Does anyone have any good, cheap recipes to cook a good meal for a family of four?

Question

I am not too much of a cook but I desire to cook more. We are on a budget.

Answer 1

I don't know if there are any recipes in this book, but my wife has read it to help out our budget in the past. It is called miserly moms, and it is cheap. (some as low as $0.01 plus shipping)

You can also check the website http://allrecipes.com

Answer 2

Get a nice, big cut of beef on sale, freeze until needed. Chop up the meat and put it in a kettle with carrots, onions, peas, potatoes, etc, along with some beef buillion. Stir in some flour to thicken, salt and pepper to taste.. Serve with chunky bread. This makes a hearty meal that is healthy and inexpensive, and leftovers (if any!) can be frozen. Also:
Grandma's German Potato Soup with Ribbles-
Peal and chop up 6-8 medium size potatoes. Put in kettle of water with 2 0r 3 medium onions chopped up. Salt and pepper to taste, add some chicken buillion if desired. Let cook until potatoes are starting to soften, then break up a pound of hamburger into the kettle, and let cook. To make ribbles: in a bowl, mix up 2 or 3 eggs, add salt and pepper to taste. Add in flour a bit at a time until the mixture is fairly stiff (dry). Drop spoonfuls of ribble mixture into the soup- broth should be almost boiling when you drop them in. They only take about 10 minutes to cook, turn down the heat and let simmer. (The ribbles are sort of like dumplings but more "eggy" than dumplings). The soup can be eaten right away, but is even better the next day. Again an inexpensive and heary meal.
Here is a general meal plan, good for a family of four:
Buy meat on sale and freeze. Thaw as needed. Your basic meal plan is meat (cooked as desired, eg baked), a vegetable (canned or frozen) and starch (potato dish, rice, etc). Buy fresh fruit for your family to snack on. This is not fancy eating, but it's easy and nutritious. Good luck to you!

Answer 3

When you buy a box of pasta, they have recipes on them sometimes... I have tried several, and all have been good to great. If you can find the San Giorgio Mini Rigatoni, cook the one with 1 pound of Italian sausage in the recipe. It'll feed a family of four and is really awesome. Or buy the ziti and make baked ziti from the recipe on the box. Also delicious.

Answer 4

Biscuits and gravy is fairly simple:
You boil milk, add flour and stir until thick, salt/pepper, and add finely ground sausage. (if you are of the less health-conscious nature, you add the sausage grease to the milk and flour.) Then pour over toast. Simple and budget-friendly.

I enjoy Miniature Triscuit Pizzas as an easy meal or snack. You open a box of Triscuits and lay them on a cookie sheet, and then put a spoonful of spaghetti sauce on each one and then sprinkle with cheese. You broil them in the oven for a few minutes. Delicious if I may say so myself.

Loaded baked potatoes are very good and simple also.

Answer 5

Watch for pot roasts to be on sale.... Usually at least 1 grocery store always does. Put it in the crock pot along with 4-5 potatoes, 5-6 carrots cut up, 1 onion cut up, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 packet of dry onion soup mix. Let it cook all day. It becomes a delicious meal and you usually have leftover roast beef for sandwiches.

Answer 6

stir fry beef and broccoli (you can also use chicken). It is very good and you could make ice or macaroni with it oo. If you want the recipe go to marthastewart.com. the trick with cooking for four on a budget is to substitue thing you need in the recipe with things you have in hte fridge.

Answer 7

well a box of spaghetti is less than a dollar and a can of spaghetti sauce Can, not jar is under a dollar too....if theres 4 of you grab 2 of each, if you have any onions dice one and put into the sauce when you heat it up. and you can even buy some hamburger meat, i think thats 3 dollars for lean hamburger a pound of it, brown that and add it to the sauce.

my mom raised me on like huge kettles of soups, we could reheat that for like a week. this is the easiest soup to make,
ingredients:
a huge can of v-8 or tomato juice, 1 or 2 onions, buy some frozen mixed vegetables, a can of mushrooms, canned tomatoes, just mix and match. buy whatever vegetables you like and put it in a pot and simmer it for a few hours, or crock pot even better. another good one is soup beans and cornbread, my recipes may sound sick to you but i have like never been in the hospital and im healthy as an ox Thanks mom :) (and God haha) wow i look nutz but who Cares Hahahaha

Answer 8

This is a classic in my family. Ridiculously easy, chicken would be the most expensive part & that can be flexible. And really really really tasty. It's just chicken & rice baked together, not casserole-y


Chicken & Rice Bake
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup (or 2 mushroom ones)
1 can rice (use soup can to measure rice)
1 envelope lipton dry onion soup mix
chicken pieces (i use boneless skinless chicken breast halves, can easily fix 6-8 in a 9x13 glass pan)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease/spray nonstick in a 9x13 pan. Pour in soup, mix together, spread across pan. Add rice. Mix in a bit. Place chicken on top of this. Sprinkle onion soup mix on top. Bake for 2hrs.

Answer 9

Pasta Fagioli:

All cheap ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
2 large white onions
5 cloves garlic
2 cans tomato paste
10 cups water
2 cans cannelini beans
1/2 pound ditalini pasta
salt, pepper, crushed red
grated cheese (when serving)

1) Sautee chopped onions and garlic in olive oil in big soup pan
2) Push aside onions and garlic and put paste in center of pan and cook paste for a while
3)Add water, bring to boil and add beans, cooked ditalini, salt, pepper, crushed red
4)cook on simmer for as long as you can

5)Serve with grated cheese and bread with butter

Answer 10

Here are some links for recipes with a budget in mind. One of the first sites for you to check out is http://www.cheapcooking.com. They have casseroles, chicken dishes, beef dishes, pasta, etc. Most of the recipes are pretty simple and don't call for a lot of different or hard-to-find ingredients.

Here's another site for you to check out. The url is http://mamarant.blogs.com/mamacooks/cheap_food/index.html. She offers a lot of recipes that are great ideas for kids and parents who are on a budget.

Answer 11

Cubed pork and mushroom soup!! With baked potatoes and green beans. Cut the cutlets into pieces, brown them lightly, then put the soup on them. cover the skillet and put it on low. Wash and wrap the potatoes in foil bake at 425 for an hour. when the hour is up put the beans in a bowl and zap in the micro for 2 mins. BAM!!!! The whole meal won't be more than$6.00!