I’ve been married for about a month now. Before marriage, I ate out for every meal. The only things in my fridge were soda, beer, water and orange juice. My fiancee would complain about how much money I was wasting by eating out. I’d tell her about how much time I was saving by not having to clean up anything. Besides, most of my meals were between $5 and $10, which isn’t that much. I promised her that once we got married, I’d change and help save money by eating in. Well, in a month, I’ve learned that eating at home is substantially MORE expensive than eating out. On top of that, my wife only buys the high-quality versions of food. I’m headed towards the poor house. Besides, it takes alot of time to prepare food at home. Right now, my wife is not working. But when she starts, I can’t see how she or I will ever get enough sleep with all the food preparation and cleaning. So please help. Please share your favorite recipes that are cheap, fast and simple. Thanks in advance.
Cheap, simple & quick are matters of opinion, but here is one of my favorites. Although it takes 3-4 hours to cook, actual time spent on labor is only about a half hour, it only takes one pan and you get six good-size meals out of it.
Pot Roast
Need: One large, deep roasting pan or deep lasagne pan like this.
Ingredients:
1 Hunk’o meat (top round roast, eye round roast, etc. It doesn’t have to be especially high-end because we’re going to tenderize it with heat :)). Size should not be much more than both of your fists held together, which in my experience ends up costing about $6.50-$7.00
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup - $1.50
Pouch of Lipton Beefy Onion Soup (or just onion soup, or just beefy soup, or beefy vegetable soup, or just veggie… well you get the idea, almost anything will work here. But I’m talking about those BIG pouches they sell two-in-a-box, not the little single serving ones that come four-in-a-box.) - $1.50
Bunch of cilantro (if you don’t care for cilantro, don’t worry because neither do I. The cilantro will cook into the mix and lose all of its nasty bitter flavor, leaving justy a mild but savory addition to the gravy.) - $1.00
1 pound carrots - $1.00
4-5 good sized red potatoes - $1.50
2 ripe tomatoes - $1.50
1 small onion (if you like) - $.25
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Place the hunk o’meat in the center of the roasting pan with the fatty side down. Don’t cut off any fat; any that’s still left after cooking will pull away easily.
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Pour both cans of mushroom soup over top. Don’t add any milk or water. Use a fork to spread it around if you don’t like the way it looks sitting there in one big blob, but it really doesn’t matter.
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Add a pouch of the Lipton powdered soup. If you like a stronger flavor, add both pouches. Or substitute one of those stew seasoning pouches that you can find in the gravy aisle.
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Wash off cilantro. Whack it into bits with a sharp cleaver. It doesn’t have to be tiny bits, because it’ll mostly cook away (even the stalks). 8 or 10 good whacks should do it. Dump it into the pan.
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If you decide to include the onion, chop it up and add it as well. I like my onion cooked all the way down just for flavor, but if you want the onion to be large edible pieces, save this step until the other veggies are added.
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Cover with aluminum foil. Seal the foil around the edges of the pan. Don’t poke any vent holes in the foil.
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Stick into a 400º oven.
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Cook for 2 hours.
No matter how many times I cook this, it never seems to be tender enough to add the veggies at two hours, so I always end up sticking it back in for another hour. YMMV.
Chop up the veggies, not too small or they’ll turn to mush. Cut carrots into 3rds & potatoes into quarters. Cut tomatoes into 8 wedges. Set aside until meat starts to get tender.
Once meat is tender, pull pan out of oven & carefully peel back foil. Add veggies all around the meat. Re-seal with foil. If foil has become too torn up with all of the periodic testing of the meat, get a new sheet of foil. In my experience, a good tight foil cover is important in making sure everything cooks without dryign out.
Stick back in the oven for 40-60 minutes, or until veggies reach desired tenderness.
You’ll find that the mushroom soup, lipton powdered soup & fat from the roast have all come together to make a nice gravy. The meat should almost be tender enough that you can pull it apart with a fork.
I know that sounds like a lot, but unless you’re a total klutz in the kitchen you should be able to get all of the labor out of the way in about 30 minutes and the rest is just cooking (and meat testing) time.
Total bill… $15.25. You should be able to get dinner for six out of this, unless you eat huge portions. That works out to about $2.50 per serving.
