Ask the Readers | Give us one frugal recipe!
In the comments on yesterday's post, readers were discussing the rise in grocery prices, and Jennifer had a good idea:
Kristen, it seems we are all hurting from rising grocery prices, so if you ever need an easy reader-led day, how about a best frugal recipe post? It will give us all new and inexpensive ideas on how to eat cheaper, but still eat. I have one that the ingredients are few – 4 required or 5 to kick it up a notch and 2 of them are salt and pepper!!
I think this is a lovely idea.
Of course, the highest food priority is always: Eat at home.
You can practically eat lobster tails at home for the cost of fast food, so if you are currently eating a lot of takeout, then your first order of business is to eat at home.
And since learning to switch from takeout to eating at home is challenging at first, I wouldn't stress too much about making sure all your homemade meals are super cheap.
(Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.)
But if you are already good at cooking at home, and you want to level up by choosing more frugal recipes, then hopefully this post will be helpful for you!
I'm going to share a few ideas/links of my own, and then the comments are all yours.
Chicken Broth
I know chicken broth is not specifically a meal, but hear me out: it's one of my favorite super-frugal ingredients, it's got a variety of nutrients, it's made basically from trash, and it can be used in so many different recipes.
Here's how I make chicken broth that both looks and tastes delicious.
I use it to make chicken noodle soup.
I use it in my chicken and biscuits.
I use it in this sausage and orzo dish.
I use it in this ramen noodle bowl recipe.
And many, many more.
Main dish green salad + homemade bread
A green salad topped with some type of protein makes a healthy, inexpensive main dish.
Salads are really flexible; you can use whatever greens are cheap, you can add whatever veggies are cheap, you can use up odds and ends from the fridge, and you can use a variety of proteins (hard-boiled eggs, beans, cheese, meats, nuts, seeds).
A loaf of homemade bread on the side makes it feel indulgent, and homemade bread is seriously, seriously cheap.
I know not everyone is an experienced baker, so here are some bread ideas that are good for beginners:
- French bread (lots of newbies have tried this with success!)
- No-knead English muffin bread
- No-knead batter rolls
- Garlic breadsticks
And if you are a little bit experienced, you really should try these two:
If you can't eat grains, of course, my bread-as-a-luxurious-side idea won't work. But then again, if you don't eat grains, you are probably already good at making non-grain-based did dishes. 😉
Alrighty! What's your top frugal recipe?
Note: The meal where it's usually hardest to cut costs is dinner, so if you can, submit a dinner recipe idea.
But if you have a really good one for another meal or for a snack and you'd rather do that, then go ahead. 🙂
You can type the ingredients in your comment, or you can share a link to an online version of your recipe.
Vegan split pea soup is always good! A bag of split peas, one or two carrots, one potato, one onion, some spices, a splash of vinegar and you are good to go. As an added bonus, you can dump everything in the slow cooker in the morning and have a delicious meal at the end of a busy day 🙂
@Monika,
I adore split pea soup. I think it's even better the next day!
Yes! A bare bone version (not as tasty but certainly edible!) is just split peas, one onion and pinch of salt. Reminds me of university days 😀
I love Jennifer's idea, I'm sure there will be a lot of good ideas in the comments!
A pureed vegetable soup is my go-to recipe from about October through April. We eat this as a starter before dinner every night. It warms you up and helps fill you up, making it easier to plan for smaller quantities of a more expensive main course.
It's a very flexible "recipe", here is the general idea:
Heat 1T olive oil in a large pot over medium heat
Add 2 quartered yellow onions (or shallots, or sliced and washed leeks - just make sure to get all the grit out)
Saute the onions for 5-8 minutes, then add a chicken or vegetable bouillon cube and smash it up to coat the onions and cook for another 2 mintues
Add 6-8 peeled and washed carrots in large chunks
Add 2 peeled sweet potatoes in large chunks (or cubed butternut squash)
Then add hot water to cover the vegetables (I use the electric kettle for this) and bring everything to a boil, you can add a bay leaf if you like
Cook the vegetables until tender
Take the pot off the stove, then puree with an immerson blender
Add salt and pepper to taste
If you want to change things up a little, consider adding a teaspoon of ground coriander or thyme, or a pinch of another spice that sounds appealing like grated nutmeg or cayenne pepper
@Ann, This sounds awesome and honestly, I would like it better whole. I got a bunch of bl/sl chicken thighs at Sam's with a gift card, so I wonder how it would taste with a few of those thrown to make a well balanced meal?
@Ann,
I make a similar soup but usually add equal amounts of cinnamon and cumin as the spices.
@Ann, I also make a similar soup, with garlic as my starter and Thai curry paste (red or yellow) plus fish sauce as my seasonings.
@Jennifer, I think we’ve tried this before. My husband really liked it, but I found the base too sweet for chicken soup. The good news is that soup is a very forgiving recipe, so if you like the ingredients you’ll probably enjoy the finished product. Let me know how it goes!
I cook practically every meal at home, and most of them are pretty frugal, so I'll have to give this some thought and come back later today!
Recently, I've had a lot of pain/problems with my ribs and shoulder so it has made it harder to make meals, just because by the time dinner rolls around my pain for the day is at its peak. Because of this, I keep trying to think of easier things to make that are frugal!
On Sunday I ran to Costco and got some things I needed, and while there I picked up a rotisserie chicken. We had some for dinner, I made chicken noodle soup the next day (using broth I already had in my freezer from previous bone broth), and I have some chicken for another meal also. I put the bones in the freezer so I can make broth another day.
Mine is eggs + leftovers or bits:
You can go American and make scrambled eggs.
You can go Italian and make a frittata.
You can go Japanese and make donburi.
You can go French and make an omelet.
You can get a little fancier and make a quiche.
You can go Tex-Mex and make huevos rancheros.
For the leftovers or bits, it can be almost anything that you like. There is one trick (for everything but the donburi, for which it is irrelevant) that makes it much better by preventing weepiness: precook your bits then let them cool before adding.
@WilliamB, when my kids were little, I made a frittata and poured the mixture over spaghetti. They loved it.
@WilliamB, "put an egg on it" is frequently how I deal with leftovers, especially when we have leftover seasoned rice or pasta. One night when we had some leftover angel hair pasta, I accidentally made leftovers into lo mein. It was delicious.
@WilliamB, Great ideas all! I was going to suggest batch making egg muffin sandwiches (no arches needed) cook eggs, grill, fry or don't bother cooking Canadian bacon (it'll cook in microwave), toast English muffins, slap together with slice of cheese. Super easy & quick to make by the dozen, wrap individually and freeze. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and can usually be made with Aldi ingredients for less than .50 each (even with inflation.) Yep, eggs are excellent choice for the frugal cook.
@WilliamB, if there are eggs in the fridge, you always have something to eat.
@WilliamB,
When my grandsons were little, they always asked for Creamed eggs on toast.
@Susan, what are creamed eggs? I don't think I've heard of them before.
@Danielle Zecher, Creamed eggs are basically a white sauce with chopped up hardboiled eggs in it. Make it as thin or thick as you like and eat it over toast. It's also sometimes called Egg Gravy. I like mine with mustard added for flavour.
Seconding William B. on the eggs. If you have militant meat-eaters in your family (hi!), eggs are usually still a way to get a "meatless" meal that will still satisfy them. Cooking home fries on the side--if I don't think ahead, I microwave the potatoes before dicing and frying--makes eggs much more like a real meal. And, of course, there's baking powder biscuits if you're into bread and don't mind baking. Kids will eat almost anything if it's accompanied by biscuits or cornbread.
@kristin @ going country, How long do you microwave the potatoes?
