Quick, Easy, and Very Cheap Meals

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tlblake84
tlblake84 Posts: 48 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm moving from eating out (primarily fast food) 70% of the time to trying to cook a lot more meals. I'm finding it difficult to find meals that keep me in my budget and are simple and very quick to prepare. As someone that general gets a $1 menu item through the drive thru, taking the time to cook is a hurdle in itself. What are you favorite throw it together quick meals that don't cost much for two to eat?

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  • kshadows
    kshadows Posts: 1,315 Member
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    Definitely start planning ahead. I sit down on Sundays and plan what we'll eat for dinner for the whole week. Chili in the crock pot, sauteed chicken breast with steamed veggies, Shepherd's pie and goulash are all some of my go-to easy meals.
  • wpwarrior88
    wpwarrior88 Posts: 1,503 Member
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    $1 bag frozen broccoli/cauliflower and jar of spaghetti sauce - add the pasta if you aren't watching carbs for a meal under $5, around 20 min to prep with leftovers!

    Prepared Salad mix $1.45 a bag with a can of tuna, under $2.50 and ready in less than 2 min.

    Making a crock pot of chili or soup on a day you have a little extra time in the evening, after you finish your meal package the leftovers in single serving containers, mark with content & date, then freeze. Plan to eat them within 3 month.

    Boston butt roast in a crock pot add onions, garlic, corn (fresh or frozen) and a can of diced tomatoes with spices, oregano, cumin, pepper. Let it cook down. Pull apart with forks and serve the first night over rice. Freeze single size portions. These can be used for sandwiches, served over potatoes, over veggies or you can leave a lot of broth add some potatoes and eat as a soup. figure less than $10 for all ingredients and for a single person most likely 10+ meals. Marking the containers, freezing and planing to use them, is the crucial element.
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    Mexican is quite cheap, versatile, easy and quick to prepare for the most part. Something like tacos you can cut calories by switching out tortillas with lettuce wrap, and switch out sour cream with yogurt. Add in more veggies and beans to amp up fiber and protein.
  • JtKeil
    JtKeil Posts: 1,389 Member
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    Chinese style stir fry.

    Frozen veggies (whatever you prefer)
    Straight to wok rice noodles
    Protein of choice (I'm a vegetarian so this is usually tofu for me)
    Soy sauce, tabasco, vinegar, chilli flakes, ginger, etc
    or use a prepared sauce.

    It takes around 20 minutes to prepare, maybe less depending on what protein you use.
  • quilt938
    quilt938 Posts: 57 Member
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    spaghetti sauce has been on sale at my grocery store a lot this year - mostly Ragu - and I keep several jars along with pasta- the pasta I like is more expensive(ronzoni smart) and I buy precooked frozen turkey meatballs(one of these days I'll get brave and have time and try making my own to freeze but these were $5 a bag and 2-3 meatballs is a serving).

    I also like to make chili and freeze the leftovers. my fave is done in the crockpot and only requires cooking the ground beef first. browing a lot at once and using some for tacos or freezing the cooked meat for later helps. also with chicken breast.

    I also do breakfast foods for dinner - esp eggs / breakfast tacos
  • hayleymawr
    hayleymawr Posts: 27 Member
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    Omelette - huge variety , practically instant, and very cheap . I like pea, mint and feta omelette
  • tkillion810
    tkillion810 Posts: 591 Member
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    I think there are a few key things you can do to help keep the cost, and time spent cooking to a minimum. Planning ahead saves me a ton of time. I plan my meals out for the week on Sundays. Then I can plan to use leftovers for lunches or even freeze some of them for another week. I like to plan stir fry for later in the week so I can use up whatever remaining vegetables I have on hand. Stir frying is quick and easy. For busy weeks I also spend some time in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon and prep a few meals. Usually I get my veggies cut up and cook up some sweet potatoes and protein. In a pinch, I will resort to things like canned albacore tuna, eggs, or oatmeal. Using these I can make a few cheap meals. With cooler weather coming, soups and chilis are great also!
  • jfboomer
    jfboomer Posts: 79 Member
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    Bump to look at later.
  • bigsistruck
    bigsistruck Posts: 125 Member
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    Italian chicken-

    Marinate as many boneless, skinless chicken breasts as you want in fat free Italian dressing overnight, next day wrap each breast in foil and put a bit of the dressing on top of the chicken. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. I just made it last night and OMG was it good!
  • keenercam
    keenercam Posts: 321 Member
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    One of my favorite cook-ahead cheap, healthy meals that makes many servings:

    Brown 1 lb of ground turkey, drain, and return to pot
    Add 1 can of whole kernel corn
    Add 1 can of black beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
    Add 1 can of diced tomatoes or a whole fresh tomato diced
    Add salsa to taste

    This is sort of a mock veggie chili. You can also chunk some onions in there, add shredded carrots, and/or green peppers.

