Best Bang For Your Buck Recipe

[Zahboo]

We make pita pockets for left over nights. Not the healthiest, but rounds up the fridge.

Buy a pack of pitas. Cut in half and use a knife to open it up to make the pocket. If you like the taste of raw pita, skip this- Fry the pita to make it crispier, make sure you don't fry it shut. Add anything, cut up ham, turkey, cheese, rice, peppers, anything. I like to get a hot dog, a sausage, 1/4 cup of cheese (cheddar), 1/4 cup of lettuce, and mushrooms. Heat them up together, add cheese and lettuce last. Mix it all up and it feeds 2 people. You can make it as big or as little as you need it to be.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Circus City

1 lb. hamburger, browned and drained
3-4 cups cooked rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cans mixed vegetables (one with the juice and one without)

Cook the rice and the hamburger, mix all together and enjoy!! Salt and pepper to taste.

 

[augustmomx2]

I love pasta, so naturally my fave "cheap" recipe is an egg and pasta dish

I even made this quite a bit before my girls were laying. This recipe uses a lot of things I already have on hand and I usually buy large quantities so I get the best deal, such as the spaghetti and bacon.

Pasta Carbonara

INGREDIENTS
1 pound spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 slices bacon, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (only if I'm growing it, otherwise nothing)

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti pasta until done. Drain well. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and set aside.
Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook chopped bacon until slightly crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat; add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and heat in reused large skillet. Add chopped onion, and cook until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook another minute.

Return cooked bacon to pan and add spaghetti. Toss to coat and heat through, adding more olive oil if it seems dry. Add beaten eggs and cook, tossing constantly with tongs or large fork until eggs are barely set. Quickly add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and toss again.
Serve immediately with chopped parsley sprinkled on top.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I'm making this Shelley! Thanks!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I'm making this Shelley! Thanks!

No problem, it's one of my faves!! My grandma used to make it, my mom, me...it's a tradition. You gotta love being Irish

 

[kagedgoddess]

Quote:
we call this "meat stuff" and i stretch it by adding cooked rice.... dog food such sounds like more fun tho! we eat "bloody dinosaur meat" aka sloppy joes and "monkey rocks" aka meat balls, with any kind of non spagetti noodle. spagetti is "worms" green pepers are "snake guts"

 

[Rosalind]

Gosh, thinking of all the stuff I used to cook in high school and college.

Hash browns
Bake 2 potatoes in the microwave.
Put 4 bacon slices in a skillet and cook. Take bacon out, leave grease in the pan, crumble bacon separately. Slice 1/2 onion thin and fry it in the grease.
Slice baked potatoes into bite-size chunks, then add to the pan just to fry the surface.
Add seasoning--thyme, Italian herbs, dill, salt, pepper, chili powder, whatever you got.
Top with a couple tbsp. parmesan and the bacon. Serve w/ eggs.

Pancakes, for sure, very cheap.

baked beans
Put in a bean pot (can find bean pots at flea markets and such, or use a big heavy Dutch oven):
1 lb. dry beans
1 large or 2 medium chopped onions
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. mustard*
1/3 - 1/2 c. brown sugar or maple syrup*
2 tsp. salt*
2 tsp. thyme*

*I'm guessing on measurements here, the actual unit of measure on these things is "to taste" or "some"

Fill bean pot to about 2-3 inches from the top with water. Put in 325F oven and be patient for a couple of hours. This is adaptable to slow cookers, too. Can add things like salt pork, bacon, ham hocks if, you know, they're on sale. Baked beans in quesadillas, baked beans with sausage, baked beans with hot dogs on sale were recurring themes in college food.

Dandelion salad (it's good, I swear)
Fry 4-6 strips bacon in pan. Take bacon out, crumble in a dish, leave grease in pan. Fry a small chopped sweet onion or 1/2 bunch chopped scallions in the grease. Pour the hot grease and onion into a salad bowl, and mix in 1/4 c. cider vinegar, 1/4 c. water, 1/4 c. sugar, a bunch of black pepper, and whisk to dissolve sugar. Mix in 1 bunch dandelion greens, 1 head Romaine, washed and cut into pieces. Toss to coat leaves and wilt them a tiny bit. Add chopped hardboiled eggs to taste.

Soup of the day
2 tbsp. oil/melted butter
2 tbsp. flour
-Mix in large saucepan over heat till bubbly
4 c. broth (usually from bouillon cubes)
-Gradually stir into the flour/oil mix
Add chopped veggies, sausage, ground turkey, pasta, canned beans, cheese, baked potato chunks, corn, bacon bits, whatever is in the fridge
Simmer 15 minutes, then add Mixed Herbs to taste.
Serve w/ salad, bread.

Cheap dessert:
Bread pudding
4-5 pieces stale bread
3 eggs
1 1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
cinnamon, apple/pumpkin pie spice,
vanilla & raisins if you got em
Whisk together last 6 ingredients. Cut stale bread into crouton-size pieces, then stir into egg mixture. Pour into a casserole dish and bake at 325F for 45 minutes or so. Serve w/ apple slices, vanilla ice cream if it's on sale.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Bread pudding! I love bread pudding! I'll have to try this one

 

[shelleyd2008]

Just wanted to post this here as well. I made this for dinner a week or so ago, and it was very inexpensive.
Broccoli stuffed Chicken breasts

I didn't have all the seasonings, I just used some salt and pepper, garlic powder, and rubbed sage.

For those of you who don't know, you can go on this site--> http://allrecipes.com/Default.aspx ----and enter what ingredients you have, and it will show you a whole bunch of different recipes!! This is my new favorite site, other than BYC

(total cost of meal: less than $6 for 3 people

Chicken (3 split breasts marked down at walmart)--$3.15
Frozen broccoli from Save-a-lot--$1
Shredded mozzarella-in the freezer
Whole grain rice cooked in chicken broth made from boullion cubes (side dish)--maybe $1

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

One of my families favorites is my stew.
1 LB venison burger
1 lb hamburger
1 bag mixed vegetables
1 onion chopped.
4-5 potatoes cubed
Peel and cut potatoes place in microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 15 minutes
brown venison and hamburger in pan with chopped onions until brown
add water and mixed vegetables. cook on high until it boils
cook on medium high until potatoes are done.
Add potaoes and thicken
serve with bread for slopping up that gravy
Don't need any spices just salt and pepper to taste.
THis meal is very good and takes 1/2 hour to fix and serve.