Cheap recipes! Tell me some...?

Question

My husband and I just bought a house and we move in this weekend. I need some cheap recipes now that I have a mortgage payment. I have two kids to feed who are kinda picky. My husband is italian, so pasta is good.

Any ideas??

Answer 1

Here are a few ideas, and a few recipes.

Perfect tuna Casserole:
( you would need to double this recipe):

Measure out 2/3 cup of macoroni noodle and cook according to directions. Drain.

In casserole dish, add tuna, 1/4 cup mile, can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, 1 1/2 cup frozen peas, and the cooked noodles. Stir and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook 30 minutes on 350 degrees, uncovered. If you want, you can then top with bread crumbs and cook another 5 minutes.


Hamburger Tator Tot Casserole:

Brown 1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef,and 1 onion (diced). Salt and pepper to taste. Drain. Mix with 1 can campbell's cream of mushrrom soup, 1 can french style green beans (drained). Put in casserole dish. Top with single layer of tator tots. Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes (TILL TOTS ARE CRISP).


Here's a sausage stew recipe I make in the crockpot, which is quite yummy:

This crockpot sausage stew is made with Italian sausage, potatoes, garlic and onions, tomatoes, and seasonings.
INGREDIENTS:
2 to 3 medium potatoes, peeled, cubed
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 to 1 1/2 pounds Italian sausages
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) stewed tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 medium green bell peppers, seeded, chopped
PREPARATION:
Lightly grease or spray slow cooker; place potatoes in bottom of pot.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage links and brown. Slice links into 1-inch pieces and transfer to slow cooker.

Add garlic and onion. In a separate bowl, combine tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper; stir to blend. Pour mixture over the sausages in crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW setting 8 to 10 hours, until potatoes are tender. Add bell pepper about 1 hour before serving. (I add it at the beginning)
Serve in bowls with garlic bread.



Then there are eggs, which are cheap and go along way. Not to mention hamburger helper...which you can add shredded cheese and cooking wine to, boosting the flavor.

Hope that helps. Enjoy your new home!

Answer 2

Crunchy Chicken 2 eggs 1 large can frenchs french fried onions 3 boneless chicken breasts Crush the onions in a ziploc bag or pulse in the food processor. Dip each breast into the egg then in the onions. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes. Serve it with your favorite veggies or a salad and roasted red potatoes. Cube 2 large red potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chop up some garlic cloves...add that in too. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes then increase the heat when the chicken is done to 450 for 10-15 minutes.

Answer 3

My favorite is simple egg drop soup.

Bring a can of chicken broth with a couple dashes of soy in it to a rolling boil.

Beat the heck out of one egg per can of broth. Feel free to put a little pepper in the egg, but you won't need any salt.

Slowly add the egg to the boiling broth. The harder it's boiling and the more you can avoid pouring into already cooked egg, the fluffier the egg will be in the soup.

Answer 4

Congrats on the house! :) I know I love rice crispies! That's cheap and easy. Just buy one bag of marsh mellow and melt it in a pot, put a stick of butter, then poor it onto a box of rice crispies! YAY! It's really good, ur kids will love it. And sometimes i buy a box of macoroni and i just put it in some water with chicken broothe. Then I fry up some spam, and eat it like that. It's good and super duper cheap for a meal. Of course, this gets very tiresome. Congrats again. :)

Answer 5

No prepared foods. Shop the edges of the store, where you find produce, dairy, bread, all the basics. Beans, lentils, dried legumes of all sorts with rice, tortillas, pasta, polenta. Fruits and vegetables in season- if you have a farmer's market nearby, they will be cheaper and fresher. Keep meats to a minimum, and buy family pack sizes, break them down, and freeze them. Extend meats by making soups and stews. Get creative with new cuisines. Italian is good, but so is Indian, Chinese stir fry, Mexican, and Creole red beans and rice.

