Your best frugal recipes

[Alexle2007]

I can cook dried beans just fine. But have hack time cooking rice right. Can you post the easy instructions on cooking dried rice.

DH is from Vietnam and taught me how to steam rice on the stove. Equal parts rice and water in a pot. Turn on high and boil until most of the water is gone, only stirring occasionally. Once most of the water is gone, put lid on and "steam" on low. Again, only stirring occasionally. At this point, I just let it steam for like 30 minutes or so. (I think.) I just look for it to be fluffy. Turns out perfect every time!

 

[ericstac]

Box of spaghetti, $.88
Can of traditional deal monte spaghetti sauce, $.92
5 slices of bread, $.45

$2.25 for a family of five

Add a dollar for a can of tuna for protein if needed lol

 

[pampam]

chttp://lbvfs.com/Orlando-Outlet-Free-Shopping-Shuttle.cfm

it makes me happy to read all the recopies here that use dried beans because that means people actually know how to prepare them. it never ceases to amaze me when I encounter someone (not an inexperienced cook) who doesn't know how to. the food bank that was located in the social services building I worked in had so many hungry people who would decline taking dried beans because they just didn't know how to prepare them that we finally made up a printed sheet that went into each bag with easy soaking/boiling instructions (we also had to do this to some extent with rice-there are those who REALY do not understand that it doesn't take a rice cooker to make rice).

We had a lady return a bag of rice to the food bank, explaining that it was too hard for her children to chew. Well, at least she returned it instead of throwing the rice away.


An easy way to save money with beans is to buy the dried beans, soak them overnight, drain, cook (I use my slow cooker ), drain again, cool and bag into baggies to freeze. If you normally use canned beans, portion the beans out into about 1 3/4 cups per bag. It
is as convenient as canned beans, and a lot cheaper.

 

[crazelion]

DH is from Vietnam and taught me how to steam rice on the stove. Equal parts rice and water in a pot. Turn on high and boil until most of the water is gone, only stirring occasionally. Once most of the water is gone, put lid on and "steam" on low. Again, only stirring occasionally. At this point, I just let it steam for like 30 minutes or so. (I think.) I just look for it to be fluffy. Turns out perfect every time!

I will try this method of cooking rice. thank you

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Leanne Brown wrote the $4/day cookbook "Good and Cheap". I have always been pretty good at stretching my food dollars, but this gave me tons of inspiration.

https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0...xd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

 

[worm761]

The most frugal meal that we make is a south Indian dish called rasam. It's like a soup with tomatoes that you serve over rice. It's really nice on cold day or when you are sick. We eat it a couple times a month. There are a lot of frugal Indian recipes that are also pretty healthy because they are vegetarian.

Would you mind sharing both the rasam and some of the other Indian recipes or where you find them? Please and thank you!

Leanne Brown wrote the $4/day cookbook "Good and Cheap". I have always been pretty good at stretching my food dollars, but this gave me tons of inspiration.

https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0...xd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

Thank you for sharing this!

 

[barkley]

Would you mind sharing both the rasam and some of the other Indian recipes or where you find them? Please and thank you!

second request for this-LOVE INDIAN FOOD (but have never tried cooking from scratch).

 

[AquaDame]

I have an older version of this:

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-...2560129&sr=1-2&keywords=zojirushi+rice+cooker

But we eat a lot of rice!

Me too, but I certainly did not pay that much for it! It was cheaper at the Asian market in my city. Also I asked for it for xmas when I was in college.... I REALLY love plain medium grain rice.

I'd also love to see the indian recipes! We recently made a completely vegan Indian meal without noticing until later that my husband and I were over the moon for. I want to try lots more! :3

My go to cheap meals are pretty basic and cheat so I am not sure if they are useful but...

Tuna Noodle
Box of mac n' cheese - whatever is on sale
can of tuna
frozen peas
italian seasoning (we always have it around but any blend really)
dash of cayenne for a kick.

Ramen Fancied
Ramen packet made normally (though I do toss out half the broth after its done since I don't need it personally)
Add an egg, tofu, bits of meat, greens, whatever you have on hand to fill it out. We do it enough that we have fish cake & seaweed on hand, but spinach and kale have worked well and I love to chop up a green onion and use frozen corn it it too. One bowl will often feed the two of us but sometimes I want more noodles so I make my own.

Breakfast sandwiches
Bagel, Chick'n patty cream cheese and spinach or
Kings Hawaiian buns with a fried egg and spam. Yes spam. My family likes it and one slice really does go a long way flavor wise.... no veggies in that one usually. Hope you had a salad for lunch!

Chili & rice.. can of chili on sale, scoop of rice.

Poor man's meal (from that depression era lady that is on youtube..!)
Chopped onion
Chopped potatoes
Sliced hot dogs or brats
Couple spoons of tomato sauce (could try ketchup?)
A little water

She just starts frying the potatoes then onions then weenies and then the sauce and water towards the end to make a little sauce.

