Cheap, Nutritious, and Easy to Make Meals

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Well, I don’t live on my own, but I eat a lot of eggs. Eggs are so versatile. Add cheese and ham if you want to. Peppers and onions. Sausage. Salsa. Tomatos. Whatever you like. Kinda like breakfast stir-fry.

For more dinner-like food, take a couple of pork chops. Open up a can of cream of mushroom soup, dump in an oven pan with the right amount of water. Add a couple of handfuls of rice, to your desired amount of riciness. Throw it all in an oven pan (they call those roasting pans, right?) and add some more water for the rice. (Don’t worry about not adding enough, you can always add some more later, and some will evaporate off anyway, sorry I don’t have an amount) Cook for about an hour to an hour and a half, until the rice and chops are done. The sauce also makes an excellent gravy for some potatoes.

22

We made these in Camp Fire Girls during camping trips, and they’re still good:

1/4 pound hamburger (or one chicken pice, or one pork chop)
1/4 medium onion
1 medium potato
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
Salt and pepper
1 sheet aluminum foil.

Form hamburger into a patty. Peel onion, potato, carrot. Slice all veggies to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Put veggies in center of foil. Top with meat. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring the upper right and lower left corners of the foil together, fold over several times. Do the same with the upper left and lower right corners. At the end, you should have a completely sealed packet. Put this packet on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish (in case it leaks, but it shouldn’t) into an oven set at 375 for about 30 minutes. Dinner is done when the meat is cooked all the way through and the veggies are soft.

A tossed green salad is good with this. Note that you’re getting two kinds of veggies, one kind of starch, and a serving of meat in this dish. Adding a green salad or another vegetable makes it even better.

We used to toss these packets into the campfire and let them cook, but they will work in an oven or in a grill, too. The meat provides a lot of flavoring for the vegetables, which in turn flavor the meat. My daughter is particularly fond of making this dish with chicken.

By the way, when buying hamburger meat, go ahead and buy a fairly good-sized amount, in order to get the bulk savings. Then make a lot of waxed paper squares, big enough to put a burger patty on. Form patties, place one patty on a wax square, and then put them on a cookie sheet to freeze. After they’ve frozen, put them in a FREEZER zipseal bag. Expel as much air from the bag as you can, and toss it in the freezer. Now you can take out one patty at a time in the morning, put it in your fridge, and it will be nicely defrosted when you come home. Even if you make something other than a burger, it’s a good way to freeze individual portions, and in an emergency you can pull a patty out of the freezer and just fry it in a skillet while it’s frozen, though this will take a bit longer and it won’t be as tasty.

23

My recipe for roast chicken and veggies. For a single person, I’d suggest roasting the chicken and freezing most of the meat in individual servings.

My recipe for chicken fried steak. This is a high-fat, starchy, bad for you dish. But everyone who eats red meat loves it.

Get one of Peg Bracken’s cookbooks (probably from the library) and take notes. Lots of notes. One of the recipes that I swiped from her is called Innocent Chicken.

Melt butter or margarine. Coat chicken piece(s) with this. Roll chicken around in seasoned bread crumbs. Either use the kind that’s preseasoned, or add salt, pepper, and garlic salt to the crumbs, or add poultry seasoning and seasoned salt to the crumbs. Then bake in a 350 degree oven, turning once if you happen to think of it, until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle, or until the meat thermometer reads “Poultry”. This is one of the easiest, yet tastiest, chicken recipes that I’ve ever found. I’m sorry, I don’t remember how long this takes to cook…generally I just test it after half an hour or so. I THINK it takes an hour, not sure.

24

I made this a few nights ago with stuff I had laying around.

Johnny Bravo’s Psuedo-Lasagne.

1 or 2 pounds of ground beef/turkey
1 29 oz can of diced tomatos (undrained)
1 12 oz can tomato paste
Some fresh garlic.
A couple of onions.
For the sauce: Oregano, basil, salt, a little brown sugar, whatever you like in a pasta sauce.
1 pound rotini pasta
1 fresh tomato.
A bunch of fresh scallions.
A block of mozzarella cheese (1 lb).

Dice up the garlic and onions and set them cooking in a big skillet with a little oil. Once the onions are cooked as much as you like, add the meat and brown it through. Drain the fat. Add the canned tomatos and paste, along with all the seasonings. Set it simmering (that means bubbling just a little bit) and let it cook 30-45 minutes.