@Robert Sterbal, First, in case you don't know, ALWAYS POKE A FEW HOLES IN THE POTATOES with the tip of a knife. Otherwise they will explode, and that's a bad scene. After that 🙂 . . . for two medium-size potatoes, it would be about five minutes to get them all the way cooked. More or less time depending on how many potatoes are in there at a time and how big they are (and how strong your microwave is). You can just start with two minutes and then do one-minute intervals until you figure out the timing. I flip them over halfway through the cooking time so they cook evenly. If they're a bit undercooked, no big deal if you're going to be frying them anyway.
@kristin @ going country, excellent reminder to poke a few holes. Ooops!!
I have so many, but one of my favorites is Mexican Lasagna. It also doubles as a good freezer meal. https://www.mariazanninihome.com/2018/04/mexican-lasagna-freezer-meal-you-can.html
@Maria Zannini, Mexican lasagna is ALWAYS in our freezer. My husband loves it for work lunches. (Bonus: everybody who sees it is jealous.) I've also given it as a meal for others - and even the 6-year-old liked it!
Another vote here for keeping stock on hand. Homemade chicken broth, veggie broth, and beef broth are always in my freezer. I use them in so many recipes.
I often have difficulty finding inexpensive recipes because I can’t eat wheat (gluten), but I have a few. The first is Fried Rice. This is the recipe I use. https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a25325036/how-to-make-fried-rice/
I substitute Tamari for soy sauce, because soy sauce has gluten. If I have leftover meat chicken or pork, I’ll chop it up and add it at the end. I have also used riced cauliflower in place of rice to reduce the carbs which is slightly more expensive, but very good.
The second is enchiladas with corn tortillas. This is the recipe that I use from Budget Bytes.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/weeknight-enchiladas/
This makes 16 enchiladas which I divide up and freeze. They are less than $0.50 a piece to make.
Great post, Kristen!!
@Bee,
for Enchiladas, do you freeze them after you cook them or before you cook them? My husband & I are empty nesters. This week, I made a full receipt of meat (8 enchiladas) but only baked 4 of them. The rest of the cooked meat, I froze & hope to make the other 4 next week before my tortillas get stale. My cooked and then frozen enchiladas have seemed a bit soggy when I reheated them. Looking for suggestions!
@Susan, I have done both with great success. I have just frozen the bean mixture and put the enchiladas together later. I have made several casserole dishes of enchiladas together and frozen them totally prepared. I do freeze the sauce separately and put that on before baking along with extra cheese. If you freeze the bean mixture by itself, you can also use it in burrito bowls.
Believe it or not, 5 out of 6 people (and besides me, they're all guys) in our house will eat lentil soup for dinner. I throw it in the crockpot in the morning and it's done by dinner. Lentils are very cheap and I've never seen a shortage of them at the grocery store:
1 bag lentils
1 onion, minced (or be like me and just throw in a tablespoon of onion powder)
4 or 5 carrots, chopped
some celery--sometimes I use a whole bunch, sometimes half, if i need some for another recipe. Go ahead and use the celery leaves--chopped.
a few potatoes; I don't like a lot of potatoes, but my kids like them, so I throw in maybe 2 medium russets or three large Yukon gold, diced. Peel them or not.
2 T tomato paste (we all know how to freeze leftover tomato paste, right, so that you have some frozen globs in your freezer somewhere?)
minced garlic to taste, or garlic powder; I use plenty of minced garlic because I find the slow cooker mutes garlic a lot
1 T kosher salt
4 cups chicken broth, or vegetable broth, whatever floats your boat. I use low-sodium chicken broth, so that's why I add so much salt above.
Then I put in water to just cover all the solids, and cook on High for about 7-8 hours.
@Karen, like you, we have lentil soup and bread for dinner once a week. I throw in whatever vegetables need eating and season with curry powder.
@Vicki, I used to make homemade bread to go with the soup! Then flour was hard to find, so I had to save flour for pizza night. So my husband suggested making frozen onion rings (store brand) and turned out everyone except the kid who doesn't like soup anyway liked the pairing. They said they liked dipping the crispy onion rings in the soup. I used to put out cheese cubes and was alarmed to see how much cheese my kids can put away--now cheese is shredded for pizzas or used in mac and cheese, NOT as a side dish! Ha.
@Karen, +1 for lentil (and bean) soups! My favourite recipe sounds a lot like yours but with smoked paprika and curry powder as extra spices. (I use roughly this recipe: https://theclevermeal.com/chickpea-and-lentil-soup/)
@Karen,
I sometimes add canned tomatoes instead of purée and slices of fresh ginger and curry powder (to make curried lentil soup) or celery, oregano and cumin (Greek lentil soup), or reduce the water a little to make Dahl to eat with rice. This way we can eat it every week without getting bored.
I buy the pre-bagged chopped salads because I am cooking for one and work 830-5 each day. So cooking at home, yes. Slaving over the chopping board, no. There are a variety of flavors and one $3 bag is two meals for me. I can top with a bit of protein and they almost always come with some kind of topping, which is yum. I do this with tuna in oil sometimes, too, for a lunch at work. So much cheaper than the hospital cafeteria which is easily a $10 lunch and not even that good!
@Gina,
I guess I should consider myself lucky - the cafeteria in the hospital where I work has delicious food! Though I do understand your concern with the prices....$10 per lunch is a big chunk (in my opinion). I'm also extremely lucky that I work in the Food & Nutrition Services department, and our director recently decided that staff in our department can eat meals for free on days they work. I have been indulging in their Mediterranean salads for lunch every day I work....definitely frugal for me. (I packed my lunch every day before this decision was made).
Looking at the per pound price turkey or ham bought on sale through the holidays and frozen for later use makes a lot of really inexpensive meals. Turkey for instance typically sales for $0.45/lb and we get 1-2 meals of roast Turkey, a large casserole which feeds us another 2-3
Meals, and then a large pot of soup which easily feeds us another 3-4 meals. I always make stock from the bones and add a side dish of potatoes for the roasted meat, rice in my soup, and pasta to my casserole. Adding a simple green veggie such as green beans from the garden, steamed cabbage or carrots and you have several hearty meals to feed five people well for several days for about $20 depending on local prices.
With meat prices being high, I'll submit a meatless recipe. This lentil curry makes so much food. We add carrots, broccoli, and sometimes potatoes and serve it over rice.
https://www.recipetineats.com/lentil-curry-mega-flavour-lentil-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-44287
@Emily, yes to a recipetineats recipe, guaranteed tasty!
Burrito bowls: rice, beans (bonus if you cook them yourself), salsa, cheese, lettuce, sauteed peppers and onions, taco meat, avocado... Any combo of those items
Rice, bean, and lentil burritos
Haluski (sliced cabbage cooked with butter and sliced onions) with sliced sausages
Butternut squash navy bean soup https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/navy-bean-squash-soup/
If you have the freezer space, I highly recommend stocking up on turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams at Christmas and Easter. My family of 5 gets 5 or so meals out of each turkey and ham.
@Ruth T, looooove Haluski
@Stephanie, I've never heard of Haluski. What kind of sliced sausages?
Ruth T, yes to purchasing/cooking turkey and ham when it's on sale. We get more meals than you do for our family of four because I add smaller amounts of protein (probably half of what you would eat with, say, a ham dinner) to soups and stews and bulk the rest of it up with whatever veggies I have on hand (and some sort of homemade bread product, of course!). I think of it as peasant food. 😉
@Kris, I slice up smoked sausage, chicken sausage, or brats for the haluski.
And yes - all kinds of things you can make with leftover turkey and ham! Stir fry, pot pie, soup, tacos, and fettuccine alfredo are typically on our turkey leftover menu.
@Kris, Haluski (fried cabbage & noodles) is very good with bacon. I “fry” the shredded cabbage, onions & carrots in vegetable broth. Then, add cooked, buttered noodles & top with lots of crispy bacon. I call it “Heathyluski”. Leftovers are yummy!