 

[tzolkin]

The key to frugal meals for us is knowing the best prices for items and only buying them when they are on sale. If you only purchase things when they are a very good deal, you can cut the cost of a meal in half (or more).

Our go-to item if we have nothing planned are mini pizzas because we always have the ingredients on hand and they take 5 minutes to put together and less than 10 minutes to cook. We make them with the small tortillas and I buy shredded cheese B2G3 so it's only $1.20 per bag. Maybe $3-4 for the whole family, so way cheaper and faster than buying something prepared. You can even just make one or two in the toaster oven for an individual lunch or my kids can make their own snack.
- Mexican Pizza: arrange tortillas on cookie sheets, spread refried beans (we prefer refried black beans) with spatula, add taco sauce (optional) and cheese. Bake until crispy/melty. Top with sour cream, salsa, olives, chives, etc or eat them plain.
- Another option we do is pesto and cheese with whatever toppings (salami, olives, peppers, etc).

We moved to another state and grocery prices are higher. We eat meat, but in some dishes I will use it more for the flavor rather than the main ingredient. A few examples are:
- Cheesy chicken and brown rice-- Depending on what I have, I may just finely shred one chicken breast. My kids prefer to load their bowl up with broccoli and care much less about the chicken
- Beans & Cornbread-- I use just a tiny bit of ham chopped finely and browned in the pot just to add flavor before cooking the beans. It's not a meat meal, but it has the heartiness and taste.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Chicken and noodles
Using a crockpot
Put a meals worth of chicken breast into crockpot
Cover with 1 can cream of chicken soup and one jar chicken gravy (I also add chicken broth or 1 water 1 cup)
Cook about 6 hours on low
Cook egg noodles and serve chicken over noodles
Add a vegetable on the side

Is the chicken raw when you put it in the crockpot? This sounds great and easy. Now I just need to find a substitute for the cream of chicken soup as my son is dairy free. I know the rest of the family would love this! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TwoMisfits]

Is the chicken raw when you put it in the crockpot? This sounds great and easy. Now I just need to find a substitute for the cream of chicken soup as my son is dairy free. I know the rest of the family would love this! Thanks for sharing!

If you save and use bacon fat, make a 3-4TB roux with bacon fat and flour and then add a can of broth and bring to a boil before adding to this recipe...should give you the flavor, creaminess, and mouth feel you'll need for the cream of chicken without any dairy fat...

 

[North of Mouse]

South LA gal here - just can't go wrong with good ole red beans/sausage over rice (like jsmla said) - grew up with them and still love them often.
Economical, good for you and even very good even without the sausage IMO.

 

[barkley]

Poor man's meal (from that depression era lady that is on youtube..!)
Chopped onion
Chopped potatoes
Sliced hot dogs or brats
Couple spoons of tomato sauce (could try ketchup?)
A little water

ketchup would work-it can substituted for tomato sauce. 'ketchup soup' was frequently a cheaply/on the sly free gotten meal in diners during the depression-a person would go in and order hot tea. when the waitress brought the little pot of hot water w/the tea bag on the side the customer would pocket the tea bag for later, pour plain hot water into their cup and take advantage of the ketchup, salt and pepper on the tables to make a mock tomato soup. if they were really lucky they were at a diner that also had containers of saltine crackers on the table.

you've reminded me of a couple of things my mom prepared for her/dad when I was growing up-they were definitely 'poor man's' food items they consumed during the depression:

'graveyard stew' (name came from post depression ww2 when it's popularity increased w/shipyard workers doing the graveyard shift for it's ease to make when they got home from their shift)-

toasted slice of bread crumbled into warm milk and seasoned with salt and pepper (mom said it was a popular dinner meal to give to kids b/c the warmed milk helped them go to sleep despite relatively empty stomachs).

'mustard salad'

a chopped up boiled potato or left over mashed potatoes, 'crunch' (whatever crunchy veg you might have a little piece of-growing up in our house it was usually raw chunks of onion), mixed with a generous heap of yellow mustard and heavily seasoned with pepper.

Cheesy chicken and brown rice-- Depending on what I have, I may just finely shred one chicken breast. My kids prefer to load their bowl up with broccoli and care much less about the chicken

this is one of dd's go-to meals with her crockpot. she will make up a batch to have dinner and several day's worth of lunches. she recently tried using zataran's caribbean rice in it-said the little pineapple chunks were a nice addition.

 

[AquaDame]

ketchup would work-it can substituted for tomato sauce. 'ketchup soup' was frequently a cheaply/on the sly free gotten meal in diners during the depression-a person would go in and order hot tea. when the waitress brought the little pot of hot water w/the tea bag on the side the customer would pocket the tea bag for later, pour plain hot water into their cup and take advantage of the ketchup, salt and pepper on the tables to make a mock tomato soup. if they were really lucky they were at a diner that also had containers of saltine crackers on the table.

you've reminded me of a couple of things my mom prepared for her/dad when I was growing up-they were definitely 'poor man's' food items they consumed during the depression:

'graveyard stew' (name came from post depression ww2 when it's popularity increased w/shipyard workers doing the graveyard shift for it's ease to make when they got home from their shift)-

toasted slice of bread crumbled into warm milk and seasoned with salt and pepper (mom said it was a popular dinner meal to give to kids b/c the warmed milk helped them go to sleep despite relatively empty stomachs).

