Your very favorite as-cheap-as-possible recipe

[pegkerr]

I am starting to compile the grocery list for the week, and since we are retrenching, I am looking for rock-bottom price recipes. Nutritional main dish recipes that you actually like. Kid-friendly and easy a particular plus.

I remember one we ate pretty often when I was a kid, a fondue recipe we called "Blushing Bunny." I think I got it from Camp Fire Girls. Why the weird name? I think it is meant as a sort of sideways joke, a tip of the hat to the better known fondue "Welsh Rarebit," which a child might hear as "Welsh Rabbit."

Take a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Do not dilute it. Stir in one egg, well beaten and shredded cheddar cheese (I think we'd put in somewhere between a half cup to a cup or so). Heat gently until hot and thickened. Serve by pouring over toast and eat immediately. I think this serves 2-3, depending on whether you are serving kids or adults.

Like I said, I remember loving this one as a kid, but when I mentioned this one to Delia, she wrinkled her nose in disgust when I made the mistake of telling her the ingredients list. I know that adding the egg to the soup sounds disgusting, but when it is stirred in and heated up, you really can't tell it's there at all. It just is there to add protein and thicken it, I guess. I might make it anyway and insist that they try it at least. It is certainly dead cheap.

Mom used to serve spam and rice pretty frequently, but I'm not quite tempted to revisit that old memory. Rob remembers dinners of fried boloney when he was growing up, but I don't think he's nostalgic for that one, either.

How about you? My kids are picky, but give me your best shot anyway.

Edited to add: All three hate onions, broccoli and mushrooms. The girls hate potatoes (yes, potatoes!), brown rice, and bell peppers. Delia hates cooked tomatoes, cooked apples and cooked oranges and is very unpredictable about meat. She has tried and rejected a number of meat substitutes--impossible to predict, but she doesn't seem to like tofu-based products very much. She is hit or miss on most other vegetables, but less likely to eat them if they are cooked.

Fiona would eat nothing but carbs (pasta) if I let her. White, of course. I prefer whole wheat pasta, but they are much more reluctant to eat it.

Beans are also unpredictable. Rob will eat lentils, pinto beans and kidney beans (reluctantly); girls will not. The girls adore baked beans, however. Go figure. Rob will eat green beans (even canned!), girls, there is no predicting.

Rob will eat kale reluctantly, girls will not.

Edited to add again: My personal favorite suggestion, among all these comments, is moony's suggestion that I teach the girls basic photosynthesis: "You're hungry? Go stand in the yard for an hour."

Comments

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

You can live practically forever on 25 pounds of soybeans, 25 pounds of brown rice, 10 pounds of cheap dry milk powder, and a bottle of Vitamin C tablets. You probably aren't THAT desperate, however.

When the kids were babies and we were living on nothing I think we sort of started with the diet above, and then branched out to other legumes and grains, adding fresh vegies and fruits based strictly on price, and buying the kind of meat that is usually used for soup stocks. We bought ramen noodles and packaged mac&cheese and used them as cheap ways to add flavor.

Eggs and canned tuna are cheap perfect protein. Meat and cheese are luxuries, used in small quantities for flavor rather than as the basis for a meal. Shopping at the coop makes vegetarian-based food more fun. Casseroles are great for using up leftovers of any kind and disguising the beans and grains. Less obvious, you can mix almost any kind of mushy cooked vegetables in with potatoes and onions and fry them into yummy vegie patties.

Baking your own bread doesn't actually save you much money, it turns out. However, growing sprouts, making your own yogurt from dried milk, and (I swear to God we did this) making your own tofu are all big savings. Ditto for home-made granola and home-baked crackers or flatbread. All of this stuff takes time, though, possibly more time than it's worth unless it's fun for the family to do together.

I thought it was lots of fun, but I was staying home with my babies and had plenty of time on my hands. I remember those days fondly. Now we have enough money to just go to the grocery store and buy anything that looks good, and I'm frequently appalled at how much money we spend on food. We could easily live on a quarter of what we're spending now for food, but we don't have to, so we don't.

[akamarykate.livejournal.com]

I'm the oldest of seven--we did a lot of cheap meals. As others have said, breakfast for dinner was a biggie (especially during lent). So was a can of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. And tacos, which my mom stretched out with a can of Chicken Gumbo soup.

