Your cheapest meals

[3in9th]

To go along with the food budget thread I started earlier, what are your cheapest meals? And I'm taking as many gluten-free, protein-rich, but vegetarian suggestions as possible.

 

Here's what we do in my house:

 

Black bean tacos with some shredded cheese and maybe avocado and salsa (depending on person)

 

Roasted rosemary potatoes, sometimes with scrambled eggs

 

Gluten-free pasta with sauce and TVP, kids get a piece of garlic bread, too.

 

Rice with vegetable stir fry

 

[Annie G]

Not super nutritious but we have two 'go to' meals when we're in a hurry or it's the night before/after a trip.  The first is spaghetti and eggs, and it's just what it implies...spaghetti cooked and then throw in 1.5 scrambled eggs per person and cook them.  For our family of four, that costs $1.44. Total. 

 

The other quick meal is grits and eggs. I make a pot of grits and then put one or two  poached eggs in each bowl with the grits. Add a bit of butter and it's a meal.  That runs slightly more for us because I add butter and milk to the grits. It's $1.50 for four servings. 

 

Like I said, not good for a long term diet but really good in a pinch when you're leaving for a trip or just got home from a trip and haven't gone food shopping yet.  My college kids eat spaghetti and eggs fairly often because they can get it cooked in just a few minutes.   

[Zinnia]

We eat burritos in a bowl.  It's a bowl layered with rice, pinto beans, any veggies we have (peppers, onions, roasted potatoes, sauteed greens, zuchinni, really anything), cheese, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, onions, salsa, and hot sauce.  Any of those in any combination. 

[kiana]

I do lentils a lot because they're cheap and high in protein. I cook them in chicken broth but there's no reason you couldn't cook them in another broth. I've also done refried lentils with fried eggs.

[.Michelle.]

Black beans and rice with maduros.  I could eat that every day and be happy.  Maybe switch it up to tostones once and a while for something crunchy. :)

[regentrude]

Vegetable stew.

Stir fry.

those can use whatever is in the fridge

 

Tomato soup

carrot and celery soup

 

Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese.

or with veggies in cream sauce

 

roasted veggies + sweet potatoes

 

sweet dishes:

large German pancake (butter, flour, milk and 6 eggs, 9x13 pan) plus fruit

a popular children's main dish back home is rice cooked in milk, add cinnamon/sugar or fruit

[Okra]

Lentil soup....YUM  ALL of my kids like it, and it's super cheap!

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I'd say a roast chicken with some veg.  I reuse leftovers in something else.  I then use the rest to make soup.  So I get a lot out of one chicken and none of it goes to waste. 

 

I know you said vegetarian, but I'm a meatetarian.

 

 

[regentrude]

I'd say a roast chicken with some veg.  I reuse leftovers in something else.  I then use the rest to make soup.  So I get a lot out of one chicken and none of it goes to waste.

 

You have leftovers from a roast chicken?

That would not happen in our house

[SparklyUnicorn]

You have leftovers from a roast chicken?

That would not happen in our house

 

I'm talking a larger roast chicken.  Not one of those 2/3 pound fryer chickens.  I cooked one last week that weighed 8 pounds. 

[Sherry in OH]

 

a popular children's main dish back home is rice cooked in milk, add cinnamon/sugar or fruit

 

We call that rice pudding.  It sounds good but dh is dieting and would not be happy if I made it.  Vermicelli pudding is similar.

 

Chili beans, i.e., kidney beans cooked in tomato sauce with spices served over rice, polenta, or pasta

Refried beans, tortilla chips, salsa, cheese

Pasta with sauce

Baked potato with broccoli and cheese (or topped with leftover chili beans)

 

Not quite as cheap, still fairly inexpensive

Vegetarian Indian dishes

Stir fried vegetables with tofu

Pancakes (would be cheap, but we use real maple syrup)

[SparklyUnicorn]

DH loves rice pudding.  Too carby for me though.

 

And I hate rice.

 

I do make it for him sometimes though.

 

 

[Gentlemommy]

Crustless quiche-

Dozen free range eggs-$5

Organic spinach, a couple of handfuls out of the big Costco tub-$1

Ditto with broccoli or zucchini-$1

4 tablespoons of cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, or full fat greek yogurt (which ever we happen to have)-$.50(?)

Shredded cheese, 1/2 cup(?)-$1

 

It would be about $8 to make initially, but would feed us all for dinner, plus a few of us for breakfast the next day.