Now grate the cheese and put it in a bowl. Dice the fresh tomato and scallions and mix those in with the cheese. Set it aside for a while. Set a pot of water to boil and cook the pasta. Make sure it doesn’t get too soft and try to time it to finish about the time the sauce is done. Directions for the pasta will be on the box.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When the pasta is done, drain it but don’t rinse it. Put a layer of the pasta in a baking pan, then a generous layer of the cheese/tomato/scallion mixture, then a layer of the sauce. You’ll probably have a little pasta left, so toss that evenly over the sauce, then add the rest of the sauce, then the rest of the cheese. Put it in your preheated oven 20-30 minutes. When it’s done, let it stand 10 minutes and then serve.

This is a lot of food. It fed me for three days. I also think it’d be really good with some mushrooms added to the sauce.

25

Yeah, Mom always used biscuit dough for the bottom crust, but I never seem to make enough dough and wind up just doing a top crust a lot of the time. We’ve always made it with homemade biscuit dough, but I’ve seen people do it with Bisquick or canned biscuits, too. Bake at 350 for half an hour or so, till the crust is golden brown.

There’s really nothing to read up on, to be honest. It’s like meatloaf; there are a million different ways to do it, and none of them are wrong. Mom boils up chicken with just salt and pepper, and makes a thin bottom crust and a thicker top crust from regular biscuit dough. I put Italian seasoning and garlic in with my chicken, and add extra shortening to my dough so it’s a bit flatter and flakier. A friend of mine throws canned chicken, cream of mushroom soup, and whatever canned veggies she has handy in a casserole dish and spoons some Bisquick over the top.

26

i have found from living with japanese people for 2 years that there are very easy to make, and very very good meals available…here is the easiest, and most possibly one of the best things i have ever tasted.

soboro gohan:

get about a pound of ground beef, rice, two eggs, some sugar and soy sauce. that’s it

cook the beef, add soy sauce and sugar to taste (it’s good trust me)

scramble the eggs, and put both on top of rice.

heaven in a bowl if you ask me.

27

Broomstick’s Too-Easy Stew, No Measuring Required:

You need a big stock pot for this one - at least four quarts. Fortunately, they aren’t terribly expensive.

1 lb (more or less) meat - can be cubed, ground, shredded, any kind
1 large package frozen mixed vegetables
– or —
several small packages of individual vegetables.
1 lb of rice or pasta
1 or 2 cans of gravy

Put meat in pot. Add just enough water to cover meat, then bring to roiling boil. Add vegetables. Cook for at least one hour. Add rice/pasta and cook until the starch is done (box/package should come with directions). Add gravy. Stir thoroughly. Serve with salt shaker and sauce(s) of your choice (hot, soy, worchestershire, whatever)

This of course makes a HUGE pot of stew. Buy some of those cheap “ziplock” or “gladware” containers, fill 3/4 with stew, and freeze (you only fill 3/4 because water expands when it freezes - can result in mess). Nuke to reheat.

The cool thing is that variations are endless - different meats, different vegees. You could even do this vegetarian with beans and maybe some tomato sauce instead of meat.

28

Get a handful of Lil Smokies
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 half can water
1 cup instant rice

Put it all in a pot and bring to a light boil. Cut off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes.

Sometimes I’ll use kidney beans instead of Lil Smokies and I’ll add crushed red pepper, whatever. It’s cheap and easy, just the way I like it, and it’s reasonably healthy, too.

29

If you like genuine tacos, you can make Carnitas very easily and freeze it for quick tacos anytime.

Get a large (4lbs.or more), really cheap cut of pork or beef (a pork shoulder/picnic or butt, or a beef chuck roast- don’t use an expensive and lean cut of meat, the cheaper and fattier the better.)
Cut the meat into large cubes/chunks.
Brown the meat in a little oil in a large baking pan or oven proof pot on the stovetop.
add 1 or 2 chopped onions and several cloves of chopped garlic

-add one or all of the following to taste
chipotle peppers
jalapeno peppers (or any kind of pepper)
tomatoes or a little tomato paste
cilantro
cumin
oregano
chili powder or taco seasoning
orange or lime peel or juice (go light)
salt & pepper

At this point add Water, Beer, or Chicken Broth (your choice) just short of covering the meat. Bring to a boil.
Cover the pot with alluminum foil or a lid and place in a 275 degree oven for about 3-4 hours. Remove the foil or lid the last hour of cooking for a drier Carnitas.

You can portion this into plastic sandwich bags and freeze. Keep some tortillas and veggie toppings handy and just break one out and microwave it when you feel like tacos.

30

I know I promised you soup recipes…I’ll try to dig some up later when I get home, but this one’s pretty easy.