There's also a fairly inexpensive Mexican casserole we made: brown some hamburger and onions. Add a can of black beans if you like them, and either a can of tomatoes or some salsa if you have that. We'd also throw frozen corn into the mixture sometimes. Put it all in a casserole dish and make up a box of cornbread mix (we used the Jiffy brand, which was super cheap). Dollop the cornbread over the top of the meat mixture and bake the whole thing according to the time and temp on the cornbread mix. You can also put shredded cheese between the meat and cornbread layers, or serve it on the side if you like. This one's really easy to adapt--we've added rice and all kinds of vegetables at times.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Now that sounds really good!

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

When I was a little girl, we didn't have a lot of money, I wasn't hugely concerned about food, and my mom was a bad cook. I grew up eating ramen noodles with ketchup on them. (My mom called it "spaghetti".) Or macaroni mixed into a can of Campbell's cream of chicken. ("Casserole".) May your daughters have lower-sodium diets than I did.

When I got older, though, we used to make this tuna pie that I loved. I wish I had the recipe on hand, but it involved mashed potatoes (they could be leftover, or you could boil some to mash), shredded cheese (I think we used the Kraft cheddar that came in foil-wrapped blocks), and a can or two of drained tuna. Mix it all up, pat into a pie pan, bake at about 350F till warm and crusty on the outside. A little labor-intensive for the mashing and shredding, but cheap and filling and keeps very well. Great when warm -- all the cheese turns gooey and saltygood -- and also when cold (because I am a huge fan of cold mashed potatoes).

I used to replicate the general idea when at college and without the time, inclincation or equipment to mash and shred: Scrub a potato, poke it multiple times with a fork, microwave for a couple of minutes till cooked through. Remove from microwave and cut up into chunks: cover chunks with some canned tuna and a slice of cheese. Nuke till melted. Pretty ghetto, but it got me protein, calcium, good carbs, and was very cheap.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I still love fried Spam! And fried bologna, too, but I haven't had it in decades--I'm quite sure I've never made it for my kids, though I don't know why; to my tastebuds it always tasted like hot dogs, which the kids like. I remember once visiting some folks in Iowa and being served bread topped with pork 'n' beans, bologna slices, and cheese, put under the broiler till the cheese melted and the beans bubbled, for lunch--yum! (You can take the girl out of the working class, but you can't take the working class out of the girl.)

You have one vegetarian, don't you? That makes it tough. A cheap dish I like is to cook a pound or so of hamburger, breaking it up, then add your favorite kind of pork 'n' beans, and catsup and mustard to taste.

Or--split English muffins. Butter them and sprinkle with garlic salt. Top each half with a nice slice of tomato and a slice of mozzarella. Broil till the cheese melts. (I'll bet that toasting the muffins first and then just doing the heating in a microwave would work.)

Breakfast burritos: scramble eggs, sprinkle on shredded cheese and let it melt, then divide onto heated-up flour tortillas. Add any of the following: cooked bacon (slices, or for economy, crumbled goes farther), sausage, sour cream, avocado slices or guacamole, salsa. In fact, flour tortillas (you can get whole wheat ones) are extremely cheap and can be filled with lots of things. I keep a comal (http://www.mexgrocer.com/9115.html but I was lucky enough to find mine at a thrift store years ago) on top of the stove all the time. Quesadillas can really stretch meat, and you can add a variety of things, even making them to individual preference.

The old reliable slow cooker, of course, does wonders with cheaper cuts of meat. Do those of you who eat meat eat pork? Sometimes Cub has boneless country-style pork ribs (that's the kind that are very meaty) pretty cheap, and I slice an onion and put it in the bottom of the slow cooker, lay the ribs in, put a favorite barbecue sauce over it, and leave it on slow all day.

I have several Campbell's cookbooks going back to the 1950s that have recipes that use soup. I think some of them are surprisingly tasty, and my family has even eaten tham. You can substitute store-brand soup (Rainbow and Cub both have this) and make it even cheaper. Let me know if you want to look through them.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

OK, got one for you. It's a French Canadian family recipe and I still love it.

Brown about a lb of ground beef (with onions, if you like) crumbled and put it in the bottom of a casserole dish. Open a can of creamed corn and dump it on top of the beef. Make mashed potatoes (what would normally serve about 4-6 people) and put them (carefully) on top of the creamed corn. Spread it out evenly with a fork, and then pop it in the oven at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until it's a little browned on the bits that stick up.

Serve by dishing out spoonfuls, and then throwing ketchup on it. (My brother also puts mustard on it, but hey.)

We call it . . . um . . . phonetically it's 'pot ah SHEEN wa". It's pretty much shepherd's pie, but not. I guess.