[clementine]

Tomato soup & grilled cheese

French toast with fruit

Quesadillas

Fettuccini with salad

 

 

[MistyMountain]

Lentil tacos heating up corn tortillas in oil rather then premade ones

Rice, beans and pico de gallo

Homemade black bean burgers

Pasta with homemade sauce with hidden veggies

Eggs and homemade hash browns

Tortilla soup with beans

[Laura Corin]

Non-veggie dishes in brackets.

 

Dhal with brown rice and steamed frozen veg

 

(Smoked mackerel mixed with whole grain pasta and steamed frozen veg)

 

Frozen grilled veg with whole grain pasta and cheese (the frozen grilled eggplant, zucchini, etc. is usually cheaper than fresh here)

 

Baked potato with cheese and steamed frozen veg

 

(Kedgeree (add more eggs and less fish))

 

Eggs poured over leftover veg and potatoes to make a fake Spanish omelette

 

Dried beans of all sorts

 

 

 

 

[Um_2_4]

I am sorry, but I have to laugh out loud here literally because what many on here are calling meals are what we call "sides". DH would never eat just soup (barring the flu) or salad and call it a meal. The next question is "so what's for dinner?". Here it is usually soup then salad, then main dish.

 

It's not just on here. I go searching for new recipes and find sites with "menu plans" and several nights a week are "soup and sandwiches" or "salads with protein". No go-s around here.

 

Cheapest meals around here are cooking with lamb shanks or chicken quarters to make stews. I use the slow cooker to make the lamb or chicken super tender, let the meat fall off the bone and then use the meat and broth to make a thick stew. Popular ones around here are Lima Bean stew, Green bean stew, okra stew, Pea and Carrot stew .mulkhiyya .Eaten with rice stretches it further, but DH is cutting back on carb-y things.

[Bambam]

Fried rice - using scrambled eggs for protein and adding the cheap mixed veggies.

 

Bean burritos.

 

Bean soup.

 

Using left chicken bones to make broth, adding vegetables and noodles to make soup.

[cjzimmer1]

We either sub lentils for hamburger or use half hamburger half lentils.  So we have lentil tacos, lentil sloppy joes, lentil "shepherd's pie", lentil chili etc.  Chili is also good over baked potatoes for those who don't think it is filling enough on it's own.  Stuffed potatoes is another meal we eat lots of.  Usually we top baked potatoes with sauteed onions, mushrooms and peppers, steamed broccoli and fried bacon pieces.  Top with shredded cheese.  But we have topped them with taco fillings or other meat/gravy fillings. 

[LucyStoner]

We've been rocking out on the chickpea based wraps and burritos in Thug Kitchen.

 

Also a big pile of potato and veggie hash over collards and grits, topped with a fried egg.

 

Aloo gobi (essentially Indian seasoned cauliflower and potatoes) with a red daal.

 

For the meat eaters: Beef tacos made from the cheapest beef stew meat, braised for several hours. Garnish with homemade salsa, avocado etc. I can usually find stew meat marked down to $2 a pound and one pound is enough for us to each have a couple of tacos. Thug kitchen has a great cauliflower taco recipe for the non-meat eaters.

[Chris in VA]

Cabbage and noodles (I guess you could do gluten-free noodles).

I don't make it very often, but it's basically a head of green cabbage fried/saute'd in butter, with homemade noodles added in after it gets very wilty and brown.

Costs about $.25 a serving, if that.

[Saddlemomma]

Our cheapest meals are:

• Goose and rabbit stew with biscuits or hard rolls.  My DH gets plenty of geese and rabbits during their respective hunting seasons. We get about 150 lbs/yr of free potatoes from gleaning them in our fields after the harvest (an area farmer leases some of our land), and we grow our carrots. I also add dried crushed kale which we grow to the stew.  About the only thing I purchase for the stew is the beef bullion from the local Amish store.  It's much cheaper to buy spices and things like that from them -- fresher too.  We make all our own biscuits/rolls.
• Anything with pork.  We raise our own pig every other year.  Even with the cost of the feed, worming, and butcher paper, it's still quite a bit less expensive than purchasing it from the store because we do the slaughtering and butchering ourselves.
• Veggies - we grow most of our own veggies and freeze them in one of our two chest freezers.  This year we have plenty of corn, green beans, dry beans, kale, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers for (freezer pickles), yellow squash (dried for soups & stews) squash (winter and spaghetti), peppers, carrots (they've now run out), peas (had enough for most of the winter), beets, zucchini & rhubarb (for cakes & pies) and of course potatoes.
• We also got a 1/4 side of beef from a farmer who we let hay our field for his beef cows. (DH is allergic to beef so we only needed enough for DD and I to have some occasionally.
• We also grow quite a bit of our own fruit: raspberries, cherries, blueberries, apples (already made into pie filling, jelly, & dried apple snacks), grapes made into jelly, cantaloupe (I had a bumper crop last summer). We also pick fresh strawberries from a local farm (12 qts last year). They were $3/qt. and so much more delicious than store bought.
• Eggs - chickens provide plenty of those.  We sell the extra to pay for their feed. When they are 2 yrs., we butcher them for stew/soup after the replacement chickens start laying.  I would love to try to raise turkeys, but DH has done so before and said they are extremely stupid and not worth the trouble. I'm still going to try to talk him into it :D

Dinners usually involve a meat, veggie, and potato/rice/pasta (rotated). Any meal I can make by combining the elements we've grown and harvested ourselves is extremely cheap.  Desserts, if we have them, are comprised of homemade pies, cakes, cookies, pudding, or doughnuts (DH makes the best doughnuts ever!)

 

We're always trying to figure out ways to expand our crops.  DH just hand-crafted a cider press so we can try making apple cider next fall.  We also have plans to start a nice herb garden this summer and put in our own strawberries.

 

Another thing we started doing just recently is to alternate purchasing a turkey and ham, about once ever 3 months or so to slice up as lunch meat, put it into small packages and freeze them.  Our deli in the local supermarket is now charging over $9/lb for sandwich meats!  By purchasing a turkey, even when it's not on sale, I'm spending about $2.49/lb and $4.79/lb for a small, sliced boneless ham. As an added plus, the turkey I buy doesn't have the salt content of the deli turkey meat.

 

Overall, we eat pretty cheaply.  It's the other stuff, like toilet paper, laundry/dishwashing detergent, nuts, and oils, that drive up our grocery bills.  Trust me, I'm trying to figure out a way to cut that down too!

[Tanaqui]

Cheapest meals?

 

Lentils and raisins (and rice) with a side of potatoes and spinach

Scrambled eggs with ham, parsley, and onions

Potato pancakes with applesauce

Black beans with a side of kale and chorizo

Tuna patties and coleslaw

Kasha with noodles (comfort food, or one step up from starvation? Depends on whether you're me or the kids, I guess!)

Fried rice with eggs

Baked potato with broccoli and cheese, hold the bacon

[LaMere Academy]

spaghetti and meatballs

pancakes

eggs, sausage and biscuits

chili, more beans than meat

homemade pizza

grilled cheese and fries

cheesy potato soup

 

 

[MomsintheGarden]

Like other posters above, we've found lentils to be very cheap and somehow more filling and able to stretch farther than beans.  Last week I bought 20 lbs. of lentils on sale for 79 cents/lb.  I'm not a fan of lentil soup, but I like the following recipes.

 

Lentil cakes - I soak the lentils for several hours before making these.  I end up using more flour than it calls for so they stick together better:

http://www.chitrasfoodbook.com/2013/12/masala-vadamasal-vadai-recipeparuppu.html

There are a lot of recipes.  Just use the spices you like.

 

Smitten Kitchen's Stuck Pot Rice with Lentils and Yogurt:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/02/stuck-pot-rice-with-lentils-and-yogurt/

My well-seasoned iron skillet worked for this.

 

The other day I browned a pound of cheap sausage with onion, then add soaked lentils and cooked with enough water to cover.  Served over rice, this made several meals.

 

I try once a week to cook a pot of beans or lentils from dried and a pot of potatoes.  I alternate the types of beans I cook.  We can eat a lot of quick, cheap meals from these two pots.  For instance, the beans could be used for soup or in soup, in tacos or enchiladas, or over rice. 

 

The cooked potatoes could be used:

- as a filling side like Pioneer Woman's crash potatoes or cut and roasted.  Serve lots of spuds and garden veggies and a modest amount of meat.

