cheap meals

The basis of my cheap meals is to work with a protein/carb combination. Tuna casserole or chicken noodle casserole are both cheap and easy to prepare. I use no yolk egg noodles, low-sodium cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups, 2% milk, and usually frozen mixed vegetables to create them. Mix these together til you get the consistency you want, top with crushed crackers or bread crumbs, and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

I portion off 1 cup servings and store them in small tupperware containers and freeze them for work. What I don't store, I eat through the week. A 13x9x2 pan of this kind of thing costs about $6 (chicken) about $4 (tuna)to make, depending on where you buy your ingredients.
Because of the nature of these meals, I recommend only one to one and a half cup servings, and supplement with frozen or canned vegetables.

When I feel like just throwing it together, I keep turkey kabalsa, frozen veggies, whole brown rice and pre cooked chicken or beef strips, low sodium and no msg sauces on hand.

I'm agreeing with Dj on this one... I buy for a family of 6, (all male except for me... ages 15, 14, 11, and 10.... I won't list hubby's:laugh: ) I shop for all of us for 400 a month. Not including the milk. I get that at the gas station, because it's cheaper, and I get every 13th gallon free. I go through each store's ads, and clip the coupons. Luckily, the store I shop at accepts competitors coupons. Then I make my shopping list around what the coupons are, plus the ad for the store I'm shopping at. I add in the few things that we need that aren't on sale, and I'm ready to go. Generally, I save between 30 and 50 each trip with my coupons and ad items. Once, I saved 80!

After I'm home and all unloaded, each morning, I just have to decide what gets pulled out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. It does depend somewhat on who is cooking and what activities the kids have that day... If we're busy, and my husband is cooking, it will be something like the premade stuffed chicken breasts, or the banquet family meal salisbury steak. If it's me, I figure it takes as long to bake that stuff as it does to broil some chicken or chops. Throw a veggie on the side, and there's dinner.

Basically, just buy what's on sale, and plan your meals around that. If you shop around your preplanned meals, you will usually end up paying full price at the store.

I make chili from soaking dry pinto beans overnite draining in the morning throw in crock pot add no salt tomatoes, water garlic,onion ,seasonings no salt either turkey or real lean beef let it cook all day add more tomatoes or tomatoe sauce when ready to taste can feed a family or made into meals and freeze real cheap if no meat also very healthy

Black beans and rice is a staple in our house. BIG bag of rice is 12 bucks and lasts us a month. Dry beans are cheaper but we usually use canned ones (no salt added). Then just mix it up.

Add jamaican jerk seasoning (look for low salt one), salsa, banana peppers, corn, veggies. Mix it up to keep it ineteresting. Sometimes we use curry to add a punch.

You can make a nice bean and rice soup too. Toss in some veggies and meat if you want.

With beans and rice and some spices you can make your own veggie burgers at home. We like making our own because there are a lot of additives and junk in the commercially available ones.

Another thing I make is sloppy bean joes. Cook beans and rice then toss in some bbq sauce and chili powder- then plop that on a bun/tortilla. Voila- sloppy bean joes.