How can we eat for cheap?

Question

My husband and I are on a very very tight budget. We have to be careful not to spend too much money, and we eat a lot of boxed macaroni and cheese because it is cheap and easy for us to make after a long day. Sometimes we mix in a can of peas or something. Tuna helper is also a regular dinner for us.

I am looking for suggestions for other cheap, easy to prepare meals that we can eat. Any ideas?

Answer 1

One of our favorite cheap meals is corned beef & cabbage.  We don't get the expensive, fancy corned beef in a bag though, we just use the canned stuff.  Chop and boil a head of cabbage and then open up a can of corned beef or even corned beef hash and stir it into the drained, cooked cabbage and heat it a bit.  It's yummy, it's cheap and it's usually enough for 2 meals or supper and leftovers for lunch.  It's healthy too, because of all the cabbage.

Also stock up on ground beef or turkey and make lots of casseroles.  If you buy one of the family packs or big 5lb chubs of ground meat and split it up into smaller packages and put it in the freezer you can get a lot of meals out of it.  Rice or pasta with some ground meat and some frozen veggies is a quick and easy meal any time and depending on what spices or veggies you use there's lots of room for variation.  You can also throw in a can of tomato or cream of mushroom soup for a sauce.  Learn to shop sales or at bargain stores.  Boiled ramen noodles with some frozen veggies and a little ground meat makes a cheap and easy fake noodle stir fry, too.  Soups and stews can really stretch your food and your budget.  Look for the 3/$1.00 seasoning packets to use for flavorings for soups and stews.  The spaghetti sauce, taco seasoning and chili packs all make for great, flavorful soups.

Answer 2

You know its good to have many recipe on soups... because it is very cheap. I would suggest that. In the past we are in that situation. So we eat fish rather than meat. I remember also there are lots of vegetable at that time since we plant vegetables in our garden.

Answer 3

angel hair pasta and ragu

quick boxed potatoes and canned vege and kiev chicken

hotdogs and canned beans

egg omlets toast

cereal

oatmeal

Answer 4

Try fried noodles... vermicelin... fried rice... just add eggs.. you may add some sausages and veggies (prefer cabbage)

Answer 5

Go to hillbillyhousewife.com for meals on a budget.  It is far cheaper to buy a bag of macaroni and the cheese (you can buy powdered cheese at bin stores) than to buy the boxes.  Make meals at night when you're not busy for a fast warmup when you get home from work.  Learn to cook soups, stews, chili etc.. to save time and money.

Answer 6

cheap foods are:

potatoes (baked with butter/garlic/cheese/beans)

pasta (add sauce/passant/tinned tomatoes, frozen veggies)

ramen noodles are only 12p a pack and can make a good meal 1 day a week (stir fry noodles with veggies)

tortilla wraps with fillings like beans, veggies etc £1 for 10 wraps

Frozen vegetables are good and cheap, like a 1kg bag of brocolli, cauliflour, green runner beans, brussel sprouts, sweeetcorn, cabbage are £1 each

Tinned food is also good, like 5 large tins of chopped carrots £1

Tinned beans like pinto are 20p each. also chickpeas, black eye beans, kidney beans. Use for fillings, curries.

Oxo/kknor cubes are good for adding flavour on the cheap 12 for 80p (use only 1 cube per 2 people meal)

Get puff pastry than you can roll out quite thin and put fillings in, £1

Soup is cheap tinned, or make you own. I microwave mushrooms, carrots, adzuki beans, chopped onions, then add 1/2 an oxo cube and boiling water, and squirt of chilli sauce. Yummy and low cal and filling

You want to eat more vegetables to fill you up. Its healthier and cheaper!

