The "~$5 Meal Ideas~" thread...

[MamaJo]

http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/...ead.php?t=9445

[beepsmnms]

I tried this recipe last week, it was so easy to make and my kids couldn't eat enough of it.

Beef Noodle Shepherd's Pie

• pound ground beef
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package beef with onion soup mix
• 1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups prepared mashed potatoes ( i used hungry jack instant)
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a medium skillet, brown beef over medium high heat and drain. Stir in water, soup mix and elbow macaroni; let simmer all together for 5 minutes.
3. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with potatoes and sprinkle with paprika. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes and serve hot.
4. Optional – Top with Brown Gravy

[jblaze]

Tuna Casserole

1 -can tuna
1 -16 oz bag wide egg noodles
1- can of condensed cream of celery soup
1 -1/2 lb block of chedder cheese

Boil water and cook noodles per package directions
Heat up cream of celery soup to boiling, add cut up cheese to soup, stir until cheese melted. Add tuna to soup mixture.
Put noodles in 13 x 9 baking pan, pour soup mixture over noodles and stir until noodles coated. Cover with aluminum foil
Bake for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees.
Serve with your choice of veggie and bread.

My kids love this, even my picky 9 year old

[croleRN]

My family loves this (had it tonight!)
-Penne, rotini, or elbows - cooked
-steamed broccoli
-chicken (we use left over chicken from a previous night - or open canned chicken)
-olive oil
-butter
garlic, garlic, garlic
salt & pepper to taste
paremesan cheese optional

[Mrs.Haggie810]

That shepards pie sounds delish! Here's one I made as an experiment today that turned out pretty good, and is pretty cheap...

1 bag mixed dried beans (I got these in a box when we bought from Angel Food and didn't want to waste them.) $1.00
1/2 lb. ground turkey $.79 (I bought 1, 1 lb. tube, cooked it and divided it)
16 cups of water Free! Well sort of at least
1 small can tomato soup plus one can water $.50
6 cubes of beef bouillon about $.35 (I buy it in the jar for $1.82)
1/2 bag mixed vegetables $.42 (I bought 1 package for $.84)
garlic powder should have on hand but can get for $.50 w/ many uses
italian seasoning same as above
and I'm going to add some onions when we have it for dinner tonight. about
$.50 or you might have some from your garden!

Rinse the beans, bring to a boil in the water for 2 min (mine went a little longer, no biggie) Let soak for 1 hour. About 1/2 way through this soak I added in my bouillon and tomato soup and ground turkey. Once an hour has passed turn the heat back on to high, once it is boiling add your veggies, then reduce heat to medium. Cook until beans and veggies are done. I served it with a piece of crusty, everything seasoned bread that I got on the bakery discount cart and had in the freezer.

Total: $3.56 if you had the seasoning on hand - the bread
$4.56 if you had to buy the seasoning - the bread
$3.72 if you had the seasoning and served it with the bread
$4.72 if you had to buy seasoning and served it with bread

[xamybethx]

I don't remember if I posted this.

Shepard's Pie:

1lb ground meat ($1.78)
5-6 potatoes ($2.50 a bag?)
Can of corn (.33)
Shredded cheese (we use either pepper jack or cheddar) ($2)
Packet of Brown gravy (.25)

Just make mashed potatoes, brown the ground meat. Pour a can of corn over the potatoes, add the meat and then cheese and mix it all up till the cheese melts (or you can pop it in the oven and just melt the cheese if you don't want to mix it). Add brown gravy (I do it on an individual basis).

You could also make a homemade verison of the KFC chicken bowls by added popcorn chicken instead of groundmeat, I haven't but it would be yummy!

[Jordan~&~Jenna's~mommy]

We love this one. It also reheats and freezes well. DH's mom got it out of an old recipe book wayyy back when DH was a toddler. It's fantastic though and very low budget if you already have the spices on hand. My kiddos eat it up like crazy! It's super mom-friendly since it only takes about 15-20 mins to whip up and your only mess is a pan, spatula and measuring spoons hehe.


Spanish rice with beef

1 lb ground beef
1 can of corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1c water
1 1/2c minute rice
1/2tsp chili powder
1/2tsp oregano
1/4tsp garlic powder

Brown beef, breaking into pieces. Drain fat. Stir in everything except rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add rice and cover for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 2-3 minutes. Stir before serving.

[sahminaz]

I made chicken soup with dumplings yesterday. Today it will chicken soup with rice. One 4.5 lb chicken will feed our family twice. The grocery store had their whole chickens on sale for .39 a lb. I paid $1.50 each for 3 whole chickens. I had everything on hand to make chicken soup with dumplings so two meals costs us $1.50. Even if the chicken was more than $1.50, whole chickens are more work but they are less expensive and you get awesome broth.

[BNC]

This is one of my favorites. Cheap and 1 pot cooking!

Beef and rice

1lb ground beef $1.99
2 cups white rice
4 cups water
2 chicken bulion cubes
1 small onion
5-6 cloves of garlic (or garlic powder would work too)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (sounds weird, but is really good!

Brown the ground beef in a large stock pot with the garlic and oinions. drain the fat. Add cinnamon. Dissolve chicken bullion in 4 cups HOT water, pour over beed onion and garlic mixture. Add rice and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes or until rice is done.

This makes alot of food!

[crystaldawn_23]

We have breakfast for dinner once a week (or every other week). Generally I can make waffles, french toast, pancakes, or omeletes with fruit and sausage for way under $5 and my kids LOVE to have "breakfast for dinner" Dh was resistant at first but now loves the specialties that I come up with.

Spanish rice for sure it cheap and a hit here.

One of our favorite one pot/cheap meals here is bacon cheeseburger pasta. I use about half a pound of ground chuck, half a pk of bacon cut up and browned. Half a pound of pasta cooked(or whole pound if you want leftovers). Mix all together with a can of tomato soup (plain) and cover with a little cheddar cheese. Then I usually add a little bbq sauce. Dh loves it.

Dh also requests meatballs that I make with rice krispies, I make homemade bbq sauce to go with it and they are so good, add a veggie and bread if you'd like and you're all set.

I use the crock pot a lot for soups. and make bread to go with it. Or soup and sandwiches are good too. I usually make something a little more special when making it for dinner.