This is very much a “kitchen sink” recipe. You could add/substitute almost anything and it would probably still work out ok. Like green peppers? Great- chop one up and toss it in. I am often tempted to increase the measures to get more servings, but try to avoid this because you end up with a mountain of veggies on a little roast or a roast that is so big there isn’t enough room for veggies in the pan.
Really simple, but one I’ve loved since I was a kid.
Baked beans and beef
Take a can of baked beans, put in a skillet, add 1 pound ground beef, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the meat is all brown and crumbled. Serve.
You can find crock pot or slow cooker recipes with SDMB search or other internet sites.
Hey, Jackknifed! Don’t think of cooking as a chore; think of it as a craft. There’s something very satisfying about being able to feed the people you love. It’s damn sexy when a man (or woman) is a good cook. I know it can be intimidating at first, but it will get easier and more fun as you progress. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Unless you’re baking, you don’t have to stick religiously to a recipe.
Cooking in bulk will really cut down on the cost and save you time in the long run. When you’re making something like pasta sauce, double or triple the recipe. When the excess has cooled, pour it into Ziploc bags and pop it in the freezer. On nights when you don’t feel like cooking, defrost the sauce, boil up some spaghetti, and bam! Much tastier and cheaper than using sauce from a jar. Furthermore, the sauce can also serve as the base for lasagna, manicotti, eggplant parmesan, etc.
In the spirit of bulk cooking, here’s my recipe for black bean soup. You can easily double or triple the recipe, and it freezes really well. I usually serve it with cornbread and beer. If you don’t want to make your own cornbread (which I recommend, homemade cornbread is fantastic!), Jiffy-Mix makes a decent mix–at 33 cents a box.
Black Bean Soup
Cover about 10 sundried tomatoes with boiling water and set aside.
In a soup pot, saute one chopped onion and three or four crushed garlic cloves in some oil until the onions are translucent.
Add 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes. Cover and bring to a boil.
Add 2 16-oz cans of black beans, lower the heat and simmer.
Chop up the sundried tomatoes (they add depth to the flavor) and toss them in the pot.
Simmer for a bit longer, adding salt and more spices to taste.
Before serving, puree half the soup in a blender and return it to the pot.
Serve with sour cream or grated cheese.
There’s a cookbook out there called A Man, A Can, A Plan; it’s designed to have simple, fairly healthy recipes made with convenience foods like canned goods. I browsed through it in a bookstore and thought it looked interesting. A quick check just now showed it on Amazon.
Here’s my super-fast and good recipe, for when I’m hungry and lazy. My husband thought it didn’t sound good when I described it to him, but absolutely loves it.
Southwestern Pasta
1 can black beans
8 oz. salsa (adjust amount/type to taste)
8 oz. uncooked pasta - elbows, rotini, etc. work well for this dish
Optional: some shredded cheese
Boil water and cook pasta per instructions on the box. In the meantime, warm black beans and salsa in a pot on top of the stove. The salsa should be of a hotness level that you can eat a fair amount of, and there should be just enough mixed in with the black beans to make a very chunky sauce. When pasta is done, drain, put onto plates, and top with some sauce. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top if desired.
CHILI
Brown 1 lb. hamburger with a medium or large onion; add chili powder and garlic powder (a couple of good shakes of each).
While that’s cooking, start opening cans and emptying the contents into a medium- to large pot:
1 can diced tomatoes (WITH JUICE)
Drain the beans before adding these to the pot (dump 'em in a collander and rinse 'em if you’re feeling fancy):
– 1 can black beans
– 1 can white beans
– 1 can kidney beans (dark or light, or both)
Get the cooked hamburger out of the other pan with a slotted spoon to drain the grease (then put the grease in an empty can in the fridge so you don’t clog your drains). Add to the tomatoes and beans. Stir together. Taste. If it just tastes kind of blah, add a little salt. If it’s good but not spicy enough, add a couple of spoonfuls of salsa and/or some more chili powder. Don’t overdo it – it’s easy to add spice, complicated to tone it down.
Bring to a simmer (low, just slightly bubbling heat) and let it cook 20 minutes or so while you cook some rice (follow instructions on package – rice isn’t hard, you don’t need the instant crap).
