Need CHEAP recipe to feed 4 people

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  • msemejuru
    msemejuru Posts: 229
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    Spaghetti and garlic bread
    Fettuccine , Alfredo sauce with mushrooms

    Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ
    Ingredients:
    * 4 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – halfway through shred meat to absorb
    * 1 (12 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce Famous Daves or Jack Daniels
    * 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
    * 1/4 cup brown sugar
    * 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
    Directions:
    1. Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbeque sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken.
    2. Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

    Easy Turkey Burgers
    Ingredients:
    1 lb extra lean Ground Turkey
    4 T Ground flax seeds (or 3T breadcrumbs)
    Seasoning Salt to taste
    2 chopped Green Onions
    1 chopped Green Pepper
    3-4 T Salsa (start with 3 and see how mixture feels)
    2 Egg Whites

    Directions:

    Combine all ingredients, mix well, and divide into four. Make into four burgers.
  • nicolel18
    nicolel18 Posts: 17
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    Chicken Enchiladas

    You'll need
    a few pounds of chicken breast
    Can of mexican stewed tomatoes
    Packet of taco seasoning
    corn tortillas
    shredded cheddar cheese
    enchilada sauce

    Put the whole chicken breasts, mexican stewed tomatoes and taco seasoning in crock pot on low for 5 or 6 hours. By then you can take the chicken out and you should be able to just shred it with a fork. After shredding put back in pot.

    Microwave tortillas as directed on package. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture and roll it up and put in baking dish/pan. Continue to roll as many enchiladas as you need. Pour enchilada sauce* over the enchiladas, sprinkle with cheese and put in the oven until the cheese melts.

    *I usually warm up the enchilada sauce on the stove before I pour it over the enchiladas. The enchiladas don't really have to stay in the oven long because you are just melting the cheese so I like the sauce to be hot.
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
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    My favorite easy and cheap recipe is red beans and rice, which is also relatively healthy - yay! You can add meat (ground turkey or beef would work), but I always serve it vegetarian. It's a slow cooker/crock pot recipe and unfortunately I have it in a book at home, so i can only tell you the ingredients and not the precise recipe. I'll guestimate how much I usually put in it, but I typically just start with rough estimates and taste it and add more ingredients if necessary.

    -Red beans (or black beans; I've used both) - approx 3 cans, rinsed (or you can use a bag of dry beans, but soak overnight or do 'quick soak')
    -About 1/4 cup chopped Cilantro (if you don't like cilantro, you can add parsley or reduce amount or omit)
    -Medium onion (I typically use yellow), chopped
    -A clove or so of minced garlic
    -About half a green pepper
    -Tablespoon-ish of olive oil
    -1/4 cup or so of water
    -A teaspoon or two of cumin, adjust to taste
    -Dash salt and pepper, adjust to taste
    -How every many servings of rice you need - 4? (cooked separately)

    Heat olive oil over medium to medium-high heat, add Onion and Garlic and cook until onion is done. Add cilantro and stir. Add water and cumin and salt and pepper to taste, stir. Add beans and stir then transfer to crock pot. Make sure to do a taste test to make sure you have the cumin/salt/pepper ratio down to your taste. To make easier, you could probably just add the beans to the crock pot then put the onion/water/flavor mixture on top and stir in there. Add more water if necessary so it doesn't dry up, but not too much because it isn't a soup! Cook on low 6 or so hours (I've done as little as 5 hours and also left it up to 9 hours) and then serve over cooked rice.

    Best thing about this recipe is that it's pretty simple and you can add/omit what you want to make it how you want. I've added some jalepeno and taco seasoning and cayanne pepper to make a spicy mexican-inspired dish to switch it up.

    If you're good (or decent) at cooking, it's easy to switch this recipe up to make it match your mood. Gotta love slow cooker recipes!

    Also check out allrecipes.com - I love this site!
  • francis904
    francis904 Posts: 79 Member
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    Yesterday I fixed a whole chicken in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots and onion. Tonight we are having Tortilla Chicken soup withsalad and french bread.

