I need cheap but tasty meal ideas....?

Question

After sitting down with my husband last night reviewing our finances, we are now on a very strict budget. I need dinner ideas that won't cost too much too make. About $10 per meal. It's just the 2 of us. I don't get home from work until 5:30 so things that I can make and be done with in about an hour are perfect. We like beef, chicken, pasta. We don't like seafood.

We have gotten into a bad habit of eating pre-packaged meals (chicken strips, fishsticks...etc...) because they are cheaper and I can toss them in the oven and walk away but it's so bad for us.

Can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

Pre-packaged meals are NOT cheaper that homemade. You have to pay someone to do the labor. It's either you (for free) or the manufacturer (at a cost).

Check out this website. She has budget-friendly meals, make-ahead meals that utilize leftovers, and even a metless meal once a week to help save money. Her site even has recipes and shopping lists for you to make it very easy!

http://www.uclick.com/client/adv/mu/

Answer 2

A staple in our home is dried beans. By making your own beans, you can save so much money and when combined with rice is a great source of protein. You can use the beans for rice 'n beans, soups, chili, burritos, casseroles, and lots more. I use an online recipe site to help me increase the number of recipes I make. They also show videos of how to make things I may not have made before. The more foods I make myself, the more money I save and the healthier I am. It is win/win! I almost always have a pot of homemade veggie soup in the refrigerator. Add a sandwich and a salad and you have a great economical meal that is good for you. We always have salad stuff too. My husband loves his salads and has one every night. I do not usually have them that often, but if you are careful about what you buy or if you can grow your own, salads can be economical also. I love pizza but cannot stand to spend approximately $20 on a take out pizza. So I have found a great pizza crust recipe on the site I spoke of before, I make my own sauce and add my own toppings for about a third of the cost (depending on the toppings, the savings could be even more). The greatest lesson I have learned is that making my own food, as much as I can, from scratch helps my family's budget so much. We still eat really well, but for a fraction of what I used to spend on take out and convenience foods. It takes time to plan your meals, your shopping trips and to do the cooking...but I find it is well worth it. Now that I have been doing it a while, it hardly takes any time at all. Hope that helps. Good luck!!

Answer 3

Cheesy Chicken Bake

2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 box Stove Top Stuffing mix (chicken flavor)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup cubed Velveeta Cheese

Prepare stuffing mix, stir in remaining ingredients .
Spoon into greased baking dish.
Bake 30 min. at 350.

Costs like 10.00 for entire meal
Easy, tasty

Answer 4

My hubby and i were in the same situation and i got a lot of cheap, quick, easy, and very good tasting meal recipies from campbellkitchen.com , and most of them call for very little ingrediants. Good Luck, hope this helps

Answer 5

2 lbs Hamburger
2 cans ranch Style Beans( can use the ones w/ jalopenas if you like it spicy)
2 pkg taco season
Scramble hamburger.... drain... add taco mix ( cut back on the water because of the juice from the beans) .... add beans... simmer
Eat over tortilla chips or plain.... we put lettuce/ tomatoes, hot sauce, cheese etc...

We call it Almost Chili( my kids love it) ... tastes even better the next night....