Low Cost Meals

by Tiffany on June 2, 2009

cheap-meal

Have you joined the challenge to eat from your freezer and pantry for a week?  Those of us who have been doing this have not only saved money, but also stretched our creative cooking skills as we’ve swapped out ingredients for what we had on hand.

I’m wrapping up this money-saving series with a list of very low-cost meals.  Most of these meals come in at under $1 per person.  Some cost well under that.

Tips for keeping meals cheap

1.  In general, meals that are based on rice, pasta, beans or eggs tend to be inexpensive.

2.  Substitute ingredients for what you have on hand.  Running into the grocery only tempts you into spending more money.

3.  Soups tend to be cheap because one recipe will feed so many people.

4.  Stretch your meals with Depression Era Bread, Corn Bread, Biscuits or Graham Muffins.

Cheap Meals

Lentil Tacos

Pasta with Matriciana Sauce – Thanks Jen @ Hey Ya’ll

Pasta with Red Sauce DiPaola

Grandma’s Spaghetti Sauce

Cheesy Eggs and Ham

Vietnam Fried Rice

Shaker Village Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches

Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread or Biscuits

Mexican Beans and Rice

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Asian Noodles with Stir Fry Veggies and Chicken

Calico Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Crockpot Chicken Soup

Corn Chowder

Taco Soup

More inexpensive meals can be found at $5 Dinners.  What are your favorite cheap meals?

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{ 1 trackback }

Low Cost Menu/Grocery List/Recipes | Eat at Home
August 29, 2009 at 1:45 pm

{ 115 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jeannie Finelli June 24, 2009 at 8:39 pm

Great resource!

2 Tranquility June 24, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Wow – thanks for all of the tips and inexpensive recipes! I will definitely give some of these a try!

3 Michelle (hometc) June 24, 2009 at 9:17 pm

My dad was the dinner cook in our family and he was great at making meals using what he could find in the kitchen.

4 Cindi @ Moomette's Magnificents June 24, 2009 at 9:33 pm

Those are some wonderful link’s I’ll have to try! My favorite cheap meal is using leftover ham to make “ham and spaghetti” or, as my late MIL called it, “Irish Spaghetti.”
Happy SITS!

5 jeanine June 24, 2009 at 10:03 pm

hey great blog – coming ovah from SITS — ck me out when you have a chance :) I’m trying to build subscribers !

http://www.icoulduseadeal.blogspot.com

6 LinLori June 24, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Oh my goodness, I love this! Thank you! Happy SITS day! I’m totally bookmarking this!

7 Shanda June 24, 2009 at 10:58 pm

So glad you were featured today! It’s been awhile since I’ve stopped in! Great recipes as usual!

Hope you have enjoyed all of the SITS love today!!

Blessings!

8 greedygrace June 24, 2009 at 11:36 pm

Great post, and so fitting for these times. Soups and stews are a must for me. So easy to make in the crock pot, you can buy a cheap cut of meat and it will still be tender, and there’s always leftovers!

Happy SITS Day!

9 emily June 24, 2009 at 11:53 pm

Such a good post!!!! All about savin’ the money!

10 Stesha June 25, 2009 at 12:45 am

As who mom who is trying to budget more, these tips will really come in handy.

11 Meredith @ thinkthinks June 25, 2009 at 1:39 am

Bookmarked! Some excellent ideas – thank you!

12 Anonymous June 25, 2009 at 9:09 am

I love low cost meals … and finding something — ANYthing — in the freezer or pantry that I can turn into dinner. I am definitely not heading to the grocery store!

13 Reeni June 25, 2009 at 10:41 am

I’m a day late from SITS. Came over to say hi and hope you had a great day being featured!

14 Charmaine June 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm

Great post! I bookmarked it for easy finding!

15 Rachael July 2, 2009 at 7:40 pm

What a timely post. My favorite cheap meal is brown rice with taco meat & veggies. You can buy a bag of frozen peppers and it fits in nicely, and I look for the meat when it’s on sale. Sometimes we buy the higher fat meat, then just drain it off & rinse w/hot water after it’s browned. Happy SITS day!

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