Criteria are: (mostly) home-cooked, reasonably nutritious, appealing to your tasty senses. No dietary restrictions.
One of my favorite staples since childhood (spent in East Germany) is lentil soup: about 1 lb dry lentils (soaked), a can of chopped tomatoes, broth (cubes for the extra economically minded), a few potatoes/carrot/onions, maybe some shredded cabbage, seasoning like paprika powder. I figure I can make 2 Ls (2 quarts?) at around or $5.00, at Colorado grocery store prices.
Potato latkes stretched with zuchinis or carrots also clock in at dirt cheap.
My own spaghetti sauce, takes no longer than it takes to cook the pasta.
Put a large or two small whole onions in the blender with a green pepper or two (I use poblano), and enough liquid to blend. Pour in a saucepan and cook long enough to defeat the raw onion taste, just a few minutes. Add a small can of salt-free tomato paste, and adjust liquid, and simmer. Add wine, Italian seasonings, as desired. Before serving, pour in a can of canned mackeral (cheap), including the liquid. Heat it through and break up the mackerel with a fork. Voila.
The mackerel is optional, you can serve it as a meatless sauce without it, but you’ll need to ad a bit of cooking oil or bacon grease then to give it some body, and a dash of salt. But the fish is really good in there, and not overpowering at all. Kids will love it, they will never suspect that there are nice fresh veggies and non-red meat lurking in there ready to sneak up and nourish them. Maybe a little over a buck a serving (4-5), including the pasta.
Chili mac
chili=Place ground beef (or veggie alternative) in a large pot and throw in garlic. Cook over medium heat until browned, then pour in tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne. Stir together well, cover, and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If the mixture becomes overly dry, add 1/2 cup water at a time as needed. I like to add chopped bell peppers and mushrooms, or whatever else you think of.
Once chili is ready mix in elbow macaroni and grated romano cheese.
Garlic bread is optional.
When I was a poor student, we made spaghetti sauce or chili from chopped chicken hearts that were dirt cheap. I like gizzards too. I once brought home a large wild mustard plant that I found growing by the side of the road and my wife cooked it up with lentils. Delish. Afterwards he mentioned to me that it had a protein component too–ants.
Chicken leg quarters $4-5 for 4 pieces.
Marinade Chicken in 2 parts ketchup 1 part sri racha sauce for at least an hour. Bake on a rack on a baking sheet 45 mins at 400.
Basmati rice $8 per 10 lb bag.
With minced garlic and whatever herb you may have on hand.
Green peppers -$.75 each.
Chop peppers in half, remove stems, seeds and pith. Coat halves in oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, and any other herb you have on hand. Throw in oven with chicken for last 15 minutes.
We call it ‘cheap, lazy chicken.’ About 7 dollars to feed 4 people.
Get a box of store brand macaroni and cheese dinner and a cheap can of tuna in oil. Cook the macaroni and drain it. Add in the mix packet and the entire can of tuna and all its oil. Stir until well combined.
Chop up a few slices bacon, cook in skillet along with chopped onion. Add a bunch of chopped fresh spinach (or chard) and a can of lentils (I cooked some up from dried), cook until hot throughout and spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper. I like to sprinkle a little vinegar over it when serving.
Yeah, lentils are delicious. I also make a vegan split pea soup which is dirt cheap: just simmer a pound of them in water with chopped onion, celery, carrot, a pinch of thyme, and a bay leaf for an hour.
Tonight’s dinner was polenta topped with steamed greens, and eggs fried in olive oil. Basically corn meal mush with dandelion and mustard greens and vinegar and eggs. Can’t get much healthier and cheaper than that.
Eggs for certain, inexpensive and can be prepared a zillion different ways, and they always taste good. Pastas, Potatoes and rice for stretching protein out. Gravies, stews, soups. The lowly sandwich, like a reuben, or grilled cheese, ham and swiss etc.
Homemade soup. You can make stock out of virtually any protein out there. When I was first married ans dirt poor from college loans, I would save bones and leftover bits of meat all week and make stock on Sundays. In those long ago days you could also get free bones from butchers (not sure that still holds true). Our local grocery also had a bin of veggies on their last leg for pennies on the dollar. I would pick up whatever they had available to add to the stock or the actual soup. To the finished stock, I would add two chopped up chicken wings and a cup of rice.
To go with the soup, I would grab a dry baguette or loaf from the day old rack and rehydrate it at home.
This would feed the two of us for 2 meals.
To this day, although I no longer need to go to such draconian financial measures, one of my favorite meals is still homemade soup and warm bread with butter.
The cheapest you’re going to find is going to be some variant on rice and beans, plus the spices of your choice. Maybe add some cabbage for vitamins, and some sort of fat.
Baked chicken thighs (always 99 cents per pound or so somewhere) tossed in butter and sriracha. Yields 5 lbs for around 6 bucks.
Just got a 10 lb bag of large russet baking potatoes for $1.89. Figure they are about 10 oz a piece. Around 12 cents for a baked potato. make it loaded with a tablespoon of butter, sour cream, ounce of cheddar, crumbled piece of bacon, a chopped green onion = That comes to around 85 cents for me.
Budgetbytes.com has lots of great recipes with cost breakdowns (with the caveats that YMMV based on the specific prices of ingredients at your local stores).
Forgot to add: Whatever you are making, either shop the sales or learn where the local “ethnic” markets are. Beans, rice, meat and such are a lot cheaper at the local Mexican grocery than they are at the nearest mega-mart. Fresher and tastier, too.
Mamaliga is a mainstay at my house, once or twice a week for a very quick lunch.
It’a a Romanian form of Polenta. Bring 2/3 cup water to boil (per serving), a little salt, keep it on high heat and add 1/3 cup yellow corn meal (not corn bread mix–yuk). Stir constantly (it won’t burn) with a wooden spoon a couple minutes, until instead of stirring, it rolls into a firm ball. It’s ready. Slap on a pat of butter and cover it with a dollop of sour cream, or your favorite cheese (Feta’s good). Sliced tomato or something on the side. Quick and easy.
It sticks like hell to evrything but wood (the stirring spoon) and maybe teflon. I don’t have any terflon, but soak the sauce pan in water for a couple of hours, and it will clean up easily
