Inexpensive meal ideas

wyomama0427

Allllllrighty ladies I think I have mentioned this before but we're reeeally tight on the cash flow this month. I need your help....  give me all of your most inexpensive favorite meals ideas, recipes, etc.! Anything and everything appreciated! DH is a very meat and potatoes kinda guy but I'm open to the veggies Thanks in advance ladies! Love you all!

mcdoug211

I made meatloaf that was just ground meat, a boxed stuffing mix and egg and water..I added a tiny bit of ketchup because it seemed dry and grated a zucchini into it. Lexi ate it up!

wyomama0427

mcdoug211 said:

I made meatloaf that was just ground meat, a boxed stuffing mix and egg and water..I added a tiny bit of ketchup because it seemed dry and grated a zucchini into it. Lexi ate it up!

I hadn't even thought of meatloaf! Genius and I already have all the ingredients! Thank you!

cmar1006

We are having beef and cabbage soup tonight. A family fav.
Cook ground beef
sautee onion, garlic, carrots
add can of diced tomatoes, 3 tbsp tomato paste
Add chicken stock
add cut up cabbage and cook until done. 

DH eats it over rice. 

JNR6510

We like chicken and rice casserole. Just need some frozen chicken (preferably boneless), rice, and a can of cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup (add the recommended amount of water for cooking the rice too). Throw it in the oven with some tin foil covering it and bake for an hour at 375F / until the rice is tender.

You can also do variations of the same thing by adding broccoli and using a cheesy soup.

Another super cheap  and healthy meal DH loves is this yummy squash dish. You take zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and basically any other squash or veggie you like and cut them up into thinner slices. Then layer the squash, veggies, onions, and pepperoni in a baking dish. Dump a jar of pasta sauce over the top; cover it with tin foil. Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes and serve with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. DH usually hates squash, but he really loves it this way. Sometimes instead of pepperoni, he will just cook some ground beef or spicy sausage and mix that in with the pasta sauce that goes on top.

Doggiedoc2016

I love doing sausage and pasta. I'll buy either the ground Italian sausage (store brand or Johnsonville) or the sausage "dogs/brats". Just cook up the sausage and then I make pasta and either use pesto sauce or just use some olive oil and spices (thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley) and then depending on what you or your husband likes you can add: so I like zucchini or asparagus, sometimes mushrooms or tomatos! The best part is always has leftovers! Sausage is usually pretty inexpensive too which is nice. 

wyomama0427

@cmar1006 that sounds delicious! I already have most of the ingredients too! 

jutondreau

You can always buy a frozen whole chicken and bake that in the oven and use for 3 meals-one with the actual baked chicken, one as cheesy chicken broccoli rice casserole, & the last as chicken tacos or chicken burritos

jutondreau

Oh and meal planning will be a life saver

mamagabby-2

We made butternut squash soup tonight, and homemade bread! Most ingredients you'll have in your pantry!

JNR6510

I second the meal planning! Also crock pot meals are a life saver when you have a little one to wrangle.

mrsmarygs

Some favorites in our house at the end of the month is chicken enchiladas, tacos, and sloppy Joes.
Chicken enchiladas I just cook up a chicken breast, throw in a can of cream of chicken/mushroom, some sour cream, and cheesy. Wrap it up in a few tortillas and spread some of the mixture on top and top with cheese. 
Also, I buy 5 chicken breasts together and freeze them, and the 3 pound tubes of ground beef and separate them into 1/2 lbs. With both of those, we can make dinner for 2-3 weeks.

Cats*in*space

We do stir fry alot. Lots of veggies + chicken on top of rice. You can get away with using 1 chicken breast and it makes 4-5 servings.  I'll be completely honest, I couldn't tell you how much individual things cost in the market, All I know is I spend ~$80 a week.  But meat is usually the most expensive part of a meal, right?

jena333-2

Here are a couple of my fave cheap (and easy) meals! 

Mexican casserole
Meatloaf:  (this is the meatoloaf mcdoug211 mentioned!)
Pizza casserole

and +1 on the meal planning. It eliminates most of the "crap there's nothing thawed/ready to make, let's get costly take out" dilemmas. 

ETA: SERIOUSLY? You can't add Pinterest links?

wyomama0427

I need to start practicing meal planning and prepping because I'm going to definitely need it after the c-section with this LO when I've got a newborn and an almost two year old! 

LuckyPenny1231

Chili! Ground beef and canned beans/tomatoes are pretty cheap. 

cchenal07

We love tacos for a cheap dinner. Then we use left overs for nachos the next night or taco salads for lunch. Shepards pie is easy and basically meat, potatoes and veggies. We have also done breakfast for dinner and froze the extra waffles or pancakes for easy breakfasts later.

Cats*in*space

Adding to @cchenal07 and her breakfast idea, quiche is great too.  With some veggies and ham or bacon.  Yum.

Rhubarb7216

Frittatas are cheap and easy and you can put in whatever fillings you like. I use 8 eggs (whisked with a little bit of milk) and a mix of cooked veggies/meats/cheese. You can cook in a large ovenproof skillet or if you don't have one you can use a baking pan as well. Might have to adjust the number of eggs for the size of the pan. I cook for 18 minutes at 350.

LuckyPenny1231

Grilled cheese and tomato soup. 

Seriously meal planning is amazing. We were wasting so much money on groceries and still never knew what to make for dinner. Now I see what we have in the freezer and what's on sale for the week and make around 6 meal plans and buy everything I need for the week on sunday. It has cut our grocery bill way down. 

mrs_tacos

I also recommend meal planning. If you plan a variety of meals in the same family, it ends up saving money. Like, we'll do crock pot pulled pork, and then do one night with BBQ pulled pork and a side, a second night we;ll put the left over BBQ in baked potatoes, and the third night I'll use the non-BBQ pork in a stew. I also like using left over chicken or roast to make a big pot of beef noodle soup or chicken noodle soup that we can eat on over several days. You can also do a lot with a big batch of ground beef or ground turkey: tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joes, a homemade version of hamburger helper, a casserole.  

