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

[Goofy'slady]

We're having Sweet 'n Sour chicken over rice. Not budgeted but very affordable.

4 skinless/boneless chicken breast
1-2 jars of Le Choy Sweet 'n Sour sauce
1 can of pineapples in natural juice drained
1 green or red pepper (optional)
1 medium size onion chopped in rather large pieces
1 tablespoon of veg oil or any cooking oil you prefer
salt & peper
1-2 bags of boil 'a bag rice

In a large frying pan or wok add 1 tbls of oil and heat
While oil is heating salt & peper your washed chicken to taste and cut into chunks
Add chicken to oil and cook til the chicken is no longer pink inside and outside is golden brown
Remove chicken from pan and place on a paper towel and rinse frying pan and wipe clean with a damp cloth.
Once pan is clean add chicken back to pan and pour Sweet 'n Sour sauce over chicken and place top on pan and let simmer.
While chicken and sauce is simmering boil water for rice
Once water is boiling add bag(s) of rice and cook for alotted time
While rice is cooking add can of pineapples to the chicken for the last few minutes of cooking time (5-10)
When rice is cooked drain & empty bag(s) of rice to a serving bowl add chicken to another serving bowl or you may wish to use the same bowl used for the rice.

Serve and enjoy!
T.

 

[Sorsha]

We are having company for dinner tonight, and I am cooking...

Roast turkey (boneless, skinless) = $11.55
Baked potatoes (7 BIG potatoes, about $5) with butter and sour cream
Buttered green beans, out of the pantry
Pumpkin pie (from Costco) = $6, with whipped cream

Grand total = $22.55, or about $3.25 per person. This will feed 7, and there will definitely be leftover turkey for sandwiches!

Have a great weekend!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

My grocery store was having a special on Thomas' English Muffins for .99 a package today..So we had one of my favorites..english muffin pizzas.

English Muffins .99
Pizza Sauce - left over from pasta night earlier in the week.
1/2 bag of shredded mozarella cheese. .80
salad: stuff already in the fridge.

 

[branv]

Saw this in America's Test Kitchen and tried it out last night. I expected it to be boring with no meat, but it was SO rich, flavorful..mmm..just tasty. DH didn't even realize there was no meat in it until I told him Errrr....not so low in calories though, but you could eat a smaller portion with a side salad.

I didn't buy any of these items on sale, used bagged cheese so the price is higher than some of you budget masters could probably get it down to. But as it is, it came out to about $1/serving.

Best of all, this uses ONE PAN. Woo-hooo!

America's Test Kitchen Skillet Baked Ziti
From the TV show, only one pan, easy clean-up and very good flavor.
SERVES 4
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups water
• 12 ounces ziti pasta (3 3/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaf, minced or 4 tsp dried basil
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Directions
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 475.
Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in 12-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet and saute over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. (If your skillet is not ovensafe, transfer the pasta mixture into a shallow 2-quart casserole dish before sprinkling with the cheese and baking).
Add crushed tomatoes, water, ziti and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until ziti is almost tender, 15-18 minutes.
Stir in cream, Parmesan, and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over ziti. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve.

 

[cntrygal]

We did breakfast for dinner tonight

pancakes, shaped like mickey, eggs quick and easy

 

[mamalle]

we are doing breakfast also for dinner. ds is on shift so its just the kids and I.

we are having scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, bacon and toast..

last night was pretty cheep for $11.00- I bought a large cheese pizza, side salad and a cup of pasta fragoli.. gotta love the $6.99 pizza nights..

 

[mom2my3kids]

We had sandwiches and chips tonight, tomorrow I am making chicken and rice. I put two whole chickens in the crock pot, add about 6-8 cut up tomatoes and a big onion cut up. Add Salt, Pepper and some garlic seasoning. Cook on low all day, cut up meat serve over cooked basmati rice..Yummyy

 

[OceanAnnie]

Staying on a roll with breakfast for dinner. We had sausage and cheese quiche. Shhhh. I added about a cup of steamed and pureed summer squash. I had prepared the squash at the end of summer. We had so much. I cooked & pureed them and put it in the freezer. (I did that with some other veggies too. Comes in handy for dishes.) And nobody knew. I couldn't even taste the secret ingredient. The quiche did take a longer to cook.