Spoon the rice onto a plate; spoon on some chili; top with grated cheese (cheddar or jack).
Enjoy!
Cook some pasta (short pasta like fusilli or rotini), toss it with some extra virgin olive oil and BANG you’re done (obviously this is a side dish). Add some parsley if you feel like going nuts.
Chop up some bacon and fry it in a little olive oil; add some cream to the pan and cook till it has reduced to about 1/3, then toss it with some pasta. Especially good for your arteries.
Lettuce + cucumber + tomato + dressing = salad.
Take a cheap cut of steak (such as blade or round), brown it, then simmer in tomato puree or tomato juice until it’s tender (about 1/2 hour). Throw in some oregano if you want. Also it’s better if you saute an chopped up onion in the pan after browning the steak and before adding the tomato: Brown steak. Remove steak, sautee onion. Add tomato and steak, cover and simmer.
If you’re making something freezable (like twickster’s chili), make a ton of it, and freeze the leftovers in serving sizes. That way the effort you have invested in cooking it is amortized over several meals. I like to cook a big batch of something on the weekend so that I can eat leftovers during the week when I have less time.
Ok. This is called “Kids Are Desparate for Food Concoction”. I think it’s otherwise known as a “dip”, but makes for a quick, cheap and delicious dinner. Especially for two. (Costs a bit more for five, but not much more.)
Get some ground chuck, or ground round*. If you’re really wanting to cheap out, get regular ground beef, but be sure to drain it well. I’d say about two pounds.
Get some Velveeta. A large box of it. Also a can of Ro-tel, spicy or regular. It doesn’t matter.
A big ol’ bag of tortilla chips. I prefer the ones in a paper bag that taste more authentic, but any kind will suffice.
Ok. Brown the burger-meat. Drain any grease, because it’s just gross, otherwise. As this is browning, dice up the Velveeta and after the meat is done, put the chunks in with it.
Pour in a little milk. NOT much…about a quarter cup, or less. You don’t want it too soupy. It’s supposed to be a dip, not a broth.
Pour in the Ro-tel. Stir until all this goop is well-blended. Leave heat on about medium (stove top, I forgot to add) for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Check occasionally to make sure it’s not sticking or burning. Stir as needed.
After everything has melted to a great, cheesy consistancy, pour over (or beside, if you’re like one of my kids) the tortilla chips and chow down.
I always add cayenne pepper to mine afterwards, but I like really hot, spicy foods. You can always add any peppery things you like.
It’s really delicious, and not a bit expensive. It’s also great to serve during football season when everybody’s over to watch the game. Trust me on this. 
*If you like, you can also add just about any sausage to this meat mixture. I’ve used kielbasa and plain ol’ Jimmy Dean and they’re both good. I only wanted to give you the basic recipe on your first venture.
I was asking Burundi which of my recipes to give. She recommends my pasta sauce. And so:
Start with a medium-sized saucepot – about 2 quarts worth. Larger is better.
Add a good splort of olive oil. If you’re using a bottle with a drippy spout, give it about four big drips. Otherwise, a couple tablespoons oughtta do you.
Heat it up on medium-high. While it’s heating, grind in some black pepper, and throw in about 1-3 teaspoons each of your favorite herbs – rosemary, oregano, basil, parsley, etc. You can use a mix of herbs, that’s fine, but if you use them individually, you’ll learn their flavors better, I think.
Let this sizzle for a little bit. it’ll make your kitchen smell great.
Add:
1 onion, chopped into confetti-sized pieces
(cut in half. Place each half on cutting board cut-side down. Chop in a grid pattern)
6 or so cloves of garlic, crushed.
Turn the heat down to medium or so, and let it sizzle good. Stir it every minute or so.
Once the onions are translucent and soggy, add:
1 30-oz can chopped tomatoes. You can use puree if you want. Or more or less tomatoes.
Swish out the inside of the can with some red wine. Cheap wine=fine. Pour the wine into the sauce, about a half-cup or so of it.
Add in a teaspoon of salt, and taste it. It may need a little more salt.
Turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for a long time – an hour or so – until it’s all thick and good. Stir it occasionally while it’s bubbling.