- added to greens, eggs, and veggies for a hearty salad (see Smitten Kitchen's recipe for this salad I made when bacon was on sale:  http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/03/potatoes-with-soft-eggs-and-bacon-vinaigrette/)

- put in a frittata

- or used in this recipe with spinach from the garden:  http://awaytogarden.com/nigel-slaters-potatoes-spices-spinach/

 

I guess you could say that cooked beans and potatoes are a cheap version of fast food.

 

[SamanthaCarter]

Has anybody mentioned shakshuka? It's so good! (my family doesn't quite understand my enthusiasm though). Here's a recipe http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/shakshuka/(there's more sauce here than you need for 6 eggs, you can do at least 8)

[Annie G]

Cabbage and noodles (I guess you could do gluten-free noodles).

I don't make it very often, but it's basically a head of green cabbage fried/saute'd in butter, with homemade noodles added in after it gets very wilty and brown.

Costs about $.25 a serving, if that.

 

I LOVE this! It's called Haluski I think. It's fabulous...even better if you add some bacon fat when you sauté the cabbage. 

[Jenny in Florida]

The ones I can think of off the top of my head:

 

Twice-baked potatoes - One of my husband's favorites. I bake nice, big potatoes. While those are baking, I sautee a bunch of diced onion and garlic. Once the potatoes are done, I scoop out the insides and mash that with the sauteed onions and garlic and some extra margarine. I stir in a big dollop of fake bacon bits. (We're vegetarians.) I pack the mixture back into the potato skins, top them with grated cheddar cheese and put them back in the oven until the cheese is melted. He eats two or three potato halves with a side such as tomato and onion salad for dinner. When I make these, I usually do a big batch, and he packs some to take for work lunches, too. When my son is home, he likes these with no cheese (vegan) but with extra veggies mixed in, such as diced bell peppers sauteed with the onion and garlic.

 

Black bean nachos - I use a couple of cans of black beans to make enough for two adults to have dinner and to have one lunch-sized serving for another day. (When I really have my act together, I cook dried beans and freeze them in meal-sized portions, but nowadays with just the two of us home most of the time, I've gotten a bit lazy.) I brown a bunch of diced onion and then add the beans, drained and rinsed, to the pan. I add a couple of big spoonfuls (probably the equivalent of about 1/4 cup) of jarred salsa and cook until everything melds nicely. I set a bowl of those on the table alongside some rice, whatever appropriate veggies we have available (bell peppers, corn niblets, tomato, etc.). We assemble bowls to our individual tastes and scoop up with tortilla chips to eat.

 

Pasta with home-made marinara sauce and home-baked bread.

 

Home-made pizza with home-made sauce and assorted veggies.

 

Sloppy lentils (like sloppy joes, but made with lentils) served over hamburger buns and with baked potato wedges on the side.

 

Lentil curry with home-made chapatis.

 

I haven't added up the per-serving costs of any of these in a long time, but none of them require anything fancy or expensive in the way of ingredients. And most of them depend primarily on stuff I normally have in my pantry and 'fridge.

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

Our cheapest meals actually often have meat in them (Sausage Kielbasa, $1.79/pound on sale and Cabbage a couple pounds at 30 cents/pound) but our cheapest meal is when I take leftover pasta cooked earlier in the week and whatever veggie ends I have (1/2 zucchini, couple dried out mushrooms, peppers, and spinach ) and fry it all up in garlic/spices and coconut oil.  If I'm feeling industrious I'll pour a can of crushed Tomatoes over it (.59 cents at Aldi) and let it simmer for a bit then eat on pasta with a bit of parm or mozzarella (that was going to need to be ate or pitched soon).  DD made it for her dinner tonight while the rest of us had takeout (she wasn't in the mood for Chinese). 

[TrixieB]

Sue Gregg's Lentil Rice Casserole

 

I double the recipe while making these changes:

 

* use real onion, not instant

* add 1/2 tsp salt

* use 2 T Bragg's aminos instead of Sue's Magic Seasoning or chicken broth

* use 5.5 cups water (truly doubling the recipe gives a moister result than I prefer, YMMV, moister might be preferable for the leftovers)

 

Cover with foil, and bake in a 9x13 pyrex for 2.5 hours.

 

Top individual servings with salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, ketchup, lime, tabasco, whatever you want.  Not all these toppings at once, obviously!  You can put it in tortillas (dh likes it that way).

 

Gluten free and cheap.

 

P.S. I once saw a version of this recipe where someone replaced the seasonings with taco-style seasonings.  I never tried it but it sounded good.

