Ideas for super inexpensive meals?!
Answers: I'd love to hear ideas from others on super inexpensive meals - costing no more than $5 for ingredients. Thank you :)
I have a few ideas for cheap meals because I am on a limited budget for food buying. I know you didn't ask this, but I tell everyone I can about shopping at the cheaper stores such as Price Rite or Save-a-Lot, depending on where you live in the country, that are cheaper than the "chain" supermarkets. You can look at www.priceritesupermarkets.com or www.save-a-lot.com to see if there are any near you. If there are not any of these near you, do some research, there may be other stores similar to this near you.
At Price Rite, I buy stuff like 1 pound of ground turkey meat, which is just like hamburger meat when cooked, but healthier, for $1.49, and use it for two meals, instead of using 1 pound for each meal, even when a recipe calls for one pound. Stuff like hamburger helper at stores like this are cheaper (they even have their own brand for like .89).
I buy buillion cubes and try to make a lot of soups where I can combine many of the frozen vegetables I buy for dinners in the week and mix it with 1/2 pound of the turkey meat, beef buillion cubes, water, potatoes or rice and veggies (put whatever kind you like in there.) Or, if I've made a whole chicken (which you can get at these stores for around $3, and stuffing for .69), and I have leftover chicken that I cut off after we're done (try to get all the chicken off), then I use that leftover chicken for soup the next night with chicken buillion cubes, water, rice or noodles and whatever veggies you like. You can use canned instead of the frozen veggies in both of these soups, and I'm sure it would still be good. Of course, you can add regular white bread (.69 at Price Rite), buttered, to the meal to dip in the soup and it helps fill everyone up. As for the frozen veggies I'm referring to, they sell 1 pound bags of frozen veggies for like .89 to $1.19, and I can get several meals out of each bag.
You can buy potatoes at these stores for like $1.99 for a 5 pound bag, which you can use in several meals to bulk them up. One thing I do is cut them up, put either melted butter, or oil on them and sprinkle them with spices such as garlic salt, onion powder, pepper, (really whatever you like), and bake them in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, until tender. They can go with just about any "meat" meal to help fill everyone up. You can also put a potatoe in the microwave for like 5 minutes (make sure you put holes in it with a fork first), and that will bulk up meals too.
I also make a dinner where I take pizza dough (.50), spread it out on the pan, put on bologna(.89 for a 1 lb. package), or salami (about $1.50 for the package), or both, (or any other type of pre-packaged lunch meat you have and/or like) with some cheese ($2 for a package of 16 slices of American Cheese), roll it up, put butter and garlic salt on the top, and bake it in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top, and not doughy inside anymore. Slice it up, and it feeds several people. The potatoes I described earlier go good with this meal. Everything here can be used to go in the dinner, and you'll still have bologna, cheese, etc. left for other meals.
You can also make shephard's pie with 1/2 pound ground turkey meat, cooked, mixed with 1-2 cans of creamed corn. Put that in the bottom of a baking pan and spread mashed potatoes on top. I usually put american cheese on top, but you don't have to. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. Make gravy for people to put on top, if they want it. (By the way, gravy mixes are .29 to .39 at these stores.)
Pasta dishes are also a cheap option, mixing 1/2 pound of cooked ground turkey meat with tomato sauce (cheaper than pasta sauce in the jar) mixed with whatever spices you like, then mixed with spaghetti, elbows, ziti, or whatever pasta you like/have. And of course, the pasta can be left plain to be served with butter and garlic or garlic salt. Serve some frozen veggies and buttered bread on the side, and there's a meal.
Cheap hot dogs with a can or two of baked beans makes a good meal, added with mac & cheese and/or those potatoes I mentioned earlier.
Price Rite sells the boxes of Banquet Fried Chicken for $4 (with about 6-8 pieces of chicken in each.) Serve it with potatoes, rice or pasta and a veggie, and there's another meal.
I also make what I call "little pizza's". I take the buttermilk bisquits that come in the blue can in the refridgerated section(.29 at Price Rite.) I cook up 1/2 pound of turkey meat (but you can do it without the meat) and mix it with tomatoe sauce that I make myself. Put a little bit of the meat/sauce mixture, or the sauce, on each one with a little bit of velveeta, mozzarella, or american cheese on top. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes (keep an eye on it so they don't burn.) Two cans of biscuits, make 20 little pizza's, served with potatoes and a veggie. Yum!
