Thursday Thirteen - Cheap Meals

Thirteen Frugal Meals we make here!! (we are a family of 6, 2 adults, a 10, 8 (who eats like she is a teen), a 4 and a 1 year old (who really does hava a HUGE appetite, ask anyone who has seen her eat!!)) 1. Shepherds Pie - all you need is ground beef, enough for your family; a jar of salsa sauce; various spices that your family likes and potatoes. Cook the meat and add the sauce and spices, spread out in baking dish and top with potatoes. Serve with some salad or throw some veggies in the meat. If you have cheese sprinkle some on top. Cost for our family was $6.00. 2. Taco's - ground beef, spices and flat bread (do not buy the kits) and toppings. Cook the beef and add the spices; cut up any toppings in your fridge (we use the basics - lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and they are almost always in the fridge) some of the leftover salsa from the Shepherds Pie and some of the leftover cheese too!! Cost to our family would be $8.00 3. Boiled Chicken and Rice - My friend Cheryl taught me how to make boiled chicken. We had 5 pieces of chicken and 10 people to eat, 4 adults, my 4 kids and her 2 younger kids. So she skinned and chopped the chicken into pieces, about 3 each (legs and backs) and put them in the pot on the stove. She added all kinds of spices and bbq sauces and almost covered the chicken with water. Then it was covered and left to boil until the chicken was cooked. Take the lid off at the end so the sauce thickens. Served with rice and veggies on the side. The average cost of this meal (for the 10 of us) was $9.00 (I would have to talk to Cheryl about getting the real reacipe if someone wants it) 4. Leftover Stew - Basically for this one you just take whatever meat you have leftover - chicken, pork, beef and throw it in the crockpot or any pot and throw in some veggies, and some leftover rice or potatoes and it is done. This doesn't really cost much because it is "leftovers" 5. Noodles and Sausage Sauce - boil up the noodles and put some coin sized sausages in the frying pan. Add your tomatoe sauce I use canned crushed tomatoes and tomato paste (if you don't need the whole can scoop it all out and put the paste into ice cube trays, freeze them and then pop them out and keep them in a baggie in the freezer. When you need a little next time you don't need to open a whole can and these are great in the leftover stews too) Put in whatever spices you like, we like garlic and onions. Cost for us is about $6.00 6. Chicken a la King - Similar to the stew above. Cut up pieces of cooked chicken, throw in some frozen veggies and add water or broth and spices to your taste. Thicken it with cornstarch. This is great over a piece of bread. Average cost $7.00. 7. Pork Chops - We buy the cheapest chops when we find them and stock up. So the other day we had a pack of about 9-10 chops for $6.00. BBQ sauce also was on sale here so we stocked up on all kinds too, but when we don't have that we make our own with ketchup, mustard and a little bit of brown sugar and vinegar. Put it on top of the chops and cook them in oven to save time, serve with rice or potatoes and veggies. This costs us (on sale items) around $5.00. 8. Meatloaf - Something when you are in a crunch. We have made this with bbq sauce, both homemade and store bought, canned soups, breadcrumbs, veggies, cheese...get creative. Anything can become a meatloaf!! Average cost for our family$5.00. 9. Tuna Casserole - I know there are recipes out there for this, but I really don't use recipes often (for anything). We tend to grab whatever we have in the cupboard. Of course, there are the noodles, the veggies and I put in whatever cream soup we have on hand. Nice and quick. If you have a handful of cheese even better!! Average cost for our family $5.00 10. Spaghetti Pie - Basically just noodles and spaghetti sauce with ground meat or chopped sausages. Mix it all together and throw in the oven with a handful of cheese on top. Average cost for our family would be $4.00 11. Bean Bake - Canned pork and brown beans in tomato sauce or whatever, mixed well with brown sugar, ketchup and mustard. Put it in the oven and this is actually awesome. I don't usually care for brown beans, but this is so good. Average cost for our family $4.00 12. Homemade noodles - I think I had this recipe on my blog before. A bit of flour, water, eggs and salt and you have really, really good noodles. They are thicker then the processed ones so they fill you way better. Throw these with whatever sauce you have and it is an amazing meal!! Cost to us around $4.00 (including sauce) 13. BBQ Pork - Any kind of cheap pork roast (watch for sales) put in the crockpot with homemade or store bought bbq sauce. Let it sit there all day and just rip it apart to serve. This will do more then one meal and it is really good for sandwiches too!! I am not sure the average cost for this one for our family. But on sale, not too much! Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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