Thursday, May 04, 2006

Thursday Thirteen - Cheap Meals


Thirteen Frugal Meals we make here!!
(we are a family of 6, 2 adults, a 10, 8 (who eats like she is a teen), a 4 and a 1 year old (who really does hava a HUGE appetite, ask anyone who has seen her eat!!))


1. Shepherds Pie - all you need is ground beef, enough for your family; a jar of salsa sauce; various spices that your family likes and potatoes. Cook the meat and add the sauce and spices, spread out in baking dish and top with potatoes. Serve with some salad or throw some veggies in the meat. If you have cheese sprinkle some on top. Cost for our family was $6.00.


2. Taco's - ground beef, spices and flat bread (do not buy the kits) and toppings. Cook the beef and add the spices; cut up any toppings in your fridge (we use the basics - lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and they are almost always in the fridge) some of the leftover salsa from the Shepherds Pie and some of the leftover cheese too!! Cost to our family would be $8.00


3. Boiled Chicken and Rice - My friend Cheryl taught me how to make boiled chicken. We had 5 pieces of chicken and 10 people to eat, 4 adults, my 4 kids and her 2 younger kids. So she skinned and chopped the chicken into pieces, about 3 each (legs and backs) and put them in the pot on the stove. She added all kinds of spices and bbq sauces and almost covered the chicken with water. Then it was covered and left to boil until the chicken was cooked. Take the lid off at the end so the sauce thickens. Served with rice and veggies on the side. The average cost of this meal (for the 10 of us) was $9.00 (I would have to talk to Cheryl about getting the real reacipe if someone wants it)


4. Leftover Stew - Basically for this one you just take whatever meat you have leftover - chicken, pork, beef and throw it in the crockpot or any pot and throw in some veggies, and some leftover rice or potatoes and it is done. This doesn't really cost much because it is "leftovers"


5. Noodles and Sausage Sauce - boil up the noodles and put some coin sized sausages in the frying pan. Add your tomatoe sauce I use canned crushed tomatoes and tomato paste (if you don't need the whole can scoop it all out and put the paste into ice cube trays, freeze them and then pop them out and keep them in a baggie in the freezer. When you need a little next time you don't need to open a whole can and these are great in the leftover stews too) Put in whatever spices you like, we like garlic and onions. Cost for us is about $6.00


6. Chicken a la King - Similar to the stew above. Cut up pieces of cooked chicken, throw in some frozen veggies and add water or broth and spices to your taste. Thicken it with cornstarch. This is great over a piece of bread. Average cost $7.00.
7. Pork Chops - We buy the cheapest chops when we find them and stock up. So the other day we had a pack of about 9-10 chops for $6.00. BBQ sauce also was on sale here so we stocked up on all kinds too, but when we don't have that we make our own with ketchup, mustard and a little bit of brown sugar and vinegar. Put it on top of the chops and cook them in oven to save time, serve with rice or potatoes and veggies. This costs us (on sale items) around $5.00.


8. Meatloaf - Something when you are in a crunch. We have made this with bbq sauce, both homemade and store bought, canned soups, breadcrumbs, veggies, cheese...get creative. Anything can become a meatloaf!! Average cost for our family$5.00.


9. Tuna Casserole - I know there are recipes out there for this, but I really don't use recipes often (for anything). We tend to grab whatever we have in the cupboard. Of course, there are the noodles, the veggies and I put in whatever cream soup we have on hand. Nice and quick. If you have a handful of cheese even better!! Average cost for our family $5.00


10. Spaghetti Pie - Basically just noodles and spaghetti sauce with ground meat or chopped sausages. Mix it all together and throw in the oven with a handful of cheese on top. Average cost for our family would be $4.00


11. Bean Bake - Canned pork and brown beans in tomato sauce or whatever, mixed well with brown sugar, ketchup and mustard. Put it in the oven and this is actually awesome. I don't usually care for brown beans, but this is so good. Average cost for our family $4.00


12. Homemade noodles - I think I had this recipe on my blog before. A bit of flour, water, eggs and salt and you have really, really good noodles. They are thicker then the processed ones so they fill you way better. Throw these with whatever sauce you have and it is an amazing meal!! Cost to us around $4.00 (including sauce)


13. BBQ Pork - Any kind of cheap pork roast (watch for sales) put in the crockpot with homemade or store bought bbq sauce. Let it sit there all day and just rip it apart to serve. This will do more then one meal and it is really good for sandwiches too!! I am not sure the average cost for this one for our family. But on sale, not too much!




