CHEAPEST Recipes That Are Actually Yummy!

Anything with eggs is economical; I love omelettes at dinner :) cheese and broccolli is a hit with my preschooler. I did a quick search and saw this, pretty good!
http://www.recipe.com/blogs/cooking/omelet-recipes-dinner/

Roasted vegetables. We hardly ever steam them anymore, they are sooo good roasted. Cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, even Brussels sprouts, which I used to hate. Toss with a little olive oil, fresh garlic, salt and pepper and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes. Make a lot because they cook down quite a bit! If I have any leftover I use them in a fritatta or omelette.

You got good suggestions, but I wanted to throw out one more. If you have an international store, particularly an Asian grocery, near you, often basic ingredients are much less expensive there. For example, gluten free pasta can be almost $4 a box, but for less than $2/lb you can get rice noodles. Rice of all varieties is much less expensive, spices, beans, even fresh produce.

During the warmer months we pretty much live off of salads. They are cheap and easy to very.

Soups and stews are the obvious. I try to double it up and save a batch (I feed a family of 8 now, was 10 before 2 moved out, and 2 of them are here only a few days a week).

One of my favorites is a pork roast. I buy a pretty big one. One night we have it as a roast, the next night I throw in some green enchilada sauce, 1 cup of tomatillo salsa, some onion, cilantro slow cook all day and we have Burrito Verdes. By far the favorite in the house.

I make meals that go a few.. For example. When Turkeys were cheap at christmas/thanksgiving time. I got a few put them in the freezer.

So we have meal one- the turkey.
I separate out the good lunch meat style parts, separate into usable amounts and freeze. For a week later or later that week.
The meat that is good chunked, I make a Turkey pot pie or more, freeze for future uses. I can also use some of the chunked To make Turkey salad. Or meat into Potatoes Augrauten (not the box stuff, real potatoes cut up, Milk & melted cheese, add some noodeles and a veggie of choice.
That 20 lb turkey that I got for $.59 a lb will make it last about 10 different meals. When I get all the meat off the turkey, I either make turkey broth, and freeze it or Turkey soup depending on what I feel like at that time.. Soup is more meals, you can make a grilled cheese or even the turkey salad to go with it.

Chicken, (whole chicken)same thing, usually last 2-3 meals since they are smaller, but I usually make soup or broth depending on my freezer levels.

Ham, is another one that I make last several meals after the initial one depending on the size. I save the ham bone and I make Split pea soup.

Roast, cook it for the first meal and then transform it to a second meal of beef soup (vegetable, or what ever type of beef soup). Or if there is enough left, I make beef strogonoff with the extra beef.

Some of these can be stored for future use so it is not an entire week of the same meat.

Pork roast , cook it for the first night.. shred the left overs and put BBQ sauce on.

Pot pies, can be beef, chicken, turkey, pork or even veggie.

Most of the dried peas, beans ..are cheap.

Great northern white beams. Soak over night, put in crock pot ( I use broth * water_) you can add some ham, cook in crock pot for 6-8 hrs. Add some corn break and there is a protein meal.

Can of black beans & corn tortillas (or flour,we are gluten free so we do the corn 3 1/2 doz $.99 ). Puree the beans add some taco seasoning ( I buy the big can of seasoning). Mix with carrots, or jalepenos or what ever .. Put some on the tortilla, roll it up and bake or pan fry them it tastes like taquedos.

Good luck

We have a couple of tricks to save a little bit of money here and there in recipes. I don't generally buy things in boxes (I do coupon - but primarily on non-food items), though I do buy some low-sodium spice mixes and some canned fruits.

I buy both of these frozen so that I don't have to eat them quickly. The most expensive food, is food that you throw away.
-Frozen peas. It is so easy to add a handful or two to soups or stews, or even a salad (they thaw quickly!) or to steam them for a quick addition to supper.
-Frozen corn on the cob. An easy and quick thing to boil up as a side dish, and can also be easily cut off the cob to add to soups or stews (just dip quickly in the soup, and it will be thawed enough to cut off easily).

-Ground chicken is a good substitute for ground beef in homemade spaghetti sauce or tacos. Not so good in hash or something else that is focusing on the flavor of the meat - it's too bland to carry a meal by itself.

-Onions: if you are cooking with them, buy the cheap white onions. The sugars will caramelize when cooked, and be sweet. Only buy the more expensive sweet onions if you are eating them raw.

