Lean Time Meals

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I thought this would be a nice add on to Star's post. Ideas could be posted here and then recipes could be posted or PMed for. :D

Oatmeal.

Not the processed box of envelopes, the box round box of Quaker Oats. Much cheaper that way and you can add whatever you want to it after it has cooked. Kids loved it with applesauce, brown sugar, or peaches. And honestly, not hard to made and doesn't take that much time.

French toast

I don't know how others make it but I can stretch 2 eggs between 6 people this way.

Pancakes

Get your grandmother's or mother's recipe. It's cheaper, and it's easier than you think.

Buiscuts

Same as for pancakes. Or get the huge box of Jiffy mix. My family gets all the buiscuts they want for dirt cheap. (can also make pancakes from this too)

Pot roast or shoulder beef roast

Can be roast and gravy - turns into beef and noodles the following day

Pot roast with potatoes and carrots - turns into either beef stew or beef hash. I've even made a good soup by adding veggies.

Pork roast (or loin)

I serve as a roast the first day -second becomes pulled pork (with or without bbq sauce)

Whole roasting chicken

Bake as chicken the first day _ then turns into chicken hash or chicken and noodles. Could also make a chicken soup by adding veggies.

Pork chops

Baked, bbq, or candied a fairly cheap meal.

Cubed steak

chicken fried steak (another cheap meal) mmmmmmmm add brown gravy and bake and it's salisbury steak lol

chicken leg quarters (cheap because you cut them up yourself)

fried chicken, baked chicken (when in a hurry), bbq chicken (yum)

Pork steak

cheap meal. I fry it. A family fav

Hamburger

cheeseburger macaroni, spagetti, sloppy joes, meatloaf, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage rolls..........

Some others.......

Cheese spagetti

Can add hot dogs, hamburger, or just with the cheese.

Ham n' beans

Made with a ham hock it's delicious and stays good for a long time. Serves many meals.

I'll probably think of more.........but this gets it started.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Pork chops, put in baking pan, cover with 2 cans golden mushroom soup, bake in 375 degree oven for about an hour. I have used just plain old cheap pork chops, and they come out very tender. I like to dredge in flour and brown chops and add some fresh mushrooms.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
SRL buy them in the fam pak and look for the cheaper cuts. Not the nice neatly trimmed ones with no fat. Actually the cheap cuts are tastier than the leaner more expensive cuts, and more tender because there is more fat on them.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Pork chops I usually pay $1.29 to $1.99/lb. Just got a pork loin for $1.99/lb, then had the butcher cut it into chops. Cheap pork loin chops, and they are pretty lean. I just do not pay over 2$ (most times) for meat. For hamburger I pay 2.18/lb, as I am picky. It is fresh ground, and 12% or less fat. Not the best, but not the cheapest. Not too bad though.

This week Albertson's has chicken breast or tenders, some roasts, and some pork chops on sale for 1.88$/lb. Don't need the pork, but may get some chicken and a roast or two. Many times I cook for 7, as I make dinner for my mother who cares for my grandfather, my family and my sister. Mom does give me some cash for groceries. Don't get me going on sister.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
**Update to French Toast -

If you shop at a bread store - and get day old THICK CUT bread - you can make a few less slices per person -

and ......KROGER butter maple syrup is every bit as delicious as Ms. Btterwrth.


*Dollar General Salad Dressing - Zesty Italian is BETTER than Name brands. and it's only $1.00
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
We REALLY need to get advice from a BUTCHER.....about the meat cuts/vs/ prices.....

DOES ANYONE KNOW A BUTCHER OR A MAN WHO HANDLES MEAT?
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
OH NO...I....mmmmmm.....sigh.

(caught up in the moment, Star rereads her post and sends herself to the corner to play with Random Deb)
 

Andy

Active Member
:rofl:

It truly is amazing where these posts get sometimes.

For me, Mac & Cheese can only be eaten if it is Kraft. However, fortunately, difficult child likes the way cheaper brand - Wal-marts's - I think it is 33 cents per box? He doesn't like Easy Mac, it has to be the long way.

In the winter, we do a lot of hamburger helper. We get the hamburger helper when it is on sale for $1.00 per box and watch for the econo hamburger to go on sale.

I often purchase the off brand pop. Except I have started to get caffene free Mt Dew - I gotta go back to the off brands.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Ok, Star. Ignore the last 9000 IM's I sent you. What a dork!! And you have the audacity to not take calls right now. I'd give you a good piece of mind. You scared the crud out of me.

Witz...don't go there.:nonono: She's a bad influence.
(golb a no gnihtemos tup bg fi em esirprus tndluow ti)

Abbey
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
Where WAS your brain Star???????? I read that and just shook my head. Yes, that was what popped into my brain also but I was preeeeeetty sure I wouldn't be alone in the corner!



Soup beans is a good one that is cheap. It's good with ham in it so you could use leftover ham or a hambone or two from the meat counter. Those usually are pretty cheap.

