What's the Cheapest Meal You Know How to Make?

My new favorite quick, easy to please everyone and cheap meal is... tortilla pizzas. I buy whole wheat tortillas for me and white for everyone else. I spread pasta sauce and whatever pizza toppings each person likes, top with grated cheese, heat in oven for 2-3 minutes to melt cheese and warm. I love mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes and ham for mine, the kids prefer mainly meat. I sometimes will also do a chicken one for something different. You can make so many different things with tortillas... pizza, tacos, pizza pockets and with so many differnet combinations of toppings.

i agree w/you girl, unfreakin' believable is exactly what i thought too - geez! sorry girl, but anyway, my cheap meals are always rice/beans, spaghetti, grilled chz & ramen, egg sandwiches...hell, i'm poor, so that's what we're used to! i buy the damn veggies too moms GEEEEZZ, but for the most part it's easy/cheap around here! :)

Well, I am not one of the perfect moms who cook from scratch every meal, who never need a break from real cooking, who have unlimited time to cook every day, or never need to tighten the money belt, so sometimes we have:
grilled cheese and soup
hot dogs and fries
mac & cheese
jambalaya mix with a pound of sausage
chicken patties with boxed mashed potatoes
jar of pasta sauce, pound of ground beef, package of noodles
chef salad

Tighten your budget on toiletries or entertainment, get rid of your cable or lower your internet speed, but don't cut costs on your families health. Don't feed your family ramen noodles, or kraft mac n cheese where there is NO real vitamins or anything in them.

I saw someon mention rice and beans and salad, that is a good meal. Or just plan veggie soup made with veggie stock, or chicken broth- make one big pot and use it for multiple meals, home made cornbread is cheap. Don't skimp on GOOD food.

I don't mean to sound pushy or anything, but you can get a great meal for cheap if you work it, using coupons/sales/stocking up etc

Visit krazycouponlady.com I only buy the stuff i need and I pay attention to her toiletry deals. I've saved so much money that I can afford to buy organic/all natural and CHEAP.

Hi T.,
I loved your question!!!
Cheap meals - hmmm, there is only my son and me, so it is easier for me to stretch food dollars. My favorite is a roasting chicken. Fix on Sunday with fresh mashed potatoes and a veggie, then re-invent it for the rest of the week - it becomes sandwiches, curry, or chicken & Dumplings, then finally, boiled down into stock for soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. So, for around $5 plus pantry items I can feed us for a whole week.

God Bless

I often shop just the opposite of planning a menu and then buying the ingredients. I will go to the store in the evening, and look at what food has been marked down and build a meal around that. There will be bread that didn't sell that day, lots of items on the clearance rack (most large grocery stores have a clearance rack, usually way back in the back of the store, sometimes partially hidden), half-price dairy on the bottom shelf of the dairy case, and meat bargains! Most grocery stores have a section of both the meat and poultry cases that are called something like "manager's specials", and they'll be 50% off or more. Get to know your store, and ask the manager when and where these bargains can be found. I asked the meat guy and he said 6 pm every evening is when he starts marking meat down. And I bargain! Once there was a leg of lamb, after a big holiday. It was the last one, and was something like a ridiculous $30. It was marked down to $15 and the meat guy was moving it around, looking for a place to put it. I boldly said "I'll buy that and get it out of your way if you can mark it down even further". He looked at me, took his Sharpie and made it another 50% off! I made so many meals out of that! Be friendly and polite and let them know you're a steady customer and you never know what they'll do!

Often I am not sure what to do with a particular cut of meat, but by googling it I can find ways to cook it and use it. Or if I come home with a weird assortment of bargain foods, just type them all into google and a lot of recipe ideas will come up! If it's a $1.50 marked down from $7 but I've never heard of it, who cares? Somebody somewhere knows what to do with it, and it's on the internet! Be brave!

There is a great web site called www.lovefoodhatewaste.com and if you click on the "recipes" tab on the right, you'll find a list of food. It's called "What needs using up?". At the bottom you can expand the list. If you find celery, for example, on sale and have a lot of it, that site will give you some ideas for using up that inexpensive celery. It is a British site, so some of the words are a little unfamiliar (and the money is shown in pounds), but the basic information is great.

