Whats for dinner? That is what is your frugal dinner?

[Amys1st]

We all have these nights, you need to get to the grocery store, you didnt because you're busy, its not payday, whatever. You throw something together and..

WOW! the whole family loves it, Mom, why dont you make this again???

So share your invented meals because..well you had to feed your family and this is what we had...


Tonight, my kids had speggetti with shredded parm cheese (they love doing that) and bacon?? Thats right, had it on hand. The kids ate the whole thing up....

I have done this with pizza, pasta dishes, salads for dh and I, etc. My MIL has a way of doing this with stew style meals and casseroles.

[Ola_]

Cut up and stir fry of whatever veg is in the fridge/freezer over rice, or if we already have leftover rice I use similar ingredients and make fried rice (not that good with fresh rice). If there's some chicken or other meat it gets cut up small and mixed in, otherwise a couple of eggs are scrambled in.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Three nights ago, I decided to see what was in the very bottom of my freezer, and it produced a frozen salmon fillet, a brick of winter squash and a nearly empty bag of french fries. I also had a mango that was nearing its end, a handful of grapes, and an apple that I cut up for a fruit salad. My 3 year old went nuts over all of it!

[Norasmomma]

I made this the other night, and added chicken and bacon. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tomato-...ta/Detail.aspx My family loved this, I used baby bowtie pasta.

I had leftover bacon so last night I made turkey, bacon, ranch wraps with homemade parmesan fries. I cooked the bacon, tossed it with the turkey, lettuce, sauteed red peppers and green onions with the last 1/2 cup of ranch dressing in the bottle. Can you say awesome.

Best part? All were made from my pantry and freezers. Sweet.

[caiesmommy]

I was determined not to shop for the entire week 2 weeks ago.
-I made a rce dish with dried apricots, pistachios and frozen peas. Had it with a chickpea stirfry.
-"green soup" using peas and kale blended in broth made it turn green then we threw a potato, carrot, leftover chickpeas. That was lunch then served with the below dinner
-lentil loaf(lentils I didnt even know I had!) and wasabi mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy with dried mushrooms, carrot sticks
-mac and "cheeze" and frozen corn
-stirfry with leftover lentils and whatever veg was left
No meal had been made before and everything was well recieved

Mon I mad throw together muffins...using a base muffin recipe I threw in whatever dried fruit,nuts seeds I had. All the muffins were eaten within 4 days I was worried they'd be nasty...I was wrong.

[dachshund mom]

Burritos is my standard 'need to go shopping' meal! Chop up some black beans, whatever leftover meat, and cheese, wrap in a tortilla and bake. Add a can of green chilies if on hand.

Turkey meat loaf is a good way to use up all kinds of veggies, and I usually have a roll of ground turkey floating around the freezer.

[annethcz]

Omlettes.

Quesedillas (we always have cheese and tortillas).

Sandwiches.

Burgers- we always have ground beef since we purchase beef in bulk.

[karne]

Originally Posted by Ola_

Cut up and stir fry of whatever veg is in the fridge/freezer over rice, or if we already have leftover rice I use similar ingredients and make fried rice (not that good with fresh rice). If there's some chicken or other meat it gets cut up small and mixed in, otherwise a couple of eggs are scrambled in.

This is what I do, except it all goes over better if I grate whatever cheese we have on hand over the finished product. I swear, sometimes I think my kids would eat cardboard if I grated enough cheese over it!

[Carhootel]

our emergency meal is usually whatever i can scrounge up in the fridge/freezer, stir fried then add some pasta and some sort of sauce - either tomato, a marinade, make my own, or even salad dressing in a pinch. Sort of a very far spinoff of hamburger helper.....

[Lil'M]

I make peanut butter noodles that work with ingredients I almost always have in the house. Mix peanut butter with some oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, (sometimes honey and hot sauce too, depending on your audience) pour over noodles and add whatever leftover veggies and protein you have handy. Totally delicious.

[Narmowen]

I do "quick" chicken. Take some tinfoil. A bit of olive oil or pam. Skin the chicken (I use thighs/legs). Drizzle on some italian dressing or lemon pepper seasoning. Cut up a couple of potatoes & pop them in. Seal the tinfoil (lots of folding). Heat the oven to 350. Cook for about an hour. Done & delicious!

[ediesmom]

fried rice. that ONE carrot left, and a tiny bit of broccoli.....whatever....i throw it in. add the egg for protein....one pan super cheap meal

[chaoticzenmom]

Any kind of pasta (or rice) with any kind of veggies that are in the fridge. I saute the veggies and mix with the pasta (or rice) I put in a little bit of bacon, lunchmeat or can of tuna and we're good hot or cold.

Or

Salad with lettuce or pasta, chopped or shredded vegetables, boiled eggs, whatever is in the fridge (olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.) lunchmeat, bacon or tuna.

Or.
Mexican casserole. Tortillas crushed, maybe eggs if I have them, canned tomatoes, beans, hamburger if I have it, maybe rice, cheese grated on top. bake until bubbly. sometimes it's good to make the casserole without eggs and add fried, over-easy eggs to the top..and hot sauce.

