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
Pasta with Matriciana Sauce – Thanks Jen @ Hey Ya’ll
Pasta with Red Sauce DiPaola
Shaker Village Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread or Biscuits
Asian Noodles with Stir Fry Veggies and Chicken
Calico Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage
More inexpensive meals can be found at $5 Dinners. What are your favorite cheap meals?
Great topic and a great list of recipes. This is the way I cook most of the time, but I just don’t write anything down! Having a garden really helps me keep my costs down too. How is your garden doing? I’m getting to that in-between point where garden greens are just about past and tomatoes are not ready yet. I can’t wait for some fresh tomatoes from the garden
Love the list of low cost recipes…will have to keep this handy!
Don’t forget to shop the discounted meat sections if your local grocery store should happen to have one. Kind of like the day old bread. I was lucky enough to pick up a full 1 pound salmon filet this week for $1.59 plus tax. That was the great start to a cheap meal.
Wow! $1.59 salmon is a great buy! Good tip, Larry.
Love the category! I’d add crustless quiche – make it with mostly egg whites and low fat/fat free cottage cheese and it’s even low cal. Add all your left over veggies
Suzee, crustless quiche sounds good and healthy too. Thanks for sharing it!
This is a great list of recipes. I can’t wait to check them out! We do a week or two of eating from the pantry and freezer every 6-8 weeks or so at our house. Tomorrow I am blogging some cheap, easy ways to use boneless/skinless chicken breasts…
thanks for the great list! i definitely always need cheap recipe ideas, so i’ll have to try some of these.
Great list! I am definitely going to try out a lot of these especially the Asian Noodles. Sounds yummy.
This is a great list, I’ve bookmarked it for reference! Thank you =)
Hi there, I’m stopping by from SITS.
I’m sure you’ve already posted something about this, but I make a lot of double-use meals. For example, I will make chicken soup one night and save some of the broth to make biscuits and gravy the next morning. Then I’ll cook bacon with the biscuits and crumble the left overs into quiche for dinner. If every meal shares at least one main ingredient with a surrounding meal things get cheaper around here.
Great blog!
Thanks for all those cost efficent recipes! Have an AWESOME FB day!
Thanks for sharing! Happy SITS Day!
Thanks for the great list! We live on a farm and so we are trying to grow as much of our own food as possible not only as a way to save money but so we know what we are eating! With the cost of food going up in the stores, I really found this post helpful. Thank you!
You’ve come up with an excellent recipe list! Thank you!
A girl after my own heart! Happy SITS Day! x
Great recipies! Greetings from South Africa.
What a great list of tips and links! Enjoy your SITS day!
Great tips! Taco soup is one of my favorite easy, cheap dinners to make!
Thank you for such a great list. We are big fans of soup in my household. Plus I love fried rice and I had no idea how cheap and easy it was to make! Thanks. Enjoy your SITS day!
Cheap meals are a must at my house! I have 5 kids and money is tight. Thanks for the tips:0)
Thanks for the reminder and the list! Don’t forget to hit up your farmer’s market for inexpensive yet fresh veggies…or better yet grow them yourself! (although I’ll admit that gardening is NOT a cheap hobby).
Thanks for sharing these low cost recipes, I know there are a lot of us who are trying to stretch those dollars further and further, and it’s the little things that make that work.
Thanks for the great ideas. This recipes will come in handy because I’m a baller on a budget.
Wow. Love this topic SITSta. I will be back for sure lady. But the freezer idea for a week? Does Corn dogs, chicken nuggets, and frozen rolls count?:-)
I am already excited about your site, just from today’s title.
Stopping by from SITS!
We will have to see how well “the family” does when they are on their own for dinner tonight!
This is very timely in this economy! Happy SITS day!
Cool! I’m always looking for yummy low cost recipes. Thanks!
I’m definatly going to try the pantry challenge. Sounds fun:) I love to cook!!!
I’m going to try a few of these….thanks.
Thanks for all the tips! My favorite cheap meal is picking up a rotisserie chicken when they are buy one get one free at the grocery store! Great value!
Great tips! Thank you!
Some good ideas! Look forward to putting some to work. Stopping in from SITS….enjoy your day!
My favourite cheap meal is scrambled eggs and salad.
Always looking for low cost meals. Just which my daughter wasn’t so picky. It would make cooking a lot easier.
I love these recipes!
I also like to cook ahead and freeze.
Those are great ideas. For cheap I always go with hot dogs and chips. Wait, that’s all my family has eaten lately cause it’s also easy for me. I’m in the first trimester. Although last night, for our Father’s day celebration, I actually cooked a meal. I was so exhausted when I was done that I probably won’t do that again for a week or so.
My husband is all about the top ramen. I don’t really consider that a meal, but it’s cheap and he’s full afterwords…..
Great ideas and yes always looking for a way to cut costs!
I’ll be coming back to see what you have to offer here!
Happy SITS day.
Great tips! Over from SITS to say hello.
Bookmarking this baby – so many recipes I’m interested in! Thank you! and congrats on your SITS feature!
I think I need to take your challenge-my freezers are way too full!
We try to eat cheap a lot too!! Happy SITS day…I’ll have to try some of these!
Oooh, great tips and recipes…I may be using some in the near future!
So many great tips and recipes. Thanks for posting these. Happy SITS day!
My family like a store bought box of mac & cheese, mixed with a pound of ground beef & about a cup of salsa. Cheap, easy & filling!
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Happy SITS day!
I think my favorite cheap meal / dinner is pancakes (or waffles), bacon and fruit salad or juice.
Everyone loves pancakes.
And when no one is home and I’m cooking for myself, I’ll have cereal 3 times….breakfast, lunch and dinner. One bowl and one spoon to wash; and it’s ready in a flash…..and I love cereal.
As for your Challenge…..I’ve lived the challenge for 28 years. I hate grocery shopping and will go to great lengths to avoid going…..so I can get pretty creative in the kitchen. And no one has left my table hungry or complained about the food…..they are usually disappointed there isn’t seconds. Also my mother and grandmother taught me how to use herbs and seasonings…..how just the smell will tell you if it will go with certain meats or mix well with other herb. I turned my back on cookbooks when my husband was a Navy officer and our two girls were small. It was just way too expensive to keep buying the required odd seasoning or herb and ingredients that wouldn’t be used again.
I am loving your blog. Visiting from SITS! Have a great day!
What a great list of tips.
Happy FB day~
I would probably lost 10 pounds if I could stop eating out, but I love it.
I swear there is something they put in the food to make it addictive.