Hope that helps!
pizza
Jerk Chicken
fast, easy, cheap, yummy, my husbands' favorite :
polish sausage, cut in chunks, start frying in a pan
drain 2 cans of baby potatoes, cut big ones in half
...............................add to pan, and fry gently
add one can of whole greenbeans, drain and add
..............................to pan, toss gently
On the side, nice hot roll and butter
don't cook yourself...go to Wal-Mart if there is one near u and grab a pack of their instant-noodles or go to supereasyrecipes.com (where i used 2 get my recipes) but i think that website expired already. Sorry.....heh-heh
My mom used to make this really delicious meal with the epitome of cheap foods; ramen noodles.
Simply stir fry some vegetables and either chicken or beef;
cook the ramen noodles according to packet;
Add the two together
It works best to add chicken to the chicken ramen noodles, and beef to the beef flavored ramen.
I started going to a meal assembly kitchen called Dinner Done. Not sure where you live but there are other similar businesses such as Let's Dish and Corner Cuisine. At these businesses they set up stations for each dish and have the ingredients chopped, all you do is show up to assemble the meal. Price per serving can be as low as a few dollars and it only takes me an hour or so to assemble a bunch of dishes.
There are So many but it also depends on your Family Size we are a family of 6 So its alittle Harder .Some of the things I fix are :
Hamburger helper With Sides of Green beans and mashed potatoes (1lb hamburger 2.50,Hamburger helper 1.00, Can of Beans .50 box of instant potatoes 1.00)
Hot dogs and Macaroni and Cheese and A veggie
(hot dogs .80 Mac and cheese 1.00, Veggies 1.00)
Spaghetti and meat sauce
(1lb box of Spaghetti 1.00 ,2 cans of Hunts spaghetti sauce 1.80, 1 lb hamburger2.00)
There are allot more to believe me I am always looking for Cheap ways to make supper
You can do spaghetti with meat sauce. One pound of ground beef is like $2-3, a box of noodles is $1, and a generic brand of spaghetti sauce can be found for $1 (even sauces with vegetables in it). Cook the meat like you would for tacos (I usually chop up onions to add flavor, or you can use onion powder)... when it's done, drain the fat and add it to the sauce. Serve it with whatever style noodles you want. Voila!
You can make eggs with bacon and pancakes.
You can also make chicken fried rice with vegetables. You will need a pack of boneless chicken breasts that you will cut up into small cubes, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, rice, vegetable oil, and whatever spices you want to use. (I use a lot of onions, curry, red pepper because we like spicy food, and salt.) First heat up the oil (about 1/2-1 inch) and add the onions and spices with the chicken. Boil the rice and vegetables (I do them together) and add more spices for a lot of flavor. When the rice and veggies are done, just add it to the chicken. You can cook whatever amount you want, but a small amount to feed about 4 people should cost between $5-10 unless you need to buy spices too.
any kind of meat/poultry and a can of cream of mushroom soup. then all you do is cook a pot of rice.
saute the meat/poultry in a skillet on both sides and then pour the can of soup over it. put a lid on it and let it simmer for 15-25 minutes until tender. you can also throw in a few veggies that you may have on hand too. (onions, baby carrots, or bell peppers)
Buy a roast chicken serve steamed veggies. use leftovers in quesldas, soup or make a chicken pasta. I do the same with leftover beef Roast you can always freeze the leftover meat for later dishes.At least once a week I do a veggie omelet and toast dinner.I keep frozen spinach and onions and peppers.
This is a great one for summer months, and usually uses ingredients found in the kitchen. It will probably cost about $3.00 for noodles and tuna and will make a really big batch. The rest of the ingredients you will probably have around the house already.
Cold Tuna Mac
1 box or bag of pasta (use elbow, shells, mini penne, etc...)
1-2 cans of tuna, to your preference
Mayo
Mustard
Relish
Chopped/Minced Garlic
Chopped Onions
Hard Boiled Eggs
Salt/Pepper and other spices or herbs
Make the pasta according to package directions then drain and run under cold water until cooked pasta has cooled.
Drain tuna and place in mixing bowl with a little mayo and mustard, your seasonings and any or all of the ingredients you want to use. You can use any or all of the ingredients or substitute whatever you have in the pantry or refrigerator - artichoke hearts, celery, parmesan cheese - just about whatever you like.
Add the pasta and stir to combine. You may need to add more mayo - start light with the mayo and add it to taste. Add more salt/pepper if you like and let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours or overnight.
This will make a big batch and you will have plenty to feed a family and have leftovers. This is a great summer dish.