We also had yogurt and applesauce.

 

[rentayenta]

Very budget. My friend made us chicken and rice.

 

[NHWX]

We got home at 7 which is very late for us and everyone was starving.

Two unfinished boxes of pasta ($2.50), some El Fresco chicken sausages ($$ - probably $4.79 for the four sausages) and some homemade pesto (no idea on the price but we grew the basil so that's some savings). We had chocolate pudding for dessert and that was probably a $1.50 or so. Still cheaper than pizza!

NHWX

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

So great to see this thread again...

Tonight we had grilled pita sandwiches (chicken and or tuna), cottage cheese, fruit salad, and creamy cuccumber salad...

Pita's $1.99
Canned chicken & tuna $2.25
Tomato/Lettuce $.25
cottage cheese $1.00
fruit salad - leftover
cuccumber salad $1.00

$6.50 - enough tuna for DH to take for lunch tomorrow and leftover cuccumber salad....

 

[sherry7]

Subbing.

 

[Fulton Corners]

Hamburger helper (on sale + coupon), about a buck.
Hamburger meat (on sale) 7.77 for 3 lbs, used one lb, froze the other 2 for later. 2.25
Brussels sprouts with butter sauce (on sale + coupon) about 75 cents

Cost about four bucks, fed three people. Dave got seconds so no leftovers for lunch, I'm doing bologna again tomorrow.

 

[keelyhealthnut]

Woah, what a great thread!

I'm a newly married college student who will soon be graduating with a BS in nutritional science so cheap nutritious meals are what I'm all about!

Want to talk about cheap? The husband works at a Texas chain of restaurants so we get a certain amount of gift card money every month. Tonight we got some "free" hummus w/ pita, sauteed collard greens, and green beans in tomato sauce. I then made some baked falafel which probably ended up costing about $1.50. Of course I only cook for a whopping two people though!

I'm probably usually not all that budget friendly though. I'm trying, but produce sure is going up in price!!

 

[Grendalynn]

Trying to budget more and more these days.... Where I get paid bi-weekly, I am trying to do a week of big grocery shopping ($150-$180) and then the off week when justDHges paid about $100 or so... Seems to be working OK, still have to go out a few times a week for milk!

Does anyone else get anxiety when they go grocery shopping? Prices are coming down on a few (very few) things... but its still so expensive! Anyone know of any great coupon progrms out there? BEsides getting the sunday paper that is...

 

[kwhite1022]

candy chicken, stuffing, and green beans

Chicken $3.29 (4 b/s/breasts)
brown sugar -stock
garlic clove -$1.00
soy sauce - stock
sprite - .79
vingear - stock

Stuffing, spartan brand - $1
Green beans, spartan brand - .25

total: $6.83 My kids love this chicken, and then with the left overs I take BBQ sauce and make pulled chicken sandwhiches for hubbies lunch and mine.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I didn't feel like cooking tonight. So I bought Stouffer's Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake for $7. It is sooooo gooood!! I'm definitely going to get it again sometime. We had enough leftover for me to have it for lunch tomorrow. We also had corn on the cob.

 

[semo233]

Does anyone else get anxiety when they go grocery shopping? Prices are coming down on a few (very few) things... but its still so expensive! Anyone know of any great coupon progrms out there? BEsides getting the sunday paper that is...

http://afullcup.com/forums/cmps_index.php?page=coupon_generator

http://couponloop.com/id133.htm

http://couponmom.com/

http://www.couponwinner.com/

good luck!

 

[SnowWhite607]

Very budget tonight.

BBQ beef sandwiches using leftover roast from yesterday and buns from last week. Fries from half the package bought last week. Baked beans bought today for 1.42.

Quick, easy and cheap!

 

[HookdonWDW]

Tonight's Dinner:

Oven baked BBQ Chicken
Homemade Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Brussell Sprouts

Cost/person: $2.06