Can anyone help me with some cheap recipes?

Question

I have a family of 5 and right now we have $60 until next week wednesday.... so any recipes that I can make with stuff I have on hand would be great! Of course the only meat I have right now, is canned tuna and canned chicken. But I have a lot of pasta and rice and frozen and canned vegetables. Any recipes would be helpful as I need to cook everyday for my family. Even recipes for things that I do not have would be great! Thanks for listening to my rant:) and thanks ahead of time for all the help!!

Answer 1

I've got a family of 5 too, and I know how expensive it can all be! I can usually get away with $90 on groceries and diapers for the week while feeding my children things like shrimp pasta, pork loins, pork roasts, pecan glazed ham, plenty of chicken dishes, and so on. I simply plan my meals on what's on sale. When I can I stock up on really good deals and freeze them. I never buy the pork loins or roasts unless I can get them buy 1 get 1 free, and the shrimp I get for buy 1 get 2 free. So even if I spend $12 on 3 bags of shrimp, I have 3 seafood meals for $4+. I know too how buisy you must be!! I usually check the flyers out for the stores I go to online and that helps me plan my meals big time. Although it really stinks when you get to the store and they're sold out of those really good deals or you get to the chicken counter with the $.79 thighs and legs and it smells like a dumpster : ) (had that happen the other day and was so grossed out by it!)

Meat Pie/Pasties

1LB ground beef, whatevers on sale, the leaner the meat the drier the pie.
1 small onion chopped
1 clove minced garlic
3-4 carrots peeled and chopped
3-4 potatoes peeled and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbls margarine or butter
Pastry dough (you can make it homemade or pick it up on sale. I've gotton it for as little as $1 and freeze a bunch, it can be found by the biscuits at the supermarket)

In a large bowl mix all ingredients with your hands. Lay one pastry dough on bottom of a 9 inch pie plate, add mixture and press down firmly. Dot top with butter or margarine, cover with second pastry dough and seal edges. Slit top of pie crust. I usually put tin foil around the edge because they tend to get darker then the rest of the pie. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until veggies are fork tender. I check this by sticking a knife into the slit I made and checking the carrots and potatoes. Pull it out and let it rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve with ketchup or sour cream. Sometimes I make a salad, but like last night that's all we had.

I also love frozen corn and broccoli because you can get it really cheap and it tastes good, and there's no salt or anything added. They're a staple in our house especially in winter and they're quick!

Another good one is boneless skinless chicken or the thighs, lightly browned in oil. Transfer them to a casserole dish, add 2 cans cream of mushroom condensed soup, bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Excellent served over rice.

When we have lots of leftovers, we have leftover night and just reheat it all and that's our dinner. The kids like it because then they have a choice. It's only bad when they start fighting over the same thing and there's not enough!

Another good one is buying a large ham when they go on sale for .99 cents a pound. I pick them up for around 8 bucks and we eat it for 2 nights and then I make pea soup with the bone and leftover meat. Sometimes I freeze it when we're about sick of ham :)

Big pots of stew or chili are pretty inexpensive too.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 2

Pasta with chicken....get chicken strips if desired if not go with the thighs and pull the meat off the bone you can poach the chicken first or you can cut it off before cooking...

Brown the chicken in skillet...deep one or a pot will do,

add a jar of sauce or make your own if you have the ingredients, add peas, serve over top of noodle or rice....orzo noodle is good but any noodle will do.

Breakfast for dinner is good....you can have eggs n pancakes with toast you can make french toast..... i am just trying to think of ideas that are cheap that can feed the army... I have a family of 5 as well and they are all boys n 1 man, but no difference in the food department.

if you get burger you can make chili or sloppy joes, all you need is burger, ketchup(not much) mustard(tablespoon or so)
barbaque sauce or tomato soup or just ketchup, brown the burger, drain, ad any spice you want on the meat, stir in about a 1/4 cup barbeque sauce, tablespoon of mustard, & 1/4 cup of ketchup... stir let simmer about 20-30 minutes, serve on rolls or bread whatever you have...

Ramen soup is very cheap....ad eggs if the kids do not mind, serve with a sandwich like grilled cheese or peanut butter, whatever you have....
Everyone has suggested the casserole for chicken or tuna, you can also make chicken salad sandwiches on toast with ramen soup........ just ad a small amount of mayo and onion if you have and the kids do not object with a little bit of celery...and if you don't have celery or onion leave it out and ad salt n pepper to your liking.
You can get vienna sausage and add to your rice and put a can of corn in it as well, if you make spanish rice with sazon it is much better than adding it to plain white rice.