'mustard salad'

a chopped up boiled potato or left over mashed potatoes, 'crunch' (whatever crunchy veg you might have a little piece of-growing up in our house it was usually raw chunks of onion), mixed with a generous heap of yellow mustard and heavily seasoned with pepper.





this is one of dd's go-to meals with her crockpot. she will make up a batch to have dinner and several day's worth of lunches. she recently tried using zataran's caribbean rice in it-said the little pineapple chunks were a nice addition.

Wow thank you for all that! I love learning little details such as these that you just can't get from a history book..! It makes me so sad that this generation is slowly moving on and we are going to lose so much of our collective memory.

 

[Minnesota!]

A good one is a spaghetti squash, cooked in a home made tomato sauce. I just take those Campanaro tomatoes (get the tub of them at Costco), throw in a big bowl, and use my immersion blender on them. Toss in some EVOO, crushed red pepper, some s&p, some Italian seasoning, grated parm, and onion powder.

Start skillet with a little more EVOO, some garlic, and whatever veg you have (carrots, celery, onion). Throw blended sauce in. When boiling, I throw in a little cream based something - sour cream, cream cheese, etc.

Cook the spaghetti squash in the microwave or oven. Scrape out the "noodles", toss the noodles in the skillet sauce and serve.

Makes SO much. You can add meatballs, pepperoni, etc. Whatever protein you want.

Omelets are versatile, too. Whatever leftovers you have, toss in an egg bake or an omlette - instant success and retooling of your on hand ingredients

 

[jenniy122]

Two of my favorites are Lemon Rice and Chicken Noodle Soup.

Bulk bag of brown rice
Big bottle of lemon juice
Lemon pepper seasoning
optional- a little pat of butter, parm cheese (these also bought in bulk)

cook rice according to directions. add enough lemon juice to flavor. lemon pepper until visible throughout when stirred. if rice is too sticky, add butter. if too liquidy, add cheese.


Family pack of chicken wings/thighs/dark meat
Celery
Onion
Carrots
Pastina
1 carton chicken stock
Pepper

Put all the chicken in a 6 qt crock pot and cover with water. Toss in 1 peeled carrot, 1 celery stalk, and half the onion. Let it go on low for 6-8 hours. Pull out the chicken parts and let them cool awhile. In the meantime strain the stock you just made into a 8 qt pan, add the container of stock, and set aside. Peel the carrots and then chop all veggies to your desired size. Shread the cool enough to handle chicken. Based on the time on your pasta box, either start your noodles or celery and onions first (need about 10 mins), then throw in the carrots (7 mins), the chicken, pepper,

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I can cook dried beans just fine. But have hack time cooking rice right. Can you post the easy instructions on cooking dried rice.

I never use minute rice - always regular plain rice (not brown - it takes too long to cook).

I was taught to use a 2-to-1 ratio of water to rice. For the 4 of us, I usually do 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice. Bring the water to a boil and add the rice and salt, cover and reduce heat to med-low or low. I don't want it to stop simmering, so I keep an eye on it to make sure it is still cooking. I don't open the lid if I don't have to and never stir it. Sometimes I have to open it and let some steam escape so it doesn't boil over. It takes about 20 minutes to be done.

 

[Debbie]

I never use minute rice - always regular plain rice (not brown - it takes too long to cook).

I was taught to use a 2-to-1 ratio of water to rice. For the 4 of us, I usually do 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice. Bring the water to a boil and add the rice and salt, cover and reduce heat to med-low or low. I don't want it to stop simmering, so I keep an eye on it to make sure it is still cooking. I don't open the lid if I don't have to and never stir it. Sometimes I have to open it and let some steam escape so it doesn't boil over. It takes about 20 minutes to be done.

Agreed on the Minute Rice. I do mine similar with the 2 to 1 ratio. I bring to a boil the water, rice and salt. Once it is at a true rolling boil. I cover and remove from the heat for 20 minutes. As long as I haven't lifted the lid, the rice is usually perfectly ready. I did have a rice cooker, but I prefer this method.

 

[katclicks]

Mahamata (I think that's the spelling) red beans and rice mix ($1.50), hillshire turkey sausage ($2.50 on sale) and jiffy corn bread as a side ($.33). I can feed my family of 4 this meal for about $1.25 pp and its filling and pretty healthy and easy to make!

 

[Vernie822]

Chili. We shop at Aldi and I recently got ground turkey on sale. Ground turkey, 3 types of beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and some diced chiles = less than $10 for a whole batch.