My boyfriend and I are (almost) broke...?

Question

...but we also like to not starve. Any recipes you love that don't cost a ton of money?

Thanks!

Answer 1

When we were little although we weren't super broke my mom always fed us macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and peas. this is so good so pretty much is you cook the noodles like usual but you throw in sliced hot dogs and a small amount of frozen or canned peas and cook until the noodles are done. then drain and prepare just like you would for macaroni and cheese. Alot of peopel say it gets expensive because of the butter and everything but now a days you can get it pretty cheap the butter doesn't have to be name brand stuff the cheap kind is fine. Sometimes when we had a little extra money should would use hamburger instead of hot dogs this is also super yummy. You can also have tuna noodle casserole, grilled cheese, pbj, ummmm..... soup, cheesy rice, ramen, cup o noodles, and so much more. if you have a dollar store around you or something of the sort you can by really cheap food there. at my dollar store you cna buy things for 2 for 1. well hope you like my ideas!!

Answer 2

Spaghetti is relatively cheap. You don't need the most expensive ground meat. You can use chicken, pork, or sausage. A couple onions, garlic, bell pepper. The noodles are cheap. This meal will feed a lot of people or the two of you can eat for a couple days. Leftovers.....I like the leftovers cold. Is that strange?

Any kind of stew is cheap. Chicken, beef stew meat (any cheap cut will do), Pork stew meat.

We always ate jambalaya, cause it made a large volume for the whole family.

A pot of beans with rice goes a long way and is very good. White beans or red beans....uuuummmm!

These are healthy recipes and not something out of a box.

Answer 3

Any of those packaged instant noodles work great. I'll boil water, add the noodles, bring to boil again, then drop in a couple of eggs (without the shell) and stir. Cook per the directions on the package. That's about as cheap as it gets, about 15-20 cents for the ramen noodles pack, and maybe 60-90 cents for a dozen eggs. Tomato soup isn't too high, and you can add rice, sandwich meat, chopped hot dogs, crackers, or dip some cheap, on-sale bread in it. I've been broke before, and I always keep these items on my shelf in case of lean times.

Answer 4

Check the discount section in the supermarket.Most mark down meats that need to sell soon in the morning.They still have several days before going bad and you will save up to 50% on the cost.Check the scratch and dent section in the store as well.I know these aren't recipes,but they will save you a lot of money.Watch the loss leaders in the paper as well.When you can, buy as much as you can when items are on sale.You may have a few weeks of strange meals,but after you've built up a store of items,your budget will provide very nice meals at a much lower cost.
Check this site before grocery shopping as well.
http://www.shoplocal.com/default.aspx?action=entrybroadreach

Answer 5

I've definitely been there...
I lived off of tuna and crackers for a couple weeks (just wishing I had mayo to add to the tuna)
But you can buy white rice (very cheap) and can basically add any spices you have in the cabinet to it. Frozen veggies are pretty cheap as well. If you have @ $6, you can buy a pkg of chicken breasts and when you flatten them, they go pretty far. Just cut into strips, dip in seasoned flour and bake or fry for chicken strips. You can brown it and cut into pieces for chicken breast salad. (lettuce is @ $1) Eggs can be made into omelettes with those cheap packets of lunch meat and you can use the leftover lunch meat with bread @ $.60 . And if you can afford a bag of potatoes, you can make all kinds of things for about a week.
Good luck guys! Don't be too proud to eat with a friend now and then to help out. You'd do the same for them.

Answer 6

Well I was just in the same situation my gurl left me and said the same thing said we should just be friends right so I did what I could to keep her around we have been going thru alot this whole year she figured if it didnt get better yet then it would never get better which I believed her even thru I loved her I knew she was right. Sometimes relationships are good but then go bad its for a reason maybe you should let him go Listen he is going to slipt he already said those words but if you really wana keep him stop being a damn nag lol good look i just hope its not to late.

Answer 7

casseroles are really great when you are short on cash, because you can get a few meals out of each.

a couple of my favorites:

tuna noodle casserole
1 can tuna
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 bag of egg noodles (cooked and drained)

mix it all together and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. if you have extra potato chips, crush them up and put them on top for the last 5 minutes

mexican casserole:
1 lb ground beef (browned and drained)
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup taco sauce
1/2 package taco seasoning
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 small can sliced black olives
1/2 bag of egg noodles (uncooked!)

mix it all together, put it in the casserole dish, bake at 325 for 20 minutes covered. if you want, you can put taco cheese on top and bake it uncovered for another 5 minutes.

try not to eat too many ramen noodles. they are really terrible for you!!! have you ever looked at how much cholesterol they have??? ugh!