Get a bag of pop corn kernels and cook on the stove top for snack. And maybe a pack of pudding n jello. A small bag of popped corn kernels cost less than a dollar and it will last for about a week or two. They will have a snack every night. And go for the jello because pudding will take up a lot of milk. You can get powdered milk. It is good to keep it on hand when things get tight.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

ChickenStuffing Bake
2 cans chicken
2 boxes stove top stuffing
2 small cans gravy or one large jar.

lay chicken in a 13x9 in pan, mix stuffing with hot water and butter and lay on top of chicken, top with gravy and bake till heated through
you can put a layer of potatoes or other veggies down before the chicken if you like.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
i dont have a recipe in my head for that but allrecipes.com will have one

Spaghetti is a very inexpensive meal.
You could buy a couple pounds of ham and cheese from your local deli and have sandwiches and soup for lunches.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Taco Salad is fairly cheap. A bag of tortilla chips, pound of burger, pack of seasoning bag of cheese a tomato(or just salsa it has tomatos in it) and some lettuce I use the bagged salad lettuce, so i can use the left overs in salad or even on sandwiches.

Tuna salad sandwiches, or Tuna Melts are good.

Answer 4

Make Over 200 Juicy, Mouth-Watering Paleo Recipes You've NEVER Seen or Tasted Before?

Answer 5

Here are some ideas. Then go to www.allrecipes.com and look up the recipes and customize them to your taste/needs/supplies.

Tuna noodle casserole
Chicken noodle casserole
Pasta w/red sauce
Pasta with butter and peas
Tuna salad
Chicken salad
Fried rice with vegetables
Peanut Butter sandwiches
Chicken and rice
Chicken and pasta
Tuna over rice with vegetables

Start experiementing, it will be fun and make this stressful time easier.

Answer 6

Well, if you have pasta and canned tuna and chicken and a couple of cans of cream of mushroom or cream of ??? soup, you can make a great casserole that will stretch out your one can to feed the five of you. You can add one can of meat, one can of soup, and one can of veggies to cooked pasta, stir and bake with a bit of breadcrumbs on top or cheese, or crushed potato chips.
You can also make creamed chicken or tuna over rice. Make a white sauce and add tuna or chicken and serve over rice with a side dish of veggies.
If you have hamburger, you can fry it up in a pan, drain the fat, add one can of tomato sauce, one can of diced tomato's, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper and mix together. cook up pasta and drain. Put pasta in with meat sauce and stir; add in a can of drained corn and a can of drained small whole olives. mix well and put in a casserole dish and top with grated cheddar cheese (or whatever you have on hand) bake until cheese is melted in a 350 degree oven.
Get some flour tortillas and canned re fried beans and cheese and make your own burritos. serve with a green salad.
Hope any of this works for you!

Answer 7

Creamed Chicken on Toast...make a white sauce, add canned chicken and some veggies, like peas and carrots and serve on toast or rice.
Tuna Noodle Casserole...again, white sauce, add tuna and cooked noodles in buttered casserole, buttered crumbs on top and bake, serve with veggies or salad on side.
Hot Dogs and Beans...Brown hot dogs in butter, add a can of baked beans and 1 tbsp. mustard and brown sugar. Simmer to blend. Serve with bread, pickles and chips.

Answer 8

Yahoo has a website set up exactly for that they even have e menu set up for just 10.00 a week. The website is called www.budget101.com it is ran by a wonderful lady named Liss and you will get a lot of information on her website including home made gifts and how to make your own mixes and cheap meals. I hope you enjoy the website and this helps oh yea they even tell you how to make your own Febreeze and laundry soap and such. Good Luck I save ton there!

Answer 9

Turkey is the best buy for the money. It may cost around $12.00 but look how many meals & sandwiches you'll get out of it.

Split pea soup w/ hambone or buy one of those individual "ham steaks" they sell for the meat. Very nutritiuos, filling & good! Use dried split peas, about 30 cents a bag.

Answer 10

You can do it no problem! Get the free special report from www.all-about-meat.com called How I Feed My Family of Ten for $100 a week. There's even two weeks worth of menus so pick and choose the ones that will work the best for your family:)