Or
Soup...whatever I can find. I start with sauted chopped onions. Add some crushed garlic and no matter what I put on top of that is good. Various broths, maybe some wine too. Various vegetables, pastas, rice, meats, beans, etc. Croutons on top and some salad on the side.

[Mylie]

My two easiest meals are two of my little one's favorites...

Gf noodles with dairy free,soy free butter and salt and pepper and maybe a bit of garlic powder,sliced tomatoes...She loves her noodles!!!

Homemade French Fries!!!! She will eat 2 plates full...I usually have cantelope slices or canned pears in house and we eat that with ...

[RunningMomTegan]

Breakfast food is my fall back. Everyone loves eggs, so I'll do a frittata with any veggies on hand and pair it with some sort of carb depending on what's around.

This is usually a solution when I forget to defrost a protein and everyone's ravenous

[happysmileylady]

A couple of weeks ago, I had to throw something in the crock pot before I went to work. We had nothing that DH or DD could cook. I had a flank steak in the freezer and we usually grill those but grilling wasn't going to happen for a while. So I dumped the flank steak in the crock pot, tossed a can of diced tomatos on top and sprinked with garlic, parsley and italian seasoning. DH and DD LOVED it.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by Narmowen

I do "quick" chicken. Take some tinfoil. A bit of olive oil or pam. Skin the chicken (I use thighs/legs). Drizzle on some italian dressing or lemon pepper seasoning. Cut up a couple of potatoes & pop them in. Seal the tinfoil (lots of folding). Heat the oven to 350. Cook for about an hour. Done & delicious!

Mmm. That sounds delicious.

Pasta Primavera - whatever odds and ends leftover veggies sauteed w/onion and garlic, in lots of butter, w/Parmesan over the top.

Rice w/Tuna Sauce - saute onion and garlic in butter, make a white sauce, add whatever cheese on hand (ie. cream cheese, parmesan, mozzerella - anything to make it rich), throw a handful of frozen peas in and serve over brown rice.

Grilled sandwiches - I love grilled PB & J w/soup or cottage cheese and raw veggies or fruit.

Vegetarian Chili.

I found a new, cheap, easy, vegetarian recipe in a free diabetes mag. It's a recipe from Patti Labelle's new cookbook: White Bean and Collard Green Soup. I modified it a little and it would make a good pantry/freezer meal. A bag of navy beans, bag of frozen collard greens, lg can tomatoes, 6 c both, onions, garlic, chopped carrots, bay leaf and my crockpot.

[greenmom4]

The crockpot is my friend for many a frugal meal.

Last week I had chicken salsa black bean soup - package of chicken tenders, dried black beans, jar of salsa and some sliced mushrooms and frozen corn. Cook on low for 8 hours. I topped w/ avocado and cheese and heated up some corn tortillas to have with. It was really good.

Tonight is another crockpot meal - chicken tikka masala. Chicken thighs, can of diced tomatoes, onion and indian spices. I have tons of potatoes right now, so I threw those in the bottom.

Lentil soup is another one I make pretty often (stovetop, not crockpot). Onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, package of lentils and a package of kielbasa.

In the spring/summer I start throwing together more salads instead of soups, but I'm still in soup mode. And I am a diligent meal planner - my h and I both WOTH and if I didn't meal plan, I don't know that we would ever eat! So I don't have too many of the "what do we eat?" nights anymore...

[Amys1st]

These are all great!

Funny story, DBIL is a vegan eater. For us, its an adventure making him meals and incorperating it into the meal. 99% of the time, its a hit with everyone. So we had a party the other night for about 20 plus people. Another family member was coming into town so we ordered pizza from her favorite place, made pulled pork from 2 pork roasts I had in the freezer stash, salad with plenty of veggie ingredients, and a lentil vegan soup.
DH made his brother a vegan pizza that again went over big.

All this food, the soup was the hit of the party. All ages incl my kids went crazy for it. DBIL said to my DH he needed to get the recipe, and DH LOL and said not going to happen. Why? Top secret? No, my wife took whatever we had on hand and dumped it in the pot.....

DH came into the picture with chorizo he found in the freezer, cooked up, cilantro, and stinky cheese. He put all these things on the side to jazz up the soup. I am eating it leftover now!

[Chicky2]

The other night I had one package of goat stew meat. I browned that, and added the last of a bunch of celery, one half of a bell pepper I had stuffed in the back of the crisper, some corriander seeds, fennel seeds, and kinda toasted/sauteed it (I had removed meat from pan). Added the meat back in, dumped in a couple of diced sweet potatoes that were on their last day, my last can of diced tomatoes, and oregano, cumin, salt, cayenne, and onion and garlic powder (had no more onions, either, lol). Cooked for awhile and added a couple of sprouting white potatoes and about a 1/3 head of green cabbage, sliced. Cooked for a few minutes and it was SOOOOO good!