Does anyone have any cheap meal ideas?
By Autumn
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Baked potato smothered in broccoli, cheese, and bacon bits with melted butter. You could make chili, vegetable/potato soup and have plenty for leftovers and an option is serving with grilled cheese sandwiches, crackers or peanut butter sandwiches.
Meatloaf served with mac and cheese.
Eggs served with sausage gravy over biscuits.
"Bangers and Mash" which is mashed potatoes with finely chopped onion mixed in and cooked til done. Cooked and sliced polish sausage topped over potatoes and brown gravy poured over all.
Soups are very inexpensive to make and you can add leftovers to most any soup. Last week I made a delicious black bean soup and I had some left over sausage (kielbasa) in the refrigerator so I cut that up and added it to this very hearty soup. Delicious. Rice is also a great filler and inexpensive as well as the above mentioned potatoes. It also depends on where you shop. And, don't buy convenience foods such as shredded cheese, grate your own.
Individual lasagna noodle rolls>>>you need:
2 cups marinara sauce (from a jar)
1 cup or so of shredded parmesan cheese
1 15 oz container low-fat ricotta cheese
1 lb mushrooms (cooked in bit of olive oil, sliced yellow onion & garlic)
1 egg slightly beaten
1 tab. oregano
(can also add chopped roasted tomatoes--optional)
To prepare>>
Pour 1 cup of the sauce to coat bottom of baking dish that'll hold the 12 rolls
To the ricotta, add the cooked mushroom mixture with a slotted spoon, add the beaten egg, add the oregano---mix well
Doing one noodle at a time, spoon 3 tablespoons of cheese mixture onto the noodle (1 Tab at top, 1 in middle, 1 towards bottom). Spread out the mixture to cover the noodle and roll tightly from bottom--place seam side down into baking dish.
Pour remaining sauce over the tops of the lasagna rolls and add some shredded parmesan cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake 400^ F for 20 minutes, let rest. Can add garnish of fresh thinly sliced basil to add more flavor and color for presentation--- Can be easily frozen to serve whenever you want---just reheat at 350^F for 20 min when you want to serve them individually or more.
Turkey Meatloaf with Spinach Roll Up
2 lbs. ground turkey
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs
6 cups chopped fresh spinach
Sea salt and pepper to taste
(some sauce from a jar for serving on slices if wanted..yum!)
Mix turkey, eggs, bread crumbs, s&P with clean hands (don't overwork the meat or it gets tough)
Place meat onto a cutting board lined with foil and shape into a rectangle---place the chopped spinach to cover the entire meat mixture.
Taking the foil from the bottom, start to lift the "rectangle" to help start to ROLL the meat mixture, then carefully pull foil away and then continue until entire roll is completed.
Place turkey rolled-up loaf into a baking pan and bake 350^F for 1 hour and remove when browned--let rest a bit, then slice (you will see colorful green spiral in center of loaf)..This recipe can also be frozen to take out when needed to be eaten in slices. (You may also serve a small portion of sauce over each cooked slice for added flavor!)
Burritos:
Ground beef
Potatoes, diced into small cubes
Onion, diced
Salt & pepper to taste
Brown ground beef with potatoes in skillet. When done, roll up in warm flour tortillas and serve with salsa or cheese if desired.
You can make burritos and freeze for a quick meal.
Macaroni with tuna and peas
Cook package of macaroni (12-16 oz.) according to package directions. Because we are a dairy and gluten free house, we use gluten free pasta and stir in mayo, tuna, and frozen peas. If you like, you could cook regular macaroni and cheese and stir in tuna and peas. Alternative meats include using ground beef, salmon, or leftover chicken.
I have a dish my husband calls prison food as a joke but he doesn't cook so he can't talk.
Layer a 8 x13 dish with mashed potatoes (buttered and salted). Top that with a layer of ground beef seasoned with a taco seasoning packet. Then end with a layer of 8 oz shredded cheese of your choice.
Bake until cheese is nice and bubbly.
And then a little more sophisticated (I picked this up at epicurious.com and have made it many times).
1 3 1/2-pound chicken, quartered
6 russet potatoes peeled, quartered, lengthwise
4 large garlic cloves, halved
3/4 cup canned chicken broth
3/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange chicken, potatoes and garlic in large roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Pour broth over. Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and oregano to combine. Pour evenly over chicken and potatoes.
Bake until chicken is cooked through and golden brown and potatoes are tender, basting occasionally with pan juices, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
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