-Buy whole chicken breasts, or if you don't mind the dark meat, a whole chicken. (Go to the store on the day meat is restocked, or the day before, and look for bright colored tags - this is meat that has the "sell by" date looming, and it is often heavily discounted). Boil, just enough water to cover, with a little salt, a little pepper, onion, celery (you are going to discard this, anyway - so if you bought celery for something else, you can use the tops for the soup), and carrot - and a little garlic, if you like it. Boil until the skin starts to fall off. Let cool. Put the broth in 1 cup portions in freezer baggies (lay them flat - they freeze faster, and are easier to store). When the chicken cools, shred it, and keep it in the freezer in baggies (a single serving is about one handful of shredded chicken). Now, you have chicken in the freezer for a quick homemade meal, plus, you have chicken broth you made yourself, for those recipes that call for it.
-For a quick soup, put the broth and chicken in a soup pot, add water, bring to boiling. Add noodles and tomatoes, or rice, or dumplings. (And you can add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas!)
-For dumplings: mix together 2 cups flour with 4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 t. sage, 2 T shortening; add enough milk to make a batter (about 1 cup); drop into boiling broth by teaspoonfuls. Cook, covered, for 12 minutes - do NOT remove lid while boiling. Serve hot.

Another cheap trick: ground beef and potatoes. Peel, dice, then boil potatoes. Meanwhile, brown the beef (we like to add onion and rosemary to the browning meat). Add drained potatoes, heat until they're just browned. Salt to taste. Voila! Homemade hash. (You can use leftover pot roast, too, instead of ground beef, for an even cheaper meal.)

Happy cooking!

I just got a bag of the frozen stir fry blend vegetables from Costco. I put some in a skillet then added rotisserie chicken. Tonight I am going to use more of the frozen veggies with shrimp (again from Costco already cooked with a garlic sauce). If I want to use the same bag of veggies (believe me there is enough in this bag for many dinners) I might make fajitas but I have a feeling I will just cut up fresh onion and bell peppers.

The reason I got the bag of veggie is I feel like when I buy fresh and then something comes and they go bad by the time I decide to use them. I am not sure if I am being cheap, but for me the frozen veggies is being cheap vs the fresh.

I buy organic chix thighs and boil them in organic chix broth (When I catch it on sale) w/ herbs and spices.. Saute 1/2 of an onion and garlic. Then, I chop up 1/2 of a celery and half of the carrots.
Boil them for a few minutes. Add 1/2 of a big bag of frozen, organic veggies and simmer.

That's the soup part !

I take the other half of all the veggies above and gently stir fry them in oil oil and herbs and spices---Then, I toss over a 2/3 pound of pasta for a veggie pasta salad ! I make a home made dressing !

One thing we like that is cheap is 15 Bean Soup. that is actually the name of it and you can buy it at the grocery store or Walmart it's by the dried beans in the bag. You can add sausage to it or I love to put in a ham bone it is only a few dollars and makes a whole crock pot full.

Updated

One thing we like that is cheap is 15 Bean Soup. that is actually the name of it and you can buy it at the grocery store or Walmart it's by the dried beans in the bag. You can add sausage to it or I love to put in a ham bone it is only a few dollars and makes a whole crock pot full.

The thing I think of is a whole chicken in a crock pot. Usually the whole chickens are pretty cheap. I put it in there just like a roast with some veggies, some herbs, s/p and let it cook. Depending upon the size of your pot, you may be able to fit two small birds in there. You could also use salad dressing as a marinade or seasoning.

I also make kabobs a lot during grill season. They can be cheap too. Find whatever veggies/meats are on sale. Beef, chicken, shrimp, pork...they all work. Peppers, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, etc....they all are pretty cheap during the summer.

I would avoid produced "marinades" as I find most of them have High Fructose Corn Syrup. I stick with healthier salad dressings or make up my own from oil, vinegar, mustard, whatever I have in the fridge!

Any kind of pork or chicken - chicken breasts, thighs, wings; pork roast, cutlets, country style ribs.

Any kind of oil based non creamy salad dressing - Italian or vinegrette

Coat meat well. Place in greased baking dish. Bake until bubbly. Easy and delicious!

Cheap?
Salads! Add chicken or make a chinese salad adding crispy noodles,
peanuts, spec sauce etc.
Tacos
Spaghetti
Froz Stouffers (only this brand) lasagna, garlic bread, salad
Soup
Whole chicken (cook then for next meal save the carcass for chicken
soup)
Hamburgers, diced baked potatoes

(use ground turkey instead of beef.....my aunt does this for everything and it's a bit healthier)

I buy utility turkeys when they go on sale for .99cents/lb. For $8 that turkey will do two or three meals, and then I make turkey soup from the carcass. A cheap pork shoulder in the slow cooker for pulled pork.

