Help I Need Easy And Quick Cheap Meals

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Soups, canned fish, beans, potatoes, rice, pasta, frozen vegetables are cheap staples to keep on hand and eat a number of ways.

http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

I have the same problem. I did find a great soup. Its called the cabbage fat burning soup. I don't agree with the "fat burning"part, but its cheap and I divide it up and freeze it. This way I can take it for easy pre made lunches. Sometimes I add beans to it ti make it go farther.
Another is a queche. I found the recipies on pinterest. Again, I make them into individual portions and freeze for my breakfast. Both make enough to last me for two weeks (between paydays). Check out pinterest. I found lots of low carb recipies that are inexpensive. Good luck.

Also - buy whole chickens when they're on sale. I always buy the biggest I can find; they have more meat per pound than smaller birds.

If you'll have a couple hours in a day or two, stick 'em in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze 'em and then stick one into the fridge the morning before your day off. That should give it time to defrost.

On your day off, roast it. It's not a done-right-now thing, but if you're cooking just for yourself, you'll have meat for a week. Depending on your calorie limits, maybe more than a week.

If you have a decent sized oven (I don't, just a tabletop one), you can roast two at a time, then freeze the meat from one.

If there's a bag of giblets inside the cavity, pull it out. If you can't stand the thought of eating chicken liver, toss the liver (if you're not sure what it looks like, it's the big, floppy bit). Put the rest (it'll usually also include the neck) into a freezer ziplock, press & suck all the air out, label, and toss into the freezer. Add the next couple chickens' worth of giblets and necks, and you'll have a fine addition to the next vat of chicken soup you make.

Preheat the oven to 425 or 450.

Dry the bird off with paper towels, inside and out. There are a couple big gobs of fat on either side of the cavity; pull those bad boys off and toss 'em.

Most chickens I've bought lately have the legs tied. If yours doesn't and you have a bit of string, tie the legs together, crossing the narrow bones at the ends of the drumsticks. If you don't have string, it ain't the end of the world.

Season the bird. You can do almost anything that appeals to you. A couple teaspoons to a tablespoon salt, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of pepper, a teaspoon or two of whatever dried herb appeals - rosemary's good on poultry, so's thyme - or a couple teaspoons of poultry seasoning. Everyone here loves garlic, so I'll add quite a bit of that. You might want mustard, lemon juice or both. Mix it all together in a small bowl, then rub it all over the bird, inside and out.
This is getting a bit fancier, but I'll often loosen the skin everywhere, and rub the seasoning *inside* the skin. That way, the flavor gets onto the meat, and I'm not quite as tempted to eat the fatty skin, which I love. <sigh> If I'm careful, I can loosen the skin all over, even on the thighs, without tearing it.

Put it in a pan. If you have a rack to keep it off the bottom and out of the fat it will render, so much the better.

Once the oven's up to the temp you've set, toss it in. After 50 to 60 minutes, poke an instant-read meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh without hitting the bone. If it reads 165, take the chicken out. If it's not, try again in 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat as needed.

Wait 10 minutes before slicing yourself some supper. After supper, slice the rest up and figure out how much you're likely to use in a week. Freeze the rest. And, in a separate baggie or two, freeze the bones and skin. Along with those giblets, they'll provide you with chicken soup. (Also, freeze the ends off of onions, carrots that look too tired to eat, carrot tops, veggie odds and ends and such for the soup pot.)

From the meat, you've got the makings of sandwiches, chicken salad, and other goodies.

For the fast-and-easy, there's always wraps.
Take your Flatout or Damascus Bakeries flatbread, spread with (depending on allowances) a Tbs of butteroid, your favorite thickish dressing, no-sugar marmalade or jam. Hummus is another good spread. You can use a couple Tbs of that. Top with however many ounces of thin-sliced chicken you can eat for that meal. Add a half-cup to a cup of fresh greens. If you have a handy tomato, some thinnish slices work nicely. Roll it up, smashing down the greens as you go.

As long as we're talking wraps, hummus, feta and fresh spinach is a dynamite combo. If prepared hummus is too pricey, you can make your own in either a blender or a food processor. And you can use either canned or dried garbanzos.

And check this book out of the library:
How to live cheap but good, by Martin Poriss
http://www.amazon.com/How-live-cheap-but-good/dp/0070505225



(feel free to Google roast chicken recipes and use one of those. My feelings won't be hurt. ;-D )

Can't go wrong with beans and rice, lentils, cheap cuts of meat that you cook low and slow, and in season fruits and veg. Good luck!

I work nights, so my crock pot is my best friend. Get home in the morning, throw something in, and then package it up for my midnight 'dinner'. I've got black eyed peas in there right now and they are smelling great!

Also - the burritos are a great idea. I spent 30 minutes putting together I think it was 18? of them from refried beans, a small bit of hamburger cooked with taco seasoning, and mixed with enchilada sauce. The whole thing was about $8, and I got several meals out of it. Portable, microwaveable, and you can dress it up as nice as you want (shredded lettuce and diced tomato, avocado, sour cream and salsa for a sit down meal) or just heat or even thaw and go!

I'm going to do some this weekend with shredded chicken breast cooked in the crockpot with fajita seasoning, some white beans instead of black beans, maybe some whole kernel corn - all fairly cheap.

Just popping in to say that I love these threads. These discussions have inspired me to do more home cooking. Yesterday I made this:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/361132463847331751/
I wanted a red stew and this fits the bill. It thickens pleasingly.

I buy fresh fruits and vegetables more frequently, and buy in season and in sale. I save money and I eat fresh. If I get bored of salads, I buy a new fruit or vegetable I've never had before. I surprised hubby with a Waldorf salad that he actually loved.

Someone here recommended roasting the whole chicken in the slow cooker on high, about four hours. I can attest that it comes out very well. I made some great chicken stock with the bones. I'm going to experiment next time resting the chicken on whole potatoes for a ready-made meal.

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