Recipes for the poor?!
Answers: Ok well I'm not exactly poor, but I have a lot of bills and don't have much left over for food. I love cooking but cannot afford many of the ingrediants used in most recipes (the ingrediants that usually make it taste great). Anyone have recipes for someone who doesn't have much more than the super basics in the kitchen??
Chicken and dumplings which is just a 1/2 bag of frozen chicken thighs (The cheapest kind of chicken there is) boiled up w/ some salt, pull the meat from the bones, you can throw in some potatoes and onion if you can afford it but if not, it's still good. And then throw in some dumplings made from flou,r salt, shortening and water. Cheap and easy.
pasta and sauce
beans and cornbread - just cook up the beans, add a can of tomato, some onion if you like and salt. The boxes of Jiffy cornbread are just 32 cents or so.
Cowboy cornbread - It's a can or 2 of ranch style beans (like 50 cents a piece) a box of the jiffy cornbread, a can of corn, some hamburger and some cheese and hot sauce if you like. Just mix up everything but the cornbread in a cake or bundt pan and pour the prepared cornbread on top, cook for the amount of time it states on the cornbread box.
hotdogs- you can get a package of Jennie o turkey hotdogs for 80 cents and a package of buns or just a 45 cent loaf of bread, put on some ketchup and mustard.
Chicken Ala King - bread with some cream of chicken spread on top and microwaved for 45 seconds or until hot. It's actually quite good!
Ramen noodles or the cup o' ramen
The store brand of hamburger helper is easy and cheap. Or you could do your own version by buying your noodles in bulk, measuring out a cup and a 1/2 of noodles and cooking them up, add hamburger (cooked) and a dollop or 2 of sour cream w/ salt to taste. You can get about 8-10 meals out of just those ingredients if you buy in bulk.
I like to buy a huge bag of chicken tenders and cook up a couple pieces at a time and throw in some rice and veggies w/ some soy sauce. That is a cheap meal and by buying a whole bag of the frozen chicken breast tenders (the uncooked kind) It will generally last me a whole month and it only costs 9 bucks for the bag.
Rice mixed up with some broccoli and cream of chicken
Enchiladas made with some wolf chili, corn tortillas and processed cheese. I layer them in a pan and can get about 10 meals out of 1 huge bag of tortillas and 1 big block of cheese
Anyway, if you try hard enough, you can come up with any kind of cheap combo and it isn't hard on the budget at all. I hope this helps you, good luck!
I hear you girlfriend!
I made home made marinara, it would have been cheaper to by the stuff in the jar.
Pasta is cheap. Frozen veggies are cheap.
That's about it. lol!
Why is it that foods good for you are expensive?
Seems like a conspiracy doesn't it?!?!
My favorite place to go is to www.allrecipes.com for recipes. The recipes have been rated and also there are reviews for each one. People tell how they use this and that (other than what the orginal recipe called for) in the recipes. Worth checking out.
Your questions is pretty vague... You may want to list some of the basics that you keep in the fridge..
If you have
eggs, milk, bread, (french toast)
If you have some veggies (omlette)
If you have some chicken/veggies (soup)
If you have flour, eggs, milk, baking soda/powder (pancakes)
It just depends what you have in the fridge !
Good luck
my favorite cheap food is pasta soup. Buy the cheap mexican pastas, they usally cost about $0.35 each. Take the pasta and fry in a little oil until browned. The add water tomato sauce a little cumin and salt. You can add pinto beans too. It tastes great.
Beef strogonoff. Just get some cheap, but quality beef, add mushrooms, onion and sour cream. Serve with a jacket spud.
Sausage Surprise. 2 or 3 sausages, chopped. One tin of tom soup and frozen peas.
Part cook enough rice for yourself then add the other ingredients plus 1 can full of water. Cook in oven until rice has absorbed the liquid.
Sweet and sour chicken. A piece of cooked chicken, diced. Add a jar of sauce and heat through. All Done!
Get a slow cooker and make some chili .
Mealoaf is easy and always cheap.
Meatballs
Or make stuff cabbage or Peppers ::
Rice , ground beef , maybe onions and tomato sauce .
Cook rice,ground beef and prepare green peppers for stuffing . mix ground beef, rice and onions and pour tomato sauce on top together cook in large pot and stew on meduim flame for about 25 min. .
Sheppard's pie :
Ground meat
Cheese
Mashed potaoes--cooked
Layer bottom pan with seasoned ground meat---cook in oven till half done
Layer sliced cheese on top then layer mashed potatoes on top...throw in oven until cheese is melted....Delicious and affordable!
Seasoning salt
pepper
evaporated milk
sugar
rice
meat..chicken is cheap (but not wings)so is turkey(wings ARE cheap)
pasta
lettuce
eggs
ramen noodles
tuna
chili/taco mixes
cheese bags.
Good luck...
recepies are going to depend on your dietary needs.
Just stick to the basics:D...
and look here...
http://www.cheapcooking.com/
pasta with a little garlic and oil, some salt, egg omelet with cheese and parsley, salt, pepper, toasted bread with a melted cheese and tomato-again, a little garlic wont hurt it. steamed rice with melted cheese on top, baked beans and rice, some chopped green onion..green onion is good with all of this above
Rice is super cheap, and you can flavor it with just about anything. Throw in some split peas or beans, a little tomato sauce, seasoning to taste...it's fairly balanced nutrition, and the price is hard to beat.