And learning how to use the entire item is another great idea. A bargain brisket can be cut in half, with one half cooked in the crock pot with vegetables for a stew, then the stew can be thickened and made into pot pies, or mixed with rice and soy sauce for a beef rice dish, or Mexican seasonings for enchilada fillings. The other half can be ground up and made into burgers or meatballs which go on spaghetti and then can then be meatball subs. And the leftover burgers can be chopped up and mixed with tomato sauce. Just keep using one ingredient until it's gone, and has been turned into a multitude of dishes.

I think it's adventurous and I hope you have fun making your budget friendly foods into great meals!

Stop by mom's house! :)

Ditto H P - I will cut costs in a lot of areas, like shoes, clothes, toiletries, haircuts, rent movies, etc...but I do not take short cuts with cheap, packaged food. It's not healthy and lacks nutrition.

I don't buy pre-packaged pancake mixes. They are easy to make from real oats ground fine and whole grain flours. Make one huge batch and it will last almost all year. And we use real Maple Syrup - spendy but worth the real vitamins and minerals.

**Edit** I'm assuming you're directing your "un freaking believable' comments at me...for recommending healthy foods. It's not a judgement on you. It's a fact. You are the one that listed Pancakes made with an add water only mix and used the word cheap and wanting to tighten your belt. I'm not bashing you..I actually said that it's cheaper and healthier to make pancake mix from scratch. You pay more for the cheap pancake batter in the long run with lack of nutrition it provides overrall.

But go to this site for cheap, but healthy recipes:

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2004/02/master-recip...

Beans and rice made from scratch
Homemade soup of all kinds (bean, split pea, black-eyed pea, chicken noodle, etc, etc)
Refried bean and cheese quesadillas or burritos
Oatmeal with yogurt and nuts, dried fruit
Eggs - vegetable/cheese omelet or scrambled

Best ways to cook cheaply is to buy real ingredients (not packaged) and plan ahead so there is no waste. Buy a whole chicken and make several meals out of it (tacos, pasta, stir fry...) ending with the carcass in soup, for example.

Scrambled eggs with toast

Meatloaf - 1lb of hamburger and 1 packet of onion soup mix

Mac N Cheese - 79 cents? add a can of tun then it is 1.79

Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Generic frozen pizza and side salad
Pan fried turkey kielbasa with potatoes and frozen peas.

I stock up on frozen veggies at Kroger when they're on sale for $.88

I'm not sure how much it costs, but maybe a couple bucks at most. But this recipe is from a chef that owns her own Italian restaurant and I found it in the newspaper. It's one of my go-to recipes when the fridge is empty. Sometimes I add meatballs. But here you go:

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.

Voila!

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/01/65-cheap-hea...

Beans are always a great option, especially if you soak your own. You can get a whole pound of dried beans for about $1, which is about 12 servings.

any pasta with ground beef mixed into a can of sauce. You can get plain canned sauce and add your own spices and it tastes good and is much cheaper. Also, bone-in chicken seasoned only with salt, pepper, and oregano, plus a little butter or olive oil and bake for an hour. You can do baked potatoes with this or rice and salad and it's a complete meal for pretty inexpensive. Bone in chicken is cheaper and if you get the whole bird it's even less...which reminds me of another one: whole chicken in the crock pot! Add some cut up veggies and some spices and voila!

Quickest/cheapest that comes to mind is pasta (I like angel hair) with a little butter or olive oil, some grated parmesan cheese and we like pot cheese but you could add cottage cheese or ricotta cheese instead. You could also add a little garlic sauteed in the olive oil if you'd like (we don't use garlic). Add the pot or cottage cheese into the pasta right after you drain it so it warms up and melts a little. Delicious and a box of pasta is under $1 with the cheese part adding maybe $2 more depending on what you use and what you find on sale. Good question by the way.

Oh give me a damn break about all the healthy stuff...I'm with you...how stupid. Anyway, here is my 2 cents...I barely spend any money on groceries and don't really eat "healthy" but all of us (theres 5 of us) are HUGE salad eaters and have a salad (a couple bowls each) every night with whatever else we are serving for dinner. And I save money with that by buying head lettuce, carrots and cabbage and cutting up myself. And my kids have the choice of 4 different lunch menus and probably twice a week they choose the salad option. Ok...back to your question...I will scramble eggs and serve homemade hashbrowns for dinner...maybe $3??? And I recently discovered tosadas! I got a pack of 18 shells at the store for $1.80, a can of refried beans were like $1, some lettuce on top and shredded cheese. Everyone loves them and really no cooking. Hope you get some good ideas. If not on here, just google "cheap meal recipes" and lots come up! Good luck! :o)

My mom used to make a box of mac n cheese and add tuna. The bad thing with that and several of the items mentioned is the total lack of nutritional value.

