it into bite-sized chunks. Threw that into the wok and stir-fried it with some minced garlic. Then added chopped asparagus, broccoli, carrots, snow peas, napa cabbage, and water chestnuts. Stir-fried those till done. Added a lot of oriental stir-fry sauce mixture that we picked up in the "ethnic foods" aisle of the grocery store. Finally cooked up a pot of angel hair pasta and added that to the mix as well. Served the whole thing with crunchy noodles to top it, soy sauce, and fortune cookies. It was sooooooooo easy and sooooooo yummy!! My little ones, who are incredibly picky, both ate a HUGE plateful!

Much tastier than leftovers!

 

[Sethsmom]

I don't know how Donald does it, but I just put in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce over the browned beef and onions, mix it up and let it cook a while.

I never have bought the sloppy joe mix. I just make it like my mom did. I don't like onions so I use a little onion powder, garlic powder, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and BBQ sauce.

I never use a recipe and it always turns out good. Very economical too.

 

[momx2]

Tonight is french dip sandwiches and baked potatoes.

3lb sirloin tip (crockpot all day) $6
1 packet aujus mix .50 cents
1 onion .50 cents
4 baked potatoes $1
toppings $1
sandwich rolls (1/2 pack) .75 cents
Total $9.75

Plus we will have leftovers for at least one more meal, probably a lunch also. And my kids love this and the house smells soooo good all day while it is cooking. It is as good or better than restuarants.

 

[babytrees]

Sure my family loves it..
I take boneless breast and cut up and cook it, then I put it in a bag with franks red sauce to cover. I let it soak for at least a hour.
We buy the already made pizza crust, we get the Kroger brand 2 in a package and it is usually hanging on the end cap. You put a very thin layer of ranch dressing, then top with mozz cheese and mixed cheese. Then on top add the chicken and be sloppy with the franks sauce, you don't want to much but you want enough to taste. We bake it per the directions on the back of the crust like 8 minutes. It is very tasty..

I like this idea with bbq chicken (we aren't a hot wing family) Thanks!!

 

[babytrees]

Tonight is french dip sandwiches and baked potatoes.

3lb sirloin tip (crockpot all day) $6
1 packet aujus mix .50 cents
1 onion .50 cents
4 baked potatoes $1
toppings $1
sandwich rolls (1/2 pack) .75 cents
Total $9.75

Plus we will have leftovers for at least one more meal, probably a lunch also. And my kids love this and the house smells soooo good all day while it is cooking. It is as good or better than restuarants.

we love this too!!! Our problem is we like it so much that it's only one meal. But oh so tasty and cheaper than getting it at a restaurant.

We often crockpot the roast in a packet of au jus and just eat it that way...gives great flavor!!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Chicken Enchilada's made from leftover chicken cooked in crockpot with a can of cream of chicken, and a cream of mushroom. Shredded the chicken. Addd one can enchilada sauce to the remaining soup mix from the crockpot. Used enough sauce to moisten chicken. Warm shell add chicken mix, then cheese. Roll and place in 9x13 pan. Place remainder of sauce on top. Bake 350for 25 minutes. Place remainder cheese on top, back into oven for 5 minutes.

1 package 8 tortilla shells. $1.39
1 can enchilada sauce $1.25
2 packages cheese $2.00
1 can veggies $ .50
Left over rice/potatoes from the other night. One can veggies as per kids request.

But now I don't have left-overs for tomorrow, so back to the chopping board

 

[KKB]

cuz Mom invited us over for dinner!

It is so cold here tonight, soup it is. We love those Bear Creek soups---cheesy potato for tonight. Paid about $3/pouch, and usually have a bowl or 2 leftover. NOT the healthiest--it is one of the few things w/ some transfat that I just can't eliminate! But yummy! We will round it out w/ baby carrots & fresh pineapple (on sale for $2.88)

Chicken breast & lean burger are the protein mainstays at our house, since they are so cheap. I have been finding a great variety of meat at Super Target for super cheap the day before the expiration date. Bought about 6 packages of pork cutlets for $1/pkg, chuck "steaks" for $1-2/pkg, 2.5 lb. pork roast for $3. I have NEVER bought or made pork cutlets!!!! Thank goodness for Food TV network on the web!

