Cheap Recipes???

[Hellenic_Witch]

I'm on the lookout for good, cheap dinner ideas that my kids will actually like! If I serve sloppy joes one more time I might have a mutiny on my hands!!! I'm trying very hard to stick to a strict budget and keep costs down. Anyone have any recipes to share?

[Ceres]

my favorite: mexican chicken crockpot.
2 lbs chicken thighs, 1/4 cup salsa, 2 cloves garlic chooped, 4 tbsp oinion chopped, 1 jalapeno pepper chopped, 2 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp cumin and salt.
remove skin from chicken and place in crockpot. mix the rest of ingredients in and stir to coat. cook 4 hrs on high till meat shred off bone and serve in tacos, on quesadillas or in burritos.

cheapest and healthiest recipe: Spanish Rice with beans
1 tsp oil 1 cup of rice (brown if u like it) 1 small chopped onion chopped, 1 clove garlic chopped, 1 green pepper chopped, 2.5 cups water, 1 can black beans (or whatever kind u have) 1.5 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp paprika 1 tsp cumin i can pizza sauce (or 3/4 cup whatever tomato sauce i have on hand)
heat oil in large pot and fry onion, pepper, garlic and rice. fry till rice is golden brown and then stir in remaining ingredients and bring to boil. cook 20 mins on low, covered, stirring occasionally until rice is tender. tasty topped with sour cream if u have it.

[Yvonne Belisle]

If you have an instant messenger IM me and we can go over a list of questions about the types of foods you like and design some inexpensive meals from them. I have managed to feed a family of 11 on 400$ a month and less sometimes but have found all the recipes in the world don't help if you don't like the ingredients.

[Flar's Freyja]

Oh, hi, Yvonne!

Have you ever tried English Muffin pizzas? Very easy and cheap to fix and healthier than frozen pizzas, IMO. My kids used to love them.

I also used to make a huge pot of chili. We'd have chili one night, and then make taco salad out of the leftovers.

My kids love pasta, so we made a lot of variations there. They loved goulash and I'd use different shapes of pasta to make it interesting. Again, healthier than spaghettio's and I believe it's probably cheaper.

And we didn't believe that we had to stick to tradition....we didn't have time for more than cereal for breakfast during the week, so every now and then we had pancakes for supper!

[Yvonne Belisle]

Cereal is great for snacks! Dry cereal is something I have trouble keeping in the house my kids use it as breakfast and snack material. Nice to see you on line Freya. :)

[Flar's Freyja]

*nods* We did lots of cereal snacks, and those cereals that come in big bags instead of boxes is just as good and significantly cheaper. Just be sure to put it in airtight containers and if your kids are picky, don't let 'em see the bags and they'll be none the wiser.

When I left my ex for the first time and stayed with my sister, we used to fry store brand frozen french fries in oil (you can do that and they're better than in the oven) with sliced hot dogs. Made a ton of food for very little money. Of course you can also use fresh potatoes.

[Yvonne Belisle]

If she has an Aldi's near her she can also buy ground turkey much cheaper than beef and substitute it with seasoning it tastes just as good and it is better for them. There are so many factors lol and options. Chicken because it is a cheaper meat will be her friend in the meat department as will some cuts of pork if she likes them.

[atropa]

There's a recipe that my Meemaw used to make. She called it pinwheels.

Pinwheels
1 lb of ground beef or turkey
some chopped onion
bisquick or hand made biscuit dough

Brown the beef with the onion and some garlic powder, etc. Make the dough and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick. Spread the crumbled beef on top of the rolled out dough. The beef MUST be cooled before spreading it out. Next roll up the meat inside the dough like a jelly roll and slice it into 2 or 3 inch think slices. Put them on a baking sheet and bake them at 425 until the dough is nice and brown. I make a gravy out of a can of mushroom soup and a half can of milk. I made it tonight as a matter of fact with mashed potatoes and green beans.

There's also a site called miserlymoms.com that has some great cheap recipes.

[Hellenic_Witch]

OK here's some ingredients that my kids like: chicken, pork (especially pork chops) and they will eat ground beef, but to tell the truth I've used it so much lately that I think I should lay off of it for a while.
I like the English muffin pizza idea! That's great! And they eat cheerios as a snack alot.
When I buy chicken I've been buying mainly leg quarters because they're cheaper. I will usually cut them and fry them or just bake them. Any other suggestions? I've also started baking more so that they will have cookies in their lunch boxes instead of store bought snacks.