We didn't mind the creamed corn, and my brother used to be a picky eater. (Then he hit adolescence, when he ate anything and everything . . .)

Good luck!

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

That was my suggestion- "eggs goldenrod" was the name in my family, probably dating back to the depression.

Hard boil eggs. Seperate the yolks out. Chop the whites.

Make a basic cream sauce, toss in the whites.

Pour over toast, and then grate the yolk through a little strainer or such, so that you have little shreds of yolk over it.

As long as everyone likes eggs, it's a universal fave.

[ink-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's it; my mother put mustard powder and paprika in the sauce. It works pretty well with about a cup of grated sharp cheddar, too.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I remember that! We had that all the time when I was a girl. Thanks for the memory. We called it goulash, because we were Norwegian and didn't know any better. :)

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Tuna-noodle casserole made with cream of mushroom soup and canned tuna. I loved it as a kid and even though my tastes are mostly more grown-up these days, I still love it.

MKK

[sternel.livejournal.com]

My maternal mastermind suggested Tubby Potatos, and then soundly scolded me for forgetting them in the first place. ;) Baked potatoes and just set out whatever toppings fit the bill: cheese sauce/shredded cheese, onion, broccoli, mushroom, whatever other veggies are around, chopped ham or bacon... Add spoons, and go nuts.

[dreamcoat-mom.livejournal.com]

Nope, not tinned--it's pressed meat, (http://www.buddig.com/original_cb-nutr-2-5.html) very thinly sliced and sold in small pouches. You can usually find it with other processed meats like hot dogs, sausages and pre-packaged cold cuts. Truthfully, we probably don't want to know what that processing entails, but nutritionally I think it's about as lean as any other cold cut.

[sociofemme.livejournal.com]

A ha! Thanks. :)

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Lentil soup. Soak your lentils overnight (one bag). In the morning, rinse them. Add ham hocks and one onion and a few cloves of garlic. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 2-3 hours. Take out the ham hocks, cut up the meat and put it back in the soup. Serve. If you don't have ham hocks, you can use regular ham or ask the butcher for pieces. It's tasty, filling, and cheap.

Irina had a recipe for french onion soup on her LJ a few days ago that's very, very good and very cheap as well.

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

Boil or microwave some potatoes. Cut them up and fry them in oil or butter with chopped onion, black pepper, an egg, and veggies.

[joel-rosenberg.livejournal.com]

Red beans and rice -- celery, onions, green pepper, (one cup or so each) garlic (a few cloves); chopped and fried in a little oil. Red beans, soaked overnight and drained; ham hock; whatever combination of red, white, and black pepper suits you. Simmer for 2-3 hours, with a ham hock, ham shank, or browned sausage, as suits your budget and fancy. Serve over rice.

Kelly's Asian Chicken is a little more high end, but not much. (You can google for the recipe; it's won awards.)

Chicken soup made from a stewing hen -- when you can find them, they're inexpensive.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

I'm working this year before grad school and am trying to save as much money as possible, though I have no interest in not enjoying my food. Here's one of my mainstays. It may not look that appealing to a picky eater, though perhaps could be made more so with creative combinations of colors of beans, but it smells heavenly, and that might tempt where looks fail. I serve it over rice, which makes for good texture and provides complementary protiens. It makes great leftovers, too--the flavors meld nicely as it ages.

Tuscan Bean Soup:

1 T olive oil
2 cups diced onions (2 onions)
1 cup diced carrots (2 carrots)
4 garlic cloves, minced.
6 cups cooked small red and/or white beans
or 3 15-oz cans, drained and rinsed
3-4 cups stock or water
1 tsp red wine vinegar
sage (I don't measure, but use generous amounts, probably at least a tablespoon)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook onions, carrots, and garlic in oil in bottom of pot until softish, stirring occasionally. Add rest of ingredients. Cook at active simmer for ~ 10 min. Ladle ~ 1/2 of soup into blender and puree; return to pot. Add more liquid to thick soup if desired.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

Crockpot bean soup. Two cups of mixed dried beans (soak overnight; helps if you boil them for 15-30 minutes before putting them in the pot), two or three 14-oz cans of crushed or diced tomatoes (or one bigger can), a chopped onion, a couple Italian sausages, some chopped carrot, a split or whole jalapeno, cumin, cinnamon when I feel adventurous. The only required ingredients are the beans and sufficient combination of tomatoes and water to make it a soup and give it some flavor, though the sausage and onion helps. One batch makes, oh, eight to ten servings, I'd say -- enough that my boyfriend and I each have two bowls on the night I make it, and two bowls another night, and I have it for lunch for several days.

