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Soups are very economical Op. They can also help one keep their weight under control, should that even be an issue. Fresh fruit is great, and a large melon or two will go a long way. You can make cold soups, and use it for juice instead of buying the pre-made juice you are watering down. It's healthier.
Beans go a long way too, as Missik999 mentioned.
Chop up a bunch of your favorite fresh fruit. Toss it all together with enough lemon juice to moisten it (and prevent the apples from browning) plus whatever sweet spice you like -- I usually use cinnamon, but apple-pie spice is good, or allspice, or nutmeg.
Take canned beans or your own cooked soup beans. Mash them with a fork, and wrap them in lawash bread, tortillas or chapatis -- homemade are cheaper of course! Add cooked rice, salsa, corn kernels, chopped sweet peppers, or whatever you like.
Take more of those canned or home-cooked soup beans and add enough water to cover them plus a chicken cube or three. Add chopped celery, a chopped carrot, chopped onion, and some chopped leftover ham, a whole ham bone or other big old meaty bone. Cook until you cannot stand to wait any longer; add a dash of black pepper and serve. To make it thicker, use the potato masher to incorporate the beans into the soup.
Cook 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of chicken or vegetable bouillon. Add a can or two of drained canned vegetables (you can use the liquid to cook the rice in). When the rice is cooked, fry it up in a skillet still lined with the grease from the last bacon or sausage you fried. The meat can also go into the finished product, of course.
Scrub some unpeeled potatoes and slice them into a big soup pot. Add barely enough water to cover them. Add chopped onion to taste and, if you have it, a ham bone, a smoked pork chop or just some bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer until the potatoes are tender. Use the potato masher to make it into the best potato soup ever. Carrots, celery, parsnips and turnips optional.
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We make big batches of soup using only two meaty soup bones for flavor. The rest is veggies like carrots, celery, onions, rutabaga, cabbage, canned tomatoes, kidney beans, just about anything. Between my son and I we go through a huge pot in a few days. We also make ham & bean soup, split pea soup, chicken stew with dumplings. All cheap foods.
...biscuit=...I dunno, nothing really sufficiently replicates a biscuit. Scones problem come closest.
Agreed. Scones are a rare delicacy in the States. Here in the UK, they are much more important; many of us eat them every day, and we often receive personal invitations from the Queen to share scones and tea with her. On these days, we ride rare, expensive breeds of horses together in front of the Palace, while wearing a top hat and a monocle, and eat freshly toasted scones while we chuckle pompously upon our racist generational conquests. Such is the way of the British.
Agreed. Scones are a rare delicacy in the States. Here in the UK, they are much more important; many of us eat them every day, and we often receive personal invitations from the Queen to share scones and tea with her. On these days, we ride rare, expensive breeds of horses together in front of the Palace, while wearing a top hat and a monocle, and eat freshly toasted scones while we chuckle pompously upon our racist generational conquests. Such is the way of the British.
Dried beans. I make black bean soup in the winter (yum), and add all sorts of peppers. Then I top it off in my bowl with onions or cheese or whatever. To make it a complete protein, add brown rice. Yum. Very healthy.
Pasta is cheeeeep. The uncooked kind you cook yourself. Whole grain spaghetti with canned spaghetti or meat sauce. Cooked whole grain macaroni mixed with steamed veggies and either a little italian dressing or margerine.
Snack: I pop my own popcorn in a pot on the stove. Pennies a serving. (I sneak plastic baggies of it in my purse to take to the movie theater.)
Use only bone-in chicken/meats. Save the bones for soup/stews. Leftover chicken in bone soup with macaroni, rice, veggies, or spaetzl.
bone stew with veggies.
Cook the bones until they turn into jelly, freeze - then reconstitute as needed for gravies, soups, stews. While you're getting the bones to the jelly stage, steal some for the night's stew
use rice, potatoes, pasta for thickening and substance
and don't forget eggs for dinner - scrambled, fried, omelets - with home fried potatoes and tomatoes - oh yummm
Apart from rent, my biggest outgoing is food, and I love saving money by living on cheap cooking. What are your budget-buster recipes?
One of my new favorities is simply burger & fries (or chips as we say in the UK). Get some cheap white potatoes and peel them, wash them and dry them out then fry them. While that's happening, get some beef mince, roll it into patties and fry them too, chop up some salad, and that's pretty much it. Meat: £1 for two burgers. Salad: 20p, buns: 10p's worth (I usually buy them discount and freeze/refridgerate them), 30p worth of potatos and maybe 10p worth of sauce. Unhealthy but tasty.
Salads are also cost effective. I typically like lettuce, cucumber, leek, onion, and tomato, then perhaps add nuts. It's a great snack, and add some fruit on the side if you're having it for lunch or a light supper. If you're hungrier and don't mind cooking, you can stir fry the vegetables and add pasta, and a little hot sauce or spices to liven it up.
Maybe not specifically meal related, but if you like juice, I find you can make it last longer by diluting 50/50 with tap water. You get used to the thinner taste, you'll still get one of your 5 a day and your stock will last longer.
Anyway would love to hear more suggestions.
Hi, you are asking two different thread questions. The first question is for cheap meal ideas and the second is for recipe ideas. There are two separate forums for these as well. There are already numerous threads already in progress in both the Food and Drink forums and also the Frugal Forum. I am going to merge this thread with one already going in the Frugal forum (I moderate both forums) because I think it matches it closely.
Good luck!
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