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Right now I'm thawing chicken thighs bought for 99 cents a pound. (This is expensive for our home, as we recently paid 69 cents per pound for Perdue thighs.) This package six large thighs for $3.41. If I put this together with some rice and inexpensive veggie, then I can feed six for under $1 per person. |
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| Posted by
Ann S on June 04, 2009 2:44 PM |
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Brown half a pound of ground round $2.00 and add a jar of Ragu five cheese spaghetti sauce. Simmer for thirty minutes then blend in the blender to a smooth consistency. Cook some spaghetti and this makes a very nice dinner. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 04, 2009 5:08 PM |
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One of my favorite, inexpensive meals is quesadillas. All you need is cheese, salsa, and refried beans (or black beans if you prefer). If you have leftover meat, mushrooms, other veggies, you can quickly saute them and throw them in the quesadilla as well. It's quick, it's inexpensive, and can be made in one pan! Cook up some brown rice or whatever rice you like and you're all set. |
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| Posted by
Babz on June 04, 2009 5:11 PM |
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Good old tuna casserole: 60 cents for a half pound of egg noodles, 49 cents for a can of cream of mushroom soup, $1.39 for a can of tuna (that's for tongol, the expensive kind--chunk light is even cheaper), and 67 cents for a cup of peas. That's $3.14 to feed four people, or three if they're hungry--about a dollar per person.
For a company meal, how about pasta a la caprese? A pound of tomatoes ($2), 2 cloves of garlic (a few cents), a small red or yellow bell pepper ($1), 2 tablespoons of fresh basil (practically free if you have your own plants), half a cup of olive oil (70 cents), a pound of pasta ($1), and two cups of mozzarella cheese ($1.25). You chop up all the veggies and let them steep together with the olive oil and some salt and pepper for at least an hour, and then you toss it with cooked pasta and mozzarella cheese. Very simple, and it feeds four people for $6. Even if you throw in a green salad and dessert, it's still under $10. |
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| Posted by
on June 04, 2009 5:18 PM |
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CHEESEBURGER RICE.- one dish skillet meal. works good in the electric skillet to save on energy.
This recipe can be easily doubled for larger families or leftovers for lunch.
1 pound lean ground beef,chicken or turkey
1 3/4 cups water
2/3 cup tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 cups instant rice
2 Tbs, dry minced onion
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Brown beef in a large skillet; drain. Stir in water, ketchup and mustard, onion. Bring to a boil; stir in rice. Sprinkle with cheese and cover. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 4 servings. |
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| Posted by
muffinlou on June 04, 2009 7:01 PM |
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Check out Kraftfoods.com for many low cost recipes. Most are well under $10. |
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| Posted by
Terry on June 04, 2009 7:56 PM |
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I know how expensive some foods can be. We love pasta and love sauce on it. However, purchased sauce is expensive. We have discovered Hunt's spaghetti sauce at $1.00 a can when our local food store has a 10/$10.00 sale.
My husband is a diabetic and Hunt's offers a can of "no sugar added" with the carb count of 6 carbs per serving as compared to the leading brand of 11 or more, but if you want meat they have sausage or beef, or even 4 cheese types. All at $1.00 for at least 4 huge servings.
It is tasty and we add roasted green peppers and onions for an additional 3 bucks, a box of pasta for $1.00 from the 10/$10.00 sale (if your local supermarket does not offer this you may want to speak with the manager to encourage this type of a sale, since many people buy the entire 10 items at a time), so we have a wonderful meal of pasta, green peppers, onions, and sauce for about $5.00 for four and purchase a loaf of bread for another 2 dollars with a complete Italian meal for four for about $7.00, with leftovers. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 04, 2009 10:23 PM |
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Cook rice with a little turmeric, ginger, salt.
Marinate a couple of shredded cheap pork chops in a little soy sauce, garlic, dash of sherry or white wine, and a touch of sugar, for 20 minutes. Cut cabbage into julienne shreds, with a couple of green onions and a small white onion. Do the same with a little lettuce.
Scramble two eggs in garlic and mince.
Stir-fry all but a cup of the cabbage/onion/lettuce mixture, dump out into a bowl, then stir-fry the pork in its marinade. Combine the two, add a little soy, and thicken the broth with some flour.
Fry the rice with the eggs, remaining cup of cabbage, and a can of mushrooms. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 05, 2009 9:13 AM |
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pigs in a blanket are a hit at my house and a very cheap meal. i use 2 cans store brand biscuits. flatten 2 and press seam to make a rectangle. put store brand hot dog in the middle and seal the dough around the dog. cook in oven, either as biscuit directions say, or as i do, 350 degree oven. takes a bit longer, but dough is softer. along side i usually open a can of baked beans and spinach or beets. |
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| Posted by
cyndi riley on June 05, 2009 1:25 PM |
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In the library, I stumbled on "Miserly Meals" by Jonni McCoy. I got enough good tips from it that I searched our library website for her name and came up with another book by her, "Miserly Moms: Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy." Didn't get as much out of that book. |
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| Posted by
Linda on June 05, 2009 1:54 PM |
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check out the website 5dollardinners.com -- this should help with the budget |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 05, 2009 4:28 PM |
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Put on a crock pot of beans,,any bean,,black beans are good.
Make a skillet of cornbread. OR a pot of rice and serve the beans over the rice with a shot of soy sauce or even a little shredded cheese. Filling, protein packed and good for you. You could even pick up a bag of salad for some greens on the side. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 05, 2009 10:08 PM |
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Beans and rice |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 05, 2009 11:08 PM |
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I do two similar skillet meals, one based around leftover rice (like a pilaf), the other based around leftover baked potato (like a hash).
