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.
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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.