Frugal recipes

Here's a shepherd's pie recipe - frugal, filling and delicious! You can substitute minced beef/turkey/soy mince for the minced lamb (it's called cottage pie if you use beef by the way!), and it's just as good. 1 pack minced lamb 2 onions peeled and chopped coarsely 1 can baked beans 1 can peas 1 carrot (peeled and diced quite small) 1 can of peeled plum tomatoes gravy granules mustard any other herbs/spices you like! Bay leaves are also good. Enough mashed potato to make a layer over the surface of your pie dish/roasting dish. 1. Brown your mince in a big pan, and add the chopped onions and carrots. If you're using it, add your bay leaf at this stage. 2. Turn the heat to low, and cover the pan, leaving the ingredients to gently cook and the vegetables to sweat off and soften (probably about 10-15 mins). 3. Give everything a good old stir, then add the peas, baked beans and tomatoes. Stir all the ingredients together, and pop in mustard/pepper/any spices you like, and stir well. There should be enough liquid to cover everything with about 1 cm or so at the top. If it looks quite dry, add a bit of water. Preheat the oven to about 180C or the equivalent. 4. Put the lid back on, and let it simmer down so that the liquid reduces and thickens, and the flavours intensify. 5. Remove the bay leaves, stir in some gravy granules, to give a rich flavoursome thick sauce, and spoon the whole lot into the bottom of a large roasting dish/big deep pie dish. 6. Put large tablespoonsful of your mashed potato all over the top of the mince mixture, and smooth the potato dollops into each other with a fork, so the top is completely covered. You could use a piping bag to pipe the potato all over, but who needs the extra washing up?! 7. Bake in the preheated oven, until the top has browned (this will vary according to how crispy you like it, and how big the dish is you're using)all over. The gravy may start to bubble up at the edges of the dish too. 8. Serve hot with bread & butter and cabbage if you like (pickled red cabbage goes very well with this!). This is a good old English favourite, very filling and hearty, and can easily be adapted to the tastes of the eaters! Good honest simple fayre, and absolutely delicious.

SALMON CAKES ABOUT $3.00 SERVES 5 2 15 OZ CAN SALMON I MED ONION I/2 CUP OF CORN MEAL OR SEAFOOD BREADER 2 EGGS MIX SALMON;EGGS;CORN MEAL AND SALT AND PEPPER. MAKE INTO PATTIES ; FRY IN OIL AT MED HEAT; UNTIL BROWN ON EACH SIDE THEN LOWER HEAT AND COOK FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES TO MAKE SURE THEY COOK ALL THE WAY THRU. SERVE WITH POTATOE SALAD try CATSUP or YELLOW MUSTARD WITH THESE

One of my favorite recipes is Tuna and macaroni salad. 1 pg 8 oz macaroni cooked and chilled 2 cans of tuna 1/2 cup grated cheese (any kind of the hard cheeses) 1/4 mayonnaise (add more to taste) One hard boiled egg chopped. 1/2 c celery chopped into small pieces 1T mustard Mix all ingredients into a bowl and serve cold. it is really good. makes a good meal on a hot day.

Try this FRugal Tuna BUrgers 1 (12 ounce) box seasoned stuffing mix 1 (10 ounce) can mushrooms (drained & diced smaller) 1 (6 ounce) can tuna 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (dry can be used) 1/2 cup onions, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil Prepare stuffing, adding onions; if you are adding them. (see notes below). Add 2 T vegetable oil to a skillet. Add mushrooms to skillet; cook & stir for 2 minutes. In a bowl add stuffing, tuna, cheese and mushrooms. Form into patties. Add 2 T vegetable oil to a skillet. Add as many patties as your skillet will hold comfortably. (In mine, I can fit three medium size patties without them touching.). Cook on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Continue adding patties and extra oil as needed until all of the tuna mix is used. Remove to a plate until all are complete. Serve with in a hamburger bun just like hamburgers. My family likes these with mustard, lettuce and an extra slice of cheese. (optional, can use 3T dried onions in place of dice onion).

Red beans and rice!! You can use the canned red beans or just buy them dried and pick up some ham hocks or smoked turkey legs (both are very, very cheap) which you can also use in some nice greens. Add some sausage or cornbread and you've got a meal for around $2 a person!

One of my favorites at the moment is meatballs. Granted you have to have a crock pot, but the best meatballs are simply as follows: 2 cans mushroom spaghetti (even if you HATE mushrooms! I do) 1 large bag of mama rosalita's ITALIAN meatballs You place it all together in a crock pot, set it on low and let it cook for 5+ hours. The softest YUMMIEST meatballs EVER. And how cheap is THAT?

This isn't so much a recipe but a great way to save money. When I prep veggies (and some fruits too) I save the peelings and other trimmings. Of course if I trim off a spot of mush on an apple or something I don't save that. Only "good" stuff. I also save leftover bits of veggies, the water I cook veggies in or the liquid from canned veggies. I save these all in zip top bags in the freezer. In other bags I save bits of meat, pan drippings, carcasses, bones etc. I keep them seperate - beef in one bag, chicken in another etc. When I have a gallon zip top bag of veggie and fruits AND a quart size bag of meat I throw them in a pot. Add water and simmer. In the end I strain out the scraps and have a really good broth to make soup with. OF course you can use this broth in recipes too. So it saves money cause you are not buying veggies to use to make broth that you end up throwing out. Instead you are taking things that normally get thrown out and making something really tasty out of it! I call it trash soup.

One thing I make sometimes when I am in a hurry or dont feel like cooking dinner, is I just brown some hamburger, with some onions and garlic, and make a box of macaroni and cheese and mix it together. It yummy and my family likes it a lot. and is fairly inexpensive and very quick.