Favorite Frugal Recipe

[Megan]

There's been much talk here of frugal grocery shopping and frugal cooking, but what is your favorite frugal meal that you make? It can be your favorite because it tastes the best, or is the cheapest, or is the easiest. Whatever makes it your favorite!

I think my favorite is what I call "Lazy Dinner." (It only got a name because I mentioned it to a friend and her husband insisted it needed a name.)

It's basically just rice and beans with a twist. I cook up some rice, add some beans and some canned diced tomatoes (usually the kind with basil, garlic, and oregano). Then I toss in a bit of shredded cheese and whatever other veggies I happen to have in the house. Sometimes that's been peppers, other times it's things like broccoli. Just whatever I have around. And then bake until it's hot and tasty.

It's my favorite because it's easy and it's made of things I almost always have around. Even if I just use a can of beans, a can of tomatoes, some rice, and some cheese, it's still a tasty, filling meal, and it takes no time at all.

[72Tiger]

Good ole New Orleans style red beans and rice. Just some kidney beans, seasoning, and white rice. You can spice it up a little with hot sausage, but it is still good (and cheaper) without. Besides being frugal, it is tasty, quick, easy, and healthy (esp without the sausage).

[crazydoglady]

I created a lentil recipe that I love.

combine lentils (VERY cheap, REALLY healthy!), a can of chicken broth, can of tomato sauce (tomato soup could probably be used as well), frozen vegetables of my choice (my favorites to add are corn, green beans, carrots & peas), long grain wild or brown rice and herbal seasonings to taste. Simmer on low overnight in crockpot...that's it! I have been known to add a little extra broth or water, just to keep it from thickening too much.

[smithys1]

Home made museli.

Simply buy a large container (cereal or pasta type container) and buy all the ingredients seperately in bulk form a health food shop of supermarket and use them to refill the container. Saves on packaging and is cheaper than buying packets.

[amandajane]

Yum :0)

My fave is so simple and inexpensive. I like baked potato with baked beans and a little cheese melted on top. I do this in the microwave and it takes less than 5 mins to cook, gotta love that, lol

[lilac]

A nice cheap meal is beans on toast. It's pretty self-explanatory, just toast up whatever sliced bread you have laying around, heat up a can of baked beans, butter up the bread and combine how you like. Either pour the warm beans on the toast, or (my preference), dip the toast into the beans. Very filling and complementary amino acid patterns too, I believe. You could add a pile of steamed frozen peas to it too to get your veg on.

[hermione]

One of my favorites is easy taco salad. I put a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of the plate, salad* over the chips, drizzle ranch dressing and salsa on top and it's ready to eat.

If I'm feeling ambitious, I might make up some chili, refried beans, or chicken cooked with taco spice, but rarely feel that ambitious ... and I don't like cheese, but one could sprinkle some top. And sliced avocado. But then that might put it out of the "easy to make" category. Still it's a relatively inexpensive meal.

*I usually buy the pre-packed salad mix, because per pound (at my grocery store anyway) it's cheaper than whole heads of lettuce and it saves time and fridge space - important for us because we shop once a month and fill it to capacity.

[SouperEgo]

I created a delicious new meal this week. I cooked a big batch of rice in the rice cooker on Sunday and was looking for ways to use it all. Monday I cut up a chicken breast, cooked it in taco seasoning, added some salsa that a friend made me for Christmas, and then served it over rice. Inexpensive and delicious! I think it would also be great with Shrimp!

[lilac]

All this taco talk reminds me of another recipe I love and is a great and easy way to feed a lot of people:

Walking Tacos!

Basically, you can do it with or without meat quite easily. When I've used meat in the past, I've used (with tasty results) Jimmy Dean type sausage, chorizo, or minced/ground beef. Brown the meat if applicable. Throw in ground cumin, diced jalapeños/chilis (or you can use crushed red pepper, or paprika, anything spicy and on hand!), bell peppers if desired, onions and garlic. Then add refried beans and mix in with the rest of the ingredients until the beans are warm. You can melt cheese on top if that's your thing. Serve in a bowl with tortilla chips and eat like a dip.

It's super fast to cook and one of our favourites here at chez lilac

[gt0163c]

I've got a couple of quick, cheap recipes that I eat fairly regularly.

One of my favorite is beans and rice. I use black beans and either regular brown rice or, sometimes, a mexican rice-a-roni type mix (depends on what I can get free/cheap). I make the beans and rice separately and then combine, sometimes adding salsa, often grated cheddar cheese, sometimes browned chicken. The beans, salsa, rice and cheese combination is one of my favorites when I'm traveling for work. It's simple to prepare in a hotel room with just a microwave (thanks to the packs of "ready rice"), fairly healthy and very filling.

Another staple in my house is what I call "Pot O' Food". I make up a batch about every six months, freeze it in 2-3 portion size containers and then eat it 2-3 times a week. The base is always the same, one pound of black beans, a bag (don't remember the size, but it's probably around a pound) of brown rice and a couple of pounds of chicken. I cook up the rice and beans separately and brown the chicken. Then I toss all of that in a big pot along with whatever vegetables I have (many bought on the "going to be bad soon so they're really cheap" rack at the grocery store and then immediately frozen until it's time to make the next pot o' food), whatever bits and pieces of leftovers I've accumulated in the freezer, whatever canned and/or frozen veggies I've gotten free or cheap recently and anything else that I have on hand that seems like it might go well. The pot gets heated until everything is cooked (the carrots that started our raw are usually the test). When it comes time to eat, I'll often add whatever spices or hot sauce/salsa/whatever I'm in the mood for. The beans and chicken provide the protein, the vegetables and rice provide carbs and all the other good stuff that veggies provide. It's usually very low fat and, the glass of milk I have with dinner makes it very well balanced as well as inexpensive.

My other, new favorite inexpensive dish comes from my experients in learning to eat fish. While I really don't like fish, I've found that there are ways that I can prepare it where it's not too bad. My most recent find is combining a can of tuna, a clove of garlic, a bit of fresh ginger and some soy sauce. I usually add some frozen broccoli and microwave until warm. It's not my favorite meal, but it's actually pretty good. And the cats love that they get whatever remains in the tuna can.