    The macros are good, especially for protein, and you'll get 4-8 servings out of it. This mix is also delicious served over lettuce or broccoli.
  • aldousmom
    aldousmom Posts: 382 Member
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    One of my fav bases for meals is a microwaved potato! regular or sweet potato.

    for dinners, top with beans or refried beans, thawed frozen corn, lettuce, tomato and salsa! Seriously, it's SO simple but I eat this meal a lot b/c it's yummy! so many flavors, so little work. ha ha ha!

    you can also top potatoes with marinara, chili, all kinds of things!

    Another fast way to get yummy veggies is to cook them in the microwave then season and put under the broiler for "roasted" veggies!
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Crock Pot cooking is the way to go!

    Tonight at my house is pork shoulder (it was on sale for $1.49lb. I get a boneless and then I trim the fat off) My was 3 lbs so the cost was

    $4.47 (this will feed my family of 4 twice)
    $1.99 club rolls (6)
    $.99 sweet baby ray's bbq sauce (I'll use half the bottle)
    $1.49 dole cole slaw (I'll use half the bag now and the other half on fish tacos later in the week)
    $.99 steam in the bag broccoli

    comes out to rougly $1.61 per person for the whole meal. Now, I didn't factor in the dressing on the cole slaw because I'm not sure what I'm putting on it yet but I already have all those ingredients. I also use a lot of prepackaged stuff. The meal would be cheaper if you bought a head of broccoli and a head of cabbage, but with little kids screaming for food I usually opt out prep time.


    You can also wrap potatos in tin foil and put hem in the crock pot all day, then top with what you like.
    5 LB bag of potatoes was like $1.99 at shoprite.

    We will top them with broccoli, cheese, bacon, scallions, whatever I have already.
  • kia_runs
    kia_runs Posts: 77 Member
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    I am a vegetarian so you can add meat to these:

    Beans and rice (brown rice preferably)

    Hummus and tortila with some veggies

    Pasta and sauce

    Crockpot chils, stews

    Big salad with your protein
  • independant2406
    independant2406 Posts: 447 Member
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    I love my crock pot. Here are two of my favorites:

    Chicken Taco Soup
    1.0 lb(s) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
    1.0 cup, Corn - Sweet, yellow, canned, whole kernel, drained
    1.0 container Seasoned Recipe Bush's Black Beans
    2.0 container (1 4/5 cups ea.), Diced Tomatoes (No Salt Added)
    1.0 container (1 4/5 cups ea.), Red Beans In Chili Sauce Mild
    1.0 container (1 4/5 cup (130g) ea.), Dark Red Kidney Beans
    2.0 tbsp(s), Taco Spices & Seasonings Packet

    Just dump all these ingredients (uncooked) into your crock pot and set on low for 8hrs. It'll be done when you come home from work. Makes 8-12 servings

    Calories per serving: 280
    Total Fat 3 g
    Sodium 780 mg
    Potassium 579 mg
    Total Carbohydrate 34 g
    Dietary Fiber 9 g
    Sugars 5 g
    Protein 29 g

    Hawaiian Chicken
    3.0 tbsp(s) minced Garlic
    1lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
    1.0 can (2 3/10 cups ea.), Chunk Pineapple In Natural Juice
    0.5 cup(s), Sweetener (I use splenda)
    2.0 tbsp(s), Kikoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce
    0.5 cup(s), White Vinegar

    Just dump all these ingredients (uncooked) into your crock pot and set on low for 8hrs. It'll be done when you come home from work. Makes 4 servings. I usually eat this over whole grain brown rice but its good even without.

    Calories Per Serving 240
    Total Fat 4 g
    Sodium 340 mg
    Total Carbohydrate 25 g
    Dietary Fiber 1 g
    Sugars 18 g
    Protein 26 g
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
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    breakfast for dinner is a favorite in my house. Bacon and eggs can be whipped up in less than 15 minutes. If you have leftover veggies, you can put them in an omelet.

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