I also like the ground turkey suggestion. Any recipes (perhaps a casserole) for ground turkey?

[Hellenic_Witch]

There's a recipe that my Meemaw used to make. She called it pinwheels.

Pinwheels
1 lb of ground beef or turkey
some chopped onion
bisquick or hand made biscuit dough

Brown the beef with the onion and some garlic powder, etc. Make the dough and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick. Spread the crumbled beef on top of the rolled out dough. The beef MUST be cooled before spreading it out. Next roll up the meat inside the dough like a jelly roll and slice it into 2 or 3 inch think slices. Put them on a baking sheet and bake them at 425 until the dough is nice and brown. I make a gravy out of a can of mushroom soup and a half can of milk. I made it tonight as a matter of fact with mashed potatoes and green beans.

There's also a site called miserlymoms.com that has some great cheap recipes.

Oh, that sounds good! I will be trying that!

[Yvonne Belisle]

Anything you would use ground beef in you can use ground turkey. There are so many choices it is hard to pick where to start.

Lets see with chicken there are tons of ways to do this.

Put your chicken in a pan add chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms or any other veggie you have on hand. Toss in a can of cream of mushroom, or any other cream soup. Bake in the oven and serve on rice or pasta or serve it with a baked potato.

Use left over chicken in spaghetti sauce or alfredo sauce on pasta.

With winter coming get a crock pot if you don't already have one these things are great. I have more than one of them. Cheap cuts of meat that are normally tough come out melting in these things and you can start it in the morning and have it finished when you get home.

Toss any meat into the bottom of the crock. Add your veggies they will turn to mush if you have to add them at the begining but they still taste great. I prefer to add the veggies about two hours before the food is served. Season your meat it will have a stronger flavor since it is having the flavor slowly cooked in but reserve half your seasonings for thirty minutes before serving. You can put meat in there and toss in a jar of barbeque sauce and get the most wonderful sandwitches or pasta or rice filling out of it. Barbeque pork goes great in rice or pasta as a main dish. Chili is wonderful in the crock too as is any stew or soup.

Get yourself a good sized pot and add leftover meats and a bag or two of mixed veggies and make a hobo stew. Basically toss whatever you have in the house in there then season to taste.

Remember with kids sometimes a boring meal can be made more fun by the little extra's you do. Toss I love you notes in their lunch that tells them how you feel about them. Finding that will be a great pick up in their day. Having hot dogs and macaroni and cheese toss veggies in the macaroni or salsa. Dress up as if you are camping and have a pretzle stick fire in the middle of the table with a jar of cheese dip to dip them in. Even with older kids this stuff can be fun. If you are baking more get a varitey of cookie cutters at thrift shops and make themes for the week with them. You can cut buiscuts with them then bake for unique sandwitches. Or you can take food coloring and lightly paint the edge of a cookie cutter and press it to someone's sandwitch without cutting to leave an edible design. The more creative you are with things like this the less they will notice that sometimes you are using the same basic meal.

Any good meal is protien, veggies and a starch. That protien can be meat or fish or beans. Mix and match from the foods you like then see where you can go with them.

[Hellenic_Witch]

Thanks Yvonne, all of those suggestions are perfect! I need to get a good crock pot, I've never really used one before.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Check out your local thrift shops. A lot of people don't realize how wonderful those things are and put new or nearly new ones in the donation bin. You can also pick them up cheap at Walmart.

Something fun to do is take a pack of bamboo squewers and a can or two of baked beans and a pack of hot dogs. Put your beans in the crock. Then you want to add chopped onions and peppers. cut your hot dogs into thirds and add them as well. You can toss in some tomato paste but it really isn't needed a spoon of spicy mustard on the other hand can add a nice counter taste to it. Let that cook in your crock pot then use the squewers on the hotdogs and serve it in metal pie plates with biscuts. It makes a fun dinner you can use bandana's for the napkins and sing range songs. Maybe finish out the evening with a western movie for fun. If you do this in the summer a rousting game of shoot out with water guns is a great way to close out an evening.

[Ceres]

anything made with beans is incredibly cheap and healthy. if u serve them with a whole grain as in whole grain bread or rice, it forms a complete protein at a fraction of the price of meat. my spanish rice recipe is like that. there are lots of bean dip recipes around - as long as u combine them with a grain, they are as healthy or even healtheir than meat recipes and the kids feel like they are eating junk food. hummus with pita bread is usually popular with kids, as is black bean dip with whole wheat tortillias. whole wheat pretzels are also good with both those dips.