Answer 8

Creativity and a willingness to do work make a big difference in grocery bills.

Resist the temptation to buy convenience foods, since you pay for the convenience. You'll get your grocery budget to stretch further by getting pasta (get different kinds), ground beef (get the 5-lb logs, cut it up into 5 sections and bag and freeze the individual lbs.), rice, pork chops, blocks of cheese (not bags of pre-shredded cheese), canned or frozen vegetables, cans of different kinds of "cream of" soups, the dry packages of gravy, marinades and sauces (such as chili, spaghetti sauce seasonings, etc.) and ro-tel tomatoes (a staple in our household, because it can be added to LOTS of things and put a new twist on old standards). Also getting a few things like Jiffy cornbread or biscuit mixes, etc. can help round out a meal.

A few of our "We Have No Money" favorites:

Chipotle Marinaded Chicken breast with Southwest Cheezy Broccoli: get the dry marinade pack in the seasonings aisle and marinade your chicken breasts, then bake or grill the chicken. Cook some frozen cut broccoli, and instead of using the usual cheese sauce, use Campbell's nacho cheese soup.

Red beans and rice: Cook the rice as usual, only add cajun spices to the water while it's cooking (it varies, depending on how spicy you like it.) Add a can of dark red kidney beans, partially drained, and more Cajun seasonings, as well as some tabasco sauce. Mix and cook until heated through and season some more according to taste. Cornbread is an old southern standard, and it is great (and cheap) with this.

Spicy cheeseburger mac: Get the knock-off hamburger helper Cheeseburger Macaroni, and cook according to directions. When you're supposed to reduce heat and simmer for about 7 minutes, stir in a can of ro-tel tomatoes. It really gives it a kick to keep it from being boring. You can get the knock-off ro-tel stuff, but if you want some variety, the name brand has (at the least) mild and extra spicy, too.

I-DON'T-LIKE-THE-BOX-KIND Macaroni and Cheese: Cook a 7-oz package of elbow macaroni, then drain it and keep it warm. Chop an onion to have about 1/4 cup. In a saucepan over medium-low heart, melt 3 TBSP butter, cook the onion until tender, then add 3 TBSP flour, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste. Stir it to make a paste. Gradually add 1 cup milk, stirring constantly. Heat and stir until thickened, remove from heat, and stir in 1 cup (I tend to use more) of grated cheese. Pour all of it over the macaroni and mix well. Serve as a meatless entree, or along with a cheap cut of meat, such as pork chops, seasoned and baked.

As odd as it sounds, my husband makes Ramen&Eggs, which is actually good (we were married for a year before I would try it, but we fix it a lot on lazy days now). Take a package of Ramen noodles (we usually use beef or oriental, but I think just about any flavor works.) Break the noodles up into very small pieces, and put it in a skillet. Cover it with water (you won't want too much, because it'll come up soggy otherwise). Stir in the seasonings packet. Cook on the stovetop, stirring often, until the noodles are soft and the liquid is almost completely evaporated/absorbed. Use a spatula to push the seasoned noodles to one side of a pan. Crack an egg on the side that has no noodles, then immediately begin stirring the egg in with the ramen, allowing it to cook and stick to the noodles as you stir. I promise, it tastes better than it sounds or looks like it would. :-)

Hope this has helped. The first five years of our marriage was spent cooking cheap meals. Also, just about any casserole would be a bargain for you, since you can either split it up into two or three smaller casseroles and freeze uncooked ones, or box up leftovers.

Answer 9

potatoes. A ten pound bag of them will last for a while and you can do anything with them. I won't go into a great list because I don't want to sound like bubba from forest gump but you can make soups, breakfast and even dumplings from them with a little flour. here are some sites with good recipes

http://www.earthlypursuits.com/Food/PotatoRecipes.htm
http://www.bloglander.com/cheapeats/category/recipes/

Answer 10

Hotdogs,bread,and Mr Noodles got me thrue some rough times.I also suggest you make a trip to the local food bank.