Wanted: Economical Recipe Ideas.

[NeoStarO1]

Hi Folks,

Now I know there are a bunch of good old fashioned cooks around here.

We want to add a little more varity into our dinners. So looking for your recipes. What kind? Any that don't require alot of stuffs like minced oinion, chopped this or that or other oddball named spices. Why? Because I stretch a almost 300 food budjet for 4 people.

Here is a list of main stuffs we usally have.

Ground Pork (lots of this)
Ground Beef (lots of this)
Bacon
Pork chops
Chicken (Frozen brest kind, ya know those cheap ones in the bag)
Frozen Veggies
Cream Mushroom Soup
Cream of chicken Soup
Ramen Noodles
Eggs (lots of this)
Canned Beans
Canned Corn
Rice (lots and lots and lots and lots of this)
Stove Top Stuffing
Egg noodles
Speggetti noodles
Patotoes
Spices consist of the following in store:
Dried Minced Onions
Pepper
Salt

to give you an idea of meat portions cooked.
chicken or pork steaks between 2 - 3 peices
Ground meat usally about 1 1/2 pounds

so Im looking for simple ideas with cheap products to give a little varities to streatch our budjet with some creative ideas.

right now the kids are into thier bacon wraps dish I make. hehehe but um having the same ole same ole gets um a bit old so come on out and share your creative budjet cutting dishes.

TIA

[Gomer]

Hell, that's more than I had to work with in college =) Tuna helper has all essential vitamins and minerals ya know.

If I had that list I'd just pick 5-6 things, cook them properly, mix them in a pot, season and eat =)

Sorry I have nothing constructive to add. Cooking is not my forte.

[golfcart]

Cook the ground beef and throw it in a caserole dish.

Dump the cream o mushroom soup on top.

Dump corn on top of that.

Cook and mash potatoes and put them on top of corn.

Stick it in the oven til the potatoes are golden brown on top.

Hit it with some salt and pepper and enjoy

You're gonna need to add garlic to that shpping list...
Anything can be made good with garlic.

[NeoStarO1]

Golfcart,
Now that sounds really good! Thanks,
Will have to try that tommorrow night.

More ideas welcomed.

[NeoStarO1]

Originally posted by prexaspes
You're gonna need to add garlic to that shpping list...
Anything can be made good with garlic.

Fresh or the kind in the can? like powered or what? Usally I have that but haven't for such a long time cuz its so expensive therefore is why our spices are limited becuz every dollar counts for us.

[Knothead]

Neo? I'm gonna turn you on to one of the most crazy best recipes in my arsenal:

Chicken Asparagus Casserole

Sounds horrible, right? Trust me, this one is AWESOME! (and E-Z!)
Asparagus is on sale right now, two bunches for two bucks...go for it...

2 whole chicken breasts (the frozen kind you mentioned)
1/2 cup corn oil
A pound or so of fresh asparagus (cut into 1-or2 inch pieces, and since it's on sale, throw away the dumb thick-looking parts)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. curry powder (if you know about curry powder, and have a favorite brand, you may want to adjust this....be careful though.)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese---shredded

Okay: Cut the chicken into nice little bite-size chunks. Saute in the oil, until the chicken is mostly done (white, anyway.) Sprinkle w/ salt and pepper, if you are so inclined. Drain on paper towels, and put in a bowl.

Meanwhile, take your cut-up asparagus and throw that into your biggest Pyrex measuring cup (or any large glass thing) and put it into the microwave fore about 3-1/2 minutes (I'm assuming you went and got 2 lbs of asparagus; there's at least three of you, don't be cheap.)

When that's done, take a nice baking dish (about, say, 8" wide by 12" long, or any variation along those lines...it needs to hold about 2 big handfuls of food.) Lay the asparagus on the bottom.

Now lay the chicken on top of the asparagus.

I forgot: Turn the oven on to about 350 degrees. Okay.

Now: Take your cream of chicken soup concentrate, mayo, lemon juice, and curry powder, and mix 'em up in in a bowl. Spread this all over the chicken and asparagus. Neatness counts! Put this ensemble in the oven.

Make a drink, and let the previous cook for 25 minutes. In that time span, you can certainly grate the cheddar cheese. Yell for the children to set the table, and put a trivet in the middle of it for the casserole dish. They will yell back that they would prefer slow torture rather than a casserole, most likely.

