delicious frugal meals

[mamameliaISback]

what's your all time favourite frugal recipe?

It's hard to do frugal meals without using bread or dairy, but i have one dish that we all love and costs me $11.50 to make:

Ingredients
12 eggs (small size or 8 large eggs)
one red capsicum
one-half bunch of spring onions
2 doz baby spinach leaves
3 large potatoes
1 tomato
20 almonds

To cook
-whisk eggs with a tiny bit of sea salt and set aside
-finely dice almonds and set aside
-finely dice capsicum, tomato and spring onions
-finely slice baby spinach
-thickly slice potato and boil or steam until tender (3-4 minutes)

-combine in your skillet the whisked eggs, diced capsicum, tomato, spring onions and spinach. mix well. wedge the potato all around the skillet and in between the egg mix until there is not much space for eggs to be moved around. when finished, sprinkle diced almonds on top.
-put on stovetop for a couple of minutes until there is a thin layer of egg on the bottom then transfer to the oven for another 20-35 minutes till cooked and springy like a cake. cooking time depends on type of skillet used. i put my oven on 220 degrees celcius.

To serve
cut into thick wedges and serve on a bed of mixed baby lettuce and mesclun leaves.

what's yours?

[lil_earthmomma]

I guess my favorite way of saving money is to make planned left overs:

(I'm in canada so prices may reflect that )
1st night roast ($7)
gravy ($0.50)
carmalized onion and horseradish mashed potatoes ($1.50)
spinach salad ($1)
total: $10

2nd night most of left over roast (I reserve a teeny bit for the 3rd night) slow cooked in bbq sauce and red wine ($3.50)
homemade buns (0.50)
veggies and hummus ($3)
total: $7

3rd night beef soup with potato dumplings
homemade beef stock ($1)
left over gravy
veggies (carrots, celery, onion, garlic) ($1)
mushrooms ($0.50)
left over mashed potatoes + egg and a bit of flour ($0.50)
left over buns
total: $3

I do the same thing with a chicken:

1st night: roast chicken ($5)
garlic mashed potatoes ($1.50)
salad ($1)
Total: $7.50

2nd night: chicken enchilladas (1/2 the left over chicken)
tortillas ($1.50)
mushrooms ($0.50)
onion and garlic ($0.15)
cream cheese ($3)
sour cream ($0.20)
cheddar cheese ($3)
tomato sauce ($0.50)
chili powder ($0.50)
other spices ($0.15)

veggies and salsa and sour cream ($3)

total: $12.50

3rd night: either a spicy rice based casserole, or a layered potato skillet bowl with potatoes, gravy, veggies, chicken etc. or stuffed buns, or chicken alfredo pizza, or quiche... the possibilities are endless!

4th night: make stock, turn some of that into chicken soup or stew.

[nerdymom]

Cuban black bean soup

1lb dried black bean ($1)
Water (variable, but typically 6-8cups)
2 carrots ($0.50)
2 celery ($0.25)
1 onion ($0.75)
1 bell pepper (optional, $0.75)
garlic ($0.25)
1 can diced tomatos ($0.75)
season with cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, oregano

$4.25

Soak beans, toss all in crockpot and cook for 5-6 hours. Serves 6, plus additional to freeze.

Serve with: rice $0.25, cornbread $0.50, ww bread $0.25

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by mamameliaISback

what's your all time favourite frugal recipe?

we are on the paleo diet.. and it's hard to do frugal meals, but i have one dish that we all love and costs me $11.50 to make (which is inexpensive for my area and our diet):

Ingredients
12 eggs (small size or 8 large eggs)
one red capsicum
one-half bunch of spring onions
2 doz baby spinach leaves
3 large potatoes
1 tomato
20 almonds

To cook
-whisk eggs with a tiny bit of sea salt and set aside
-finely dice almonds and set aside
-finely dice capsicum, tomato and spring onions
-finely slice baby spinach
-thickly slice potato and boil or steam until tender (3-4 minutes)

-combine in your skillet the whisked eggs, diced capsicum, tomato, spring onions and spinach. mix well. wedge the potato all around the skillet and in between the egg mix until there is not much space for eggs to be moved around. when finished, sprinkle diced almonds on top.
-put on stovetop for a couple of minutes until there is a thin layer of egg on the bottom then transfer to the oven for another 20-35 minutes till cooked and springy like a cake. cooking time depends on type of skillet used. i put my oven on 220 degrees celcius.

To serve
cut into thick wedges and serve on a bed of mixed baby lettuce and mesclun leaves.

my kids love this, it's very healthy and looks lovely when served.

what's yours?

That sounds yummy!

These threads always make me laugh ... leftovers from one chicken?! Bwahahaha. I have to make two to have for everyone to have one piece, much less any leftovers!

[Leta]

My favorite is flat bread and some sort of paste- hummus and pita, tortillas and refried beans, pancakes and peanut or fruit butter...

My very favorite though is eggplant canneloni, which can only be frugal in late summer (or whatever your the equivalent is for your growing season).

