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.
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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.