Economy Cooking from your pantry

[Parson's Wife]

With summer coming on I thought I would share this recipe.

We have used this as a complete meal when we are hot and tired, the appetite tends to lag.

Or add this as a side dish, buy generic to keep your cost down.

Mexican Frito Salad

1 lettuce (washed, and sliced into salad bites)
1 onion (medium, diced)
1 jar of catalina dressing (or French)
1 Pkg of frito's
2 cans of red kidney beans (drained)
1 pkg of shredded cheese

Mix above ingredients, EXCEPT frito's, dressing, and cheese, in a nice large bowl. I use, when serving company, a small puch bowl. Serves several!
When ready to serve, add frito's and dressing, mix well, top the salad with cheese...lay it on thick.
Enjoy, it's a cool and light meal.

*Note- I have seen folks add in hamburger meat (chuck)
cooked and drained. This makes it a little heavier, but still good.
Your choice.

 

[patandchickens]

My inexpensive, always-have-the-ingredients-on-hand fallbacks are things like:

Meatless spaghetti (I often 'cut' commercial sauce 50-50 with canned tomatoes and add frozen spinach)

Stove top frittata (saute up whatever leftover veg/meat are in fridge, pour on 4-6+ beaten eggs, cook covered on Med til cooked, serve flipped over so that nice browned side is up) - good w/ salad or frozen peas.

Tuna noodle casserole.

Tuna lasagna w/frozen veggies in it.

"Corn Fritters" (they're not, but it's what mom called them when I was growing up) - mix together 1 drained can of corn, some thawed frozen spinach, 4-6 beaten eggs and 1-2 Tbsp flour; fry as individual 'pancakes' or as one big skillet-covering mass that you cut in quarters to flip and cook other side once the egg is mostly set. Good w/salad.

Pasta (usually whole-wheat spaghetti), with whatever's around (onions, frozen peas or spinach, any kind of leftover meat, or practically anything solid really) sauteed in a little olive oil, with lots of ground black pepper and grated parmesan mixed in when it's all done.

Onions, parboiled and with the center removed (use for something else), filled with a mixture of cooked rice, a little tomato or spaghetti sauce, and leftover <whatevers> chopped up and mixed in. Baked on an oiled tray til it seems done.


Pat

 

[sundance]

we love fried chicken, but since its just the 2 of us we don't usually eat all-the 8 pieces that come in the package i buy. So what ever is left goes into the freezer and its usually the thighs, so when i get probably 4 i boil and debone them. wal-mart makes a good dumpling already rolled, add a can of cream of chicken soup, some chopped onion &have a great chicken & dumplings. Bake 1 large sweet potato, cornbread or biscuits and sweet tea, quick and easy, and I would guess about $5.00. we usually have leftovers on the chicken so I guess you could call it 2 meals.just change the veggie for the 2nd meal. about the only thing I throw away is potato peelings.

 

[MrsCountryChick]

We make Tuna Casserole the same way; with canned drained tuna, egg noodles, & cream of mushroom soup but we also add canned corn (drained).

But we also make what we call Spanish Rice. But not the home cooked slow cooked crockpot kind, we make it the cheap & quick way (can you tell I'm not a gourmet cook

). We make rice (minute rice if on hand, if not regular rice), then add regular spaghetti sauce & cooked drained hamburger. But the rice Really sucks up spaghetti sauce, so be careful to not make Alot of rice or have more than 1 can of spaghetti so you won't have dry rice. Yummmm. Reheats up well too for left overs. We add grated parmesan cheese on top to taste, & sometimes serve it with buttered bread or garlic bread &.

 

[Tutter]

Parsonswife, being that I love stuffing anyway, that would definitely work for me. I keep whole, fresh cranberries in the freezer, so given a days notice, I could add cranberry sauce to chicken and dressing.

I use apples in mine, like my grandmother did. The pectin helps the consistency, and the apples themselves mellow the flavor. I generally use one of our blushing darling apples, or, from the store a pink lady and a baking apple. My father has made blueberry sauce, which is just like cranberry sauce, during blueberry season.

What a great thought for hot weather. In fact, we're about to have, "unseasonably warm weather."

That means it's going to be 100!!!!

Patandchickens, I haven't stuffed an onion for ages; thanks for the reminder!

sundance, my parents repackage chicken, as well, so that they can make more than one meal for just the 2 of them. I guess you could just make dumplings, too; sounds good!

MrsCountryChick, the rice is a good idea! And if you want to change that to a Mexican flavor to change the meal, yet use the same basic ingredients, you could use plain sauce, and/or crushed tomatoes in place of the spaghetti sauce.

Then, season it with some chile powder, or taco seasoning. When you serve it, serve with cheddar cbeese, or jack, instead of parmesan, and voila, new recipe, just a change in spice and cheese!

 

[Acre of Blessings]

One of the favorite things I like to do in the summer is cook with my crockpot. it saves energy and it helps keep the house cool. This is one of our favorites............................

Taco Chilli

1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
2- 15 ounce cans chunky mexican-style tomatoes
1- 15 ounce can red kidney beans
1- 15 ounce can whole kernel corn

In large skillet cook ground beef until browned. Drain fat. In slow cooker combine the cooked ground beef, taco seasoning mix, undrained tomatoes, undrained kidney beans, and undrained corn. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 4 to 6 hours or on high heat setting for 2 to 3 hours.

I serve this with the Frito Scoops and shredded cheese. YUMMY!

Nutritional facts per serving: 464 cal. -- 17 grams fat -- 6 grams Sat. fat -- 71 mg cholesteral -- 2317 mg sodium -- 50 grams carbs. -- 9 grams fiber

Note::: you may cut back on the sodium by using frozen corn and tomatoes.

ENJOY!

 

[ponderchick]

For a quick, easy and cheap supper, my dh and son love it when i make velveeta shell and cheese and mix in a pound of browned and drained ground chuck, and then add about a half a can of corn. my guys would rather have this than boxed hamburger helper. I also want to add that everyone has so many great meal ideas, that help save some cash. with the price of grocerys going up, we all need all the help we can get. I am loving all the ideas in this post and am looking foward to seeing more great recipes.

byc is awesome

 

[Break an Egg]

round here we make the dinner feel larger by having a starch on our plate.

that could be bread, potatoes, rice, cornbread, or noodles

tonight I baked a simple chicken at (450deg) with just a seasoned salt to give it color. The chicken came out brown, with a nice crispy skin.

while I have my oven going I add other things to roast since it saves electricity, for instance, tonight since I was baking chicken, I peeled and cut up some potatoes and added a little oil and stuck them in the oven next to the chicken.


Don't forget about gravy, white or brown, it costs next to nothing and is so worth it!

 

[Tutter]

PonderChick, there's a lot to be said for being around nice, like-minded people. Once upon a time, there'd be lots of people around each of us keeping chickens, growing their gardens etc., but in 2008, things aren't quite the same, so this is good for all of us.

Texas Star, I do similar things. On busy nights we sometimes have "baked potato night", which means a baked potato with various choices of toppings, and a salad. I make it a point to fill the oven (It's not full sized, it's a counter-top convection.) with potatoes when I bake the ones for dinner.

Ds can take them to work for lunch, I can make them into browned potatoes the next night, or O'Brians etc.

Yes, gravy's definitely worth it!

 

[RayP]

We ahve been very tight money wise this week so we go back to the old standby "hillybilly housewife" she has a menu for making the best out of a little cash called the 45 dollar a week emergency menu. It costs us about 70 a week if we follow it but it is as cheap as I care to go I think. http://hillbillyhousewife.com/