Meals on the Cheap - under $2 meal ideas - Page 14

[Phoenix_Rising]

Subbing for ideas because I'm tired of the same things over and over!

[onlyzombiecat]

Great thread!
I've gotten some new ideas.

Here are some inexpensive meals my family eats:
tuna and noodle casserole
homemade pizza
spaghetti
chicken or beef tacos- I mix refried beans with the meat to make it more filling and stretch farther
bean burritos
potato soup
lentil soup
bean soup
tortilla soup
pancakes
stir fry
chili
lasagna
quesadillas
leftovers

[T&D2005]

great ideas! I need to think of a few to contribute but it sounds like everything I make has been said!

[Bad Horse]

Bumping this up!!

[kedwards313]

Thanks for all of the great ideas!

[2 in August]

Originally Posted by onlyzombiecat

Great thread!
I've gotten some new ideas.

Here are some inexpensive meals my family eats:
lasagna

How do you do lasagna for $2?? A thing of noodles is over $1, a jar of cheap sauce is $1, then there is either ricotta or tofu and meat or veggies. I always seem to spend a lot to make it. Sometimes I got dh a frozen one on sale for a couple dollars, but they always taste so fake and overly processed to me. (although he gladly eats them)

[wife&mommy]

We had this one for dinner tonight, it was really good. It is probably a little over $2, but would be close if you made your own biscuit dough instead of canned, and tastes better that way, too! I didn't use quite that much relish and I used more mayo.

Tuna in Biscuits

1 can (6 oz.) tuna
2 Tbs. mayonnaise
2 Tbs. sweet pickle relish
2 green onions, minced
3/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
1 can refrigerated biscuits

Combine tuna, mayonnaise, pickle relish, onion cheese, salt and pepper.
Press each biscuit in greased muffin pan to form a cup. Spoon tuna mixture
into each biscuit. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

ETA: There is a picture of these on my blog if anyone wants to see (in siggy)

[2 in August]

bumping...

Keep the ideas coming! I added a bunch to my menu for next week.

[jaceycat24]

subbing:

[spiderdust]

How many people are having a hard time making these meals under $2 now? I keep starting to post ideas and then realize they're probably going to cost me more like $4+.

[wife&mommy]

Yeah I wonder if we could do a $5 and under meals thread. $2 is so hard now!

[jenmary]

subbing and bumping

[llamalluv]

PIZZA!!!!!

Around here, it's 1 cup water, 2 tsp yeast, 2 T olive oil, dash of salt, 4 cups flour (let rise an hour), then top with leftover spaghetti sauce, and whatever vegetables are hanging around. Sometimes I get fancy and cut up sandwich ham and toss on some asparagus.

Our usual pizza is pepperoni, bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. And the obligatory mozzarella cheese, which is the most expensive part ($3.69 for 24 oz.) We shop at Aldi's and the $2 package of pepperoni lasts us about 10 pizzas, because I pile on the veggies.

I once calculated it at about $3.50 for a pizza, and we each eat half, making it $1.75/meal. Add in my $0.99 bottle of red pepper flakes (which lasts about a year) and the Parmesean sprinkles (which last 2 months) and it comes to about $2.

[b&c'smama]

Originally Posted by wife&mommy

We had this one for dinner tonight, it was really good. It is probably a little over $2, but would be close if you made your own biscuit dough instead of canned, and tastes better that way, too! I didn't use quite that much relish and I used more mayo.

Tuna in Biscuits


1 can (6 oz.) tuna
2 Tbs. mayonnaise
2 Tbs. sweet pickle relish
2 green onions, minced
3/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
1 can refrigerated biscuits

Combine tuna, mayonnaise, pickle relish, onion cheese, salt and pepper.
Press each biscuit in greased muffin pan to form a cup. Spoon tuna mixture
into each biscuit. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

ETA: There is a picture of these on my blog if anyone wants to see (in siggy)

These look really good! I may try them one night when dh is working late... he hates tuna, but the rest of us love it!

I really like your blog too, I find it inspiring!:

[rainbowmoon]

Originally Posted by wife&mommy

Yeah I wonder if we could do a $5 and under meals thread. $2 is so hard now!

maybe the OP can just change the thread title? (then all the recipes would still be here in one place) just a thought!