[Tsuga]

To go along with the food budget thread I started earlier, what are your cheapest meals? And I'm taking as many gluten-free, protein-rich, but vegetarian suggestions as possible.

 

Chickpea pilaf. I posted this elsewhere. Just leave out the lamb and insert carrots and you're golden.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/541846-hive-rice-pilaf/?p=6181070

 

It's incredibly cheap.

 

Also, dal. Indian lentil soup. http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/restaurant-style-dal-tadka/

[J-rap]

Ours is lentil stew.  We pretty much use whatever we have, along with the bag of dried lentils.  If I have chicken broth or bouillon, I add that.  A large can of whole tomatoes really makes it though.  Other than that, whatever veggies I happen to have:  potatoes, spinach, onions, carrots. Herbs and spices such as salt and pepper, oregano, basil, garlic.  And of course water.  If it needs to last longer, I just add more water.   Sometimes I add leftover meat if I have it.  (Sausage, chicken, etc.)  We could easily have this for a dinner, then leftovers for lunch the next day, and maybe patties for dinner on a third night.  (I'd probably add some raw oats to thicken it, for the patties.)  When served as patties, it could either be in a bun with a slice of cheese, or with a fried egg on top over rice.

 

 

 

 

 

[IfIOnly]

Well most of the meals I make are pretty cheap, I think. I plan about $5 a meal for 7 of us, but breakfast is usually less and ocassionaly lunches and dinners are more. So, it averages out. Cheapest meals would be cream of brown rice/steel cut oats porridge (my family is addicted to these), ghee (lots), brown sugar, and fruit.

[3in9th]

 

Overall, we eat pretty cheaply.  It's the other stuff, like toilet paper, laundry/dishwashing detergent, nuts, and oils, that drive up our grocery bills.  Trust me, I'm trying to figure out a way to cut that down too!

 

Yes, we're huge nut eaters in our house. I wish I could find them cheaper. My older dd will eat cashews by the cupful.

[3in9th]

Well most of the meals I make are pretty cheap, I think. I plan about $5 a meal for 7 of us, but breakfast is usually less and ocassionaly lunches and dinners are more. So, it averages out. Cheapest meals would be cream of brown rice/steel cut oats porridge (my family is addicted to these), ghee (lots), brown sugar, and fruit.

 

We really like oatmeal, too, but I always find that it never quite satisfies. An hour or two after having some- ravishing hunger. I've even done baked oatmeal with egg in it to no avail. If you (or anyone) has recommendations how to make oatmeal fill you up and keep you from getting hungry not too long after, I'd love to hear it.

[FO4UR]

oatmeal

 

eggs & toast

 

pasta-based dishes (chicken alfredo, spaghetti, mac-n-cheese)

 

loaded baked potatoes

 

Cooking a pot of rice to go with whatever meat and veggie (mine will fill up on rice)

 

Use leftover rice to make a fried rice with eggs/ham

 

Bake homemade bread to go with a homemade soup.

 

 

So...essentially loading the hungry people up on carbs is how I feed them on the cheap.

[Rosie_0801]

Dal. That's what we eat for breakfast. In theory I change up the spices so we don't get bored, but in practice there is always turmeric, cumin seeds and hing powder because  :drool5:

[SparklyUnicorn]

I am sorry, but I have to laugh out loud here literally because what many on here are calling meals are what we call "sides". DH would never eat just soup (barring the flu) or salad and call it a meal. The next question is "so what's for dinner?". Here it is usually soup then salad, then main dish.

 

 

I don't mind soup for dinner.  I make very substantial soups.  But salad?  Salad leaves me feeling very hungry.  Except maybe taco salad which is basically more like deconstructed tacos. 

[Chava_Raizel]

My go-to cheap meals:

 

black beans and rice

sausage (kielbasa) roasted with potatoes onions and peppers

spaghetti and sauce topped with lots of cheese

hamburger gravy with mashed potatoes

creamed tuna and peas over toast (or noodles)

tuna noodle casserole

fried potatoes with scrambled eggs

fried rice (either with eggs or leftover meat) and frozen peas and corn

pancakes and bacon or sausage

lentil tacos

lentil soup

 

 

[kiana]

I don't mind soup for dinner.  I make very substantial soups.  But salad?  Salad leaves me feeling very hungry.  Except maybe taco salad which is basically more like deconstructed tacos. 