[Hellenic_Witch]

Check out your local thrift shops. A lot of people don't realize how wonderful those things are and put new or nearly new ones in the donation bin. You can also pick them up cheap at Walmart.

Something fun to do is take a pack of bamboo squewers and a can or two of baked beans and a pack of hot dogs. Put your beans in the crock. Then you want to add chopped onions and peppers. cut your hot dogs into thirds and add them as well. You can toss in some tomato paste but it really isn't needed a spoon of spicy mustard on the other hand can add a nice counter taste to it. Let that cook in your crock pot then use the squewers on the hotdogs and serve it in metal pie plates with biscuts. It makes a fun dinner you can use bandana's for the napkins and sing range songs. Maybe finish out the evening with a western movie for fun. If you do this in the summer a rousting game of shoot out with water guns is a great way to close out an evening.

Yvonne: you should write a book or something...good menu suggestions, creative ideas...you sound like a fun mom!

[spooky]

these are simple but i will tell you, since they are tasty and cheap.

chicken/turkey soup

1 or 2 cans chicken stock
turkey leg or chicken drumsticks, or a chicken
4 or 5 carrots
2 onions
potatoes (optional)
toss it all in a pot with a little butter or oil to brown the meat, then cover with broth and water and cook for about an hour.

there are 2 versions of this, one has curry and potatoes, the other has thyme.
garlic, bay leaves, a teaspoon os so of thyme, salt and pepper go in one
garlic, salt, pepper and a teaspoon or so of curry goes in the other. i know this is really lame recipe, but it is all i eat so now you know in any case.

Asian Ginger Ale Chicken
6 chicken legs (or a whole chicken, whatever)
Ginger Ale
Soy sauce
1 onion
garlic powder
powdered ginger
pepper

Directions:
chop oinion, cook over low to medium heat until translucent or light brown. Add chicken legs and enough ginger ale to totally cover the meat, plus a little more. Add soy sauce, enough to make the soda dark. Cook over medium heat until the meat is done and the soda has cooked down to a syrupy glaze. Season with a shake of garlic powder, a teaspoon or so of ginger and pepper. The soy sauce will add enough salt. Serve over rice with the glaze from the pan as a gravy.

Savory Veggie Pancakes (to use up produce that might get wasted)
1 head romaine lettuce
Pickled jalapenos
Pickled banana peppers
Parmesan cheese
˝ an onion
pancake batter
salt or celery salt, pepper

Directions:
Chop onion roughly and put in food processor, pulse once or twice. Roughly chop romaine and add it in, also put in pepper. How much of which kind is up to you, but together you will want to add about half a cup of peppers. Pulse two or three times. Add pancake mix to the veggies, but substitute some of the water called for in the recipe on the box with the liquid from the pepper jar. Mix with food processor. Add parmesan cheese, a little less than a tablespoon, probably. Season with salt and pepper. Cook as if it were a regular pancake.

[Isil Darkmoon]

This is my alltime favorite quick, easy, (fairly) healthy, cheap, and filling one-pot meal. I call it "Irish Stir-fry" for lack of any better name, although it's neither stir-fry, nor really Irish :)

Quick, easy, tasty, and very filling. The entire thing takes 10-15 minutes including prep time, and it feeds five to six people happily and three to four people VERY well. Recipe can be made half again as large successfully. Doubling or more can mess up cooking times and result in either soggy or undercooked veggies.

1/2 head green cabbage
8-12 red potatoes
1/2 - 1 white onion
1/2 stick butter
1 lb boneless pork chops (although I'm sure pork loin would be tasty too)
salt and pepper to taste.

Cover the bottom of a large pot with water. Chop all the veggies into roughly equal bite-sized sized pieces. Place them in the pot. Then salt the surface of the veggies well, and place 1/4 stick of butter on top.

Cover and leave on "high" while you cube the meat into pieces roughly the size of the veggies. (Slicing the very thin chops, I get pieces roughly 1/2 to 1 inch long and 1/4-1/2 inch wide and tall.)

Stir the pan a couple times to make sure everything is all mixed up, then mound everything into a volcano shape--dig a hole in the middle. Put the pork in the indentation, pepper the surface of the pork only, and put the remaining butter on top.

Cover and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Then uncover and stir well. Cut the heat to medium. Continue to stir every minute or two until the pork and onions are opaque all over. The pieces are small enough that by the time the meat's gone white on all sides it'll be well cooked all the way through.