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25 comments:

  1. Ok, There was a comment today by Feedscott. I guess I played too much with the HTML settings and it kinda screwed the blog up, so I have fixed it and his comment is at last weeks TT, for some weird reason!

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  2. Too bad about the comment lost.......but well, I'm here. And my question--when's dinner? You got me so hungry.

    My T T is published

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  3. LOve the idea for this post. I'll have to try some of these.

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  4. I love your idea for Shepherd's Pie! Never tried it before but I may this week!! :)

    Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Those are some great ideas! Thanks!
    My TT is up.

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  6. I might even be able to make some of these, and I'm kitchen retarded

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  7. OK, I am going to have to try some these!

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  8. I can't do any of those as I've got two very picky eaters. But here's one that we do that's good and pretty cheap (don't know the actual cost though.)

    Baked Bar-B-Que chicken. Take the chicken and season it with salt & pepper or your favorite chicken seasoning (we use one from DH's hometown.) Then take your favorite bar-b-que sauce and thin it with water by half (the water will evaporate while cooking and come back to it's original thickness) Place the chicken in a baking dish, cover with the sauce/water mix and bake at 425 for 20 minutes (turning at 10). Serve with rice (add beef bouillon, onion & basil while cooking) or noodles.
    You can also toss the chicken in the slow cooker, which works great for us on busy days.

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  9. Wow, great ideas! I am a terrible cook so I am always thankful for some help! I am so hungry now! Happy Thursday, my TT is up :)

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  10. Great list!!! I'm definitely coming back for some of these.

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  11. You're the queen of the dollar stretch! I am tired of my recipes and always am looking for new inspiration.

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  12. i'm bookmarking this post!!

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  13. Nothing beats a cheap meal that is yummy! Mmmm BBQ

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  14. I'm at the stage where I don't need to save on food anymore, but it's a habit and we love lots of these dishes!

    My TT is up.

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  15. I love spaghetti pie!

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  16. All these sound very familiar to growing families! Thanks for coming by.

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  17. Thanks for the ideas! Only me and my hubby, but still need dinner ideas. The Danes wish they could eat what we have though! My TT is up!

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  18. mmmmmmmm... reading your post made me hungry. lol I may just try some of those for my hubby and I sometime. I love trying new recipies. My tt is not up yet, but soon i'm working on it. :)
    Have a great day ruth!

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  19. Wow - some great tips. But I mostly only cook for 3 people. I use to stock up on meat, but I always forgot to take it out of the freezer and ended up throughing it out. So, for me it was not money saving...
    I have to try the Spaghetti Pie - sounds great. :)

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  20. Sheperds Pie is really good.

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  21. Great recipes! Have you ever tried Crockpot Sweet and sour Chicken? It is just chicken boness/skinless breasts 8, 1 8 oz bottle of Catalina salad dressing, 1 packet dry onion soup mix, and 1 10 oz jar apricot presserves. Add to crockpot and cook at least 8 hours on low. You can serve with rice or noodles.

    Great TT!!!

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  22. Sounds like our home too! We're the same way. My oldest is 12 and she tells me she doesn't like (for the Sheps pie) the mashed potatoes on top! She's learned to help me make them, so I told her she could do what she wanted with them.I'd love to learn how to make homemade noodles. It's spaghetti and Tuna Noodle casserole and Taco nite about every week.Great List.
    My TT is up!

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  23. holy comments cook woman!!!

    I love cheap meals and make the tuna one every once in a while...the kids LOVE it!!
    great list.... my TT is not up!! I don't know why but I just haven't done one in a couple of weeks!!

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  24. My TT is up too.
    I loved your list
    I use ground beef a lot (we call it mince or monced beef)
    I usually buy a lot of it and then cook batches of food and freeze and fridge so that during the week we just reheat.
    Have a good day

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