What do you fix for dinner when money is tight?

Question

I make a home made corn beef hash with frozen fries and canned corned beef that's very nice, or I buy ham patties in the can to eat with yams & a veggie,or just fall back on the old stand bys -- burgers or hot dogs. Also sometimes I make a pasta salad with tuna or faux crab meat. But I really could use some new ideas. Do you have any great meal ideas to feed your family a tasty meal even when the budget is very tight?

Answer 1

Spaghetti is the cheapest meal that I know. Pasta is only a buck or so. Sauce is only a buck or more. Ground beef is only 2-5 dollars depending on what market you shop at.

Answer 2

Baked potato with canned chili poured over it. Tuna salad sandwiches. Ramen noodles with tons of vegetables and leftover shredded meat. Chicken & rice casserole. Bean burritos. TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) Chili. Ratatouille over pasta.  

Answer 3

homemade or boxed mashed pototoes with ground up ground meat mix in the pototoes.....on the side .peas..but i mix my peas in too and pudding pie get i gram cracker pie shell 99 cents here 2 boxes of pudding read how to make pudding on carten pull in shell refridgerate 2 hours  top with cool whip or ice cream..enjoy....

Answer 4

I do either a pork or beef roast in the crock pot, 3lb roast last through about 3 meals for a family of 3-4.  You can put veggies in with the roast to have the first night, then shred and make tacos the second, then, say, fried rice the third with the remaining shredded meat all chopped up with veggies, rice and throw in an egg or two for more protein!  Talk about stretching a meal out!  Hope that helps, good luck!  Oh, you might want to check out Robin Miller on foodnetwork.com, she has lots of really good ideas for meal planning, quick and on a budget.  

Answer 5

mac and cheese.

Answer 6

Spaghetti with red sauce. You can buy store brand products in my town for cheap, and they taste just as good as the big company brands.  

Answer 7

Goulash - 2 lbs of elbow noodles and 2 lbs ground meat then spaghetti sauce can feed my family of 5 for several days. Another good choice here is Turkey roast it on sunday then the next night make hot turkey and gravy sandwiches. The next night turkey pot pie. you can also do turkey noodle soup, turkey salad, turkey sandwich. Chicken can also be stretched this way. Roasts of beef or Pork can be stretched out too roasts, hot sandwich, cold sandwich, BBQ sandwiches. Turkeys are cheap around the holidays and roasts of pork and beef can be found on sale sometimes Buy 1 get 1 free. Another cheap meal that we have at least once a week is pancakes. I can still think of more if you need ideas .

Answer 8

Chicken and Noodles

I buy a whole chicken season with garlic, salt, and pepper then simmer it in water with chopped onions, celery, and carrots until done. Then I remove the chicken, add chicken bouillon and add extra wide egg noodles to the broth and cook until the noodles are done. While the noodles are cooking I shred the chicken then add it back to the pot with the cooked  noodles. It tastes great and makes for good leftovers.