Becky012016

Our go to cheap meal (besides breakfast for dinner) is diced potatoes, onion, bell peppers, and kielbasa all diced small and sautéed in a bit of EVOO. You can leave out the bell peppers if cash is extra tight one week since they are sometimes a more expensive veggie. A variation is replacing the spuds with quinoa and the kielbasa with ground sausage. And if your budget allows cheese that week, spicy cheese is delicious over the quinoa variation! 

During the slow season we're one of those paycheck to the Thursday before payday households so I get the cash flow issues and need for cheap meals. Meal planning really is the way to go! 

MrsJessS

I'm a huge fan of having a stocked freezer (on a budget). I always check the weekly ads at the grocery store for deals on meat and stock up when there are good sales. We currently have half a chicken farm in our freezer  But it was on sale for 70 cents per lb. 

Idk about where you are, but I have also learned to love pork chops because they are almost always cheap

beccam1230

https://www.kevinandamanda.com/spicy-sausage-pasta/
This!! It's really versatile and so good! I usually always have some kind of pasta at home, and if you don't have cream or half and half, use milk. I use whatever cheese I have too! Plus those smoked sausages are pretty inexpensive. I love making it because I don't spend much and it's delicious! DH actually requests it sometimes, and he doesn't usually make requests!

MadisonInspires

I just got a rotisserie chicken tonight, and some green, red, and yellow bell peppers and some onions. I'm just going to boil some pasta, cook the veggies in a pan a bit, throw the chicken and Alfredo sauce in, and then throw it all together in a pot. Pasta is always a good cheaper option. 
I also sometimes throw pasta, Alfredo, shredded chicken, some shredded cheese, and sriracha into a pan and bake it too. I'll add bacon if I feel like splurging.
Chicken quesadillas are a really good option too, you can add peppers and onions into yours if you want while leaving it plain for your man if you want more variety. 
I don't think you can ever go wrong with some cheap totinos pizzas either, but that's just me.

OmSweetOm

I am the WORST at meal planning. I'm that asshole that picks a new recipe every night and winds up at the grocery store 4x a week spending $50 a meal so I am totally loving the multi meal for the week posts!

HollyGolightly09

OmSweetOm said:

I am the WORST at meal planning. I'm that asshole that picks a new recipe every night and winds up at the grocery store 4x a week spending $50 a meal so I am totally loving the multi meal for the week posts!

Same. 

I'm bad at adulting in general... meal planning, cooking the meals I planned, cleaning up after myself, lol. 

Cats*in*space

@OmSweetOm @HollyGolightly09 same.  I also never know what we already have.  And this is why I have three open bottles of hoisin sauce in my fridge.

HollyGolightly09

Cats*in*space said:

@OmSweetOm @HollyGolightly09 same.  I also never know what we already have.  And this is why I have three open bottles of hoisin sauce in my fridge.

This is my life.... except for me, it's sour cream. 

OmSweetOm

That's me with everything only I wind up never actually using any of it before it all expires. Sometimes I swear it would make more sense for me to just throw 100 directly in the trash every week.... and definitely not because we got it like that but, just because it would save a lot of time. Lol

jessieR358

You have to pay for this service, but we use eMeals because I hate meal planning. It's $50 a year and then you can choose whatever meal plan you want. The recipes are all really good except for a smal few. But we still end up not using it the whole week and end up getting take out lol.
i need to do crock pot meals more because those are usually so cheap and always have leftovers. 
Great ideas ladies! 

BecauseLove

Not a recipe but an idea...if you have Ruby's Pantry or Bountiful Baskets in your area they are awesome ways to stretch your budget. Ruby's Pantry allows you get roughly 100 dollars worth of food - staples (you don't know what your getting) for only 20 dollars. People in my area really love it...they get a little bit of everything examples: toilet paper, frozen pizza's, salad dressing, meat, yogurt etc. 

I believe Bountiful Baskets is more produce then anything. Anyways its a great way to stretch a budget. 

Some of my favorite things to make are pasta dishes, or nachos, or quesadillas or chicken dishes. Quiche is also a easy and yummy dish...as is egg bake (which can be sweet or savory) and can use old bed (or buns etc). 

CarbAddict

Lurker here but I like to spread the word about this cookbook, it's free to download and has tips about stretching your food budget and healthy recipes on the cheap,  https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf

eeyorefan215

If you follow Tasty on Facebook, most of their recipes are easy on the wallet and good  

mrsmarygs

eeyorefan215 said:

If you follow Tasty on Facebook, most of their recipes are easy on the wallet and good  

I love Tasty's videos! Although for a few weeks when the nausea kicked up, I had to scroll quickly past those.

awildrose

Pinto beans and cheesy rice with broccoli. 

Black beans with white rice and tortillas. Add cumin some other flavorings. 

Stir fry- eggs and frozen veggies

pancakes and eggs

four bean soup

chili with ground meat and cornbread

^^those are our favorite go-to cheap meals. 

wyomama0427

@awildrose your first suggestion made me think of this casserole my mom used to make, she called it kitchen sink. She's use whatever we had, sometime ground beef sometimes kielbasa, always rice and cheese and whatever veggies we had, broccoli or green beans and usually potatoes. I still make it! 

awildrose

@wyomama0427 I usually get a very weird reactions when I suggest it. It's delicious, though, and costs $2-$4 to feed my family of four. Winner.