Serve immediately. Although it re-heats well and makes great leftovers, it's never QUITE as good as right out of the pan, so hot you burn your tongue just a little.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Actually I am writing a cookbook lol. It is one of the reasons I haven't helped with the one here at MW. I have a few people who IM me when they need ideas and I try to come up with a meal based on what they have in the house. It is a nice challenge for me and I am always willing to do this for people. So if you want to IM and say I have x, y and z in the house what can I do that is different I can see what I can come up with. I find it fun. Right now my older kids do most the cooking as I wish to be sure that when they move out they don't have to live out of cans and a microwave. I think all kids should know how to cook.

[Ceres]

i so agree that kids need to learn how to cook! sometimes parents worry they will burn themselves or cut themselves....but heck, i still do that all the time, its part of the fun. a three yr old can help with mixing and adding ingredients, a five or six year old can wield a knife for chopping and peeling and an eight year old can cook simple foods like eggs or hash browns. by 12 a kid should be cooking just about anything!

[LisaT4P]

Here are my basic ingredients for any casserole (not necessarily all used at one time ;) )

Ground beef or turkey, sometimes tuna fish
Instant Rice (store brand, huge box)
Elbow macaroni (or fun shapes if they are on sale)
Cream of Mushroom soup
Cream of Chicken soup
other cooking soups (french onion, cheese types, etc.)
Tomato soup
Veggies that they will eat (mine won't eat any)
Packets (or cans) of brown gravy or chicken gravy

Personal faves at my house are:
1. Ground Beef, cream of mushroom soup and rice. Sometimes with cheddar sprinkled on top. (can sub brown gravy for mushroom soup)
2. Elbow macaroni, ground beef and tomato soup (instead of spaghetti sauce) with parmesean cheese.
3. Elbow macaroni or rice with a large can of tuna and cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese on this too.

If you splurge for pork chops you can cut those up into bite size pieces and fry it up with soy sauce, mix in some green beens or broccoli, etc. and then add it all to some instant rice and you have home-made stir fry.

Hope some of these help! Oh, and never underestimate the power of garlic to spice up a meal, we use it on everything (including scrambled eggs)!

[Mab]

Taglarini

1lb hamburger
1pckg egg noodles
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can chopped chilis
1 chopped onion
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup

brown the hamburger w/the onion. cook the noodles. dump everything together. add water or milk as the soup requires. heat until warm through. makes a huuuuuuuuge pot.

[spooky]

i so agree that kids need to learn how to cook! sometimes parents worry they will burn themselves or cut themselves....but heck, i still do that all the time, its part of the fun. a three yr old can help with mixing and adding ingredients, a five or six year old can wield a knife for chopping and peeling and an eight year old can cook simple foods like eggs or hash browns. by 12 a kid should be cooking just about anything!

totally- at 10 my parents said "you can read the box as well as we can" and they were right. and now i can cook. i burned myself all the time and you know what? i made it into adulthood just fine.

[Yvonne Belisle]

My eldest is 15 my youngest is 7 the older three can make almost anything and be proud of it. Sometimes we have presented to us something no one can eat. However it is part of learning and even the adults will sometimes make something repulsive lol. My friends 22 year old daughter is only just learning to cook. In the last three months she has learned to make scrambled eggs, emanadas, and spaghetti. That is the extent of her cooking skills and she has a one year old daughter. Thankfully for her daughter she lives with her mother so they can all eat well. I am proud of her for starting to learn and thanks to me and my kids my friends other daughters are taking an interest in cooking. My 14 year old son makes fantastic desserts and pancakes! My 13 year old daughter makes the best rice dishes and my 15 year old son when not rushing with the pan on high makes the best steaks. They love to be able to hand someone some food and when the person says this is good my kids love to be able to say "I made that." I get the satisfaction of sitting back and nodding my head. Now if only having them wash the dishes was this easy......

[Shatril]

I take a smoke polish sausage, 2 cans of Kroger brand Italian diced Tomatoes, one bag of Kroger frozen onions and peppers, and bag frozen mixed veggies. Place the sausage in a large skillet, pour the bag of onions on top the the cans of tomatoes, then the veggies. Just cook till heated through, about 20 minutes total. Quick easy and nutritious.

I tell you the brand of the veggies, as they are in my opinion the cheapest and actually the best. I can get those tomates of as low as $0.25 when they go on sale and the frozen stuff for about $.75 per bag on sale. To me that is a bargain. The sausage even goes on sale regularly. I will also warn you that it doesn't taste as good made with other stuff. :wah: go figure.