 

Yeah, I can't imagine feeling satisfied after a salad, unless I piled so much crap on it that I might as well have eaten a proper meal anyway.

 

Soup, on the other hand -- most of my soups need to be eaten with a fork because of the amount of stuff in them, so I can easily feel satisfied after soup. 

[IfIOnly]

We really like oatmeal, too, but I always find that it never quite satisfies. An hour or two after having some- ravishing hunger. I've even done baked oatmeal with egg in it to no avail. If you (or anyone) has recommendations how to make oatmeal fill you up and keep you from getting hungry not too long after, I'd love to hear it.

 

I feel the same way about smoothies. Kids are starving an hour late. They are snacks now!

 

Steel cut oats satisfy much longer than oatmeal and taste so much better. It's the chewy factor they like. My guys don't like oatmeal. They key for us for these meals is lots of fat. Like a tablespoon of ghee/butter per bowl!

[RKWAcademy]

My go-to cheap dinners are:

Breakfast for dinner - eggs, pancakes, we add bacon or sausage sometimes, grits, etc.

Spaghetti and Meatballs - I make the sauce from big cans of tomatoes from Costco (I use Alton Brown's recipe, loosely, and freeze extras), Meatballs from Costco meat, you could use gluten-free pasta or zoodles (zucchini made into noodles)

Taco salads - full of avocado which ups the price, kids get quesadillas or tacos because they are otherwise appalled at salads as dinner.

Soups/Stews - leek soup (leeks are ridiculously overpriced at the store and take FOREVER to grow yourself), tomato soup, corn chowder, tortellini soup, beef stew

Chili

Baked Potatoes loaded with whatever - broccoli and cheese

 

Oops, it seems difficult for me to remove the meat from my meals!  It's easier for me to remove the gluten.  I make a large black bean salad often.  Of course, I'm the only one who would consider that a meal.  How about nacho/tostado combo - like nachos but include refried beans, etc like a tostado.

[RKWAcademy]

We really like oatmeal, too, but I always find that it never quite satisfies. An hour or two after having some- ravishing hunger. I've even done baked oatmeal with egg in it to no avail. If you (or anyone) has recommendations how to make oatmeal fill you up and keep you from getting hungry not too long after, I'd love to hear it.

 

You could turn your oatmeal into homemade granola made with coconut oil and maple syrup.  Add nuts or dried fruit or coconut.  Much more fat makes it much more filling.  My kids won't eat it, though.  And I don't make it just for me :sad:

[TammyinTN]

Our favorite and cheapest meals are:

• pinto beans with cornbread and chow chow
• chicken fried rice 
• spaghetti and salad
• hot dogs or burgers, baked beans, coleslaw and chips
• taco soup 
• tacos, rice and beans

 

[kewb]

Sue Gregg's Lentil Rice Casserole

 

I double the recipe while making these changes:

 

* use real onion, not instant

* add 1/2 tsp salt

* use 2 T Bragg's aminos instead of Sue's Magic Seasoning or chicken broth

* use 5.5 cups water (truly doubling the recipe gives a moister result than I prefer, YMMV, moister might be preferable for the leftovers)

 

Cover with foil, and bake in a 9x13 pyrex for 2.5 hours.

 

Top individual servings with salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, ketchup, lime, tabasco, whatever you want. Not all these toppings at once, obviously! You can put it in tortillas (dh likes it that way).

 

Gluten free and cheap.

 

P.S. I once saw a version of this recipe where someone replaced the seasonings with taco-style seasonings. I never tried it but it sounded good.

I made this tonight and my lentil hating daughter loved it and asked me to make it again.

[Slartibartfast]

I will do salad for dinner but I include protein such as hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds and garbanzo beans.

[Slartibartfast]

You have leftovers from a roast chicken?

That would not happen in our house

 

Even if I don't have leftovers I save up bones in the freezer and then make a pot of stock once I have quite a bit.

 

Then I freeze the stock in smaller portions or I just make a huge pot of soup.

[Tarreymere]

It's funny to see what some folks consider to be cheap meals, LOL!

 

A little about us: We can't do gluten free because gluten is cheap but we do try not to eat a lot of it. We don't eat meat. We don't eat oatmeal because it causes DH to have a gout flare up. Soup is a meal for us, even if it doesn't have a lot of 'stuff' in it. DH rides a bicycle eight miles one way to work for about three quarters of the year, but we don't do heavy outdoor work. 