@Aunt Diane from Streator, Oh yes! I always put cooked egg noodles in haluski, too. Duh! Thanks for pointing that out!!
So, this isn't exactly ingredient light; however, it is a way to get a gourmet tasting pasta meal at home! Plus, many of these ingredients everyone will probably already have in their pantry. I like to call this my "Pantry Pasta", I make it on Friday or Saturday nights for a date night when the kids are already asleep (they get an earlier dinner).
Ashley’s Pantry Pasta
Ingredients
⁃ 16 oz linguine
⁃ 3 tbs. good quality olive oil
⁃ 3 tbs good quality salted butter
⁃ 3 shallots chopped
⁃ 3 leeks chopped (white/light green parts only)
⁃ 5 gloves garlic minced
⁃ 4 oz log of garlic herb goat cheese
⁃ plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese
⁃ Freshly grated pepper
⁃ sea salt to taste
⁃ 3 cups baby arugula
⁃ juice from 1/2 lemon
⁃ 1/4 basil pesto
⁃ Red pepper flakes to taste
*Directions*
Put *heavily* salted water on to boil. Boil off pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet heat butter and olive oil over medium low heat. Sauté shallots and leeks until tender, then add in garlic and cook until fragrant. Transfer pasta directly from pot to skillet and swirl to coat with vegetables, add in goat cheese and parmesan cheese. Ladle pasta water into the skillet until a creamy sauce forms. (If desired, you could add 1/2 cup heavy cream to make more indulgent) Grind pepper into dish. Place arugula, pesto, lemon juice, sea salt and red pepper flakes into a small bowl and stir to thoroughly combine. Plate pasta, sprinkle parmesan cheese and grind pepper over to taste. Top with arugula mixture and enjoy!
If you're stuck inside and want an easy baking recipe with the little kids, try Crazy Cake (I learned to make this in eighth grade Home Ec, and won a 4-H prize with it!) No eggs, no butter, no creaming. My kids have all loved making it. You can frost it if you like, or you can add chocolate chips if you want more chocolate flavor.
1 1/2 cups flour, all purpose
1 cup sugar
3 T cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Whisk the dry ingredients together directly in an 8x8 square baking pan. Make three "holes" in the mixture. Distribute in the holes:
1 T white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
5 T oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Then pour over it a cup of cold water and whisk with a fork, combining really well. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Because we're stuck inside with cold rain turning to sleet today, I'm making this with my youngest, only adding some bananas that need to be used up: Crazy Bananas Cake!
@Karen, our family calls this wacky cake.
@Lana Popejoy, It's been around forever, it seems. I had never heard of it before Home Ec class!
@Karen, We call this wacky wacky cake. It has been around since at least World War II when so many ingredients were rationed.
@Karen, we love this cake. It works fine with gluten-free flour, too. My kids are allergic to eggs, dairy, and gluten (celiac). This is my go-to recipe when we need dessert. Top with powdered sugar or fruit. Yum!
@Nikki, this is good to know. Do you use an all purpose GF flour?
This is one of my favorites, and I often leave out the sausage (making it very inexpensive!)
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/slow-cooker-red-beans-and-rice-with-chicken-sausage/
@Sarah,
You just made me smile by linking to Mel's site! My all-time favorite for recipes of all kinds. Thanks!
@Sarah, Mel makes the best cookies!!!!!
@st, My favorite site as well!
BudgetBytes is an AMAZING resource! https://www.budgetbytes.com/ You can search for recipes by ingredient, diet (vegetarian, dairy-free, etc.) or price point. Each recipe also has a built in portion calculator, so you can scale a meal up or down as needed. We only cook for two, and while I’m good at kitchen math, I love not having to do it! 😛
Cheap household favorites include:
Vegan Peanut Stew
https://www.budgetbytes.com/african-peanut-stew-vegan/
This recipe is super easy and very forgiving. We always sub in creamy peanut butter and spinach or kale, which we always have on hand. I’ve even used salad greens that were wilting!
Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-black-bean-soup/
This is a great “garbage soup” to use random bits and bobs from the fridge—today’s version will include zucchini and carrots! The black beans and spices dominate the flavor and make this very filling, especially if you’ve some cheese to throw on top.
We have no store loyalty aside from Trader Joe’s (they have great low sodium options for my husband) and are fortunate to have many nearby choices. I check the circulars and will hit a different store every few weeks to stock up on needed sale items. We currently have a stockpile of shelf-stable oat milk because Whole Foods had it on sale for $1.25 per 32 oz container, our deep freezer is full of 50% off sale meat from a local grocer, we get cheap spices, veggies, and toilet paper (12 pack of Charmin quality for $5!) from the Asian super market, etc. We stay far away from premade meals (cost and sodium content) and avoid the snack aisles as much as possible.
@N, I have to agree, Budget Bytes is my go to for recipes. I've been following Beth for years.
@Jen, I love BB too!
Smitten Kitchen’s pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas). Like delicious, grown up spaghettios (no idea how to spell that…). Soooooooo much greater than the sum of its parts!
@Jess, oooh, I second this one. It’s on regular rotation at our house!
I make a simplified version of vegetarian West African peanut soup - https://cookieandkate.com/west-african-peanut-soup/.
Onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, peanut butter. Some broth cube if I have it, or just water. Any curry spice. I leave the carrots and potatoes unpeeled unless the skin is really thick/dirty, and leave them in big chunks so it's less prep. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll use an immersion blender, otherwise just leave it. Easy, filling, cheap, and a bit of a new flavor.
An acquaintance of ours from a family of 8 children once said, that when money was tight his mother would make baked potatoes with a green* salad and boiled eggs. The children thought of this as a treat, not a frugal meal!
* a soft, non crispy lettuce with some sweet and sour pickled gherkins and onions. Potatoes to be baked crispy. Eggs cold, 1 each. Dressing made of mayonnaise, vinagre, sprinkle of salt and teensy bit of sugar.
Cabbages of most kinds tend to be frugal, plus they are versatile, keep well and have great health benefits.
Finally you can replace ingredients in recipes. If a recipe calls for an exotic fruit, use dried apricots or raisins instead, or diced apple. If it uses feta cheese, you can use a Gouda cheese for instance. Wine? broth can be a good substitute (plus more child friendly) or a small quantity of apple juice if something sweet is needed. Etc.
@J NL, oooh - baked potato bar!
@J NL, this is a great suggestion about substituting ingredients. I do it routinely, especially when I'm trying to use up certain things in the refrigerator or pantry (as I'm doing this month).
Another thing I do--and I'm sure many readers do this too--is just to run a Google search on things I'm trying to use up. For example, yesterday I searched "pork stew with cauliflower," and the Google wizards obliged.
@WilliamB,
Is that what it is called in the US? 🙂 Nice to learn a new expression (I was also taught the origins of a "sub" on this blog!)
It sounds a bit like the potato version of a captain's dinner, with beans and all kinds of odds and ends, doesn't it?
@J NL, I do baked potatoes when I have a little taco meat left over. Just add some cheese, salsa, etc. to the potato!
@Maureen, I like to top a baked potato with canned tuna. My mother's favorite meal was fried potatoes with chocolate pudding.
I have a super easy, inexpensive, meatless recipe that we enjoyed just last night for dinner. All of the ingredients can be purchased for just a few dollars total at Aldi.
CHEESY WHITE BEAN-TOMATO BAKE
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
¼ small onion, finely minced
3 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
⅓ cup sundried tomatoes
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup boiling water
1 cup coarsely grated Italian blend cheese (mozzarella, parmesan, asiago)
PREPARATION
Heat the oven to 475 degrees.
In a 10-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and the garlic until it's lightly golden, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste (be careful of splattering) and cook for 30 seconds, reducing the heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the sundried tomatoes and water to form a firm sauce.
Add the beans, stir until combined.