If you are making the red sauce from scratch, start there. (We can marinara once a year, so I just grab a quart from the basement, which cuts the time to make this recipe way down.) You'll need four pounds of fresh tomatoes, or two large cans. a little can of tomato paste, onions, garlic, other seasonings, and mushrooms and peppers if you fancy them. Put a giant pot of water on to boil. Slice all your veggies. Score the bottom of the fresh tomatoes, and stick them in the boiling water, then shock them in cold tap water, and peel off the skins and squeeze the seeds out. Put your tomato meats in a bowl and set aside. (Or just open your cans.) Slice your garlic thin or press it and sautee in olive oil in a large skillet. Then add sliced onions, then peppers, then shrooms, then tomatoes. Season with all things Italian, salt and pepper, to taste.

Take three large, four medium, or five small eggplants, and slice them 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Lay them out on a wooden or glass (but not metal surface) and salt liberally on both sides. Let sit 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make your ricotta cheese. Use this recipe. I've used fresh milk, powdered milk, whole, 2%, skim, it all works fine. If you want it creamier, almost anything will work to cream it- melted butter, milk, cream, yogurt, cream cheese, whatever you have. Add some seasonings once you're done- dried oregano tastes yummy and looks nice. Some finely grated parmesan cheese is a nice addition, too.

Making the ricotta takes about ten minutes. Now get your basil ready- one leaf of basil per slice of eggplant. Pull from the stems and wash. If you don't have basil, or if it's too expensive, use fresh spinach instead and put lots of dry basil in the ricotta.

Shred some mozzarella, about 2 cups.

Now rinse your eggplant. Get all the salt off, pat dry with a clean towel. Brush with olive oil (pomace works fine, save the $$$ EVOO for salad dressing) and place the eggplant slices on baking sheets and roast in a 350 degree oven, about 7 minutes per side. This is a little time consuming, but so worth it. Roasted eggplant is fantastic.

Once your eggplant is ready, assemble the canneloni. Get a lasagna pan and pour about 1/3 of the red sauce in the bottom. (Or, for smaller families, you can do what I do and use 3-4 bread pans, eat one and freeze the rest.) Now take a small spatula and smear about a tablespoon of ricotta on a slice of roasted eggplant, add a basil leaf, roll the eggplant up longways, and nestle along the side of the pan. Do this, oh, about 40 times, until all the eggplant and basil is used up. Pour the rest of the red sauce over the top of the canneloni. (We really get into this at our house- DSS calls it "pouring blood on the soldiers".) Top with the mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until cheese is getting rosy.

Even more delicious than lasgana, with more veggies per serving. Freezes and reheats beautifully. I make several bread pans of this around the same time that we are making marinara, and the garden is just churning out eggplant and peppers and tomatoes, oh my. We grow the basil (and spinach), too. Usually I buy tomato paste, seasonings, mushrooms, onions, garlic, olives, and olive oil for the marinara canning, so the cost of those things is already absorbed by another project and doesn't really impact the cost of this recipe. Same with the cost of the seeds to grow our produce. Because of this, and because we get milk and mozzarella free from WIC, I can make a lasagna pan of eggplant canneloni for about a dollar.

However, if I did buy the ingredients, assuming I purchased them at the right time from a good source (ie, the farmer's market), your cost would only be around $5, at least in this area. For a truly delicious meal.

[aprons_and_acorns]

Great ideas! Some of you are so fancy, I'm impressed. Those meals sound delicious :

One of my family's favorite frugal meals is just plain old cheese pizza.

Pizza crust made from scratch (.50)
Can of tomato paste (.50)
1/2 pound of cheese (2.00)
Fresh basil (free)

We had this for dinner last night actually. I usually throw on any veggies that we need to use up, but if we don't have any it's really tasty all on its own.

My husband is really into harvesting wild edible plants, so his favorite meal is really frugal because it's free:

Wild rice
Maple syrup
Hickory nuts or beech nuts

He cooks the rice and then adds the syrup and nuts to make a yummy hot breakfast. free, free, free!

[annettemarie]

Moving to Nutrition and Good Eating, in keeping with the forum guidelines:
MDC members make many choices that could be considered frugal: breastfeeding, cloth diapering, green living, and food choices, for example. We do ask that threads of this nature--including threads about cooking, creating, making, and caring for these things-- be posted in the forums that already exist for these topics. Threads belonging in other forums will be moved with a Reminder given (a notekeeping formality worth 0 points). Repeated off-topic threads will result in an Alert.

[granola_mom]

One of my faves is from my MIL... sausage with mashed potatoes and kale.

Basically you just skin and broil whatever amount of potatoes you want. When they are nearly done (very soft, falling apart when pricked), throw in a bunch of finely chopped kale. When it's cooked (5 mins or so), drain. Mix it in a bowl with a bit of milk and butter. Add seasonings to taste... I always do salt, pepper and garlic. Mash it up well with a potato masher.

Serve this with sausage. I get mennonite sausages from my farmers market. Cut up the sausage and mix it in or just serve the sausage on the side... but it is sooo tasty when the sausage is eaten with the mashed potatoes.

The whole meal usually costs 5-7 dollars, and that's with the nice sausage.