cheap meals to make the family?

Question

my mom is currently between jobs so we do not have a lot of money. im asking if anyone knows of cheap meals we could fix? we dont like mexican or seafood. thanks for the help!!

Answer 1

Avoid eating out--with 6 dollars at a fast food restaurant you can make a healthier more satisfying meal from scratch with leftovers for another meal.



Some of the websites suggested are really good.



Pasta and sauce is pretty cheap. A box of pasta--1-2 dollars. A jar of sauce--1 to 2 dollars. So a meal for your family for 4 dollars.



You can also make some pasta, then in a frying pan cook the pasta in some oil (olive oil is best) l and garlic . Then serve topped with fresh tomatoes and parmesan cheese. You can also tossed in leftover chicken, meatball meat, etc. This is a great way to use up leftovers.



If you buy a whole chicken, and cook with rice or potatoes and a veggie that will probably cost about 12-15 dollars and you can easily get 2-3 meals out of it.

With the leftover chicken you can use in the above garlic pasta recipe, or make a chicken caccitore (various ways of making it...simple way is to saute chopped onion and powdered or fresh garlic in a skillet with some olive oil, add the leftover chicken and a can of crushed tomatoes with Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese. Serve over pasta.



When the chicken is almost gone, save the extra chicken and boil the bones to make a broth. You can then make gravy, or save the chicken broth and chicken and make a homemade chicken noodle soup.



Grilled cheese and soup is cheap and easy. A loaf of bread for 4 meals or more--about 2 bucks. Some American cheese for a couple dollars more, and a can of soup you can get for about a dollar, usually they have sales. Easily several meals of grilled cheese and soup for 10 dollars or under.

You can provide some variety with the grilled cheese...add a little

pasta sauce or a slice of tomato and/or some chopped onion



Turkey burger is cheaper than hamburger. You can use either and make a meatloaf (really good if you top with a glaze of ketchup, brown sugar, and a little dijon) or homemade meatballs.



Hope that helps, good luck, I know how you feel. I'm on a tight budget here too...

Answer 2

Burger King currently has its double cheeseburger for $1. I'd say take advantage of that while you can. That's cheap. For fries, buy some frozen fries from the store. There u go. A meal for 4 for about $6 :-)

4 x $1 + $2 for fries = $6

Answer 3

Buy a roast for about 2.69 per pound which in your case would probably be aroung $6.00 for a package, put it in the oven, make mashed potatoes either fresh or instant, add to the mashed potatoes some butter, cream cheese and top with shredded cheese, if the kids like green bean open a can or baked beans or corn., you will have a great meal, make the roast in the oven then use electric knife and slice and use a can of cream of mushroom. Yummy! buy chicken cut up and add a can of cream of chicken make some white rice, and a can of vegetable and for dessert some pudding. Then there is different type of hamburger helpers/ frozen lasagna and pizza, salads.

Answer 4

Chicken drumsticks or wings are some of the cheapest cuts of meat you can get, 3 or 4 $ buys you a kg of meat.



Marinate them in a little oil, soy sauce, honey and minced garlic for a few hours. place them in a baking tray, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on them and bake in the oven at about 200C degrees for about 35-40 minutes. A squeeze of lemon when they're done is nice. They're really good!



While they are cooking, in a saucepan saute some onion and garlic in a little oil for a few minutes on a medium heat. Stir in a cup of long grain rice. Add 2 cups of liquid, water/stock, 1 cup of diced veggies (peas. carrots, green beans) all work well. Salt and pepper then as it comes to the boil turn heat down to lowest setting and simmer for 15 minutes.



Turn off heat and let stand for 10 minutes, then stir and serve as a side with the chicken.