Transfer mixture to an ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top, then bake until the cheese has melted and browned in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is not as toasted as you’d like, run the skillet under the broiler for a minute or 2. Serve at once.
We serve it with a simple salad and sliced bread of some sort - ciabatta, focaccia, toasted baguette, naan, so many options!
@Randa L Weir, I do something very similar to this! It's such a nice filling meal on a cold day, with stuff mainly from the cupboard. Sometimes I'll throw an egg on it for a kind of shakshuka kind of thing, or some Italian sausage if I have it.
I opt for homemade pizza at least once a week. I have pizza dough recipe that takes just 20 minutes to make and rise, and then we just top it with whatever we have on hand...I often buy the "charcuterie" packs at Sam's because they're way cheaper than buying that stuff elsewhere, and then I split those into small groups and freeze them. I do the same with basic tomato sauce AND I buy the bulk shredded mozarella at Sam's too and just split it into 2 or 3 bags and keep the ones I'm not using in the freezer.
Pizza Dough: 2 3/4 cups of flour, 1 cup warm water, 2 tsp rapid rise yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix it all together, put it in a warm place, let rise 20 minutes. Split into 2 for 2 12/14 inch pizzas.
I use a pizza stone, so I preheat that in a 500 degree oven. In the meantime, heat oil and garlic (i use olive oil) and then add your tomato sauce and whatever spices you like...
Assemble and bake for 12 minutes or so. This, to me, is a great and inexpensive way to use up last bits of spinach, onion, mushrooms, zucchini, various cheeses, etc.
@Julie, we do the same for our Saturday night treat dinner. Here in the UK you can get some nice jars of veggies (sundries tomatoes, grilled peppers, olives) and anchovies at Aldi very cheaply to make the pizza feel a bit more special. Also in the UK carrots are very cheap so we add them to the tomatoes to make the sauce go further. Tinned tomatoes have really gone up in price, recently.
Lunch is the big meal for us because my husband and I are senior citizens and don't need to eat that much at night. One meal I make a lot for my brown bag work lunches is a black bean-based very veggie chili:
1 can black beans, drained, or a cup and half home-cooked
1 can petite diced tomatoes
Two large sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped and either boiled or roasted
1 cup sweet corn kernels, can be frozen, canned or cut off the cob
1 cup or more to taste of cooked or frozen spinach
1/2 cup frozen green peas
Chopped onion and garlic to taste: About a half an onion minimum
One to two cups of chopped, cooked chicken or pork, depending on what you have, but vegetarians can leave this out.
Fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp smoked paprika
Lashings of your favorite chili-type seasoning (I like Penzey's Arizona Dreaming)
In the bottom of a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add the other ingredients, mix well and heat everything is hot and bubbly. Can be topped with grated cheese to serve.
You do not have to use these exact vegetables in this recipe. The beauty of it is that it uses up cooked vegetables in yummy and colorful manner.
@Ruby, I love this and as I always have hunks of pork shoulder in my freezer, I wonder how it would taste if I added it. Dh can handle some beans, but would gobble it down if I added meat. Lol
@Jennifer, it will taste fabulous with pork shoulder. The last time I made it, I had some chunks of very lean pork chop to add, and it was wonderful.
I am very EXCITED about reading frugal recipes.
This is not healthy per se but a frugal comfort food.
Cheesy Tuna Bake
1 box Mac n cheese
1/2 cup of frozen peas
2 cans tuna in water drained
1 can sliced water chestnuts drained
1 can cream of celery soup
1.5 cups of cheddar cheese
Pepper to taste. I do not add salt.
Cook noodles. In the last two mins, add frozen peas. Drain noodles and prepare Mac n cheese like box suggests. Adding butter and milk.
Mix all ingredients together except for 1/2 cup of cheese. Mix well but mix gently.
Place in greased 11x7 casserole. Top with 1/2 cheddar cheese.
We eat this a lot in LENT on Fridays. I only buy the ingredients when on sale or buy generic or ALDI equivalents.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 mins.
I usually make two and freeze one. When I cook the frozen one. I thaw. Cook covered 25 mins and uncovered 15-20 mins.
My frugalist meal is always leftovers. I know sometimes we and/or the other family members reject leftovers, but I look at them as already-cooked food ready to eat! What more could you ask for? Freeze and bring out at a later time if possible or redesign them as necessary to get it eaten, but please don’t throw your money and efforts away.
That being said, soups are my go-to, especially in colder weather. Chicken tortilla soup uses cooked chicken, chicken broth, can of cream of chicken (or not), drained can of whole kernel corn, can of rotel, 2 cans drained (or home-cooked) of beans (black, pinto, red). Add ranch dip mix and/or taco seasoning as desired.
This is one of our winter favorites.
African Peanut Soup originally from Emeril, but updated for our family
Ingredients
2 tbs peanut oil
2 tbs curry powder
1 large onion
2 garlic
2 large sweet potatoes or regular potatoes with carrots for sweetness, peeled and cut into chunks
2 quarts veggie broth
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and quartered
1 can garbanzo beans
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tsp cayenne
2 cups smooth peanut butter, or a combination of smooth and chunky
10 ounces unsweetened coconut milk
Directions
Heat the peanut oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add curry powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in sweet potatoes, chicken broth and tomatoes, and bring soup to a boil. Simmer, partially covered, 20 to 30 minutes.
Add the salt, black pepper, cayenne, peanut butter, and coconut milk to the soup, stirring to combine. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
I see red beans and rice is already here. That was one of my favorites when I could eat a lot of beans and rice. It takes very little sausage, or the sausage can be left out, as noted.
Having to avoid nightshades such as potato and tomato, as well as grains, including corn and rice, makes cooking a cheap dish a challenge. My cheapest meal is probably "junk soup", which uses homemade broth and leftover veggies and meats. Another cheap meal is pot pie using homemade broth, arrowroot flour for thickening, leftover meat and cheap veggies. The cassava flour crust is not nearly as cheap as a wheat flour crust, but no one says it has to have a crust.
But for you normal eaters, here's some of my former cheap meals:
Baked potato with toppers
White bean soup made with a leftover ham bone or smoked hock - we always ate it with cornbread on the side
Stir fry, with a little leftover meat, and using plenty of vegetables that are in season and cheaper. I still make this, but without rice, or I will sub in cauliflower rice, which isn't cheap.
I'm heading out the door to the airport so I won't be able to share a specific recipe. I have found that a meal that is plant-based (or plant-forward, a new term I just learned) and that uses little to no packaging (which I've heard can add 15% to the cost of some items) to be the most economical - and healthy.
Wolfe eggs from Peg Bracken
2 slices white bread fried in butter. Spread with deviled ham. Slide an over-easy egg on top, sprinkle parmesan on top, slip under the broiler for just a minute. Strangely delicious.
@Rose, Ha. "The I Hate To Cook Book" is such an amusing relic of its time. I don't think I've ever tried any of the recipes though. Nor would I know where to look for deviled ham. Near Spam?
@kristin @ going country, Yup. I grew up on devilled ham sandwiches or devilled roast beef sandwiches in the 70s. Although one could make it oneself, using minced leftover meat and various fillers, mayo, pickles, onions whatever.
Honestly, a LOT of the I Hate to Cook Book recipes are pretty darn decent. Plus I just love Peg's personality.
@kristin @ going country, I read recently something from Peg Bracken's daughter that it wasn't that her mother hated to cook, but she was a working mother at a time when there were no convenience foods and cooking was very time-consuming. So she forged a path for easier cooking with her caustically amusing take on it.