Taste it again. If it’s got too strong a bite, add a squirt of honey or of ketchup to soften the bite.
Serve over pasta, over gnocchi, on pizza (you can use bagels, french bread, boboli, etc. for easy pizza), etc.
This recipe makes a good amount of sauce, and it’s very forgiving. As long as you don’t go overboard on the herbs or the salt, you should be fine.
WHat sort of food do you like when you go out to eat? That may help figure out what to recommend.
Daniel
Mexican Rice w/Chicken
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 jar salsa (16 oz. or there abouts)
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
1 cup frozen corn
8 oz bag of shredded cheddar
1 bag tortilla chips
Put the water, rice, 1/2 the jar of salsa, chicken, and corn in a pot, bring it to a boil, the heat down to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes then check it. If it’s soupy let it cook for about another 5 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
Spoon it onto a plate and add the rest of the salsa and the cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.
Of course you can play around with this and add anything else you like. I sometimes use the frozen already cooked chicken from the grocery store. It tastes surprisingly good.
To save money, buy the family pack sizes of meat when they are on sale, freeze in freezer bags until you’re ready to use. you can often get boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $2.00 to $2.50 a pound this way. Same with hamburger, porkchops, etc.
I always keep a jar of pesto and a jar of sundried tomato paste in my fridge, as an easy way to improve the taste of a variety of dishes. Jars of chopped garlic are great too.
For example, you can make porkchops in about seven minutes in a pan. Heat up the pan, throw in the porkchop, and smear once side with garlic. While the garlic side is cooking, sprinkly some rosemary and pepper on the other side. Flip it after about 4 minutes, cook until cooked through. For a side dish, peel and slice yams or sweet potatoes, and put in a ceramic or glass microwaveable dish with butter or olive oil, a sprinkly of salt, and a spoonful of brown sugar. Add a little water, and microwave, stirring a few times while they cook, until soft. If you want another side, just steam some frozen green beans.
Do you have a Trader Joe’s nearby? If you shop smart, they can be a great resource to make tasty, convenient meals. They usually have veggie mixes that can be steamed or used for stirfry. They also have really good pasta sauces that need nothing more than pasta to put them on.
Cooking large batches of things like soup and chili and freezing them is also a great way to cut down on time during the week, and still have some homemade food.
DanielWithrow’s pasta sauce is killer. I could eat big bowls of it plain.
Quesadillas are an extremely quick and tasty meal. The most basic version is to put shredded cheese and salsa on a tortilla, slap another tortilla on top of it (as if you were making a sandwich), and heat in a skillet on medium-high heat until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are nice and brown. You have to pay close attention, though, tortillas burn quickly.
You can add all kinds of other ingredients: chopped tomatoes, lettuce, fresh herbs, sour cream, bean dip, avocado slices, etc. Use whole-wheat tortillas if you’re feeling health-conscious and try different kinds of cheeses. I like sharp cheddar best, but really you can use any kind. (I’d recommend against American cheese, but then, I always do.)
Here’s an easy one my family loves!!
Ingredients:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (this will feed 2, 3 will feed 3, etc.)
- 1 cup (or a couple of handfuls) of bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup (about one handful) grated parmesian cheese
- milk
- fettucini noodles
- bottle of already made alfredo sauce (found in grocery store next to spaghetti sauces)
wax paper
Put chicken breast between 2 pieces of wax paper and pound till chicken is flat. Mix bread crumbs and parmesian together in plastic bag (or bowl or plate or whatever :)). Dip chicken pieces in milk then put chicken in bread crumb mixture and cover all sides. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and place chicken on that and bake in oven at 350* for about 20 minutes (till chicken juices run clear when you poke it with fork)
Cook fetticini noodles according to package while chicken is in oven. When noodles are done, drain and put back in pan. Then pour alfredo sauce over and heat till hot.
Optional:
Light candles and serve food with wine (maybe a chardonay)…
cost :
chicken=about $5.00
bread crumbs=about $1,50 (you’ll have plenty left over)
parmasian cheese=about $3.50 (you’ll have plenty left over)
noodles=about $1.00
alfredo sauce=about $2.50
wine: now that one depends on you 
Red beans & rice:
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throw some hamburger meat in a fry pan. Toss on some taco seasoning, crushed red pepper and whatever other spices you like (I put garlic, salt, pepper, sometimes mint, and italian seasoning).