[naomikritzer]

Cilantro Rice & Beans

1/2 lb dry black beans
1 1/2 c. white rice
2 c. packed cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

1. Soak and cook the beans. Cook the rice. (You can do this the night before, refrigerate, and reheat in the microwave right before serving.)

2. Put the cilantro and garlic into a food processor (the directions say it needs to be a food processor and not a blender), process until chopped, add the oil, process again.

3. Mix all together. Add salt.

(This is a really good dish, though I bet your girls won't eat it.)

Bean Stew

1 lb any sort of dried beans
8 to 16 oz any sort of smoked meat
1 to 2 onions
2 to 10 carrots, depending on how much people present like carrots
a stalk or two of celery
1 lb frozen corn
Anything else you've got handy that needs using up
thyme and savory OR chili powder and oregano

Soak the beans, then put them in a pot to simmer with the meat, onions, carrots, celery, corn, and anything else that isn't tomato-like. (If you have tomato paste or diced tomatoes, they're good in this, but can't be added until the beans are tender.) Add water to cover. Add spices to taste. Simmer for an hour or until beans are tender. This can be made in a crock pot.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

Beans and eggs on toast. I loved it as a kid. Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. Now I'll take hot green tea, leftover rice, leftover fish, soy sauce and a bit of seaweed (ok; that may be hard to sell) for ochazuke, the Japanese version of leftovers.

My all-time favourite dinner of my mom's when I was a kid was Icelandic crepes. You make thin crepes, butter them and put on brown sugar, roll them up, and add syrup. Put some chopped up fresh veggies on the table if you feel the need. Best. Dinner. Evar.

Sherried Beef

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

3 lbs. stew meat, cut into comfortable chunks (stays more moist if not too small)
2 cans Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
3/4 cup pale dry sherry (Taylors is fine)
1/2 to 3/4 package Lipton's dry onion soup (mix first by shaking)

1 or 2 jars of small whole onions, drained
*********
Combine all ingredients except small onions into a large casserole. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 3 hours. During the last 1/2 hour of cooking add the small whole onions.

You can also cook this in a crock pot -- I would just set at the low temp before going to work, and then add the onions when I got home. The dish falls apart like pot roast. If you want more texture, sear the meat before adding to the crock pot.

This can be served over rice or noodles. (I used noodles, since I had other things to put on rice.)

Makes eight servings -- and seems quite elegant for the ingredients. I would serve with a salad.

PS --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

If you need more meatless recipes, hunt around for a used copy of DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET and RECIPES FOR A SMALL PLANET. I remember several dishes in there that I really liked, and they are high protein, meatless dishes. Those recipes kept me alive in my "poor as a church mouse" days.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

I love this recipe because it's easy, tasty and you can substitute all vegetables for just about anything else. It's the perfect "empty your fridge" recipe.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

As others have said, ramen can be bought 4 or 5 packages for a dollar. Just add whatever meat or veggies your family will eat.

An awful lot of tradition recipes are about making a little meat go a long way. Yorkshire pudding, for instance, used to fill up a family before they started on the roast beef. Or any of the things like jambalaya or dirty rice, with bits of meat and veggies in with the filling rice. (Incidentally, we used to get Tony Chacere's version of these in a box. Add turkey sausage, cook for 20 minutes, and you have a not-bad quickie jambalaya.)

If you want it, I can give you my family's recipe for traditional Jewish chicken soup. The full recipe is lots of typing. But the basic ingredients, so you can judge, are 1 entire cut-up chicken, a few carrots, an onion, dill, parsley, and noodles. It takes a couple hours to make. The chicken is pretty tasteless afterward; the one way I've found to eat it that wasn't too bad is to make sate out of it. The marinade adds some flavor.

My version of chili is: brown 1 lb ground beef and a chopped onion, throw in a crockpot. Add a chopped tomato, 1 small can tomato paste, a can or two of diced or stewed tomatoes, some minced garlic, 2 cans black, red, or kidney beans, a can or two of tomato sauce, chili powder and other seasonings to taste (hot sauce, salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary, whatever), and maybe some beer to add extra liquid. Cook on high for maybe 4 hours, or on low for 6. This recipe is versatile enough that I think you could just omit the beans, and if you serve it over rice or spaghetti and with garlic bread it will go a long way.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

My mom made a very similar "Creamettes casserole", but put bits of butter and cream cheese in with elbow noodles instead of cottage cheese.