Your Best Cheap Meal

Well I did post my best cheap meal the other day on mylot, I hope you did see it I think it was titled quick cheap fix for tea or something like that. I used value noodles costing 7pence a packet from the local supermarket, sweetcorn, peas and atwo tins of tuna. If you didn't see it please tell me and i'll pm you with it as I don't think I can put it again if i have already put it once.

We eat a lot of spaghetti, tuna helper, chicken nuggets, hotdogs and beans. We don't really make meals from scratch. I do make a spam casserole that's from scratch and it's really cheap. Spam, Elbow noodles, stewed tomatoes, cream of celery, celery, celery salt, pepper, and a few other spices that I can't think of at the moment. My mom used to make it and now I do.

Another good one, we had as kids. Slop. ground beef, white rice, peas and cream of celery soup. Sounds gross but it is really yummy!

OMG The recipe you gave is what I serve as goulash! lol Family loves it! But I don't put in italian season or cheese and I don't bake it. What a great idea though, I will have to try that!

I have done the pizza pasta before with pepperoni and sausage instead of the hamburger. My son loves it. I like to do a hamburger casserole sometimes. It is pretty cheap. You layer sliced potatoes, carrots, and onions in a dish. Top with some ground beef and repeat layers. Top with a can of cream of mushroom soup and black pepper. Cover and bake for about an hour. Take off the foil and cook for about 10 more minutes.

There's nothing qite like a good ol' grilled cheese sandwitch!!! Pasta is good too, and remember to make lots of beans and rice!! Happy MyLotting!

There are a lot of meals as cheap or cheaper than your pizza casserole, but it sounds like at least your husband is a picky eater and you have a large family. Since meat is usually the most expensive part of a meal, you can save money by cutting back on it and using a little more vegetable and pasta or beans, rice, etc. Here's a cheap meal that I use now and then. For each package of Ramen Noodles, add a half cup of mixed vegetables and a quarter cup of diced chicken. Cook the noodles, add the vegetables (If they're frozen or fresh, cook them separately), add the chicken and heat thoroughly. To make it even cheaper, I save vegetables left over from other meals, even if it's a teaspoon. Corn, peas, green beans, etc., and put them in a container in the freezer until there's enough to do a dish like this. I save odd bits of leftover chicken the same way.

I have made the pizza casserole before and my kids were crazy about it. Spaghetti is a good , cost effective meal that most kids like. Some other ideas are sloppy joes, chili, sheperds pie, eggs, quiche and macaroni and cheese.

When I want to save monney on groceries I get dry beans. I always have a bag or 2. I keep red beans and pinto and Great northern beans on hand all the time. I then fix them in the crock pot with maybe some celery if I have it. I season them with sage, thym, cuman and oregano. i might even put some hickory that I got at the health food store for pennies. With that I make home made corn bread from scratch and add a handful of cheddar cheese. Makes a great meal and is very filling. Apound of beans goes a long way. With the red beans I make chili from scratch. After cooking the beans almost done I add about a cup of hamburger a can of finely chopped tomatoes, a can of Notel tomatoes and chilies, a can of tomato sauce and chili powder, oregano and a dadsh of cinnamon. With that we add cheese to each bowl and have flour tortillias on the side.

One that I made quite often (as did my Mother when we were younger) is kidney beans, corn and hamburg. You brown a pound of ground beef and drain the fat. Add a can of red kidney beans (undrained) and a can of drained whole kernel corn. Heat until bubbly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with cornbread. Nummy!

Since chicken was always fairly cheap, I would use that as my main food when pinching pennies. I'd take a can of cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup, pour it over the chicken in a caserole dish, sprinkle some parmasean cheese on it and bake it for a half hour or so. Sometimes I'd add onions. Serve it with brocoli or something green. The kids loved it!

I do a lot of lentil dishes, stews, soups and rice. They are all low cost and fairly nutritious.

Egg dishes are usually cheap. Quiche, omelets, etc. We often will have breakfast for dinner. French toast, eggs, pancakes, etc. Bacon is a bit expensive lately but I've had some great deals on sausage links.

my red sauce spaghetti. i dont like to put a lot of ingredients, only 1/4 kilo of ground beef and 1/4 kilo of ground pork and spaghetti sauce... plus one whole chicken, i just rub it with rub mix and cook it in turbo, that's it...

I think soups have to be one of the best cheap meals. They use up all those odds and ends in the fridge too. To bulk up a soup and make a heartier meal I sometimes add a handful of pasta or rice. Another cheap meal for when times are really tight is pancakes. All thaat dough is really filling and the kids wolf them down.

The best way to figure and plan out meals that are cheap but tasty are looking in the flyers. I don't know if you get flyers sent to your door of the grocery stores and markets around your area but it is something to look into if they do and you don't get any. We have a great store called Sobeys that sends out flyers once a week that have dollar days in. There are so much things that you can pick up for a dollar and stuff that you can add into nice meals as well. Good luck to you.

Thanks for the best response!!

Heres a meal for you...It's called garbage. I use about 1 1/2 lb ground beef browned 3 boxes of mac N cheese ground the beef make the mac N cheese as normal then mix it all together with the hamburger. Kids LOVE it and I do too! Kinda like hamb. helper without the extra cost.

i love to make baked spagetti. you prepare the spagetti as u regularly would and then pour it in a baking dish and cover with cheese and bake on 350 for maybe 20 minutes. it make a big portion and is really cheap to make. we love having leftovers for the next day. throw some garlic bread on the side and you are st for under $15 or better if you shop like i do..

ya my cheap meal is couple of snacks and a coffe. its economic as well as offer u some resistance..!