Burger-Veggie Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 lb bag mixed frozen veggies (whatever kind you like…I see that you don’t like green beans, but you can probably find some varieties without them)
1 lb bag frozen corn
2 gallons beef broth

Start by browning the ground beef, which you can do right in the soup pot if you want (saves on dirtying multiple pans). When the ground beef is done browning, dump it into a colander and rinse it off with warm water (this cuts down on the grease factor). Rinse the pot out and put the ground beef back in. Add beef broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add frozen veggies, simmer for 10 minutes or so. Salt to taste…how much you’ll need will depend on how salty your beef broth was to start with.

That’s all there is to it. You can experiment with it by varying which veggies you throw in…I’m a big fan of corn, but you can also try putting in potatoes (peel & cube a few potatoes, throw in with the ground beef and bring to a boil, boil for 15 minutes or so before throwing the other veggies in, simmer until the potatoes are done to your liking) or maybe some stewed tomatoes. Don’t be afraid to play around with it.

31

The Best and the Worst all in one, for your dining enjoyment.
Kraft Dinner (that’s right, and by the way, I know you have some…)

Add brocolli chunks about 1 - 1 1/2 mins before the noodles are done.

Drain, stir in cheese like powder, and mix as usual.

Tres yummy, and I defy anyone to say it’s not good for you to get fresh brocolli into your diet.

And it couldn’t be easier.

It’s what I eat when I cave to the need to have junk food.

And did I mention how very yummy it was?

Enjoy.

32

Folks be sure to watch Manduck’s new show on The Food Network. It’s called “Dinner In Hell.” :eek:

33

The beauty of this recipe is that it doesn’t necessarily require anything that goes bad on a short timescale, so you can keep stuff around for when you don’t feel like shopping. All of the ingredients are easily available (and cheap) at any decent grocery store. It doesn’t require a lot of effort, attention, or planning in advance, either.

It also requires no measuring and no equipment except a big pot, a spoon, and something to chop onions with (if you want to use onions- you don’t have to). I use the food processor for the onions.

If you leave the corn, white beans, or black beans out, it isn’t really Maryland flag chili (the Maryland flag is red, white, black, and yellow). But it’s still good chili.

1 large can or 2 regular cans chopped or diced tomatoes
1 can white beans or chickpeas
1 can kidney beans (light or dark red are both fine)
1 can black beans
1 can corn or Mexican/Fiesta corn (you can also use frozen corn)
Chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper to taste
Optional stuff:
Water or some type of stock
1 large or 2 small white or yellow onion(s), sliced (I use the slicer disk of the food processor)
Ground beef, or vegetarian ground-beef substitute
Frozen bell pepper strips (if you really wanted to get fancy, you could cut up bell peppers yourself, but that’s kind of missing the point)
Splash of tequila
Shredded cheese, the kind that comes in re-sealable bags, any type you like
Tortilla chips, any flavor, can be slightly stale and/or in tiny crumbs

If you’re using onions, ground beef (you can do this if you’re using veggie-beef, but you don’t have to), and/or pepper strips, brown them in the big pot first. If you’re not using ground beef, put a little cooking oil in the pan first. Cook the beef until it is done or nearly so, and the onions until they don’t look raw anymore. A big nonstick pot makes cleanup easier if you are doing this, but it isn’t necessary.

Put the tomatoes, beans, and corn in the big pot. Don’t drain the tomatoes first. You can drain the beans first if you like.

If you’re using tequila, put it in now.

If you like your chili as more of a thin soup than a thick stew, put in water or stock to thin it (I don’t do this- I like thick chili).

Stir the ingredients in the pot until they are well mixed up.

Turn the heat up to high, until the chili boils. When it does, turn it down so it is barely bubbling (somewhere around medium-low or 3 on my stove, yours may vary).

Put in the chili powder, cumin, and salt and pepper. Taste the chili to see when it’s the way you like it.

Leave it simmering on the stove until you are ready to eat. It will be better the longer it sits, but is good right away, too.

When you eat it, you can put shredded cheese and/or crumbled-up tortilla chips on top.

This recipe makes a lot (enough for at least 4 people), and the chili reheats well for future lunches or dinners. You can also freeze it. We make ours thick, and Mr Neville likes to make burritos filled with the leftover chili.

34

Here’s another recipe that doesn’t require fresh ingredients (you can freeze ground beef- I lived on frozen ground beef in my last year of college), planning in advance, or measuring:

Spaghetti, linguine, or other pasta
1 package ground beef, ground turkey, or veggie-ground-beef
1 large can or 2 small cans diced or chopped tomatoes. You can also use about half a jar of tomato sauce.
1 small can tomato paste or tomato sauce (you don’t need this if you’re using jarred tomato sauce)
A little bit (about 1/2 to 1 glass worth) leftover red wine. This can be red wine that’s been sitting opened in your fridge for weeks.
Dash of oregano and/or basil or Italian seasoning (dried herbs are fine)
Parmesan cheese- the stuff in a can will do in a pinch, but pre-shredded Parmesan in tubs from the grocery store or a wedge of Parmesan that you grate yourself is much better.