I also have her I Hate Housework book. Totally with her on that one! 😀
@Ruby, I adore the Peg Bracken books, all of them! Yes, I have tried many of the recipes, which are good. Even better are her household hints, humor, and encouraging prose! They are fun and funny books to read, even for non-cooks!
https://pinchofyum.com/crockpot-chicken-wild-rice-soup
https://pinchofyum.com/instant-pot-wild-rice-soup
Two versions of a wild rice soup and I have merged them together into Chicken & Mushroom Wild Rice soup. It's easy in either the crock pot or Instant Pot. Absolutely agree with the other comments that homemade chicken broth is the easiest & one of the best things to have in your freezer.
Eggs are another inexpensive option. https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/herbed-baked-eggs This has been a favorite for years & I make it for my husband and me regularly. I scale it down to 4 eggs & two individual dishes. It feels luxurious to get the rosemary out of the pot on my deck (a hardy herb that can survive in any garden!), chop the garlic we grew last year, grate a bit of parmesan & have this come out tasting like a million bucks for minimal effort.
My recipe is the one that I mentioned yesterday. My daddy grew up dirt poor in the Low country of SC where rice was always plentiful. This dish is called Perlo Rice there, Rice Pilaf/Pilau closer to Charleston and is casually known as Chicken Bog.
You boil a whole chicken, or quarters for me since I prefer dark meat and they are cheaper, in the biggest pot you have filled water that has been liberally salted. Cook for an hour or until it falls off the bone and the longer you cook it, the better the broth becomes. Let chicken cool, them remove from the bones and set aside. For us, I put 2 cups of rice and four cups of the wonderful broth back in the pot and a tsp of salt and pepper and if you have it, add a stick of butter. Cook on medium until it starts to boil then cover and turn down to low. It should take 25 - 30 minutes to be done. Halfway through cooking pour chicken on top then replace the lid. When it's done and rice is fully cooked, stir it altogether and enjoy. NOTE: if your rice is cooking too quickly, add a little broth. You want it to be very moist.
Someone mentioned cabbage and one of my go to quick and relatively cheap meals is to cook sausage links - any kind or size - in a big pot, then dump a bunch of thinly sliced cabbage and a few cups of water in and let it cook until tender. The sausage flavoring gets in the cabbage and it's so good.
@Jennifer,
Here in my rural neck of Florida they spell it Chicken Pilau and pronounce it Chicken Perloo. It's made the same, though. It's a popular dish for big get togethers.
@Jennifer, this is my husband’s favorite His mother, who would be 102 and a Florida Native, made it all the time.
@Jennifer, I’ve eaten Chicken Bog at the NC coast and it has smoked sausage in it. Delicious!
Ooh, recipes! How fun! My suggestions? Baked potato bar. I cook my potatoes in the crockpot--great day-at-work-I-don't really-want-to-cook-when-I-get-home meal. Top with proteins/cheese/Greek yogurt/veggies/salsa. My family thinks it's a treat.
Chicken thighs (or breasts) cooked in a sauce of 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/2 cup honey. You can either cook this in the crockpot on low for 3-4 hours OR in the oven for 45-50 minutes at 350*. Serve over rice. The chicken can be topped with sesame seeds if you have them and want to look fancy. Stupid simple, super tasty. Good easy recipe for kids to try their hand at.
Thai-style chicken thighs: 4-5 chicken thighs, 1 cup salsa, 1/3 cup peanut utter, 2 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP lime juice, 2 tsp grated ginger (or 1 tsp powdered ginger). Plop chicken in a crock pot, mix the other ingredients together to make a sauce, cook on low 4-ish hours. I like to serve this over polenta ... which I make in my OTHER crockpot. 1 cup coarse cornmeal, 3 cups water or stock, cooked for 3-4 hours in crockpot. It sounds sort of like an odd combo but it's delish.
It's already been noted, but budgetbytes.com is a fantastic resource. I also like the soup recipes from averiecooks.com (her cookies are fantastic, as well, but I think we're supposed to be focusing on meals ...).
@Kris, sorry! Didn't mean to steal your thunder in my reply above.
What a great idea! Soups are often a go-to for me in the winter, just because they warm you right up AND are ridiculously cheap to make, especially if you use beans.
A trick I learned from my mother-in-law is that nearly anything savory that has some kind of sauce can be served over rice, mashed potatoes, OR noodles, so it's an easy way to mix things up while still keeping things extremely affordable.
A few favorite recipes of ours (mostly using stuff that we almost always have in our pantry):
Chicken "gravy" soup:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2021/09/18/cooking-from-food-storage-recipe-for-chicken-soup-over-mashed-potatoes/
Instant Pot Mexican Ground Beef + Rice Casserole
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2020/04/20/instant-pot-mexican-ground-beef-rice-casserole-30-minute-pantry-meal/
Bare-Bones Pantry Pasta:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2017/07/18/creamy-bow-tie-pasta-aka-what-i-make-when-my-pantrys-almost-bare/
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2017/10/18/creamy-chicken-noodle-soup-my-husbands-favorite/
One of my favorite meals, hands-down! Beans=cheap, Rice=cheap. Easy, healthy, and delicious! https://pin.it/5TMLra8
Black bean soup is one of my go-to frugal meals. This is my recipe:
http://sweetteareads.blogspot.com/2018/11/black-bean-soup.html
I don't know that it's a recipe so much as an idea...but usually on Thursday nights we take whatever produce we have left from earlier in the week (ya know, that half an onion, or leftover bell pepper slices, or the few baby carrots from the bottom of the bag that get weirdly soggy), and roast it on a sheetpan, with a can of chickpeas, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of shwarma seasoning.
Cook a handful of rice at the same time, and make a bowl dinner. Even my toddler loves chickpeas!
This is a good solution for our family, where my husband and I like opposite veggies, so it's a great way to like, use up a whole container of mushrooms in one week without one of us having to eat something we don't like. Mushrooms go on one side of the sheetpan, peppers on the other side, and everyone is happy!
I think homemade pizza is definitely high on the list of the big savings (assuming you can get reasonably priced cheese.) This is my go-to pizza recipe these days:
https://www.ethanchlebowski.com/cooking-techniques-recipes/my-favorite-pizza-style-detroit
Burrito Soup.
Quick, easy, and frugal. You can make this from 100% canned foods, or make all the ingredients from scratch. You can vary the amounts, add other veggies, add hot sauce, make it vegetarian. My favorite trick is to simmer chicken in salsa, then use both of those in the soup.
Simmer the following together, all amounts approximate:
6 c. Chicken stock (homemade, canned, dry, etc)
1-2 c. beans or chopped leftover meat, anything that goes with Tex-Mex
1/2 - 1 c. salsa
1 can corn
1-2 c. cooked or leftover rice
Budget Bytes recipes saved me during my first undergrad + early career. Lots of options for meal prep or vegetarian options. I still make BB recipes at least 2x a week. My favorites are Mushroom Ramen Soup & Coconut Curried Lentils.
I'm not sure I have seen this covered yet, but for those of you who braise meat in the slow cooker--if you don't use the braising liquid from the meat (once finished) for anything else, it makes a fantastic liquid to cook beans in. I take dried beans, soak them in water overnight, rinse them, then cook them with the reserved braising liquid. The beans soak up all that goodness while cooking and are delicious!
Stir fries! Because a lot of the flavour is in small amounts of pricier ingredients (sesame oil, fish sauce, chili paste, soy sauce, etc.) the recipes are really adaptable. Broccoli can be replaced with bok choy or with carrots and green beans or cabbage and mushrooms. The protein can be tofu or beef or chicken (or pork, if you eat pork.) With rice, you have your protein, vegetable, and starch on one plate. Healthy, easy, tasty, cheap!
This recipe is a really easy place to start.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/pan-fried-sesame-tofu-with-broccoli/
The Woks of Life has loads of stir-fry recipes, and Hot Thai Kitchen is one of my current favourite sites.
Here's a recipe from Salon.com that I haven't tried yet, but am planning to try tonight. It sounds super easy and super good. (And it's yet another recipe that uses chicken stock. Vegetable stock can be substituted.)