Make your own Frijoles de Olla- stewed pinto beans
soak beans, drain, cover with water, simmer with an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, a can of diced tomatoes(opt) some cumin and oregano (also optional) all day, or if you have a crock pot, start the evening before on low. You will will have delicious beans that can be frozen for other days. Things to do with them:
1.Serve as is with some grated cheese and /or chopped green onions/cilantro sprinkled on top with heated flour or corn tortillas, and either corn or a simple salad.
2. pour a little oil in a frying pan. Heat over medium heat. pour in beans, mash with potato masher or back of a large spoon. Fry until hot. You've just made your own refried beans. use them for burritos, with flour tortillas, chopped lettuce, roma tomatoes, onions, grated cheese and salsa.
3. Heat a can of enchillada sauce. Dip corn tortillas in sauce, fold into quarters on each person's plate. sprinkle with cheese, onions...top with some of your beans.
4. Brown a pound of hamburger with a chopped onion. add some of your beans, a couple tablespoons of Chili Powder, a tsp or two of cumin, salt and pepper, a can of tomato sauce, and simmer for at least an hour. Chile con Carne. For a treat, poach an egg in it.

Along the same lines, brown a pound of hamburger, with a chopped onion and diced potatoes until everything is well browned. Salt and pepper to taste, serve in a flour tortilla with any topping you like.

Make your own salsa. In blender or food processor, add 2 garlic cloves, buzz, then a large onion, a can of green chilies, a can of diced tomatoes, a bunch of cilantro, the juice of a lime or lemon, buzz. Finally, add one or two chopped fresh tomatoes. You can add more or less chili for heat- such as serranos or jalepenos if you like. Play with this recipe until you find your family' s favorite blend. You can add a little cumin and or oregano, too.

Dal- Indian lentils. wash 1 1/2 cups lentils well. add 4 cups water.(you can add a tsp of turmeric here). simmer until they fall apart. Heat two tblsp. oil in a small pan.over med. heat. add a little red chili if you want it hot, a tspor two of cumin, a tsp ground coriander, and a half tsp ginger. Heat for a minute or two. You could substitute a tblsp or two of curry powder. be sure not to burn the spices. Pour oil into the lentils, add salt to taste, serve with whole wheat tortillas, yogurt, sliced cucumbers and fruit.

Italian meat sauce- brown an onion with a lb of hamburger. add any of the following in any combination- diced canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomato puree, whole canned tomatoes that you have sliced. With the thinner tomato products, just simmer longer, until you have the texture you want. In cheap cooking you use what's on sale and what's on hand. Flavor with Italian seasoning or a combination of oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjorem, fennel seed- whatever you have that sounds good . A grated carrot gives it a little sweetness and thickness. You can add mushrooms, chopped bell peppers if you like. Simmer as long as possible. Its edible after a half hour, but the longer you cook it, the better it gets. Serve over any kind of pasta or over polenta, which is basicly cornmeal mush.

The idea is to use simple ingredients imaginatively. You can feed your family on practically nothing this way. There isn't time or space for all the recipes (with amounts) that I have- If you are interested in more ideas, e-mail me.

Answer 6

rice :) Ramen noodles. Scrambled eggs. Soup, Homemade soup. Use coupons

Answer 7

beans, rice, cornbread: $2.00 feeds family of 4 or 5
store brand noodles, Speg. sauce and meat:$6.00 feeds family of 4 or 5
can corn and peas, freash carrots, celery, potatoes:$7.00 feeds family of 5

Answer 8

I love cheap recipes and luv to cook...so here's some...jiffy mix pizza dough in the box its like 50cents and you can put anything on it. also Velveeta block and any pasta and u can add frozen veggies to it. and tofu it mixes with anything and tastes like egg whites and is healthy.(use in place of meat in pasta) its like a dollar. vegetarian split pea soup in bean section, use dry peas and add onions and stuff. water. make a soup. my grandma also makes a killer chicken and rice dish, with cream of mushroom soup, white rice and chicken and bakes it. put chicken and cooked rice In casserole dish and pour like 2 cans of cream of mushroom over it and bake add green onions on top. also top ram-en with eggs in it.

Answer 9

Stereo typing your husdbands taste by his back ground. Allowing you kids to tell YOU what they will or won't eat. Deciding to have a mortage than eat properly.....I think there are more problems than just wondering what to eat that's cheap. But in all fairness, to answer your question. Learn to love oatmeal, morning / noon and night......but, you will need electricity to cook by....unless you have a fireplace.

Answer 10

good ole mac and cheezze