 

I make my own bread. Please don't cast stones, it's cheap and filling and I use the batter bread recipe from Red Star Yeast so there is no kneading and it is really easy. I do not wear denim jumpers or grind my own grain. At least, I haven't in a long time. I also do sometimes buy a loaf because it's easier but the prices make me irritable.

 

I make our own pasta and tortillas (but not all the time because it is time consuming though the results are worth it). I buy pintos and can make my own refried beans but I prefer to buy canned refried beans and canned other beans for convenience when we can afford them. It is also unpleasant to cook beans in the summer in the house and we do not have air conditioning. 

 

Typical breakfasts here are eggs and toast (a whole different meal with homemade bread) or rice with a touch of milk and some cinnamon and sugar (rice pudding is a completely different animal here). We also sometimes have grits. On weekends I make eggs with  biscuits and gravy with either tvp that I flavor like sausage or lentils that I flavor like sausage. My son likes pancakes  and waffles, so some days I make those. From scratch, which really takes like thirty extra seconds than making them from a box. 

 

Lunch is usually leftovers. Other possibilities include peanut butter sandwiches (gut busters with thick cut homemade bread), rice with some greens, sprouts (yeah, I grow them), or veggies, baked potato with whatever is available for topping. 

 

Typical dinner meals include bean soups or lentil soups with cornbread or homemade bread or homemade garlic toasts, lentil loaf made with lentils and stale cornbread and seasonings, homemade bean burgers (depends on the beans and whatever else is available), vegetarian style pork and beans topped with cornbread, homemade pasta and something (I have a list of like 20 things to add to pasta to make a meal), burritos with homemade tortillas stuffed with refried beans, rice, and whatever is around or available, spaghetti made with lentils subbing for hamburger in the sauce, homemade pizza with lentils or tvp and whatever is available for toppings, rice and whatever for stir fries, also tacos, lasagna, shepard's pie or sloppy joes with lentils subbing for hamburger meat. You can mash up beans with garlic and sage and rice and roll in bread crumbs to make a beaner nugget to have with oven baked fries (kid pleaser here). You can mash up beans with garlic and whatever you like to make a spread for sandwiches and have that with your soup. 

 

I just read over all that and I guess we're flexible, LOL, My main staples are beans, lentils, rice, cornmeal, oil, and flour. After that I buy garlic, veggies, eggs, canned tomato sauce, potatoes, peanut butter, and cheese. We don't drink milk but I do like a little in my breakfast rice so sometimes I pick up a quart and it lasts a week. Jarred salsa is a nice to have item, and so is popcorn and fruit either fresh or frozen. We don't buy juice or other drinks but we do buy bottled water. We have well water but if you saw the residue from the water on my dish drainer and in my pots you would understand why I don't especially want to drink it if I don't absolutely have to. 

 

We are always full, but the meals sure aren't fancy. I don't feel I 'have' to spend a lot on food. That said, there is usually a little wiggle room to buy what we think of as little luxuries. 

[Slartibartfast]

I didn't see anything that would be funny to be considered cheap.

 

I think most families probably plan meals around what is inexpensive and also meets their family's needs. For some people reducing the grocery bill TOO much would result in spending even more for Dr visits.

 

For instance, I make a lot of salads for dinner because my body needs a LOT of vegetables, I have to eat tons of greens. I have a bleeding disorder and I cannot keep my iron up unless I take multiple iron pills a day and eat a lot of green vegetables. If I don't do those things then I am useless for anything except laying on the floor. I have a fourteen year old daughter she has very serious symptoms if her iron gets low. My dh doesn't like salad but three nights a week he is gone until midnight so on those nights dd and I usually have salad. I often have green smoothies for breakfast as well.

 

It isn't prohibitively expensive to make a lot of salad, I buy my vegetables in bulk from Costco and I currently have several  heirloom vegetable plants that will soon be ready for planting.

 

 

 

 

[zoobie]

We really like oatmeal, too, but I always find that it never quite satisfies. An hour or two after having some- ravishing hunger. I've even done baked oatmeal with egg in it to no avail. If you (or anyone) has recommendations how to make oatmeal fill you up and keep you from getting hungry not too long after, I'd love to hear it.

Stirring in nut butter works for me. It was one of the few things that stayed down (after the 1st trimester when nothing did, lol) during my 2nd pregnancy. Real, thick cut or steel cut oats make a difference too vs instant.