The only catch is that you do have to have a good pesto on hand. Once again, I'm very lucky to have the Bestest Neighbors across the street. Ms. BN makes a great pesto, and it freezes beautifully.
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/23/youre-only-3-ingredients-and-10-minutes-away-from-the-herbiest-bean-soup-ever/
Baked potatoes topped with chili (either a can of your fave or leftover from your own kitchen) or your fav toppings. Potatoes are cheap and filling (and today they are warming which is delightful during a winter storm). I'm going to top mine with tuna and sweet corn. So good!
@Stacy, try cutting your potato open, about 10-15 min. before it's done, and insert an uncooked bacon strip. The delicious juice/fat seeps into the potato and makes it 'fancy.' Add a sprinkle of cheese if you really want it to seem luxurious.
The hands-down easiest and cheapest recipe I make is potato soup: chopped potatoes cooked til soft in just a little water, along with a handful of chopped onion (or some onion salt). Almost drain the potatoes, then add milk to cover, plus a lump of butter. Salt and pepper generously and serve hot. Really good when you get home at the last minute, and need something quick.
1. Walking Taco’s
2.Beef sausage in air fryer with sauerkraut.
3.pork loin crock pot with homemade BBQ sauce.
4. Tuna noodle casserole
5. Homemade hamburgers
6. Homemade chicken fettuccine Alfredo
7. Chicken ceasar wraps
8. Pasta with garlic, butter and fresh shrimp
9. Casey’s pizza local gas station
10. Salads
Many great ideas here!
We love baked potatoes with toppings and it's very frugal. A large russet potato is very filling and lots of things can be used for toppings.
I often make a baked ziti casserole with a box of pasta, sauce (homemade or bought) and some cheese on top. You can add ground meat or sausage or spinach/other veggies or none of the above. You can add dollops of cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. It's good even without any of those additions. It makes quite a lot for a little money. We usually make one of these casseroles over the weekend and use it for packed lunches for school and work, but it's a yummy dinner as well.
Another frugal meal is what we call "fancy ramen"...we top ramen with soft boiled eggs, spinach and other toppings depending on what we have. Ramen packets remain super cheap!
Pancakes are a frugal meal that seem like a treat. If I can't find good fruit for good price, we have them with applesauce.
Oh my, I'm a little late to the party - 65 comments! My go to inexpensive meal is red beans and rice, with Mexican flavorings. Then with the leftovers, I can make a burrito type dinner with tortillas and cheese and salsa. Bake it in the oven and you have a second dinner.
Slice one can of Vienna sausage into a skillet while the skillet is heating. Add one can of green beans and heat through. Drain if needed. Break eggs over the food and scramble them altogether. Be generous with pepper and add a little salt, if desired. I like to serve cranberry sauce with this.
We have chickens so have a lot of eggs. Omelets and crepes are a great way to use up small amounts of meat, cheese odds and ends or even just filled with friend potatoes. Tuna chowder is a cheaper version of Boston clam chowder. If we have a small amount of lasagna left, not enough to feed both of us, I often turn it into lasagna soup.
@Lindsey, crepes are something that I remember then forget. I too have a lot of chickens, and on a good day I can cook up a LOT of crepes, then fill them with chicken and gravy and freeze. Must remember next time I make a roasted bird, which I want to do soon.
I would recommend cooking on a bootstrap by Jack Monroe, she is UK based and has a website with tons of ideas for frugal, nutritious and delicious meals. Much of them are worked around UK supermarkets basic ranges (which are the cheapest foods here) and she prices up every meal.
https://cookingonabootstrap.com/
I'll share my husband's family favorite dinner - "Cracker Pie". It's actually like a chicken pot pie made with saltine crackers. The recipe starts with making a roux, so you know that it's good. 🙂
* * *
Ruby Helms' Chicken Pie (Cracker Pie)
1 lg. chicken breast half & 2 thighs (or 2 c. cooked chicken)
1 sleeve saltine crackers
4 T. butter or margarine
1 c. milk
2 c. chicken broth
1/4 heaping c. all purpose flour
1 T. Wyler's chicken granules
Salt & Pepper to taste
Over moderate heat using heavy pan, make a roux (gravy) by adding flour to the melted butter and stirring constantly until flour is a beautiful reddish brown. Add milk and broth, stirring well until thickened. Add chicken granules and seasonings. In a baking pan, layer crackers, chicken, crackers, and chicken. Cover with roux and top with crackers. Bake in 350 to 375 degree oven for 30 minutes until bubbly and light brown, One pan of roux 8x8 pan and two pans of roux for 9x13 pan.
* * *
My MIL adds in a can of green peas, but I usually serve them on the side. Enjoy! Valerie
I should add that you can make this a pantry meal with dried milk and canned chicken (I use two cans.)
My current favorite receipe(s): anything with Pork Butt/Pork Shoulder
At my local grocery store Pork Butt is regularly $3.99/lb, but if it is on sale for $1.99/lb I buy a roast. If it is $.99/lb, I buy two.
In January we made the Pork Butt into Carnitas!
1) cut the 4 lb Pork Butt into 2 inch peices. (do not trim fat.) Salt the meat with 1 1/2 tablespoons salt.
2) cut 1 lb of lard into eight peices and melt over medium-high heat in a dutch oven.
3) add pork into lard and allow lard to reach a vigorous simmer.
4) transfer to a 300 degree oven and cook for 2-2.5 hours, until the meat is tender (but slightly crispy on the exterior.
5) remove meat from lard and rough chop.
This is amazing topped with a tomatillo-lime salsa.
I found this summer pasta recipe in a magazine years ago. It's quick, easy, cheap and tasty. Better hot, but can be served cold.
1 box angel hair pasta, cooked & drained
1 can tuna, flaked
1/4 cup butter or use olive oil
1 T parsley, fresh or dried
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Place angel hair in serving bowl, toss with additional ingredients, add additional cheese when serving.
Serves 4 @ less than $1 per serving
Breakfast for dinner. We love baked eggs...or fried eggs with fried potatoes & a little avocado.
I think my best frugal tip would be to try to keep some fast foods in the freezer...canned soup (home canned, frozen or store bought). Your chicken brinerade has become a staple for my fast suppers. I add the brine before I freeze the meat. Pull from the freezer the night before, cook it up with some baked sweet potato fries & sauteed green beans. Supper is ready in minutes.
I really like this recipe (no recipe) because of its flexibility -- chicken and beans, but you can add as much or as little as you want, depending on what bits are in the fridge.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/one-pot-chicken-dinner-no-recipe-needed-article.
This was my mom's recipe we had it a lot on Sunday's. You could change it up by adding some veggies or beans. Not expensive but certainly filling.
" mom's barley & shrooms".
1 3/4 to 2 cups barley (NOT instant!!!)
1 onion, chopped
1 small can mushrooms, drained I use more
6-7 cups chicken broth
2-3 tbsp butter/margarine
2 chicken bouillon cubes
Rinse barley well in water, drain. Brown barley in skillet over medium or lower heat, no higher, & no butter/oil. Stir often. Once browned put in 2 qt or larger casserole dish.
Brown onion & shrooms in butter till softened, add to barley. In saucepan, add cubes to broth, heat til cubes dissolve.
Add 1/3 broth to barley, stir and bake for 20-30* minutes at 325°. Add 1/3 more broth, stir, cook for another 30 mins. Add remaining broth, stir cook final 30 mins.
I see a lot of repeats, and that's probably because it's hard to beat soup, beans and rice, or eggs for cheap and filling meals. Another suggestion I don't see a lot of is to have a meal based around pasta, which is filling and still pretty cheap. When I was broke and single and saving to buy a house, I discovered Clara and absolutely fell in love with her simple recipes and her fun memories:
https://m.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking
I loved her videos so much that I bought her cookbook. It was worth every penny!
