Hi, Jo. I consider myself an expert in what I call gourmet poverty food. You can save a lot of money AND feed your family on healthy meals, if you are prepared to do more of the cooking from scratch (ie don't count on using packet stuff). It also tastes a lot better, too. And frankly, it's really not that much more trouble. I've developed some quick short-cuts.
Some really inexpensive but tasty ideas based on your list of ingredients -
1) Chicken risotto. You can also add any of the pulses to this if you choose, but I wouldn't. This is a recipe that expects you to stand at the stove, stirring.
Do this in a fairly large saucepan. Have handy - half to one chopped onion; 1-2 cups of rice (short-grain or arborio if you can, but use whatever, even brown if you want); a glass of white wine (optional - we keep a wine cask in the cupboard to use for cooking, one wine cask lasts for months); about 4 cups of good stock (preferably chicken or similar). Butter, parmesan cheese (preferably fresh - we keep ours pre-grated in the freezer). You can do without the cheese if you must, but it WILL be different.
Fry the onion in butter plus a splash of olive oil (healthier). Once it is translucent, throw in the rice. Stir it around until the rice is thoroughly coated in the butter/oil. Add the wine, stir thoroughly until the wine is absorbed. Throw in 2 cups of stock.
And here is where I break the rules. The stock you use is supposed to be kept hot, and you add it slowly, stirring in between until it is all absorbed. Purists - turn away now.
I add the stock, stir thoroughly, then turn the heat low and put the lid on. You now have five or ten minutes to do something else, such as chop up some cooked chicken (or similar poultry meat). Frozen peas are good, too, although easy child 2/difficult child 2 refuses to eat risotto with peas in it, everyone else loves it.
Go back and check the rice. Stir it, if it is not puddling on the bottom, add more stock. Add less stock each time, so you don't overshoot.
Our family likes risotto fairly dry, like a flavoured steamed rice, but purists prefer risotto which is sloppy. You get it how you want it.
When the rice is cooked enough and the liquid balance is right (if you run out of stock, just use water to finish) taste it for salt (and pepper if you want). Throw in the chopped chicken and stir through. Then the really naughty bit - stir through another generous knob of butter - up to 2 oz. Once it's all melted through, add a couple of tablespoonfuls of parmesan cheese (or other hard, dry strongly flavoured Italian cheese).
Serve immediately.
This is fabulous winter comfort food.
If you want, you can also throw in the leftover turkey gravy at some stage, along with the stock.
2) Gnocchi (boiled potato dumplings)
You need cold mashed potato, egg, plain flour, a bit of salt.
Find something non-stick to put your dumplings on. I use those foam plastic trays from the greengrocer. Alternatively, put a layer of flour onto a plastic plate and put your dumplings there.
To make - put into a large-ish bowl enough mashed potato to fill your cupped hand (estimate by eye). Add one egg and eighth teaspoon salt. (You can do a double batch if you want and are experienced; otherwise, several small batches is best.) Now add some plain flour - about quarter cup. Mix it around with a fork, add more flour if you need to, to form a sticky paste which holds together. Don't add so much that it forms a dry dough, you will not like those dumplings.
Now the fun part - spread some flour on your work area. With a spatula, scoop out a chunk of dough (about two eggs in volume) and dump it gently onto the flour. With floured hands, roll the dough over until it is coated with flour, then work it by rolling it like a kindergarten child with plasticene until you have a long snake, as thick as your thumb. With the spatula, cut your snake into lengths each as long as your thumbnail (tip to base). Flip these pieces into the flour to make sure the cut surface is coated. Then with the fork (clean it off a bit for this job) you press the tines into the dumpling softly to flatten it. Gently roll the dumpling off the fork tines (it should curl a little, like a wood louse) and put the dumpling on the plastic tray. Keep going until you've used up all your dough mix.
IMPORTANT - never leave this dough mix to wait. You need to keep working this from start to finish, or the mixture will go sloppy and grey - not nice.
When you've made all your dumplings, boil some water in a large pot. Salt the water, then when it's on a rolling boil, throw in some dumplings. Be at the ready with slotted spoon and serving bowl. When the dumplings float, let them cook for another 20 seconds or so, then scoop them out and put them in the serving bowl. Add a bit of oil or butter to stop them sticking (a tiny amount only) and keep going until all dumplings are cooked.
To serve - either with melted butter stirred through, or other pasta sauce such as tomato (sugo) or pesto. It really is delicious, and another winter comfort food also with a fair bit of protein from the egg.
If you want to take your time and slowly accumulate a lot of this, but making it in several batches, I've used the gnocchi as a base for a sort of pastitsio - over the cooked gnocchi in casserole dish, I pour over bolognese sauce and top it with cheesy bechamel, then bake in the oven.
3) That last casserole dish idea with the gnocchi, only you use cooked pasta shells (or similar pieces), cove it with bolognese or pureed tinned tomatoes, then bechamel, then bake - pastitsio, a sort of Greek lasagne. If you want to go more moussaka, you can do a layer of sliced potato, layer of tomatoey sauce, layer of frozen vegetables, more sauce, top it off with cheesy bechamel. We had something very like that in a really good restaurant on Crete. An unforgettable meal. Very simple, nourishing, very tasty.
4) You could make up a mixture with the chopped cooked beef, the chicken gravy, some finely chopped vegetables, and put it into the pie crusts. Give it a puff pastry topping (if you have puff) and with the puff pastry bits you cut off, put them on a baking tray and sprinkle with grated cheese for a pre-pie snack. Or do what mother in law does, and crinkle them around into a circle to make a pastry rose, put it in the middle of the pie before baking. When you serve it, blame me for giving you an Aussie meat pie recipe. It's not quite, but it is similar enough (apart from the extra veggies).
Or you can make jaffles with the mix.
5) various soups, including chicken and vegetable, minestrone (you seem to have everything), maybe even Chinese chicken and corn (if you have a tin os creamed corn in there somewhere?). Recipes on application.
Can you involve the kids in the planning? This can be a fun exercise in logic. Or would be, if you didn't feel in such dire straights.
Good luck!
Marg