Most Frugal Dishes

[vigilant20]

I was just informed I'll be laid off soon. I have some savings, but live alone and have a house and car to pay for...so I'll need to be as frugal as possible in hopes of getting through this.

I'd be interested to hear what your most frugal meal ideas are. Actual recipes where possible would help, because I am just not creative in the kitchen.

[MrFalafel]

Sorry to hear about that :(

Cheapest dish I know of is Split Pea soup:

1 cup split peas
1 onion
4 cups water
(optional: stock cube, Bacos)
salt pepper to taste

Saute chopped onion in a little oil until translucent. Add other ingredients, bring to the boil and then lower heat to a simmer for an hour or more until the split peas are soft. Whizz down with a hand mixer if you're posh.

[Skylark]

It depends so much on what is cheapest in your area. Food costs vary from place to place. If you were to give us a list of how much your staples cost per pound, etc, we could supply recipes based off of that.

[vigilant20]

Sorry to hear about that :(

Cheapest dish I know of is Split Pea soup:

1 cup split peas
1 onion
4 cups water
(optional: stock cube, Bacos)
salt pepper to taste

Saute chopped onion in a little oil until translucent. Add other ingredients, bring to the boil and then lower heat to a simmer for an hour or more until the split peas are soft. Whizz down with a hand mixer if you're posh.

Thanks. And good choice, I love split pea :)

[hollywoodveg]

When I was in grad school I could eat really cheap by buying foods that I could multi-task with. I would pay less than fifty dollars every two weeks and eat pretty good actually. I liked to buy those huge bulk bags of potatoes and then I could have baked potatoes for lunch, or fresh hash browns, or a quick side of mashed potatoes with dinner etc. I would use the same topping for my baked potatoes that I would for omelettes, salads, burritos, and pasta salads and veggie stir fry's. I liked to plan how I could shop and meal plan for one rather than worry about recipes per se, if you are eating veggie burritos or salads it's more about working with what you have. It also depends on if you eat eggs and cheese too. My grocery lists often have multi-tasking foods like these:

block of cheese
dozen eggs
bag of potatoes
head of red leaf lettuce
tortillas
dried beans
rice
pasta
can of cheap marinara
veggies, whatever was on sale or really cheap basically but definitely onions, garlic and some kind of pepper, avocado or tomato if they were affordable.

That way you can have at least some variety. For pasta salads I just add a little vinegar and oil, or whatever salad dressing and veggies on hand and maybe a little cheese, burritos usually rice beans and cheese, maybe some veggies depending, baked potatoes just cheese and a veggie, omelettes the same. Also pb&j is good to have on hand. Hope that helps.

[codemonkey]

Beans & Rice is a good, cheap meal. It's cheapest if you use dried beans but it's still pretty cheap with canned beans too. Oatmeal is a really cheap breakfast if you use rolled oats purchased in bulk.

[vigilant20]

Also pb&j is good to have on hand.

That's the first thing I thought of. They freeze well so I'm gonna throw together a bunch tonight. :)

[hollywoodveg]

That's the first thing I thought of. They freeze well so I'm gonna throw together a bunch tonight. :)

Totally. You can also make peanut butter toast, or even make a pb&j wrap with a tortilla.

Also if bananas are on sale you can slice them and add them too, a quick and cheap way to get potassium.

[Digger]

I've had many meals that cost under a buck. The first one that springs to mind is a can of baked beans over a baked potato. You get some protein, starch, fiber, vitamin C from the potato among other things, and it's quite filling.

[hollywoodveg]

I've had many meals that cost under a buck. The first one that springs to mind is a can of baked beans over a baked potato. You get some protein, starch, fiber, vitamin C from the potato among other things, and it's quite filling.

oh, that made me hungry.