You can also throw a tablespoon of sugar or splenda in this to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Also don't be afraid to experiment with adding things to what most consider a meal. Ramen is a wonderful versitile thing so is macaroni and cheese. Try adding meats and veggies to them. Ramen drained with a bit of spaghetti sauce is perfect for one plus it is quick and easy or you toss in two bags for a meal for two. Pour the broth off for on the side. Add some veggies to mac and cheese or some meat. Those boxed side dishes can be spruced up with veggies and meat as well. To zing up boxed mashed potatos add a bit of powdered soup mix or ranch dressing mix. Go easy on it a little can go a long way. To change rice or pasta add seasonings in the water it is made in. For rice try tandori mix then take your cooked rice add some ground meat and peas. Or add sazon to rice and ground meat for a wonderful flavor then add chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, celery and parsley or celantro. Cook them till the veggies are done it goes really well with sazoned rice for a wonderful dish and if you don't feel like rice use some nacho chips to eat it with. The blue corn ones are a great change of pace and taste great.

[phoenix1010]

Tacos or burritos are a good idea. The kids could have fun creating thier own dish.
You need about a pound of ground beef, ground turkey or chicken; taco, burrito, or fajita seasoning packet; shredded mexican cheeses; taco shells or burrito shells; tomatoes, olives, lettuce; and sour cream. Cook the meat per the directions on the seasoning packet. Then have fun putting the tacos or burritos together. You can alter the vegetables or use some diffenrent types of lettuce.

[spooky]

sometimes frozen veggies are actually cheaper than fresh ones- take the time to check. they are about as nutritious and taste pretty good..

[fahawk]

QUICK COOKING mag..or
quickcooking.com

[paganmomof2]

Here's my cheapest , and most nutritious quickie dinner - pasta (whole wheat) with V-8 juice & ricotta cheese. Veggies,carbs,calcium,no preservatives. My kids like it better than jar spaghetti sauce!

[rhee]

here's a quick casserole recipe thats a favorite in my house

egg noddles
cream of mushroom, celery, or chicken with equal part milk
Frozen veggies of choice
Tuna or cooked chicken
parmesan or cheddar
Stove top stuffing, cornflakes, or bread crumbs

Cook egg noddles mix with your choice of next four ingredients and top with stove top. Cook 350 about 15 min. I get all the ingredients at Dollar general and spend less than five dollars to feed five people. It can also be done on the stove in about 10 min. omitting the topping.

[Brónach Druid]

I HATE to cook, this is one of the simple recipes I use that my family likes. It is very inexpensive.
3 or 4 packages oriental ramen noodles
2 or 3 packages frozen stir fry veggies
soy sauce or teriyaki sauce as much or little as you like.
In skillet with a little oil start stir frying your veggies. Cook ramen noodles, drain add noodles to veggies. Add oriental packets from noodles, and sauce to your taste. Stir in skillet to blend. You can also add in chicken or hamburger if you like.

[Rhianna813]

Ok we are vegetarians but you can add your choice of meat instead of tofu to these recipes!

Easy Pot Pie:

Large bag of mixed frozen veggies or use fresh.
Pound of tofu (or precooked chicken, pork, turkey)
Can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup Bisquick mix (regular all purpose stuff)
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk

Mix soup, tofu and veggies together in a casserole dish. Mix bisquick, egg, and milk in a bowl. Spoon mixture over veggies. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. You can gourmet this up by using using garlic mushroom soup mix, adding different veggies, or added herbs to the bisquick mixture. This is seriously delicous and easy to make!

Broccoli Mushroom Rice casserole

1 stalk of broccoli, broken into little flowerettes
1 cup of gratedcheddar cheese
3 cups of cooked brown rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup or other creamed soup
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup water
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In medium size pan pour in 1/2 cup of water and add broccoi and diced onion. Simmer over medium heat until broccoli is just slightly soft. Save water.In a greased casserole dish, add cooked rice, broccoli, onions, and their water along with cream of mushroom soup. Mix well. May need to add more water if mixture is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Put in oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes. You could probably make this same dish with pasta instead of rice. We add tofu to this dish for protein and you can do the same with meat if desired.

Also kids could enjoy a Potato bar! Just bake up some big russet potatoes and get the kids to help make the bar of toppings. Shredded cheese, salsa, broccoli, red peppers, beans, bacon bits, even ketch up. Each kid can make their potato and use the micro wave or broiler to melt the toppings.

Here is a link from Vegweb.com for recipes "That kids love!" http://vegweb.com/food/kids/

Best wishes,

Rhianna