Brown the ground beef or turkey (you don’t need to do this with veggie-beef) in a large pot. The beef or turkey should be cooked through by the end of this step.

Put the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce (or the jarred tomato sauce) in the pot with the meat. Don’t drain the tomatoes first. Stir.

Put the wine and seasonings in the pot.

Bring the sauce to a boil. After it boils, turn it down so it is barely bubbling (this is medium-low or about 3 on my stove- yours may vary). Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt, pepper, or anything else you think it needs at this point.

At this point, the sauce can simmer for as long as you want it to. It will be better the longer it cooks, but it will still be good right away.

Cook the pasta in another pot, following the directions on the pasta package.

When the pasta is done, drain it.

Put sauce on the pasta, put cheese on top, and enjoy!

If you want leftovers, don’t mix the pasta with the sauce- it will absorb the liquid in the sauce and make the sauce clumpy. Just keep the sauce in a jar or other container in the fridge or freezer.

35

This is my favorite snowed-in, scrounging the cupboards recipe:

-one tub of Lloyd’s beef barbeque (in the meat section). They have other flavors and meats which would be good as well.

-frozen mixed veggies. I particularly like anything with corn, limas and okra

-large bottle of spicy V8

-Tabasco to taste

Mix all ingredients in a stock pot and simmer until hot. This is better the longer it simmers, but it can be ready in less than 20 minutes. And it keeps really well, frozen or refrigerated.

36

The recipes on the back of Minute Rice boxes are great, easy and cheap.

37

Take one pot and one pan. Fill pot with water, bring to boil. Add double handful of pasta.

Heat pan, add sausage* and chopped green pepper. Cook thoroughly.

Drain pasta, add sausage mixture. Add handful or so of shredded cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Enjoy.

This is kind of junk food, but add a serving of canned vegetables to it and you should be fine. Recipe might make enough for two meals – that’s okay, put half in the fridge, it should keep for a week or two. Or take it for lunch and throw it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Everyone will want to have some, it smells so good cooking!

*If the sausage is not spicy, add some pepper and a pinch of sage.

38

Don’t overlook the wonderful art of manly grilling as well. It’s very healthy, and really quick.

Buy meat
Put one serving of meat in ziplock baggie.
Poor in a little meat marinade(you can by in bottles or make your own) and squish around.
Throw in freezer.

Then when ready to eat:
Put meat in sealed baggie in a bowl of hot water, a single serving piece of meat will defrost in 20 minutes.
Heat up grill.
Put meat on grill.
eat.

39

I know somebody who could be a guest on that show, who served me what was to me at least the Lunch From the Depths of Hell. :slight_smile:

I’ve had good luck doctoring up ready-made soups – they’re not terribly healthy, I know – by adding pasta, rice, whichever. I’ve found that frozen tortellini and ravioli and whatnot can be pretty good in soup, I cook them partway and then they finish up in the soup. This works best in soup that doesn’t have its own pasta in it; something along the lines of lentil, maybe. When I have a cold I like to add curry powder to chicken noodle soup. That way I can taste it, and if it’s spicy it helps clear my head a bit.

It never occurred to me before, but you could add veggies just as easily.

40

My standard fare when cooking for myself involves:

-Rice cooker
-Meat (normally chicken)
-Veggies (normally part of a bag of frozen mixed veggies)
-Flavoring (like curry powder) or sauce (like a citrus marinade)

I just dump 'em in the rice cooker, add water (at least enough to cook the rice with, see ‘notes’ below), turn the rice cooker on and wait. In 10-15 mintues, it’s all cooked and ready to eat.

Notes:
-Chicken tenderloins work well.
-You may prefer the taste of the meat if you brown it first.
–Hamburger is something I always cook seperately, then add it later.
-Some sauces and flavorings work well when added at the very beginning (curry, citrus), others work better at the end (BBQ). Your tastes may vary from mine though.
-Make sure the meat isn’t too thick, else it won’t be cooked by the time the rice is. Pre-cooking and browning may help.
-Canned veggies tend to come out a bit mushy this way, while fresh/frozen tend to come out a bit crisp.
-You’ll need at least enough water to cook the rice with, possibly more depending on what else is in there. (Some ingredients absorb water, others release it.) It’s easier to let too much liquid boil off than it is to salvage burnt rice!

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