    Chicken $3.30
    3 potatoes <$1?
    4 carrots < $1
    Onion $.79

    Leftover chicken already paid for
    Salsa $2
    Chicken Broth free (saved from the crockpot)
    tortilla chips $2
    Cilantro $1
    Marked down bread from the bakery depatrment $.85
    Bag of salad mix $2.50

    2 meals for 4 =$14.44!
  • Setof2Keys
    Setof2Keys Posts: 681 Member
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    Chicken Enchiladas

    You'll need
    a few pounds of chicken breast
    Can of mexican stewed tomatoes
    Packet of taco seasoning
    corn tortillas
    shredded cheddar cheese
    enchilada sauce

    Put the whole chicken breasts, mexican stewed tomatoes and taco seasoning in crock pot on low for 5 or 6 hours. By then you can take the chicken out and you should be able to just shred it with a fork. After shredding put back in pot.

    Microwave tortillas as directed on package. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture and roll it up and put in baking dish/pan. Continue to roll as many enchiladas as you need. Pour enchilada sauce* over the enchiladas, sprinkle with cheese and put in the oven until the cheese melts.

    *I usually warm up the enchilada sauce on the stove before I pour it over the enchiladas. The enchiladas don't really have to stay in the oven long because you are just melting the cheese so I like the sauce to be hot.


    OK Im going to admit one of my Mom cheats here, but if you're in a real hurry you can buy one of the rotisserie chickens already made. I but 2 of them and Im careful to pull off the skin and fatty parts. It's already seasoned and taste great. :)
  • willowglimmer
    willowglimmer Posts: 71
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    bump
  • tamheath
    tamheath Posts: 702 Member
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    Great ideas! One thing even my son loves:

    Bag of saffron or other good rice
    Canned black beans (rinsed)

    Cook each of those separately. Top the rice with the beans, then top that with LF sour cream, LF cheese, chopped onion, and salsa. Not only healthy, but cheap and easy! Like me!!! Oh, kidding - couldn't refuse. :glasses:
  • EMC10
    EMC10 Posts: 1 Member
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    BUMP!!!
  • asj0901
    asj0901 Posts: 141
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    Yesterday I fixed a whole chicken in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots and onion. Tonight we are having Tortilla Chicken soup withsalad and french bread.

    Chicken $3.30
    3 potatoes <$1?
    4 carrots < $1
    Onion $.79

    Leftover chicken already paid for
    Salsa $2
    Chicken Broth free (saved from the crockpot)
    tortilla chips $2
    Cilantro $1
    Marked down bread from the bakery depatrment $.85
    Bag of salad mix $2.50

    2 meals for 4 =$14.44!

    Wow!!!! Way to go! That is less than 2.00 per meal! Impressive
  • skinnyb450
    skinnyb450 Posts: 288
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    Bumpity Bump :)
  • mizyvee
    mizyvee Posts: 74 Member
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    Do the bump
  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    Breakfast for dinner is usually the cheapest you can get. You can make omelets or scrambled eggs and toast for under $5 and have left overs.

    Buy whole chickens to cook instead of chicken breast, they are much cheaper and left overs can be reused for gumbo, chicken salad, or sandwichs with BBQ sauce. Cut the skin off to cook it lower fat. You can get a whole chicken for under $5

    Go to the veggie aisle and buy the veg on sale. You could get enough with leftover for under $5. Grab a bag of rice for under $2 and that will feed for several days.

    You could feed a family of 4--2 meals for under $10. Plus they can be healthy.

    You can make a big pot of Taco soup, meatless or with 1/2 lb of ground meat or chicken from your whole chicken left over, all you need is 3-4 cans of beans .75 cents each, water (free), packet of taco seasoning .75, and onion .50 cents, and a can of corn or frozen, whichever is cheaper. Cook the meat if it isn't already and then dump it all in a crockpot. Cheap and easy. And healthy, well except for the sodium. But this makes about 10 cups of taco soup. All for about $6.
  • barbdip
    barbdip Posts: 24 Member
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    Great ideas thanks
  • GURLEY_GIRL3
    GURLEY_GIRL3 Posts: 359 Member
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    BUMP
  • RoadDog
    RoadDog Posts: 2,946 Member
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    Two ways to go about it.