If you like southern cooking, red beans and rice is a staple.
aaahhhhh!!!! Good ol Hambuger Helper lol
Any recipe can be enhanced with concentrated lemon juice ("real lemon"), garlic powder, and other dried herbs...Buy store brands of staples dried herbs and spices (fresh more expensive) like chili powder, cayenne pepper, leaf oregano, mixed Italian herbs and comino, ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice. These basics will help you get started. Always buy the straight herb or spice, blends are more costly and sometimes filled with salt for the same price. At first, check dollar store or clearance stores for discount prices, make sure no salt or sugar is added tho. to boost your buck. Later when more able, add other spices to your cabinet. Also spend a little more (better grades) on replacements, and expanding variety, you don't have to do it all at once.
Use a basic cook book like Cuilinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic. It is in new versions at big book stores but older versions are in antique or resale stores for very cheap. It was (when we were so poor starting out) and still is my cooking bible. Has a very good section on budget cooking, and teaches basics that will help you stretch your dollar.
I like to make this because its stuff that I already have and its pretty fast.. however I dont have a recipe I put just enough seasoning to where I like it.. so feel free to change it up a bit to what you like..
(Also I dont know how many you are cooking for.. I have a family of 3 and this feeds us most of the time theres no leftovers)
1lb Ground Beef
4 med potatoes
1 can (small one) of tomato sauce
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Lemon Pepper
Salt and Pepper
Brown meat in large sauce pan, season with salt and pepper, then drain. While meat is cooking you can peel the potatoes and cut them in to 1/2 inch cubes. After draining the meat, return it to the pan add the potatoes, tomato sauce, water and season with garlic powder, and lemon pepper. Bring to light boil, reduce the heat to simmer. Cover. Stir occasionally, you can add more water if needed to make sure the potatoes are done. Cook until the potatoes are done.. this can be sort of a stew/soup.. you can have the 'juice' as thick as you would like.. if you like it thinner then add a little water, if you like it thicker then cook it a little bit longer.
Sometimes I add a can of whole kernel corn (drained) just to change it up.
Its good with cornbread or flour tortillas.
If you like onion then you can chop some onion up and brown it with the meat it really gives the meat a good flavor.
Good Luck
YES.... CHEAP AND EASY....
1 BOX OF ANY PASTE YOU LIKE I LIKE TO USE ROTINI PRIMAVERA 99 CENTS OR LESS
1 JAR OF RAFU CLASSIC ALFREDO 1.99 TO 2.29
AND BROCCLI
COOK THE THE BROCCLI AND ADD IT ALL TOGETHER
SALT AND SOME SHREDED CHEESE OF YOUR CHOISE
ITS GOOD AND CHEAP IF YOU LIKE BROCCLI AND ALFRDO SAUCE!!
When I was a single mom we had something with hamburger in it every other day. I made lots of soups, baked beans, stews, pasta dishes, hash, Spanish rice, stuff like that. If you type in hamburger, you'll get lots of recipes using that. The rest you can just look up and print out. Eggs are a bargain at about 17 cents each and you can do lots with them. Good luck.
I have been making these:
spaghetti and meat
hotdogs and macaroni and cheese
chili
homemade vegetable soup
pasta salad
tuna salad
Katie,
You need to find a discount grocery store. The prices at these are about 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the chain brand stores and they have lots of spices and possibilities very Cheap. Many items will be brand names you are used to a lower cost. If someone in your family is a US military employee, have them take you shopping at their Commisary.Below are a couple of examples of the ones you can shop at on your own.
http://www.groceryoutlets.com/
http://www.wincofoods.com/
Check out in the library a book called the Tightwad Gazette..it has lots of recipes..here are some links too.
Cheap, frugal Recipes
http://www.betterbudgeting.com/frugalrec... (scroll down)
http://www.frugalrecipes.com/modules.php...
http://www.miserlymoms.com/MOMfrecipes1....
http://www.miserlymoms.com/MOMfrecipes2....
http://www.miserlymoms.com/MOMfrecipes3....
http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?b... (mamma’s fast and frugal recipes)
http://www.livingonadime.com/free-recipe...
Poor Man's Stew
Ingredients:
1 roll pork sausage
either canned, diced potatoes or regular potatoes
1 can of corn
1 onion, diced
1 can tomatoes, diced
Put all together and let cook for 30 minutes. (45 minutes if using raw potatoes)
Yum-a-Setta
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 Tbs. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 can tomato soup, undiluted
1 16 oz. package wide noodles
1/2 pound white American cheese slices
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
Brown ground beef, add onion,brown sugar and sesonings. Cook till onion is tender. Add tomato soup.
Cook noodles as per package directions and drain. Add chicken soup to noodles.Add a little milk and some salt and pepper to noodles.Layer meat mixture and noodle mixture in a casserole dish with American cheese between layers top with cheese layer.
This recipe makes two casseroles. It is also great for freezing before baking for easy meals in the future. It is also excellent for freezing individual casseroles. Just thaw and bake.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.
Try looking through this free E-book, it's got 490 award winning recipes.