Answer 5

anything that starts with dried beans, potatos or long grain slow cooking rice is a great way to start. they are cheap and filling.

instead of going with exotic fruit like papayas or mangos get apples, oranges and the more basic stuff. shop seasonally. canned fruit packed in it's own juice is a good buy, it doesn't go bad.

buy large quantities of raw meat and divide them up at home.

flour tortillas are not just for mexican food. you can use them for sandwiches, breakfast, even spread some peanut butter, honey and some thinly sliced fruit. put them around some chicken fingers and lettuce and you have lunch.

avoid prepackaged things like already made salad or meals where everything is in the box or bag. you can generally make it cheaper yourself and you'll have more.

shop at discount stores like save a lot (or your areas equivalent). use coupons. there are a lot of sites out there dedicated to finding the best deals. generally speaking generic brands are just as good as name brand and cost a lot less.

stews and things like chili are good because they involve few ingredients, have veggies in them and taste great.

pasta is generally a good buy too.

get creative with leftovers. yesterday's chicken can get chopped and blended with some mayo, celery and onion for chicken salad. if you have several containers of vegetables put them together with some rice and cheese for a one pot meal.

if you are having trouble finding recipes talk to your grandma or an older aunt. they always have great cookbooks with good recipes. i've noticed a lot of newer cookbooks have hard to find ingredients or overly complicated martha stewart-like recipes. my favorite cookbook is from the 60's. i learned to cook from it and i've used it so much it's cover has fallen off and it's stained with food.

good luck to you and your family. you are a good kid to be concerned and trying to help.

Answer 6

okay



basic meat loaf

2 lbs of ground beef

1 egg

1/4 cup ketchup

10-15 crackers * saltines are my fav or use 2 slices of toast bread torn into bits

1 tbs hamburger seasoning or steak seasoning



mix by hand form into a loaf bake 350 for 45 mins top with either ketchup or bbq sauce put back in the oven for another 5 mins



Lasagna



box of lasagna noodles * use no boil noodles

1 lbs ground meat either beef or turkey

2 28oz cans of spaghetti sauce cheap kind is fine

2 4oz cans of sliced mushrooms * optional

3 cup mozzrella cheese

1 container of ricotta

1 container of cottage cheese

1 c water

1 tbs generic italian seasoning



brown and drain meat

in a large bowl add meat mushrooms the red sauce the water the italian seasoning mix



in another bowl mix cottage cheese & ricotta together



in your 9x13

use a ladle or large serving spoon and ladle some of the meat sauce in the bottom of the dish

layer noodles break to fit if you need to

layer meat sauce again

layer some of the cottage cheese/ricotta mix

layer mozzerella cheese



continue to layer like this untill you run out of space in the pan or out of ingredients



bake 350 covered with foil for 30 mins take off foil and cook for another 5

Answer 7

Try kraftfoods.com They have a ton of family friendly, affordable meal ideas :)

Answer 8

Pasta.= Carbonara



Eggs. = omelet

Risotto. = mushroom

Chicken.= roast with potato

Ratatui.= tasty casserole of peppers onions zucini tomatoes. tastes great with sausages.

Mac and cheese, made at home.

Homemade burgers, 100 times better than bought.

Apple pie and ice cream.

Answer 9

lets see, alot of really easy recipes and cheap are...

ramen noodles, very cheap and you can make a very good soup with them by adding veggie and chicken for some real chicken noodle soup.



(AND SOME ADDITCIONAL IDEA FOR HELPING WITH MONEY, IS MAKE EXTRA OF STUFF SO THAT YOU CAN FREEZ IT FOR LATER AND EAT IT ANYTHING DAY JUST PUT IN MICROWAVE OR OVEN AND ITS GOOD, LIKE SOOPS OR PASTA AND SAUCE ECT.)



SANDWHICH AND SOUP -

ike tomoatoe soup and a grilled chees simple sheap and really good.



or a grilled sandwhich with a creamy soup like cream of chicken or some thing good!

Answer 10

Pasta and sauce is pretty cheap.

Answer 11

For simple, affordable recipes, check out http://recipes.thesimplefeast.com.

Answer 12

shrimp cero rice over chilie

Answer 13

roman noodles. lol.

Answer 14

Meow ^^