In both cases I begin by sauteing onion and celery.
If doing the rice dish I add tuna, or cooked chicken or pork. I like this with carrot and peas added. I cook all of this until all ingredients are heated through. I like to sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese before eating.
If doing the potato dish I like to add cooked/drained ground beef, sliced hot dogs or kielbasa, or cooked pork or ham bits. I fry this up until the potato is browned. Can also add peas. My well-seasoned black iron skillet works best for frying potatoes.
In both cases, these dishes that are good for using up leftovers. If I am baking anyway, I bake as many additional potatoes as I have room for. Then a couple nights later I can make a hash for supper, using the potatoes. Same goes for rice, if I make extra for one meal, I have an easy supper two nights later. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 06, 2009 4:16 AM |
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Family recipes are often frugal. We like soups and two favorites are cheap, cheap.
Hamburger Stew is 1 lb. browned hamburger, 1 medium onion diced, 2-3 carrots cut into coins, 2 medium Russet potatoes, salt, pepper and water. Let the meat, onions and carrots simmer till carrots are tender, then add potatoes in chunks for the last 20 minutes. Salad, made from scratch biscuits and fruit for dessert still bring it in under $10 for four people. If you double the batch, you can serve it a second day with dumplings or drop biscuits on top.
I actually won a recipe contest with my Sweet Potato Soup. Boil sweet potatoes till tender. Drain and let cool. Render 2-3 slices of bacon, drain and crumble. Saute a medium onion diced fine in the bacon fat just till translucent. Peel and mash the cooled sweet potatoes removing any strings. Add to onion along with one container of Swanson's Certified Organic Chicken Stock or, cheaper yet, home made chicken stock. Add salt, pepper and herb of your choice. I like thyme. Simmer 5-10 minutes, blend or strain for velvety texture, then top with a swirl of sour cream and the bacon crumbles, maybe a few green rings from a scallion.
Finally, one of the great frugal techniques is planning two meals from one major protein purchase. The first meal is pot roast with potatoes and carrots cooked in the gravy, the second is roast beef hash with poached eggs on top served asparagus (in season). First meal, cracked crab with your favorite sauce, second meal seafood salad or crab mornay where you stretch the crab flavor by mixing your crab with an equal amount of torn bread overnight--this is a great stretcher.
My grandmother served relishs, condiments and preserves in cut-glass dishes and baked from scratch frequently. The visuals and the wonderful perfume of home-baked goodies added a lot of satisfaction to the inexpensive basics. |
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| Posted by
Syn on June 06, 2009 5:18 AM |
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American Chop Suey There are so many various recipes called this. I think it's very popular in New England. This is my favorite. It's like a home-made version of Hamburger Helper.
Saute 1 lb. lean ground beef with 1/2 cup minced onion, drain fat.
Add 1 can of tomato soup, plus 1/2 can of water.
Bring to boil, simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add about 6 oz. of cooked macaroni or more, making sure there's enough sauce to make the dish moist. Stir.
Serves 4.
Other addition would be little strips of American Cheese or half of a packet of powdered cheese added with the tomato soup. Make adjustments to suit your taste. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 11, 2009 3:53 PM |
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I always like fast & easy recipes. I like to use frozen hash browns for a fast potato soup instead of pealing and cutting up all those potatoes.
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| Posted by
Sue on June 11, 2009 6:40 PM |
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I really hate ground turkey, but have been having good luck using ground pork in place of or combined with hamburger. Ground pork works especially well in Mexican food--burritos, tacos, taco soup. I've made hamburgers with it, too. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 11, 2009 10:07 PM |
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Tonight for dinner we're having chicken drumsticks which I bought for $0.99/lb ($2.97 for a package), which I will sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper and brown on the stove just enough to crisp up the skin, the I will add a healthy splash of white wine ($2.67/bottle), let the alcohol cook off for a few minutes, add a beef bouillion cube (paid $1.19 for a container of 25 cubes) dissolved in a cup of water and pop the whole thing in the oven for about 45 minutes. I will serve this with mashed potatoes and green peas. Since this is a Sunday night dinner, I will splurge on a few mushrooms which I will sautee in a little bit of butter and then make gravy with the pan juices from the chicken. Yum! |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on June 28, 2009 5:38 PM |
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In the Angel Food boxes we often get 1 lb pkg ground turkey. I finally hit the jackpot making it eatable. I save all left over bread and had about a lb of cornbread. I added that to my ground turky,2 beaten eggs,1 med chopped onion, 2 celery ribs,chopped and 3 crushed chicken bouillon cubes.Shape into a loaf pan and bake 350 for about 45 min.I made a chicken gravy to top it with but you could use a can of cream of chicken soup diluted with 1/2 can milk. YUM YUM Will remind you turkey and dressing!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Posted by
Gale Osborn on July 15, 2009 5:46 PM |
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Breakfast for dinner. Home fries, a tomato, cheese and egg fritatta, toast and fresh fruit. It's balanced, nutritious, delicious, easy and cheap. I always have the ingredients on hand. A great last minute meal. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on July 30, 2009 1:43 AM |
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Keep it healthy. Watch sodium, additives and preservatives. Try to stick with unprocessed foods. (Food in it's original form) |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on July 30, 2009 1:48 AM |
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Beef stew is great because you can use an inexpensive cut of meat and load it up with vegetables. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on July 30, 2009 1:49 AM |
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