Favorite Cheap Meal Family Five?

Question

I have a family of 2 adults and 3 kids. Give me your best, cheapest meal you know of. Or, maybe a plan for a month.
I'm NOT looking for ideas like buying in bulk. I'm looking at actual meal ideas. For example, Oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. Hamburger Helper with frozen green beans for dinner. That sort of thing. I've heard of people eating Ramen Noddles but I've had them once and they are very salty. Healty counts too but I'll take anything you can give me. - Thank you

Answer 1

I work a lot and have little time to cook. One thing I like to do is bake my food. It leaves me free to do other things. One meal you could cook for your family is baked chicken. Take two chickens and season with a little lemon pepper, or whatever your favorite seasoning is. Place in a baking dish and cover tightly, bake for 45 minutes at 370 degrees. After this time, uncover and bake about 15 to 20 minutes until the skin is a nice golden brown. You cook 2 chickens because one is for dinner that night, the other is for the next. The last 10 minutes the chicken is cooking, cook some low-fat dinner rolls. Also, I like to keep frozen vegetables on hand. The quality is very good. Also while the chicken is in the oven, about 20 minutes before it is done, start a pot of water boiling. Just a little water to maintain vitamins. Put in a bag of vegetables. Whatever your family likes. Make sure to cook with a lid on, and the heat is on low to maintain the vitamins in the vegetables. For dessert, serve fresh berries with a little sweetened condensed milk as a sauce.

The next chicken, you eat the following day. When you get home, and you can have the kids do this, take the meat off the bone. (save the bones) After that, take a bag of frozen pepper stirfry. It has red and green peppers and onions in it. Saute this in a little bit of vegetable oil. Just before the vegetables are done, add the chicken pieces to warm them through. This vegetable/ meat mixture can be used as fajitas, or chicken tacos. Just make a little condiment tray of torillas or taco shells, sliced avocado, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, salsa. You saved the bones, because if you have any left over chicken, you can make chicken soup. Boil the bones for about an hour and 1/2. Remove all bones and throw away. Season the broth to your taste with salt and pepper or whatever you like. Add your left over chicken. Add a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Serve with some whole grain bread, or corn bread and salad..

Another recipe is to take a bag of the frozen pepper stirfry, 2 bags of frozen green beans, 5 or 6 medium potatoes, 16 oz of chicken broth (or make your own), 1 cup of water. Cover and cook this mixture until it comes to a boil. Add 1 lbs of smoked beef sausage, half and slice into small pieces. Cook for until vegetables are tender and sausage is heated through. Serve with a nice piece of bread. There should be some left over for lunches.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

ONE POT PORK CHOP DINNER



Delicious and easy to prepare.



1 can tomato soup

1/2 c. water

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

6 to 8 small whole potatoes

4 to 8 carrots, split lengthwise



Brown chops, add rest of ingredients, cover and simmer 45 minutes or until tender.



BROCCOLI AND BROWN RICE SKILLET DINNER



1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1 1/2 c. no-added-salt chicken broth

1 small head of broccoli, broken into florets

1 red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 yellow squash, sliced thin

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 1/2 c. instant brown rice, dry

1 oz. freshly grated parmesan cheese



In a deep skillet, heat chicken, garlic, broth, broccoli, red pepper and squash to boiling.

Stir in pepper and brown rice, and reduce heat to a simmer.



Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and serve



BREAKFAST CASSEROLE



18 eggs

2 lbs hot ground sausage

2 small cans green chiles

shredded cheddar cheese



Spray 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Brown sausage with green chiles. Drain.

Scramble, in a bowl, all 18 eggs. Pour a little more than half the eggs into the cake pan. Layer sausage on the eggs. Layer as much cheese as you want on top of the sausage. Pour the rest of the eggs over the top.



Bake at 350F degrees until the top is brown and the eggs are cooked.



This is great for the Atkins diet. This can be cooked in a sealable pan, placed in the refrigerator and then cut a piece every morning for breakfast.



It's great re-heated!!!! Enjoy!



Note: You can reduce the size of this recipe by using the ingredients list below instead of those above:





9 eggs

1 lb. hot ground sausage

1 small can green chiles

shredded cheddar cheese

Answer 4

Taco Casserole:

Layer mild salsa, hamburger, corn chips, cheddar cheese. Brown the burger first and pour off fat , then do layer twice with chips and cheese on top. Heat in 350' oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Add beans, white or Spanish rice after meat layer. as you desire. Restaurant style chips work best, but Frito's are fun and homey. Some people serve it with cold sour cream or guacamole on top or on side.

Answer 5

Buy: chicken, eggs, rice, vegetables, wheat bread, salad dressing, mayo, (condiments optional), rice or pasta,



breakfast: egg whites to make scrambled or omlet with bread or alone (cheese, ham, etc optional)

SAVE THE YOLKS



lunch: salad with chicken or chicken salad sandwiches. (BOIL chicken to cook and SAVE the chicken stock)



dinner: soak chicken in yolks, use toasted bread for bread crumbs, to make baked chicken and rice/pasta.



FUTURE lunch/dinner: use the chicken stock, put the rest of the chicken, vegetables, pasta or rice to make soup.

Answer 6

heres a few ideas:

turkey kielbasa and a bag of veggies sauteed.

or turkey kielabas and zaterans jumbalay mix

chili and corn bread.

ground turkey and vegatables

chicken soup.

Answer 7

Dollar Menu at MCdonalds they have breakfast lunch and dinner

Answer 8

take them to subway.