Lunch/Dinner/side dishes
- Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's Pie
Make mashed potatoes by boiling 2 or 3 peeled cut up potatoes and mashing with a little butter and milk.
Meanwhile, in a jar, put approximately ½ cup cold water and 1/3 cup flour – Shake vigorously. Set aside.
Make 1 cup beef bouillon with boiling water and a cube; set aside.
In a large skillet , brown 1 lb ground beef. Drain. Add bouillon and reduce to a gentle boil.
Stir in approximately 1 tsp gravy browner to season and darken the sauce. Thicken with flour and water mixture by adding a little at a time and stirring constantly. You may not need all of it.
Put beef mixture in a casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes (gently and evenly). Butter the top to help it brown.
Bake at 350°, approximately 30 minutes or until brown.
Place foil underneath to catch drips.
Brown Ground Beef, stir in water and flour, top with mashed potatoes and bake in the oven.try adding corn/peas, or other frozen vegetables. Buy your ground beef in the larger packages, and freeze them in smaller sizes in plastic wrap.- Rice
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Cooking Rice
Traditional rice takes a long time to cook. To make 2 cups of cooked rice, take 1 cup of dry rice, and add 1 cup of water.
put them together in a pot with a lid, and simmer gently on low-to-medium for about 20 minutes.
Add a couple of bouillon cubes to plain rice to make a delicious seasoned rice. Serve lots of it with every meal. Mix it up with different types of rice - Brown, white, short grain, long grain. for extra credit, find an Asian Market, and tell them you want "Sweet-rice"try cooking it so it comes out dry, or try with slightly too much water. Dry rice, sticky rice, and creamy rice can make for good variety.
- Ramen
- Ramen is the original cheap food in my book. The trick it to make it appetizing. It works as a soup, or as moist noodles. Top it with ANYTHING -- egg, cheese, fruits, veggies, meats, LEFTOVERS. add a teaspoon or two of sesame oil to your ramen for a more traditional taste. Add barbeque sauce for a less traditional one.
- Macaroni and cheese
- The cheap boxes with powdered cheese food product substitute. If you get bored with the plain mac and cheese, try adding ground beef and diced tomatoes. serve it on top of the seasoned rice with tortilla chips and sour cream on the side and it's suddenly tex-mex-mac-n-cheese.
- Pasta with Marinara
- Spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. Buy the cheapest sauce you can find, then add salt, pepper, garlic, italian herbs, and a tablespoon of honey to make it taste fantastic. Mix things up by serving anglehair one day, and baked ziti another. top your baked ziti with diced chicken and cheese!
Breakfasts
- Oatmeal
- It's really cheap if you buy it in the big tubs. Boil quick-oats on the stove for breakfast and stir in whatever you want - sugar, pancake syrup, jelly, milk, bananas, butter and salt, mint, coffee, etc... it's also really really good for unless you go overboard on the mixing in.
- Pancakes
- Yes, really. they're mostly flour and water! They freeze great too!
Snacks/deserts
- Peanutbutter Snack
Peanut Butter Snack
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Cup "Quick-Oats" Oatmeal
1 Cup Powdered Milk
Mix together, play, and eat.
It's Cheap and easy to make. The kids can help, and it keeps well in the fridge.and you can model with it like Play-Doh.