Some fav cheap meals: (5 of us)
Turkey bacon, eggs & homemade pancakes or waffles (about $5)
Whole wheat spaghetti w/ meat sauce, salad ($6; usually some leftovers)
Chicken breasts in crock pot w/ BBQ sauce (about $6)
Whole chicken & spices in crock pot (used to get chicken at .50-.75/lb; not so much anymore, and frankly I can get a rotisserie chicken for $5)
Homemade baked chicken fingers w/ roasted potatoes ($5 or so)

 

[roadtripper]

Well, tonight's recipe is cheap, healthy and sort of easy. I made the Silver Palate cookbook recipe "Chili for a Crowd", but used ground turkey instead (only 1.49/lb at my market!)

There are lots of ingredients in this one (fresh dill!), but the easy part comes in when you realize you can freeze this in batches and use it in a pinch in so many ways-- as taco filling, over baked potatoes, etc. I haven't figured out the exact cost, but we will get MANY meals out of this, and it is a timesaver, too.

Plus, I'm now ready for some football tomorrow! Go Pats!

 

[MerryPoppins]

I haven't read the whole thread yet. Great ideas.

Tonight we had waffles with butter and syrup and sausages on the side. Yum.

 

[babytrees]

well tonight was yummy...fairly cheap...but not the healthiest

baked beans (less than $1....not sure part of Costco pack)

fried taters (about 1 lb of a 20 lb bag on sale for $1)

manwich ($1.5 for meat and $1 for manwich sauce)

half of a package of buns (30 cents....great deal on the Disney buns)

tasted so yummy on this cold day.

Have no idea for tomorrow....maybe half of a Costco chicken....or something I pull out of the air.

I need to get some stew meat for beef stroganoff....have a hankering for those

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Tonight we had turkey tacos w/ Mexican rice
2 lbs ground turkey -$2.50
Taco Bell seasoning packet $1.25
Flour Tortillias I always have the big bag from Sams so about .50 cents I'd guess
Lettuce .25 cents
tomato .50 cents
A little shredded cheese
Rice w/ chicken broth, onions and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce.
Dinner for 3 for under $10 ! And a little left over for lunch tommorow.

Tomorrow we'll have Ham Steak, Steamed Broccoli and Trader Joes Organic Shells and Cheese.
I bought a Ham last week for .99 cent a pound ($10.00) and had the butcher slice it into about 5 nice size ham steaks, which I seperated with wax paper and froze. The Ham that was left on the bone I cut off and used for Ham and Scambled eggs.
Then I gave my DM the left over shank to season Navy Bean soup. I won't touch Navy Bean or Split Pea soup so I was glad they could use it.

 

[beckanoah]

Eating spaghetti tonight!

1/2 pound 90% burger .88¢
3/4 jar spaghetti sauce 75¢ (sauce was left over from pizza sandwiches in the sandwich maker)
can of diced tomatoes .60¢
onion .30¢
can mushrooms .40¢
1# pasta 50¢

$3.43 for a meal for 3 with leftovers for at least 3 people! Yum!

 

[bellebuzzandpooh]

Today I'm making pulled pork and beans, a recipe I got from a lady at church. We had it last weekend and it was AMAZING!! So she told me her recipe, but she didn't have it written down so I hope she gave it to me correctly. We'll see. ;-)

3 lb. pork roast
can green chilis
onion
lots of cumin, salt, and garlic
7 cups of water
1 lb. rinsed dried pinto beans

She said just put these together and let it simmer for about 4 hours and it comes out fabulous! She served it with tortillas, chips, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.