Great question!

First things that come to mind....

- Breakfast for dinner - eggs, waffles, etc

- pasta (I use whole wheat but that is more expensive) with olive oil, sauteed garlic and parmesean cheese. I often add tomatoes (diced or fresh will work). Slice up a green pepper or cucumber and eat it with dip on the side. We often do cheap raw veggies and dip since they are cheap and easy.

- grilled sandwhiches - make like you would a grilled cheese but add some fresh deli lunchmeat to the sandwhich, and some tomato if you want to spend the money and want a veggie (well, really a fruit I guess). Skip the lunchmeat and tomatoes if you really want to cut down on cost. If you do tomato soup, add water instead of milk to save money.

- Some meals that cost more upfront but make a lot really save money in the end so long as your family eats them for many meals. I make baked spaghetti. It is delicious and a great spin on regular spaghetti. I can freeze half the pan and the other half feeds us for at least 3 meals. It really is amazing how far this dish goes!

- Do a Ramen noodle stirfry - that way you have some veggies and/or meat with the noodles - much more filling!

- Any dish you make, do it with as few ingredients as possible and you will save money. Making large dishes (casseroles, etc) and stretching them for many meals saves a lot in the end. The key is making your family eat them even when they whine, "oh man, leftovers AGAIN?"

You should check out hillbillyhousewife - the tips on there are AMAZING.

I get dried pinto bean and dried red beans and soak half of each of the packages over night in a pot of water. The next morning, I drain the beans and put them in the crock pot and cover them with water. I put the crock pot on low and cook all day. Add a can of Ro-Tel chili fixings, a little brown sugar, some ketchup and worchestire, garlic salt. If I ever have bacon left over from breakfast, I tear it into small pieces and put it in the freezer. I throw in any bacon or leftover ham, if I have it, with the beans in the crockpot. I have also cut up and browned the polish sausages, when they are on sale, and put them in. However, I have served it without any meat and it's still good. We eat that with the jiffy cornbread which is $.33 a box or with flour tortillas. Then, you have a few days of leftovers.

Have you tried using www.thegrocerygame.com. I find that I save at least 40% on my groceries that way.

Hi T.,

Sorry you have gotten some less than nice responses! I just wanted to add my helpful meal ideas:

pasta w/cheese-throw a few chopped tomatoes on top

grilled cheese on whole wheat bread with yogurt as a side dipping sauce

fruit salad the canned kind with bow tie noodles and red sauce

omlette with toast

tortilla with shredded cheese and eggs---makes a great meal!

As far as dessert, the instant puddings are great from the dollar tree and you can also make your own if you have milk on hand.

Good luck with your frugal meals! :)

Molly

1 box uncle bens fast cooking long grain and wild rice $2
1 (1lb) beef sausage link $3

Takes 10 minutes to cook, $5 to make, and feeds a family of 5 ;)

Spaghetti, Red Beans and Rice, Cheese Quadillas.

The least expensive meal I know is pasta and sauce. I use the whole wheat store brand that costs $1 and a jar of sauce which is under $2 for Ragu Traditional.

Pinto beans and rice
Very cheap, easy, and gets your essential amino acids in too.

Rice and beans, served with salsa and a salad.

Some of the things mentioned previously don't qualify as "meals" to me. A meal needs to have a complete protein and some other nutritional value - like adding vegetables!

vegatrian spilt pea soup. you need half a bag of stew veggies, spilt peas, mustard, and chick bullion. One pot makes four servings. at about 50 cents a serving. or cheesey polents with tomatoes. ( canned tomatoes, 1 cup shredded cheese and 8 tb corn meal) about $1 a serving.

Super Cheap

Turkey Hotdogs - 1.25 for 8 + 0.89 for buns
Miso Soup - $8 for a few hundred bowls
Udon - $1 per person
Rice Triangle Sammies (stuffed w/ leftovers or unstuffed)
Bowl of Cereal
Eggs (depending on the price of eggs... least/best in our area is 1.69 per dozen) soooooooo many different ways
Pancakes
Pasta (I make my own sauce, though, for apx $0.50 instead of jarred... but it's because I have about a 1 gallon container of pasta herbs)
Curries (I have the ingredients on hand, like miso, so they're essentially free... $10 lasts me all year making 1-2 per week... not including tomato cream curry, which adds about $5 per meal)
Rice & Beans (about 12 different ways)
Home made flatbread (costs about $2 for maybe 50 pieces of flatbread)
Banana $0.39
Roasted Chicken >>> Chicken Quesodillas >>> chicken sammies >>> chicken and lentils: $5 for 4 meals
Toast & Tea
10lb bag of potatoes ($2.00) = mashed, hashed, baked, soup, etc.