[cinders7]

i also like to bulk out my meals with beans, pasta, rice, potatoes and always served with bread

really cheap

veggie chilli add pasta
veggie soups bulk this out optional choices of beans,rice, pasta,peas,potatoes
beans with loads of rice
spag bol heavy on the pasta

This site is in the uk but i'm sure recipes could be adapted

http://www.frugal.org.uk/recipes.html

[vigilant20]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I hadn't done any grocery shopping in a while due to all the snow, so I went to Aldis last night and stocked up on rice, pasta, spaghetti sauce, beans, potatoes, split peas, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and a few 98cent 2 serving pizzas ;)

[flvegnewbie]

Lynn, I am so sorry to hear about your job loss, especially with just buying your new home. Dang, I hate that.
I will be sending lots of positive energy your way, in hopes that you can find something else very, very soon.

As for cheap eats:
pinto beans (in the crockpot)
fried potatoes and onions
cornbread
(This is actually what we're having tonight for dinner)

macaroni with tomatoes (yes, it sounds weird, but so good)

egg salad sandwiches (I can't remember if you are vegan or not, if not then eggs are a pretty good thing to have around, 'cause you can make lots of different dishes from them)

rice for breakfast is really good too

potato soup served with grilled cheese

french toast

red beans with rice

refried bean tostadas (you can make you own homemade refried beans in a crockpot pretty easily)

pasta of course

fried potaoe patties (I think some people call these latkes?)

and I'm sure there are more that I'm just forgetting about right now.

I'll go take a look in my Tightwad Gazette books and see what else I can come up with.

[vigilant20]

Lynn, I am so sorry to hear about your job loss, especially with just buying your new home. Dang, I hate that.
I will be sending lots of positive energy your way, in hopes that you can find something else very, very soon.

As for cheap eats:
pinto beans (in the crockpot)
fried potatoes and onions
cornbread
(This is actually what we're having tonight for dinner)

macaroni with tomatoes (yes, it sounds weird, but so good)

egg salad sandwiches (I can't remember if you are vegan or not, if not then eggs are a pretty good thing to have around, 'cause you can make lots of different dishes from them)

rice for breakfast is really good too

potato soup served with grilled cheese

french toast

red beans with rice

refried bean tostadas (you can make you own homemade refried beans in a crockpot pretty easily)

pasta of course

fried potaoe patties (I think some people call these latkes?)

and I'm sure there are more that I'm just forgetting about right now.

I'll go take a look in my Tightwad Gazette books and see what else I can come up with.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. And those are excellent ideas. I really do need to work in more potatoes....they are so yum and super cheap. And besides a couple soups I really haven't done much with beans. I know my library has the tightwad gazette because I flipped through it once, but now would be a good time to check it out and give it a read.

[flvegnewbie]

Here's a couple recipes that I pulled from the Tightwad Gazette books II & III.

Tomato soup:

1 6oz. can of tomato paste
24 oz. milk (refill tomato can 4 times)
1 tsp. salt or to taste
1 tsp. celery seed

Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally.


Corn-Broccoli Casserole

1 can corn, drained
1 can creamed corn
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I know cheese is not very cost efficient, but this recipe should make quite a bit)
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
1 small onion, minced
2/3 cup milk
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed
2 Tblsp. margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine first 7 ingredients and 3/4 cup of crumbled saltines.
Pour into a 10.5 inch metal frying pan or large casserole dish.
Combine remaining crumbled crackers with margarine and sprinkle on top.
Bake uncovered for around 40 minutes, or until firm.
Serves eight.

Also, I found this:
http://www.cheapcooking.com/recipes.htm

http://www.cheap-and-easy-recipes.com/vegetarian-recipes.htm

(There are some not so cheap recipes here, but some are)
http://busycooks.about.com/library/recipes/blentreemeatless.htm

(Don't laugh at the name, she has some really great money-saving tips on her site)
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index1.htm

Hope some of these help you.

Also don't forget to have some special treats kept in your pantry, even if it's staples to make chocolate chip cookies or something along those lines.

[vigilant20]

I appreciate you doing all that hunting around :) Tomato soup sounds REALLY good right now, and using dry milk it'd all be stuff outta the pantry. I think I'll actually give that one a shot tonight, I could use the warming up.

