Frugal Eating

cheepest easiest thing I ever make is my lima bean soup

buy ham hock sliced thin from your meat department, cheeeeep stuff to buy.
1 bag of large lima beans this is cheep too

*important tip is to remember to rinse beans (to get rid of any dirt sand) then soak the beans in water *OVER NIGHT* in a large bowl were the water is just an inch over the beans, this makes the beans very soft and buttery! mmmmmmmmm goood cheep winter meal.

THEN next morning plop it all in the crock pot including what is left of the bean soaking water.... add more water till soupy, add ham hocks. *do not add salt, ham hocks make it salty enough. It is easier to salt when serving to taste then to take salt out if ham hock are particularly salty batch.

Easy, meal for 4 or more for under $5

when handed a basket of lemons make lemonade

What I do when I'm watching grocery money is cook chili one night, beans the next, and then you can combine the leftover beans with leftover chili for another variation.

For chili, I do homemade, but its really simple to make using the chili seasoning packets. Not sure what you have there for it. We have McCormicks brand seasoning packets and I get "original". Brown hamburger meat (ground beef) and onions, pour into the crock pot with seasoning mix, canned tomatos and tomato sauce and let it simmer all afternoon. It stretches a long ways.

Do you ever make taco salad? They're great, and simple to make.

Growing up, I loved having fried potatoes and cornbread. Sometimes we'd have it by itself, and sometimes with beans.

Also had cornbread and milk often (lots of kids in our family!)

Scrambled egg sandwiches or fried egg sandwiches usually go over with kids & are very quick. We use miracle whip (salad dressing similar to mayonaise) spread on the bread.

Some of this may sound like too much fat content but I'm thinking about that growing boy of yours! I always buy lean beef and "lite" miracle whip and skim or lowfat milk.

We had to eat very frugally for several years and there is actually quite a lot you can do.

Spaghetti, of course, even with jarred sauce is a great cheap one.

I still buy roasting chicken when it's on sale and get 3 meals from it-roast, chicken & biscuits, and chicken-barley soup.

I make homemade crock-pot baked beans for under $3, even with the salt pork or bacon. (only use half a pound of bacon)

We ate a lot of what my husband calls "goulash" which is a pound of browned ground beef mixed with one pound cooked and drained elbow macaroni and one can of diced tomatoes.

Baked potatoes topped with a bag of frozen broccoli & cheese sauce

Split pea soup made from dried peas, canned chick broth, onion, & half a pound of deli ham will go a long way for $5

Beef stew is filling and frugal

Omlets can be done for under $5

Eggs Benedict made with ham

Scalloped potatoes with cheese

My MIL makes several variations on Tuna Pea Wiggle that are all cheap

A stir-fry of pork with celery, onion, and red pepper isn't too expensive

Before we had adolescent-boy-eating-machines, I used to be able to do a week's worth of groceries for $60 or less. I'll see if I can remember some more later.

-Jo

Not self-rising yeast, self-rising flour. I don't know what self-rising yeast is. But, 2 cups self-rising flour, about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 to 1/3 cup of oil, or so. They're basically drop biscuits, but I said "scones" for Honey since that's what they're called in England.

Miracle Whip is called salad cream in England.

We are vegetarians, so we don't eat ground beef, but the cheapest meals on my menu are frittatas (scrambled eggs mixed with just about any leftover veggies or meat you have on hand), guacamole and tortilla chips (buy the over-ripe avocados, which are always on sale for cheap, and use them that day), potato soup (potatoes, milk, water, butter, and frozen peas and corn), and zucchini pancakes (zucchini, egg, baking mix, grated cheese). We also eat a lot of pasta dishes, which as many have mentioned are inexpensive. Rice and beans is another favorite stand-by. We also make a macaroni and TVP dish that could be made with ground beef; just brown the ground beef with onion and garlic and mix it with the macaroni.

Good luck!

Danna =]

Is a cookbook I've been eyeing for some time. I believe they have a website...seems like Becky linked to it once. Lots of frugal recipes!

Yup.

http://www.notjustbeans.com/

I have that cookbook and a lot of the recipes are good.

I have made several batches of this recipe:
http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/downstmnepmpkinbrd.asp

Instead of canned pumpkin, I used cooked fresh pumpkin.
I cut the pumpkin into halves or quarters (depending on the size), scoop out the seeds, and roast at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 90 minutes. Once the pumpkin is cool, I scoop out the flesh and puree it. 2 cups equals the 15 ounces called for in this particular recipe (more or less). I use a bundt pan instead of 3 loaf pans. I also use whole wheat flour rather than all purpose flour. Cooked fresh pumpkin is a little more watery than canned pumpkin, so it can handle the extra weight and graininess of the whole wheat flour. (Hope that makes sense).
Let us know what you end up making!

If you use a pumpkin pie recipe, and bake it in a greased pie pan with no crust, you have pumpkin pudding.

This may be a bit extreme, but the best way I know to save money on food is to grow a little of my own. I haven't tried lettuce in pots myself, but I've read that it works well. Fresh herbs can really dress up a simple dish.

As for cheap, easy recipes, my husband and I love lentil soup. I make something very like witchipoo's lentil-spinach stew. (I usually cheat and use frozen spinach, though. And often I don't have any wine to put in it, though I generally try to put something alcoholic in it to bring out the tomato flavor.) The tomatoes are key; without tomatoes, lentils can look pretty gray.

I lived on burritos in college, and I still like them, though now I guess they're evolving more towards the "wrap" end of things. (This is about as close as I get to fusion cooking.) I like using tortillas to wrap up a curried garbanzo mixture. Or saute some onion (or better yet, shallot) and add some black beans, corn, tomato, and perhaps peppers for a New World wrap mixture. This is also a good way to use up leftover rice (I prefer brown rice); throw it in with some beans and voila, a complete protein.

I hear that tortillas are easy to make, and one of these days I'll learn to make them. I was warned the day before my wedding, though, by one of Josh's Mexican relatives, that I should not learn to make tortillas lest Josh start bugging me to make tortillas all the time. (He wouldn't do that -- would he?) I love home-made tortillas too, but maybe I'll put that off a little while.

-- Cam

But I promise you it is veerry good. A little story behind it first.
When my late stepfather moved out of his parents house at the age of 18 he had to learn the hard way how to manage money. Well one day he and his roomates where really hungry and all they had was one bottle of Ketchup, a pkg of rice and a half pkg of bacon so they boiled the rice, fried the bacon mixed them together and added the whole bottle of ketchup with some salt and pepper and Voila!
This is the first dinner he ever cooked for me and my mom. Needless to say we were pretty speechless when we first saw it. But now my mom is remarried with 5 kids at home and she still makes it for dinner as do I!! My kids LOVE IT!!
Hope you like it
xoxoxoxo
Amee