Hello to all and a good day to you.
Yesterday was a chilly day and breezy.
This morning is damp with drizzle, and very cool. Weatherman says 60*, my thermometer says 65*. Looks to be cloudy with some mist all day today and cooler. We have warmer days coming again!
Today just some ideas on ways to make meals for yourself or your families on less money.
You guys get a listing every week of my meals - so you know I have a variety of meals, and I keep it easy and tasty.
It isn't a 5-course meal - some have no meat - yet they all fill my body and give me nutrition. That is what is important.
You can mix and match things and experiment a little. In my world there really are 'no' recipes!!!! I just go for it.
Ideas:
Baked potatoes topped with anything
Lentil or split pea soup
ALL kinds of soups - homemade cream of soups are so easy and filling. Hamburger (or other ground meat) vegetable soup is always a hit
Baked spaghetti is super filling
Good old wraps - a tortilla with anything you have in it, maybe a little dressing or cheese (you can use leftovers too)
Waffles, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, burritos, eggs/biscuits
Bean and cheese enchiladas
Beans and rice
Soup beans
Chili - the way you like it
Grilled cheese and soup
Potato hash - chopped potatoes, ground meat (or chopped), carrots, onion - all fried together
Egg (toad) in a hole (eggs cooked in a bread slice). I have eggs with a lot of meals - great protein
Pizza made with tortilla or breads
Tuna can be made into patties or croquettes, just as salmon can be. Make it up the same way. It has a milder taste than salmon. I have even formed into strips (instead of patties) to make my own fish sticks!
Get creative.
Keep this on hand! These small packets cost .49 or .59 at Kroger and I always try to have on hand. It is great for making your own Rice a Roni. Add rice and vermicelli together and some bouillon and whatever you want. Super cheap and easy. Make a simple broth and add some of these to give it a little bulk - think the old time Lipton chicken noodle packets! Add some to an easy egg drop soup. So many uses.
My mom used to stretched hamburger on 'hamburger' (Saturday) night, by making her version of White Castles. Many folks know White Castles. Tiny thin little burgers on little buns - steamed and lots of onions. She made them and fries and it was a treat. Now you can buy slider buns, which are little buns. Back in the day buns were not big like they are now. I have made them myself. Glen used to love them. Great way to stretch the meat.
We always loved Swiss steak, but not the price of the beef. I make (as did mom) hamburgers, cook, and smother with veggie soup and simmer and serve with mashed potatoes. We called it Poor Man's Swiss steak. I still make that; it is real comfort food for me. I like to add a little thyme - makes it taste a little hardier and more homemade.
I also make skillet meatloaf!! Mix up your fixings for meatloaf and make up patties like any burger - and fry. Tastes just like meat loaf, and I don't have to make a huge amount and they freeze well after cooked.
SIDES - steamed and/or seasoned rice, rice salad
Mashed potatoes, twice baked, fries, fried, scalloped, au gratin, roasted, potato cakes ...........potatoes a plenty!!!!!!
Steamed or roasted veggies of all sorts - veggies can be made into patties or croquettes as well - just chop up, add egg and a binder - fry up
Buttered nooodles
Cabbage (cheap) and can be fixed a multitude of ways
Corn casserole
A combo of veggies and rice w/sauce or pasta
Biscuits (scones), crackers, fresh bread, cornbread
Dressing - use up that old bread
Salads - in any combo of things you have. Salad doesn't always mean lettuce to me - just a bowl of goodies
SWEETS = Easy and fun - Haystacks (haystax) - use whatever type of chips you have on hand to melt with oriental noodles - pretty inexpensive. You can do pretzels and chocolate as well.
No bake oatmeal cookies
Rice Crispy (or what you have) squares. I recently bought marshmallows 2 bags for a $1 on clearance - use a cheap version cereal and YUM. Any cereal can be used.
Bananas are still very cheap (around here) - use to make breads, cookies, muffins, etc. Even in pancakes. Sweet breads are easy and use what you have around (add-ins) and they can be rustic with pumpkin, squash, etc. They go far, and kiddos as well as adults usually love it.
You can even get marked down bananas (a little riper) and cut up and freeze and make a fun version of ice cream with them or dip in chocolate and freeze - what fun. Smoothies
All fruit is a great snack! Veggies and a little dip/dressing are good treats as well.
Jello and pudding - make in little cups for snacks
Heck, if you have them - even cake mixes/brownie mixes are great. You can add things if you want or just make plain. I always have a couple around when I see on clearance - last ones cost me .65 ea.
USE WHAT YOU HAVE
There are sooooooo many ways to keep costs down in the kitchen. Many of us have been eating tomato sandwiches this summer with our harvests. Fried green tomatoes and squash. Stuffed peppers. Garden harvests have been great for the pocket book.
Get creative and use it up. Leftovers become soup and or casseroles. They can be lunches. Just USE IT ALL. Like I said recipes are suggestions - do your thing. You may create the next huge family favorite.
Do you have a simple and easy meal that you care to pass on?
Let us know.
Have a fantastical day!!!!!!
I just made one of my current favorites the other day.. Noodles with Veggies in an Asian Peanut Sauce (peanut butter sauce). Yesterday was Enchiladas made from leftover nachos fixings and trying out a homemade Make A Mix enchilada sauce. I’ve been stocking the pantry with Make A Mix recipes. I like the routine of certain food themes on certain days, right now it’s enjoying waffles for breakfast on Sundays. Julie V
ReplyDeletePeanut butter sure is versatile! I often use leftover nacho or taco fixings in enchiladas as well. Maybe even burritos.
