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 Cheap meals from scratch

 
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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
Moderator
Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 at 6:52am

A lot of us are spending too much money on groceries. What are some meals you make that are easy and cheap in the long run?

  • Pasta and marinara sauce
  • Pasta shells with mayonnaise, dijon mustard, dried dill and canned tunafish
  • Scalloped potatoes with white gravy (dehydrated), cheddar cheese, and pre-cooked chicken breast (make chicken and freeze it)
  • rice, chicken and curry
  • bean and ground beef burritos

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trophywife View Drop Down
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 28, 2005
Location: France
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 at 6:52am

I eat tuna or mackerel with ground black pepper and any combination of olives, cucumber, French beans, calabrese or petit pois pretty much every time I decide to have a 'proper meal'.  It's not too expensive, although I do insist on yellowfin tuna in springwater, which isn't available in those 4 tins for 


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DaveDecker View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Joined: Nov 28, 2000
Location: United States
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 at 6:52am
Peanut butter and strawberry jam on whole wheat, with a banana.  (Optionally, slice the banana and place the slices on inside of the sandwich.)  Okay, it's not a meal, but is a satisfying snack, and it's inexpensive.

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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
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Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: Apr 28, 2006 at 6:52am

Peanut butter and banana - that is an awesome treat.

Some of my older friends used to live in the South and they'd tell me "Peanut butter does NOT go with jam! It goes with honey". And it really goes well, too.... wow.

Anais


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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
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Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: May 04, 2006 at 6:52am

This is kind of silly, but last week I counted all the times I spent $1.25 on a bagel and cream cheese for lunch at work... and I could have saved a bunch of money on car insurance JUST KIDDING if I had bought a loaf of French bread ($1.19) and a chunk of cheese ($2.50).


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DaveDecker View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Joined: Nov 28, 2000
Location: United States
Posted: May 17, 2006 at 6:52am
[QUOTE=DaveDecker]Peanut butter and strawberry jam on whole wheat, with a banana.  (Optionally, slice the banana and place the slices on inside of the sandwich.)  Okay, it's not a meal, but is a satisfying snack, and it's inexpensive.
[/QUOTE]
 
Thought of some more ideas, to include with the above, for an inexpensive meal (breakfast, could do for lunch).
 
To the above delicious sandwich, add 1/2/3 chicken eggs (quantity depending on your level of hunger, and prepared your favorite way), and an individual container of yogurt (store brand is inexpensive and provides a lot of calories - non-fat, low-fat or "full"-fat, depending on your preference, too).
 
Yum.  Bon appetit. Wink 

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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
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Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: May 24, 2006 at 6:52am

These days I've come up with a meat-free lunch:

6-8 ounces of vanilla and plain yogurt, sprinkled with walnuts
french bread with cheddar cheese, Spanish olives
1 pear, sliced

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SpecialKitty View Drop Down
Member
Joined: Nov 19, 2005
Location: United States
Posted: Jun 05, 2006 at 6:52am

Tonight I'm having veggie ravioli with aparagus and salad. The raviolis are made locally, so the meal will be quick to make (less than 15 min), and relatively inexpensive (2 servings for $3.50).

Other quick inexpensive meals:
 
roast a chicken (not quick, but the leftovers areBig smile)
ramen noodles with veggies
Ryvita crackers topped with just about anything (hardboiled eggs, chicken, peanut butter, honey, jam)
salads

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trophywife View Drop Down
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 28, 2005
Location: France
Posted: Jun 07, 2006 at 6:52am

Today for lunch I am having cucumber sticks and a few dried apricots, delicious!


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Kuroneko View Drop Down
Elite Member
Joined: Aug 27, 2003
Location: USA
Posted: Jun 11, 2006 at 6:52am
I've been making a lot of homemade smoothies lately.  I slice some fruit and freeze it for a few hours or overnight.  Then I throw it in the blender with a cup of yogurt (a kind that matches or complements the fruit I'm using) and a couple of ounces of milk just so my blender won't freak when I ask it to liquefy frozen fruit (if your blender is less wimpy, you might not need the milk, though).  I blend it at high speed, stopping to push down or rearrange the stuff if necessary, until it becomes a smoothie ^_^ .

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ChloeDharma View Drop Down
Newbie
Joined: Dec 31, 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: Sep 21, 2006 at 6:52am
One of my favourite cheap meals is a can of mixed beans (soya, kidney, black eye etc) chop an onion and some garlic, fry them off a bit, then add a small tin of chopped tomatoes, lots of herbs and spices, mine ends up something in between a curry and a chilli, cook it all together, and serve with brown rice. Oh i also sometimes add some spinach.
 
My other favourite is 1 red and 1 green bell pepper, onion, garlic, tin of petit pois, some mushrooms, chopped carrots, and lots of spices, like turmeric, cayenne, cumin, black pepper, garam masala, soy sauce, vege stock cube, basil, basically whatever you fancy.
 
After frying off the onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil, i shove everything into the saucepan, reduce heat and cover. I normally let it cook for about an hour, and in the meantime cook the brown rice. Just before serving i often stir in some coconut cream to the veg mix and maybe add a sachet of creamed coconut. Gorgious.

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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
Moderator
Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: Oct 02, 2006 at 6:52am
Ohhh I have just discovered the joy of HUMMUS!

Ok, ok, I've tried hummus once in Los Angeles (the week of the film festival) at Falafel King, but it just wasn't the same.

Here's the sandwich
Wheat bread
HUMMUS
avocado
chicken sausage
cheese
and you can add vegetables such as romaine lettuce, black olives, and tomato.

So yesterday I went and bought a big thing of hummus with roasted garlic....

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AnaisSatin View Drop Down
Moderator
Joined: Jun 28, 2004
Location:
Posted: Oct 20, 2006 at 6:52am
A note about hummus, it does NOT go well with cucumber if you put them both in a sandwich. Maybe it's cucumbers in general.... the sandwich begins to fuse, mush, and leak.
 
but they're great when separate!
 
Anais

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babycheeks24 View Drop Down
Member
Joined: Jun 17, 2006
Location: United States
Posted: Oct 22, 2006 at 6:52am

oatmeal:bkfst

instant oats, raisons, dash of cin.
 
tuna wrap: lunch
whole wheat tortilla, tuna, and cheese
 
snack:
celery/carrot/apple and peanutbutter
 
 
Vegetarian Pastry  ($6 ) Dinner

 Chillies, garlic, fetta cheese, black olives, spinach, spanish onions, Filo/Puff pastry Chop & mix Chilllies With a hint of garlic Add fetta cheese, black olives, spinach , spanish onions Layer filo pastry & add above mixture Bake in oven @ 180


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Kuroneko View Drop Down
Elite Member
Joined: Aug 27, 2003
Location: USA
Posted: Dec 18, 2006 at 6:52am

Quesadillas are simple and cheap enough.  Just oil or otherwise nonstick your skillet, get a tortilla slightly browned on both sides, throw in a bit of shredded cheese. . . maybe add some peppers, mushrooms, leftover chicken, or whatever you have on hand. . . fold it over like an omelette, and it's lunch.  I just randomly made one from the other night's leftovers, myself.


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babycheeks24 View Drop Down
Member
Joined: Jun 17, 2006
Location: United States
Posted: Dec 18, 2006 at 6:52am
toinght my cheap meal will be green bean casserole everyone knows that one so  i wont explain how to make it but that is a cheap meal and if you add some chicken to it even better.:)
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