I make spaghetti with about $14 and feed our family of 6 plus there's always left overs for hubbys lunch.
-1 bell pepper .50
-1 onyon-.25?
-1 lb ground beef about $4
-1 package Barrilla spaghetti about $3
-1 large bottle of preggo spaghetti sauce $3.88
-1 bottle or parmesean cheese about $2

if you substiture the spagettis with lentils and rice you can make a great lentil soup.

sometimes there are cheap standbys and sometimes you rely on the ad. This week at my local store boneless, skinless, chicken breasts are $1.79/lb. when it hits this price we usually buy 10 lbs. this makes about 8 meals worth of meat for my family of 4. We keep our eye out for marinades on sale. this week they were $1. one bottle of marinade does 2 meals of meat. we freeze them. add some grilled veggies, rice, potatoes whatever and the meals are pretty inexpensive. We just grill the meat but there are a million things you could do. we will usually have chicken once a week so it will last us 2 months (which is about the sales cycle for when it will be back on sale).

Look into recipes that help you to cook once and have several different meals. Like the pork roast below. Do the same with a rotisserie chicken. Chicken one night, enchiladas the next, save some for a pasta casserole the next night. The meat is your biggest expense and if you learn to use it like a condiment then you are eating cheaply and more healthy. Look at the library for a cook once, eat twice cookbook. Racheal Ray's week in a Day is a good show, too.

Black or Red Beans & Rice. A huge favorite of my 6 year old! I also slice in turkey smoked sausage. Hearty and delicious!

Nachos.
Baked chips, homemade beans on the chips sprinkled with cheese.
Guacomole if you like too.

Spagetti with meat sauce.

Chicken and Rice Bake. (with or without broccoli)
Baked Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and beans

Sandwiches are super easy and cheap. If you have a griddle or George foreman, then it's even better. Our favorite is turkey fillets on toast. Add any toppings you want. This week we're having grilled chicken strips on toast with pesto. Just add a veggie and dinner is served.

S.-

Cheap and healthy mean different things to different people. There are certain websites that offer up information including price per serving and nutritional content.

Some favorite, and not terribly expensive meals in this household include-
- vegetarian chili
- indian vegetable curries (made with lentils, potato, tomato, onion, peas)
- Malasyian mango or pineapple chicken. cubed chicken and the fruit stir fried, with a bit of cilantro, red onion and sometimes a bit of veg like snow peas, mini corn, and water chestnut over a bed of rice.
- babaganoush, hummus, tabouleh, falafel and mouhamarra are all easy to make, tasty and cheap.
- i am a big fan of salads and use the 101 salad recipies guide by Mark Bittman of the NY Times. (he introduced me to watermelon & feta cheese salad which is scrumptious).

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

We use a website called "The Fresh 20" for dinner plans. You get 5 recipes a week that use a TOTAL of 20 fresh ingredients, so you can be in and out of the store fairly quickly. I try to avoid processed food so this has been great for us. She also tries to plan using food that is in season so it helps keep expenses down. You can do a trial week for free. Also, if you haven't checked out "The 100 Days of Real Food" site, try that. The author of the site has 4 weeks of free menu plans, complete with shopping lists, for eating real food on a budget. Hope these help!

This is a super inexpensive and very tasty meal and you most likely already have the ingredients in your kitchen. Sometimes I add meatballs, sometimes not.

Pantry Spaghetti
Yield: 6-8 servings as first course; 4-6 as main course

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 plump garlic cloves, peeled & finely minced
4 T tomato paste
1 t sea salt
1 lb. dried spaghettini or capellini
Optional: 4 T chopped fresh Italian parsley
Optional: 8 fresh basil leaves, cut into narrow strips


Procedure:
1. Bring large pot of water to a boil for pasta.

2. Heat olive oil in large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until golden. Reduce heat and immediately add tomato paste to cool pan and prevent garlic from burning. Stir in salt. Cook mixture on low heat, breaking tomato paste into small bits with fork without creating a smooth puree. When tomato paste has become aromatic and darkened a shade, remove pan from heat.

Add a generous amount of salt to boiling water and drop in pasta. Cook at rolling boil, stirring often, until pasta is al dente. Drain spaghettini, add to skillet and toss to coat pasta. Garnish w/ parsley and basil, if you wish, and serve.

Well, tonight we are having Swiss Steak.

1.5 lbs cubed steaks (cut into approx 3 x 4 inch pieces)
flour
seasoning salt/pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes with peppers/onions
2-3 Tb oil
white rice

Dredge the steaks through the seasoned flour and pan fry until browned on both sides/no longer bloody... return all the steaks to the pan, pour the canned tomatoes over and cover with a lid. Turn down to low and simmer for an hour or more...

Serve over cooked rice.

Yummy!