DeleteIt is so nice to have to reach for and ready to go.
Your idea of a fixed menu - is a good one. It aids in the things you buy and what you keep on hand.
I love food so much, that I need variety. I want to fix so many things, and usually run out of days!!!
My favorite this year is 'Unstuffed Peppers'. I chop up whatever is on hand-bell, shishito, new mex, and put in a sprayed glass baking dish and straight in the oven while it heats to 375. Depending on how many meals I want, I'll use 7x9 or 9x13.
ReplyDeleteThen, in a pan on the stove, 1c cooked rice, 1c black beans, 8-16ounce cooked ground beef (I Taco Spice it), 1c corn and if I still have roasted veg leftovers, I throw those in. 1 can Enchilada sauce and heat it all up. Stir in 2c shredded cheese of choice. Pour over the peppers and bake 20 minutes till melty hot.
I love eating this with tortilla chips like a dip, a bowl full and leftovers heated and wrapped in tortillas is great.
I always have a zip bag of cooked brown basmati rice in the freezer as well as black beans and taco spiced ground beef ready to go for meals in minutes. I hope my garden gives me a bunch of bell peppers at the last minute before frost and I'll do a large chop and have those ready in the freezer as well through November?
And I always love an apple or banana with peanut butter! It's a great breakfast or snack.
My second is veggie quiche. I generally start with sauted onions (I keep a baggie of chopped onions in the freezer). Add any greens, roasted veg laying around, add cheese and eggs. 375 40minutes.
Mmmmmm, sounds great. I have never done that in the oven, but it sounds yummy. I make an unstuffed pepper skillet, using many of the same things. So tasty and comforting. Eating with chips sounds neat - hadn't thought of that. In a tortilla - yes!
DeleteIt is so nice to have supplies ready to go - so mic and match and make all kinds of great food.
Generally when I eat an apple - it is with peanut butter!
quiche is another great idea - so versatile and can be eaten at any meal.
Thanks.
This is a nice list of way to use foods, especially those on hand.
ReplyDeleteI only need a couple of produce items this week for meals and the rest will be from things I already have at the house.
Thanks. Glad you find it useful. I love being able to 'shop' the pantry. Sure does save money and there is so much you can do with general foods.
DeleteLots of good ideas, Cheryl. Now I’m craving tuna casserole but I think I’ll wait until cooler weather. I eat a lot of eggs and often have breakfast for dinner.
ReplyDeleteOne vegetable I just cannot eat is cabbage unless it is raw. Mom made cooked cabbage and no, it is not for me. Roasted brussel sprouts are OK.
Fruit is my very, very favorite dessert or snack. Barbara M.
I really like tuna casserole. I like breakfast for dinner - somehow it is just so comforting.
DeleteFunny you can eat brussels but not cabbage. Not much I don't like. I do really enjoy a roasted brussel sprout!
Fruit is so good and good for you. Just as it is, is wonderful.
We're doing more of re-imagining leftovers and using up bits and bobs of various items. When I first retired, I would make soup once a week from the less than crisp vegetables in the fridge. With a little rice or pasta, it was a quick lunch for me.
ReplyDeleteI try not to let things go to waste. Shoot, we pay too much for it, to throw it away.
DeleteSoup is such a great extender of things - nothing like a nice hearty soup.
A plethora of ideas! You stress that a meal does not mean five courses. IMHO, no one needs that much food. One of our favorite ways to cook so we can have leftovers is a skillet meal. Add broth and/or tomatoes the next day, and Bob's your uncle, you have soup! Even leftover meatloaf can be chopped to add to a soup. We also prepare deconstructed potpies and cabbage rolls. Easier, quicker, tastes the same. We keep cooked, seasoned meats in the freezer, and Elle just gave me the idea to add black beans to the mix. There are times we want frijoles but the cans are too big for two people. Think I'll divide the can and freeze it in bags. Bags of chopped veg are an excellent idea for adding to a recipe. I just had a nice breakfast but all this talk of food is making me hungry again! ha! We still have celery in the garden so I think I'll chop it up and put it in a freezer bag. Peppers are still coming on, now that it's not so blasted hot. I should have enough green beans to can in a couple days. A slow cooker or One Pot is excellent for cooking less than tender cuts of meat. That can yield lots of shredded or chopped meat for lots of meals. Your readers have lots of good ideas for extending meals and making stick to the ribs dishes.
ReplyDeleteYes mam. I have never done all those courses - no need. I love one pot meals too. I have done the unstuffed cabbage rolls too.
DeleteI like the idea of beans in the freezer as well.
My peppers are loaded right now.
Glad you are still harvesting.
Crockpot cooking is wonderful and boy, are you right. A tougher and cheaper piece of meat will tenderize nicely. Last weekend I cooked the pork pieces I found in the freezer - ate 2 meals and froze 2 bags of shredded pork. Not bad for something I had forgotten about.
I love all the ideas!
I know food is very expensive, but cooking with basics and from scratch is the only way to go. I just think so many people are addicted to instant meals and those are so costly.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Fast and easy - doesn't always mean cheap - when it is all premade. People eat out a lot as well. You can't drive by a restaurant around here, that doesn't have a packed parking lot! That doesn't compute to me.
Delete