Omelettes. Cheesy noodles. (Noodles with grated cheese and a little butter). Sandwiches.

I don't really know about exact prices, but we can live of a drawer full of vegetables, rice and pasta and beans for a long time! eating simple usually costs the least.

Haven't read the other responses...

Eggs - egg salad sandwich, omelettte
Stir fry - you can add what ever meat you like or just use veggies, use what's on sale - onions and carrots aren't very expensive
Ramon noodles - you can also add some veggies or cheese
Pasta with sauce or a pasta salad

I always buy chicken at Tom Thumb or Sprouts when it is on sale for $1.99 a pound. You get large amounts, so it lasts a long time. Target also usually has good sales on ground beef occasionally and has good discounts when the meat has a sell buy date for the following day. I also make homemade pancakes and add flax seed meal and oat bran to make them more healthy. I get these things at Sprouts very cheap. If you would like any recipes or more info, just send me a message.

Oatmeal, with dried fruit and almonds.. whole wheat pasta bow ties~light olive oil. Grated cheese.. olives for kids.. spinache for mom and dad.. pudding for dessert.

Pita with hummous/chickpea spread and cucumber and tomato slices. Delicious and healthy. Good for lunches too!

Pita with tehina (sesame seed spread) and jelly. Tehina is chock full or calcium and iron and very healthy. Tastes like peanut butter but better.

I don't really know about prices. Breakfast for dinner IS cheap, but I'd do eggs and biscuits rather than just pancakes. I wouldn't chose to regularly serve meals with no real protein component, so if I had to budget that severely, I'd rather do a peanut butter sandwich or scrambled eggs. What's cheap is to use what you've already got - any chicken carcasses in the freezer? It doesn't cost much to get some carrots, celery and rice to make soup with them! Spaghetti with jarred sauce, both store brand, can cost less than $2.50, more if you add salad. If you cook beans (I mean dried beans), they are a healthy, inexpensive protein rich food - you can add rice or veggies or a tiny bit of leftover meat. Grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade veggie soup?

Great question! I can always use some new dinner ideas! My kiddos like french bread pizza. We'll have spaghetti one night and then another night use the leftovers. Sliced french bread, spaghetti sauce and then top with cheese. Broil until cheese melts. I will also shred leftover chicken and add taco seasoning to make chicken tacos, or quesadillas. Breakfast for dinner is always cheap but filling. Make a pot of beans one night for beans and cornbread, and then the next night make refried beans and spanish rice for mexican food. One of the things that always works well for us is to repurpose the leftovers into something different since my kids usually don't want the same meal twice in a week.

So I was ready to respond to your question, then I read your "what happened" and then I read your responses.
I didn't see anyone bashing you or making judgments (except for MAYBE one mom) am I missing something?
Most of us are trying to feed our families as well as we can on as little $ as possible. It seems like that's the advice you've asked for and you've gotten a lot of great tips already.
What do you find so un freakin believable?

Cheapest.....uhm maybe stuffed peppers. That also depends on what season the peppers are in but if you catch them at right time they are 50 cents each, I buy plain white cheap rice so maybe $1.00 and tomato juice- $1.15 a pound of hamburger that I keep in deep freeze usually at all times ( I buy big roll and cut and freeze and keep on hand)...under for three of us and one isn't quite two yet so she eats one pepper. So all in all, under $5.00. I don't think that's bad for a serving of three and a half.

@Teresa, sometimes all it takes is ONE responder to irk a nerve. LOL.

My response...

1)chicken and noodles. I use drum sticks, (all natural). Chicken broth, celery, carrots, celery salt, and egg noodles. To make it last longer, I don't blend the noodles in the pot. I cook them separately like spaghetti and it goes a long way especially with a picky eater toddler.

2) Grilled chicken salad and rice pilaf is light and fun for a Friday or Saturday.

3) Veggies over rice, sometimes I will add beef or chicken broth to the veggies for flavor.

Thanks for sharing and giving me something to think about from others.