I make homemade veggie soup. Generally I don't like the generic veggies for some weird reason but I use them in this. I generally put hamburger in mine too and sometimes macaroni noodles. Fry up your meat and drain if needed. (I just fry it in the same pan I make the soup. Less mess) Add a big can of tomato juice (46 oz), whatever veggies you want, macaroni, potatoes too if you want....whatever. I'll put salt, pepper, onion or onion flakes, maybe a teensy bit of garlic powder, some bullion...whatever sounds good and then simmer it. This is really good because you can use all sorts of generic stuff as you are adding seasoning.

Potato soup is a good one for me too. I normally don't make mine with meat but I know a lot of people do. Also, and I know it sounds weird, but my family has ALWAYS eaten it with peanut butter sandwiches. If you don't use meat, you still get protien and the whole combination sticks to your ribs. My recipe is as follows (feel honored...this is a multi-generation recipe!):

Peel and cut to preferred size as many potatoes as needed. Boil till about half done and drain. At this point, you can drain all the water or just half...your choice. Fill pot back up with milk....enough to just cover the potatoes. Add a stick of butter, onion and black pepper to taste. (takes more pepper than you think but don't go nuts with it). In a small mixing bowl, combine one large egg and enough flour to make a dough that's not too sticky. (don't go nuts with this either because you'll wind up with a dough ball the size of Rhode Island. Trust me.) Also, add your salt to his mixture. If you add it directly to the soup, the potatoes will absorb it all. Pinch off chunks of dough (not HUGE but not teeny tiny either) and add to soup. Continue cooking till dough chunks (technically called rivels....like rivets but with an L) are thoroughly cooked. For the peanut butter sandwiches....at least in MY house....the PROPER way of making them is to put peanut butter on two slices of bread. THEN you put butter on them. Use the sandwich to dunk in the soup or scrape the last out of the bowl. I use 2% milk so I don't know how 1% or skim would work but I would guess that skim wouldnt' be a good idea.

My mom used to make a goulash a lot but I don't remember the exact recipe. I know she used tomato paste and water, bay leaves, macaroni noodles, maybe some tomatoes and spices to taste.

She also used to make home made noodles. A pain to do but very cheap and good. (Of course, she would have to make almost double what she needed because Dad and I would eat them while they were drying)

My uncle was the king of marinades. He would just use whatever was in the door of the frig. Pickle juice, mustard, olive juice....stuff like that.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Marcie you wanna OD on starch, try my Mom's fav penny pinching meal:

Rice, mac and cheese, and fried potatoes. :rofl: We ate this so often growing up, at least twice a week

Stang, I've not heard Ham n Beans called Soup Beans since I left home 24 yrs ago. :D They are heaven with corn bread by the way. I think I'm gonna give your potato soup a whirl this weekend. Sounds YUMMY. :D

Broccoli soup is another good one. Mine is made with a bag of frozen broccoli, boiled potatoes, onions, milk and velveeta (generic of course). Peel and boil your potatoes (however many you need) with the diced onoin, once potatoes are almost done add in the broccoli. When it's almost done (doesn't take long), drain off half the water, and add milk until it looks like milk. Slice the velveeta and add until it tastes cheesy.

My kids will elbow, hit, and step on toes to get to this soup. lol
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
Stang, I've not heard Ham n Beans called Soup Beans since I left home 24 yrs ago. :D They are heaven with corn bread by the way. I think I'm gonna give your potato soup a whirl this weekend. Sounds YUMMY.

:slap: How could I have forgotten the cornbread!!!!!! (A box of Jiffy corn muffin/bread mix is FABULOUS!!!)
 

Andy

Active Member
Mstang - your mom's goulash sounds like what I grew up on (and made just about every week night!) My sisters and I would make a batch of macaroni, add tomato paste, whatever leftovers we could find from the weekend, and lots of pepper (dad loved pepper) and cooked it in the oven.

Every single day as my parent's left for work, they would say, "Get something out for supper". That something was a pound of hamburger to fry up and add to the goulash.
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Haamburger helper is something I never buy: even at $1 per box, it's WAY more expensive than adding your own ingredients.
Also, I like beef stew but they charge a fortune for stew meat around here so I buy the cheapest beef I can find and cut it into little cubes myself and then freeze it for later.
And I love ham and bean soup so anytime I make a ham (we only like the bone in, boil it kiind) I save the juice I cooked it in and the bone. Often I freeze it for later but it becomes soup.
And reduced price, too old bananas make the best smoothies.
If I make a baked chicken, I save the bones and boil them up and make either chicken and noodles or chicken soup out of them. I didn't know until I was an adult that you could make chicken soup any other way. LOL I do the same thing if I have a recipe where I have to bone the chicken before cooking. Boil up the bones and save the broth and get the last of the meat off and it makes another meal.
 
Top