My other frugal dinner suggestion is to move away from traditional American fare which tends to be more meat heavy, and really explore cuisines from other countries. A lot can be done with rice, noodles or bread and just small amounts of vegetables/proteins. Most of the time, the secrets are in either the spices or the cooking techniques. Sometimes the biggest flavour secret is fermentation! Think kimchi, injera, yogurt, and all of those have good-for-you probiotics too.
I remember a friend making the comment once about how they loved it when her mom made French toast. It wasn’t until she was grown that she realized her mom made it at the end of payday when all that was left to feed their family of 5 were a couple of eggs and some stale bread.
I buy a few hams on sale during the holidays, enough to use throughout the year. After eating off of it a couple times I cut several slices to freeze for ham steaks, cube a lot of it to freeze and use in quiche, omelettes, or to add to a green salad for a bit of protein, and use the bone to season a big pot of pinto beans - my husband’s very favorite! I seal the beans in quart jars, and when he has a hankering he heats up a jar and makes hot water cornbread for an easy meal.
Another easy, and fast, meal is to brown 1/2 - 1 pound ground beef; drain. Add 3 cans Progresso minestrone soup (it’s on sale every January here for $.99/can - I usually buy a dozen to use throughout the year), 1 can Rotel tomatoes, and 1 can Ranch Style Beans. It makes a large pot of Texas-Style Minestrone soup. This plus a pan of cornbread will feed several people (we get 8-10 servings from it).
Although it’s getting harder to find chicken on the inexpensive side, it’s easy to make your own rotisserie-style, then divide and use in 2-3 meals. Rinse a whole chicken, pat dry, then douse all over with seasoning salt (as much/little as you prefer; if possible, prepare chicken a few hours before cooking). Tear 3 or 4 sheets of foil and crumble into balls. Place the foil balls in the bottom of the crockpot and balance the chicken on top. Cook 4 hours. Use skin, bones and drippings to make chicken broth for your next frugal meal. When I was feeding 4 teenage boys every day I’d use a little less chicken and a little more torn tortillas in the chicken enchilada casserole to help fill the dish and stretch the meat. They never caught on.
Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. For more info, see All About Good and Cheap and Donation Impact.
https://books.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf
@Robert Sterbal, Thanks, that was a nice download!
I have various food allergies and intolerances. So my choices, by necessity, are not as frugal as some. I make many pureed vegetable soups as some have written. I keep ham bones for soup. Our present go to is cheap as I have a glut of tiny self seeded cherry tomatoes. It has been a hot summer here and I would pick about 4 to 5 pounds a week. These little tomatoes are not nice but when covered in oil, Italian herbs by the bucket load, balsamic vinegar, some salt and pepper and a number of sliced cloves of garlic. I then confit these in the oven for a few hours until they are crumpled a taste so much better. The result is the refrigerated and used as toppings for bruschetta, pizza, cheese and tomato on toast, tarts or pasta dishes. I use canola oil to reduce the cost and cheaper balsamic as well. I am so happy to have a tasty tomato base ready to go and if you wanted you might reuse the oil but I find that it is great to dip bread into.
I haven't seen this one, which is not surprising because my husband made it up. I know I've shared it lots of places, so I apologize if I'm duplicating my own comments on your blog. 🙂
CHEESY MUSTARD LENTILS
Cook some lentils (preferably green/brown). Drain, but do not rinse - you want them hot. Add mustard (any kind but honey mustard). Add cheese (preferably cheddar, but any kind works). Serve hot. You can add salt/pepper if you want, and you can serve with rice/bread/etc if you want. Or you can just eat a bowl of cheesy mustard lentils and be pleased with that.
Sounds weird. Sounds like not a recipe. Really isn't a recipe. And yet... it's been in our meal rotation for 10+ years.
I also like mashed potatoes and chili (instant mashed potatoes and canned chili for camping, so this is a super easy meal, too).
I guess it depends on what you always have on hand, but I can make homemade pizza with a fresh sauce, for a few dollars, from ingredients that are always in my pantry. The expense is shredded mozzarella and whatever toppings you want. I usually skip the meat and use up odds and ends of vegetables, like peppers, green onions, mushrooms and black olives.
Homemade Pizza, makes 2 large pizzas
Dough:
1 t. yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water
3 T. olive oil
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
3 c. flour, plus more for ease of handling.
Mix the dough ingredients, knead briefly, using additional flour, until smooth.. drizzle with a bit more olive oil and let rise covered in a warm place until doubled (an hour or two). Punch down and use your hands to push into desired shape on a greased baking sheet.
Sauce:
In a food processor or blender, place
2 cloves garlic
6 oz can tomato paste
15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 t. oregano
1 t. basil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
red pepper flakes (optional)
Additional olive oil
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
Toppings of your choice.
Preheat oven to 450.
Pulse until the sauce is smooth. Divide sauce between 2 pizzas, add toppings and cheese. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake 450 for 15-20 minutes.
Pasta dishes were always good with my now grown kids. I don't have a link but this is from Dom DeLuise, rigatoni with broccoli. Broccoli florets sauteed in half olive oil and half butter after lightly cooking some garlic first. Meanwhile rigatoni is cooked and drained. Add pasta to broccoli, some basil and chicken broth. Top with grated parmesan cheese. It was on regular rotation.
My dad taught at a Catholic high school while my mom was working towards her Masters and Ph.D. while raising the three of us so money was very tight for many years. One of my favorite cheap eats my dad would make was creamed tuna with peas on biscuits. It's basically a white sauce made with flour, butter, milk and a dash of sherry, salt and pepper. Then you add tuna, (he used three cans to feed the five of us), and cooked peas. He served it over biscuits. It was a popular thing in the 70s and it's polarizing, people either loved it or hated it. For me it is a true comfort food and cheap, especially when you get tuna on sale and make the biscuits from scratch.
The other way we eat cheaper is to stretch the sauce we get from pot roast or brisket. I can't eat regular tomato sauce so when I make pot roast or brisket I add extra onions, carrots, and celery. After the meat is done I use an immersion blender to turn the cooked veggies into a thick gravy and put some aside to use as a sauce on pasta later or add beans and serve it on toast with a fried egg on the side.
We eat low carb in my household, but we don't eat expensively. Our favorite is hamburger cabbage stir-fry:
1 lb hamburger
1 bag of coleslaw mix (cabbage, carrot, purple cabbage)
some fresh ginger, chopped (at least an inch, we like two or more)
soy sauce
sesame oil
black pepper
Brown the hamburger with the fresh ginger and some black pepper and drain (or, if you like, leave the grease. If you drain it, you'll require additional olive oil to continue). Add the bag of coleslaw mix and stir fry until the veggies are crisp-tender. Season with two or three tablespoons soy sauce (we use low sodium) and two tablespoons sesame oil.
You could stretch this meal with rice, and some people add fresh mushrooms to the mix. I find a bag of coleslaw mix to be under $1.75, but you could easily chop fresh cabbage to save money. I only buy the hamburger when it's on sale. Ginger is surprisingly affordable as well!
Breakfast sausage is versatile and cheap. In my area it is usually less than $1.00 per lb. I use it in soups, pastas and casseroles using whatever odds and ends of veggies in the fridge, freezer or pantry. Make it heartier by adding pasta or rice. Sausage is very flavorful and doesn't require a lot of extra seasoning. One of favorite recipes is breakfast sausage casserole. Brown and drain 1 lb. sausage, stir in one block softened cream cheese and spoon between flattened layers of 2 cans crescent rolls. Bake bottom layer of crescent rolls at 350 for 5 min. or so. Spoon in mixture and top with another flattened layer of crescent rolls. Bake for another 10-15 min. or until dough is golden. I usually add sautéed onion, garlic, bell pepper and mushrooms. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
@Jaybee Martin, Correction: THE SAUSAGE IS LESS THAN $2.00 PER LB.
