Well, with the cost of gas and food going up, do any of you have any frugal meals?
Here is one of my favorites (It can also be frozen and thaws well. We usually split it in half and cook half and freeze the other half for another time)
Baked Ziti
1 LB ziti cooked and drained
1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz provolone cheese (slices)
2 cups mozarella
1/2 c sour cream
Brown ground beef with onion. Drain. Add jars of sauce and simmer 15 minutes. In baking dish layer 1/2 cooked ziti noodles, provolone, sour cream, 1/2 sauce, then mozarella. Repeat with remaining ziti and then remaining sauce. I like to top it with some extra mozarella.
Bake @ 350 for 30 min or until bubbly.
If you freeze it, you should add a little more sour cream to the layering so it stays moist.
My family is anti sour cream, but they love this recipe!
Any other frugal meals???
5 comments:
This has become a favorite in my family and is the easiest meal ever! I always buy boneless, skinless chicken breast when it's on sale, and put it in the Crock-pot, cover it with water, and cook on low 8 hours or hi 4 hours. Then, I drain it, shred it, and mix some generic BBQ sauce into it, and serve it on buns. Instant BBQ chicken sandwiches!
Great topic, Laura. I'll post what I can come up with later. Thanks Carrie for your idea! Anyone else???
Yes, once or twice a week we do a vegetarian meal-much cheaper! One of the easiest ones (I think I already posted it awhile back) is black beans and yellow rice. Use Mahatma yellow rice-cook according to package directions. Zap a can of black beans in the microwave to heat. On each plate layer rice, black beans, fresh diced tomato, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and a touch of freash chopped cilantro (just leave off anything you don't like). This is a super fast meal, inexpensive, and loaded with flavor! Its also easy to double by buying the larger package of rice and adding another can of beans.
Also, soup, salad, sandwich. A chef salad is a great way not to let anything go to waste in your fridge, therby saving you money in the end.
I thought of something else: We've been eating ramen noodles tossing in any leftover meat or vegetables from another meal. We steam and salt some edamame to eat on the side (soy beans that you can find in the frozen veggie aisle. My kids bicker about who got more and they love to "pop" them out of their shells) You have a stir fry on the cheap. I think it serves our budget the most just not to waste anything, but to use what you have. Another idea is the rotisserie chicken you can get at Kroger and Walmart. It's already cooked so there's no heating up your kitchen. I think these are very affordable, because a. you can sometimes find them for 3.99 and b. we get two meals out of them. The key is not to get the side items (usually a major rip-off), but to do your own (can of greem beans, some rolls, corn on the cob-whatever). "Breakfast for dinner" is also typically a cheap meal and not a crumb of it is wasted at our house! This baked ziti sounds delicious.
This is a great topic.
I like a good hearty potato soup (no meat necessary) with home-made bread and salad is pretty cheap, too (and filling).
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