    1 - Find a recipe and buy the ingredients -- Expensive

    2 - Check your fridge and pantry, find out what's available to you and create a recipe -- Inexpensive


    What's in your fridge and pantry?
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
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    chili and rice. regualr white rice and your favorite canned chili.

    the easiest. recipe. ever.

    steam the white rice.
    Microwave the chili.
    (for really generous portions, a can per person, for regular size portions, a half can per person).
    Pour chili over rice. Garnish w/shredded cheese if you like.
  • MommyRobot
    MommyRobot Posts: 268 Member
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    4 Chicken Breast
    Tomato Sauce
    Mozzarella cheese

    Grill breasts with Italian Seasoning
    Throw some sauce on top
    Add a little cheese
    In the oven to melt the cheese

    I serve with pasta for the rest of the family, and I have fresh, steamed green beans with mine.
    $10
  • amandakay23
    amandakay23 Posts: 156
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    Bump
  • jdelisle
    jdelisle Posts: 1,050 Member
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    Bump
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    Have you ever made a Spanish Tortilla?

    Really easy, filling and cheap:
    ~ 8 eggs ($3)
    1 -1.5 lb of potatoes ($2)
    1 large onion ($1)
    Salt
    Pepper
    Olive Oil
    Spices: try italian seasoning, thyme and/or paprika
    Recipe (use a nonstick pan to reduce the oil content) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tylers-ultimate/spanish-tortilla-recipe/index.html

    You can add other ingredients as well. I've added sausage, leftover veggies.....

    Add a side salad for $3.5 and you are still under $10.

    Lentil and Sausage Stew
    1.5 c of dry lentils ($1)
    1 c of brown rice ($1)
    4c of chicken broth ($2.50)
    2 smoked sausages (you can add more) ($4-6)
    1 onion ($1)
    2 carrots ($1)
    2 stalks of celery ($1)
    4-6 cloves of garlic ($0.25)
    1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
    Dried spices: oregano or thyme, paprika, chile flakes, cumin
    Salt and Pepper to taste

    This is about $12, and easily would serve about 6 people. It is also really easy to save money on this recipe. You can use less sausage or cheaper sausage. The recipe is something like this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lentil-sausage-soup-recipe/index.html. But you do not need wine, or parmesan to make a tasty dish. Use any sausage you like. You can serve it over rice or jut add more water and cook the rice in the broth (or try barley or farro)

    Also, chicken curry with garbonzo beans is really good as well:
    1 lb of chicken breast ($4)
    1 can of garbonzo beans ($1.5)
    1/2 can of light coconut milk ($2)
    1/2 an onion
    2 cloves of garlic
    1 lime ($1)
    2-3 cups of your favorite veggies (think stir fry veggies: mushrooms, peppers, carrots, bok choy) ($2-5)
    curry powder (about 2 heaping teaspoons)
    chile flakes
    chicken broth or water
    salt and pepper to taste
    steamed rice ($2)

    Sautee the onions and garlic with the spices. Turn the heat up and sear the chicken. Add the coconut milk and about 1 cup of water or broth. Add the chickpeas.. Turn the heat to low or simmer. Cook until chicken is mostly done and the beans are heated. The sauce should reduce by nearly half. Add your veggies and cook for a few more minutes until the veggies are cooked through. Done. Serve with rice and lime wedges. Add cilantro if you have some.
    The chickpeas give you an extra dose of fiber. :)

    I like to combine sausage and beans for a quick meal. If you made my soup above, use the other half of the package od sausage for a quick sautee:

    Slice the sausage on the bias or in slices and brown in a bit of oil with some onions. Add 2 cans of your favorite beans (rinsed), some cumin and/oregano. Add a bit of water and cook for a few minutes. Then add some frozen spinach (or other green. Or fresh). I usuallt chop up a roasted pepper or 2, they are always in my pantry. You can serve with rice or pasta, or alone. Add a bit of cheese if you like. Also add leftover veggies like peppers. Or leftover fresh herbs. Yummy flavor pairing and hearty. I love sausage, so this is a great way for me to decrease my intake. ;)

    Spaghetti carbonara is another winner And you can easily make it lower fat by swapping the cream for lowfat milk and using less butter and cheese. You can also use cream cheese to give it a creamier texture, and you can user low fat bacon. Add a peas or arugula to give it some extra veggies. And use whole wheat pasta. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/spaghetti-alla-carbonara-recipe/index.html

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