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You can buy turkey wings and necks at rediculously cheap prices...if you can find them. I usually stock up after Thanksgiving when stores cut up their leftover turkeys into pieces. A package of necks and wings is usually around 40 cents. (YES...I siad 40 CENTS)
Wow, you're lucky. Turkey parts aren't that cheap here, although still a bargain compared to other meats. They sell turkey wings and turkey drumsticks for 99 cents a pound. I like to buy the drumsticks and roast them on the weekend in a maple-cayenne glaze. Delish. I tried it with the wings but it wasn't worth it, not enough meat.
I think even the turkey necks are marked 99 cents a pound.
Peel a ton of carrots. Cut them into chunks. Fill the pot. However much the pot is full is how much soup you have so for a family of 4 do a ton. Fill the pot with water just over the top of the carrots and boil them until really soft. Do not drain. If you use dry corriander then add it while boiling, using fresh add it at the end of boiling. Add a fair amount of Corriander.
Get out a hand blender and blend it til smooth. It is really yummy. Low Fat. Healthy and cheap to make. Get some crusty bread to go along with it.
Another really inexpensive meal is chopped cabbages (with a large family you might want to use two) and polish sausages that are like big hot dogs. I have used polish hot dogs instead of the polish sausages. I forgot to mention that you cut the meat in about 2 inch pieces and stew that with the cabbage for flavor. I add a little margarine for even better flavor. Serve this with frozen oblong hushpuppies (baked in the oven), but the wonderful corn bread could go with this too. My husband likes corn bread crust better than the bread and the hushpuppies are like a really crusty bread.
You can get a couple of loaves of french bread, leftover pizza sauce, cheese, onions, olives, etc. and make homemade pizzas. Any leftover you like on a pizza would work with this. You could even use flavored tomato sauce if you don't have leftover pizza sauce. Pizzas are so cheap if you order more than one, so it may be cheaper to bring home a few pizzas.
If you don't do homemade crust, other than the French bread, can use English muffins, biscuits, tortillas, etc., then use cheap can of spaghetti sauce (Hunts or store that have seasonings in) add toppings or leftovers and whatever cheese....Endless, red sauce, white sauce, and my kids always loved the English muffins, now the grandkids want tortillas
Or you can blow by all these so-called frugal ideas and go strait to cheap.....ramen noodles........the 10 cent crowd pleaser; and you can hit'em with the pepper shaker to kick it up a notch...BAM!
Other than beans, I mean. we've got beans coming out of ears, lol. I've got a family of 5 and am trying to add more frugal recipes (in addition to already shopping frugally) to our rotation. We are willing to try any type of ethnic foods, so please, don't worry about that.
Ramen noodles boiled and drained
Can of cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk or so
frozen peas
heat together with the Ramen seasoning packet
Parmesan cheese sprinkled over this is great too.
That's the side dish.
If you want a main dish out of it, throw in a can of tuna.
Make a large meatloaf Italian style in the oven with potaoes and peas around it. Then take the left over meatloaf, crumble it in spaghetti sauce (jar), cook a pound of spaghetti, serve with a salad for another night.
I do Chinese take out, always have leftovers. I get the wok out, stir fry veggies, left over meat etc, add the Chinese left overs, serve over noodles or rice. I might do lo mein with it too.
Most recipes that call for a pound of hamburger can be made with half that amount.
I buy roasts on sale and make my own hamburger.. It's better and cheaper than the store kind. Rice, cabbage, turnips, noodles, mixed veggies,, potatoes, dried beans, and dried peas are all meal stretchers.
Turkey neck and back make a great broth; freeze it. Turkey gizzards and noodles make a good meal. The trick is to cook the gizzaards in water for a long time over a low heat. If you don't its like trying to eat a rubber ball.. I usally season mine with onion and carrots. And I add fresh mushroom some times.
Most frugal cooks at home don't think of buying bulk at the local restaurant supplier. It's amazing the kind of monay a family of four can save by buying #10 cans instead of 16 oz cans from the local grocer. Best Buy brand is just as good as name brand foods. Always Save has some good stuff too. Aldi's Happy Harvest is cheaper than Sam's or Walmart for most items and they are just as good or better. Next summer plant a garden and can in the fall
Another cheap meal for me that I don't have to cook!
My local chinese take-out has a bunch of lunch specials, all $4.50 with soup!!
I sneak in just before 3 before the lunch special is over, and for a family of 4, it costs me $18.00 for take-out chinese food.
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