[Bad Horse]

Originally Posted by llamalluv

PIZZA!!!!!

Around here, it's 1 cup water, 2 tsp yeast, 2 T olive oil, dash of salt, 4 cups flour (let rise an hour), then top with leftover spaghetti sauce, and whatever vegetables are hanging around. Sometimes I get fancy and cut up sandwich ham and toss on some asparagus.

Our usual pizza is pepperoni, bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. And the obligatory mozzarella cheese, which is the most expensive part ($3.69 for 24 oz.) We shop at Aldi's and the $2 package of pepperoni lasts us about 10 pizzas, because I pile on the veggies.

I once calculated it at about $3.50 for a pizza, and we each eat half, making it $1.75/meal. Add in my $0.99 bottle of red pepper flakes (which lasts about a year) and the Parmesean sprinkles (which last 2 months) and it comes to about $2.

We started our pizza nights this past Friday and it was a huge success! I don't know for certain how much it cost, I haven't figured it out yet, but it wasn't much at all.

I am also VERY happy with the crust recipe I decided to try. The kids and I didn't get home from picking them up at their dad's till after 6:30 then we went to the pool till 9, so at that point I needed something quick.

I used "pizza crust recipe I" from allrecipes.com. The cool thing with that is it's a yeast recipe but doesn't require rising, which made it quick and all of us really liked the crust.

I split the crust recipe in two for the boys' pizzas.

Pizza 1 (for Miles) was alfredo (I had bought a jar of sauce and used just a few TBs, so that will be good for many more pizzas), pepperoni (10? out of a package), and some mozzarella. That was probably a $1 pizza, cause the cheese was kinda pricey.

Pizza 2 (for Max) was sauteed spinach (bought a bag frozen for $.89, used 1/4 bag on this pizza) with garlic and maybe 1/2 tsp olive oil. For red sauce I used a can of tomato sauce I seasoned (bought a case of organic tomato sauce from Costco, don't remember how much per can it ends up, but not much) and some mozzarella.

Pizza 3 (which was another crust recipe that I made 1 larger pizza with for me and dh) was topped with a few TB of alfredo and a few TB of tomato sauce, then the rest of the sauteed spinach, a small can of mushrooms ($.50?), and about 10 green olives sliced, with the rest of the 1lb bag of mozzarella I bought for all 3 pizzas. Oh! And I had a little grated Romano left I threw on there too.

So, total I would say this cost about $6, being generous, but we had leftover pizza for two more meals, too, and the kids LOVED their leftover pizzas the next day. I also had enough to give small pieces to 3 of my friends the next night to try. Trying to talk them into their own pizza nights

[Chicky2]

Speaking of pizza....

Using leftover grilled veggies is an awesome way to jazz up a pizza!!!! Eggplant, zucchini, onion, fennel, bell peppers, radishes (yes, radishes!), etc.....

[wife&mommy]

Originally Posted by b&c'smama

These look really good! I may try them one night when dh is working late... he hates tuna, but the rest of us love it!

I really like your blog too, I find it inspiring!:

I'm so glad you liked it! And LMK if you try them, I thought they were good for such an easy, quick, cheap meal.

Originally Posted by rainbowmoon

maybe the OP can just change the thread title? (then all the recipes would still be here in one place) just a thought!

Well that's a great idea!

[sarafi]

subbing

Isecond the idea of an under $5 thread:

[grniys]

Originally Posted by 2 in August

How do you do lasagna for $2?? A thing of noodles is over $1, a jar of cheap sauce is $1, then there is either ricotta or tofu and meat or veggies. I always seem to spend a lot to make it. Sometimes I got dh a frozen one on sale for a couple dollars, but they always taste so fake and overly processed to me. (although he gladly eats them)

I guess it would depend on how many people you're feeding. If I make a huge tray of lasagna (and if I buy the cheapest noodles and the cheapest sauce it costs about $1.40 for those ingredients) then we don't eat it in one night. It takes a couple meals for it all to be eaten... so it would bring it down to about $2 for the meal. I guess it just depends on how many you're feeding and how much you eat.