Take no notice, even when they start to importune you for a nice hot dog. You are a Mother, and this dish has fresh green stuff in it, which is a good thing!

Anyway, after 25 minutes at 350, pull it out of the oven, and put the grated cheddar on top, and put it back in. By this time, the children will want to know what the **** is going on. Just smile mysteriously and make happy rubbing-the-tummy motions.

After 5 minutes, pull it out, and put it on the trivet. If all has gone well, it should be bubbling a little and emitting rich, irresistable curry fumes.

Dish it out. I swear, this dish, no matter how much I make, never makes it to the fridge, to be turned into leftovers. It's that good!

[Knothead]

Ooops, I forgot, you should augment this with a pot of rice, or maybe some nice egg noodles. (It needs a starch for balance.)

You've never had shepherd's pie (golfcart's recipe)?

I usually use fresh garlic. Mince it up and put it in the spaghetti sauce. Cook the meats with it. Chunk it and bake it until it gets soft and mushy, then take the skin off and put the soft part into the mashed potatoes...

Mince it and put it in a pan with butter, olive oil, and paprika. Fry it up and you have the sauce for garlic bread. Lots of stuff to do with garlic...

Mmmm, you could make rice with stir-fried veggies and chicken pieces!

I like to get a cheap London Broil or any other piece of cheap beef and bake it with a can of cream of mushroom soup. It makes it's own gravy. Throw some potatoes and veggies into the gravy, but not too early so they don't burn.

But a staple food is ramen noodles with veggies in it.

I don't know what to do with all that bacon and pork or even the ground beef... I switched to fish and poultry. And the roasting kind of beef.

[no1_vern]

Hi NeoStarO1

good ideas:
1.Break your name brand habit. This strategy alone can save you up to 40% the first time you shop! No kidding!
2.Keep track of food prices every where. Some experts suggest keeping a food prices dairy. This is a great idea. You need to know when to buy because prices are at the lowest and when to wait because the same type of product can be bought for less somewhere else.

3.Don’t shop for everything at the same store. Very few of us actually live so far out into the country that we only have one choice in where we shop. We need to comparison shop every week for the best bargains on the foods our families eat most.

4.Re-think Meat. First, let me point out, I have a family of carnavores! My husband and kids love meat. Scaling back here was difficult, but I managed to save $ here by following these simple steps. A.) look for the cheapest price and then buy as much as you can store in the freezer. B.)Choose less expensive cuts of meat.[i.e. chicken quarters vs.. chicken breast or round steak vs.. porterhouse] C.) collect recipes. Your family will be less likely to say “Hamburger again?” if you present something other than meat loaf three times a week. [look here each month for new cheap recipes to feed your tribe!]

5.Forget cereal! Even the store brands of cereal cost too much! I have found once you make the step towards a “CEREAL FREE” environment your kids will actually enjoy breakfast more. My three oldest children can all make a few different morning meals and not depend on a cold bowl of cereal if mom sleeps in!

6.Bake ahead or have a old fashioned baking day.The kids will beg less for those expensive Oreo’s if you have yummy homemade cookies waiting on the counter! Spend one morning a week [in homeshool] baking muffins, cookies, breads and other family favorites; then freeze. My older kids can measure, level, mix and bake with supervision. This is so good for them! They work together for the good of the family, learning math and life skills, having fun with each other. This is the essence of homeschool.

7.Start a pantry. Not every home has a traditional pantry area. but most of us have wasted space where we can store our bulk purchases. My girls are used to having cases of 16oz. peanut butter under their beds! Be willing to go to new frontiers of storage!

8.Waste not, want not. This old saying still holds true. If cooking with left overs isn’t easy for you try to double your recipe then freeze half. This will actually produce less left-overs and give you an extra meal ready for one of those really busy nights

From: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/P...6/tightwad.htm




Go here:
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/t-food.htm
http://www.make-stuff.com/cooking/budindex.html
http://www.betterbudgeting.com/frugalrecipelist.htm
http://www.plym.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=611

If your into vegetarianism: http://vrg.org/cgi-vrg/search.cgi

I got all these recipe links from Googleing : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...2+family+meals

Good luck Neo!

Vern