Answer 7

make delicious "fancy ramen"! You'll need:

2 packages chicken ramen

a handful of bean sprouts

3 eggs

1tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp oil

soy sauce (better to use the "naturally brewed" kind, it has a better flavor and the fake kind will probably make it less delicious)

garlic powder

ginger powder

crushed red pepper

one big frying pan

a strainer or a fork and bowl

Boil the ramen in the frying pan with the flavor packets until cooked. Drain it or fork the noodles out into a bowl. Discard the broth. Add some oil to the pan and scratch 3 eggs until cooked. Add bean sprouts to pan and move both to one side to make the sauce in the other side. Add plenty of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, some water and oil, and a generous sprinkling of ginger and garlic, and a bit of red pepper to the side of the pan and mix together for the sauce. Add the ramen back in and toss to mix and coat. If it doesn't seem like there's enough sauce to coat, add a bit more soy sauce and water. Serve with a sprinkling of ginger powder on top, and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.

The total cost of the ingredients, I believe, is under a dollar fifty.

I made this recipe up. There are so many things you can do with ramen.

Answer 8

The cheapest thing I've found is kielbasa, or polish sausage, at $1.99 a pack, it's a meal.

Add, choped,  to a box of rice a roni (or make your own, link follows)

Here's some of our other recipes:

Creamy Potatoes 'N' Kielbasa

1 pkg frozen potatoes (I used cubed raw potatoes)

1 lb kielbasa sausage, cubed

1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 C. shredded cheddar

1/2 C. water

In slow cooker combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. **Do not overcook - will turn to mush**

4-6 servings

Kielbasa recipe

2 peppers, chopped

1 onion, chopped

Kielbasa, chopped, cut at a slant, the more meat that is shown the better

1 C rice

28oz canned tomatoes (DO NOT DRAIN)

Stir all together.

Bake at 300-350F for 2 hours.

May need more water though, check at half hour intervals.

To serve, place scoop on a plate & add a dab of butter.

Bean and Sausage Delight

2-3 cans black beans, drained

3 cans chicken stock

1 can Rotel type tomatoes

1 can corn

cooked sausage or sliced kielbasa

I serve with tortilla chips and sour cream. you can also serve over rice to extend it to more servings.

I like to mash some of the beans with my potato masher to make a thicker broth, or you can scoop some into the blender, and return it to the crockpot.

Quick Jambalaya

1 package Spanish Rice-a-Roni

about 3-4 chicken b*****s

1/2 pound of sausage -you can use any Polish sausage

1 can of of tomatoes

crushed red pepper (optional)

Cook the chicken breast and sausage till done:

Cook rice-a-roni in large skillet; add the water, tomatoes, seasoning from rice-a-roni, cooked chicken, cooked sausage and cook for about 15 -20 minutes.

Green Bean Stuff

2 big cans of Allens flat green beans

2 pkgs of turkey polish sausage

1 big red onion cut jullian style

1 jar roasted red bell pepper

2Tbls dill weed

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in your crock pot set on low and walk away will be perfect in about 4 hours.

Answer 9

im on a bulking diet i eat alot of pasta salads the rest is alota of meats and poultry try going to markets and buying bulk foods fish vegetables etc....

Answer 10

i think you and your husband will grow tired of the same thing night after night.. try buying meat that is on sale and a lot of it.. meaning a big package and make your own frozen dinners on week-ends.  chicken legs or breast, boil on top of stove till tender adding meat tenderizer, salt and pepper and onion.. when meat is done, slop on bbq sauce and broil till brown.. let cool and freeze on a flat dish or pan.. the juice you can make gravy with 2 bouillon cubes and maybe a 1/2 cup of corn starch.. and freeze.. make mashed potatoes and freeze.. stuffed peppers, freeze.. once you start making frozen dinners in your spare time, it becomes easier  : )  hot dog dish.. 3 packs of hot dogs, sliced and browned in oleo.. remove.. then brown a green pepper, brown a onion.. cook up a box of macaroni.. add 2 family size campbells tomato soup. mix everything together.. cover and let heat up about 10 mins and its done.. freeze some.. 3 cheese enchiladas made by hamburger helper i think is also delicious  : )

Answer 11

ramen noodles is another cheap meal they come in a variety of flavors and they are 99 cents sometimes cheaper a meal.

Answer 12

Here is a website i came across a while back that will help you to plan out meals ahead of time so you can eat very well, but cheap.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Stretching_Meat_...