We try to eat less meat. When I don't feel like doing major cooking I do this:
a can of beans, a can of veggies, and add either potatoes, rice, orzo or other pasta.
Mix all together and fry it up with spices. It is only the 2 of use. This costs only a couple of dollars for our meal.
Well, being from Louisiana, I have to go with red beans and rice. Put a bag of dried red beans, a cut up onion, cut up bell pepper, 3-4 cups water, a bit of garlic, S&P, and sliced smoked sausage or bits of ham in a crockpot, set to low, and go about your day. Creamy, hearty goodness. Serve over rice, of course .I soak my beans beforehand overnight.
DIY rotisserie chicken
Put a rack in your crockpot or make one out of foil. Place a whole chicken in and season with your favorite spices. Mexican, Italian, Greek, etc. Cook on low for 8 hours. Its fall off the bone yummy. This was my once a week go to when I was working.
One of our fast and frugal faves has two ingredients plus salt and pepper and a light spraying or coating of oil. Cabbage and sausage. A whole head of cabbage chopped, slivered or chunked and a couple (or 3) links of our favorite Aldi chicken sausage, but can use Italian, or kielbasa or breakfast sausage. Whatever is on hand and thawed ;). Brown sausage first then add cabbage which cooks down and takes on some of the sausage flavor. Easy, fast, cheap and usually gone in our house.
Pace-Yourself-Salsa Tacos!
Boil some boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, whichever you prefer. I usually buy a value pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Flavor your water or use chicken broth or chicken bouillon, and boil your chicken until it’s cooked.
Take the chicken out, and shred it. Get another large pan or drain, or keep the broth (if you want) and pour a large, plastic container of that Medium Pace Salsa over the chicken. Stir until all the chicken is covered. I add huge rings of a large onion (those who don’t like them can just pull them out). Continue to heat it to a boil, and the onion has softened,
While it’s heating, start frying lots of tortilla shells.
I have cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and sour cream for toppings.
You will have and want more of these tacos for 2-3 days. Trust me! Freezes well, too!
What an interesting assortment of foods, fast, easy, .. I want to start cooking! Thanks to all!
I’m pretty much a lurker, but decided to surface…I like a meal of polenta, with a quick sauce of sautéed mushrooms, onions, garlic, crushed or diced tomatoes. I add bits of leftover cheese to the polenta. I don’t eat meat, but even the meat-eaters like this one! I’m sure you could add cooked ground beef. I serve it with salad or a veg.
So many great suggestions! Seconding all the soups and burrito variations.
Shakshuka: savory tomato sauce with eggs. This recipe is super flexible, can use fresh or canned tomatoes, omit red pepper, add cheese etc.
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/shakshuka/#recipe
Instant Pot Lo Mein: a great oh no I need dinner in 20 minutes and don’t have much to work with recipe. I use whatever hardy vegetables I have on hand (broccoli, bok choy, kale, cabbage, zucchini, bell pepper, carrots, celery etc) and add a cup of frozen peas after it’s done cooking. I usually top with sesame seeds & sriracha.
https://kirbiecravings.com/instant-pot-lo-mein/#recipe
Note from your most devoted (not really frugal, but learning) reader of 12 years: I loved todays subject and I am in awe of all of these great recipes. I am going to try one of your bread recipes this weekend. FYI, we are having eggs for dinner tonight!
Can you make this a recurring subject in your blog?
Eggs are a great way to make a meal! So cheap and delicious.
We usually don't have breakfast (busy mornings), so breakfast for dinner is always a hit. Dice potatoes, add to a pan & get them a bit crispy. Cover a bit, so they steam & cook through. Add eggs, salt & pepper to taste. When eggs are done, add cheese & cover with the lid, turn off heat. When the cheese is melted, you are good to go.
I also like to take ground beef & make a spaghetti sauce. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, some seasoning & all of the veggies lurking at the bottom of your fridge (I love mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, etc). You can serve over pasta, or we do soy noodles for my husband.
Tacos are a huge hit here. I have the seasoned ground beef on salad, the kids have them on flour tortillas.
Other ideas:
-BudgetBytes - the entire site is awesome! We love crockpot chicken & dumplings & dragon noodles, particularly
-White bean chili soup
-Meatball soup
-Risotto with fridge leftovers (good after the holidays, if you have charcuterie items left over)
My dish is also pasta. My husband takes Choo Choo Wheel pasta, or any circular shaped one we have on hand, and mixes it with canned-in-oil tuna, olive oil, parsley, a little basil, and grated parmesan cheese. Really fast and inexpensive. Delicious.
100 Dollars A Month’s creamy spiced lentils with rice: https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/creamy-spiced-red-beans-and-lentils/
This was our dinner tonight, with roasted veggies on the side! Kids all loved it. 🙂
And yes to someone else’s suggestion to Google ingredients together that you have on hand!
Such a good topic, love all the suggestions. Two frugal recipes/tips that I haven’t seen mentioned:
1. I love a good salad and hate having greens go bad in the fridge before we can eat them - it burns up my frugal heart. I’ve found that romaine hearts are still a good price and they have a nice long shelf life, so we have been doing romaine salad with whatever other veg or protein we have on hand. We also make our own salad dressings, or stretch our favorite goddess dressing from a bottle by doing half bottled dressing, half oil and vinegar.
2. Snacks and lunches seem to be my frugal downfall. But having hummus and carrots (or chocolate hummus and apples!) around helps me avoid other packaged snacks or getting take-out, which are definitely more expensive. Since it’s winter, I also try to have clementines, tangerines or oranges around for snacks, desserts or salad toppings - a larger bag is still a good deal. When I’m feeling a need for comfort junk food, French onion dip (sour cream plus onion soup mix) with veggies, crackers or pretzels is another frugal snack option.
Oh my you folk have wonderful ideas and reminders! I had to leave partway through reading, as I was making dinner (Stirfry with the refrigerator dregs!) and also mixing up Lentil-Nut burgers from the moosewood cookbook. I had cooked the lentils yesterday so needed to get the rest sorted out - a lot of chopping but I double the recipe. Got that mixed and in the fridge after supper, but not formed yet - was a long day.
I wanted to mention another site that I haven't seen listed here - many of their recipes are vegan, but don't let that put you off if you are a carnivore! many of their recipes that have become part of the family rotation. The site name is misleading, too - they do much more than baking....I get their newsletter once a week which prompts me to go wander the site - always fun for new ideas:
https://minimalistbaker.com
I always try to have a plan already in place for leftovers. If we have BBQ one night, we eat the leftover Cole slaw with fish the next day.
I consider chicken and dumplin’s to be a great frugal dinner. I have a meat-loving family, and even though it has very little meat, they still gobble it up.
I use: 6-8 cups homemade chicken broth
Leftover chicken—just 3-4 oz
For the dumplins:
Self-rising flour
Broth
I use approximately a 2:1 mixture of SR flour to broth.
You can use water or milk with the flour, but the broth gives it such good flavor
Once mixed, roll out as thin as you can get it on a floured surface. I use my pizza cutter to cut bite-sized dumplins and drop into the hot, boiling broth. 1 at a time—don’t dump a bunch in at once. They will clump together and not cook well.
Reduce heat to simmer and let the dumplins cook for 20-30 minutes.
If the leftovers get too thick, they thin well with added water.
As a kid, my mom's frugal meal was a can of Chunky Beef Soup mixed with elbow macaroni. 1 can would then feed a family of 5. I don't remember sides, but likely a piece of white bread toasted with butter and garlic salt.
We will often make "scalloped" potatoes and ham with leftover ham. Essentially sliced potatoes, layered with ham, onions and shredded cheddar cheese. We make a slurry of milk and flour for thickening, and pour it over, then bake until potatoes are tender. If we make a 9x13 pan, it lasts for days.