[flvegnewbie]

I appreciate you doing all that hunting around :) Tomato soup sounds REALLY good right now, and using dry milk it'd all be stuff outta the pantry. I think I'll actually give that one a shot tonight, I could use the warming up.

Not a problem.

Here's another bean blog that I'd like to share, although some of his recipes aren't necessarily cheap, maybe you could substitute some ingredients?

http://beanjazz.blogspot.com/

Also there are several different videos on youtube.com about how to make your own refried beans in the crockpot. So that might be another avenue for you to use when experimenting with different ways to use them.

I promise, that's all for now.:p

[sally429]

So sorry about your job loss...good luck!

I eat a lot of potatoes. They are cheap and easy to stretch. They make good breakfast burritos with an egg, they are good pan fried with whatever seasoning you like, of course baked and mashed. They last a long time too. I am on a tight budget myself and I always go for things that have a long shelf life. Nothing is worse than throwing things out when you are living on a shoestring budget.

This might be going overboard...but the major grocery store chain in TX (H-E-B) has a policy that if the date is expired, it is free. My bf wrks there and he says that there are a few customers that will spend hours hunting and will end up getting most of their stuff free. Things like chips and stuff that don't really spoil after the date passes, of course. If you get desparate enough you could always check out your store's policy. :p

[vigilant20]

I've never seen a breakfast burrito with potato...I dunno why, because it sounds great.

My brother and I used to cube and fry potatoes, sprinkle them with seasoned salt, then scramble eggs into them. We called them potato poopies...lol. I had totally forgotten about that until I started reading your potato variations. Will have to revive that dish as well :)

[cinders7]

i love egg and potatoe burritos

[Leo SunShine]

i mircowave a potato until it's just soft enough to eat. but not mushy or grainy. i cut it up into bit sized pieces and then drizzle olive oil on it with salt and pepper.
It's sooooo good. it's good for breakfast, fills you up and suuuuper cheap.

[vigilant20]

I had the tomato soup for dinner. It was an unexpected salmon color and went wonderfully with my grilled cheese. It made 3 servings and using dry milk it only cost me 29 cents per serving!

I also made up a loafs worth of pb&j and have them waiting in the freezer for lunches. They came out to about 20 cents each.

[heidiny77]

I was just informed I'll be laid off soon. I have some savings, but live alone and have a house and car to pay for...so I'll need to be as frugal as possible in hopes of getting through this.

I'd be interested to hear what your most frugal meal ideas are. Actual recipes where possible would help, because I am just not creative in the kitchen.

:hug: I am so sorry to hear that! I don't know of any off the top of my head but if I come up with anything I will certainly let you know!

[hellparadiso]

I live in South Texas, so I can get a big bag of tortilla mix for less than $2. Every few days, I make up a big batch of them, and I think I once estimated that each one costs about 1.3 cents or something. Anyway, I also keep bags of frozen stir-fry veggies in the freezer, and a cheap bottle of salsa in the fridge (again, South Texas = cheap Mexican food) Saute the veggies and salsa together and eat with tortillas. You can eat a ton at once because it's so cheap, and it's healthy and tasty and filling too.

I also like my "stew from a can" which basically includes one can of tomatoes + the first can of beans I grab from the pantry + the first can of veggies I grab from the pantry. Mix it all together in a pot and simmer for around 15 minutes, or until it's hot all the way through. For fancy dinner parties you can add Boca crumbles or sliced Smart Dogs for a yummy chili-type stew.

[vigilant20]

I live in South Texas, so I can get a big bag of tortilla mix for less than $2. Every few days, I make up a big batch of them, and I think I once estimated that each one costs about 1.3 cents or something..

oooo that sounds like a cool thing to do. There's a grocery store near me that has a larger than normal ethnic food section. I'll have to see if they'd have something like that.

Today I tried some egg drop soup (http://www.recipezaar.com/Egg-Drop-Soup-22330), it came out to be a really cheap meal since it's really just an egg (I actually used 2 because the expiration date was today) and a tbsp cornstarch. I used the last of the homemade veggie broth I'd frozen, so that part was even free :) All the liquid really filled me up too.