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make some rice
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mix tomatoes (from a can…the kind that’s already pureed with onions and stuff) and kidney beans with the hamburger. Some more spices
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mix the rice and the rest of the stuff and you have enough food for leftovers for a week! (I just finished my leftovers tonight)
Killer chicken: -
defrost chicken
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put in pan with oil, balsamic vinaigrette, sherry, pepper, garlic, lemon peel (from a little seasoning shaker), lime pepper, and mint (if you don’t have any of these, s’ok it’s the balsamic and sherry that give most of the flavor, though the others help
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serve with a side of pasta or rice or veggies or whatever you want
Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts. Get em on sale. Frozen by them, or put into baggies and frozen by you. Keep em in twos so you can make stuff. Microwave thaw them in six or so minutes for two of them.
Onions. Lots of em, they keep fine, in a plastic colander on a shelf somewhere.
Noodles. Get em on sale, screw the brand, or the shape, until you develop prejudices of your own. If you pay more than 70 cents a pound for it, you need to shop better.
Hamburger. Buy the big package, scoop it up with a half-cup measuring cup, and then put it into a sandwich bag, smash that sucker flat, and seal it, put it in the freezer.
Frozen veggies. The little square box is too much for two people. Get the big bags, and use twist ties to keep the rest. Corn, and peas portion out the best, but you will get tired of them. Put em in boiling salted water, bring it back to a boil, and then let it sit covered until it’s as cooked as you like.
Taters. Keep em in the dark, in a dry drawer. Keep eight or so baking sized ones on hand. Baked potato is done by microwaving it for two minutes, and then baking it in the toaster oven for half an hour.
Mushrooms, Stems and Pieces. Get em on sale. Buy a case of small cans.
Spice rack: Garlic powder, Oregano, Basil, Chili, Cayenne Pepper. Cinnamon, Ginger, Paprika. Get good mustard. When it cooks in a sauce it gets much milder, and is a great change of pace taste.
Tomato sauce. Barilla, for spaghetti. Salsa. Plain tomato sauce, for when you decide to fly solo.
Sauce mixes. Frenches, and McCormick. Gravy, of various types. Try the Creamy garlic alfredo, it’s great on chicken, noodles and such. Chili and Taco mixes.
Corn bread mix. Read the box. (or, use cornmeal, and flour, and salt and baking powder, and egg, some margarine, and make your own, it’s easy.)
Buy the stuff to make tacos at the salad bar, and cook two of your beef patties with the taco sauce mix.
A bottle of microwave reheatable maple syrup, a box of the “add water only” pancake mix. A plastic container with a seal lid. You put the stuff in the container, with the water, shake, and pour it onto the heated fry pan, don’t touch it till there are bubbles popped and not refilled all the way across, and cover with hot syrup. (you mark the side of the container with a marker, when you get the proportions down pat.) Brown and serve sausages too.
Thaw out the Chicken breasts, brush them with butter, in which you melt basil, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven with two potatoes that you have half cooked in the microwave. In about thirty minutes, you put on a pot of veggies. Serve a salad while it finishes cooking.
While some noodles are cooking, Put the burger patties in a fry pan, with a bunch of chopped up onions, add garlic powder, and some other seasonings. Salt, for sure. Mash it up a lot while it cooks. Drain the fat off through a colander. Try that unseasoned tomato sauce. Let it simmer a while, with the noodles in it. Serve that with some garlic bread, and another of those salads.
Cook some Fetuccini, or you favorite shape noodle. Slice a couple of those chicken breasts into strips, fry up some onions, and then saute the chicken with them. Add some mushrooms, drained, of course. Pour in some milk, and add that package of Alfredo sauce mix, and simmer until done. Pour it over the top of the noodles. Good with a veggie.
Peel and slice those taters. (Cut the tater in half lengthwise, and slice with the flat part down to avoid rolling. A quarter inch is too fat, an eighth of an inch too skinny.) Put the taters in a pot with cold water, cover and turn on high. Saute some onions, one for each tater, when the taters boil over, turn them off, dump them through a collander, let them drip for a moment, and put them in with the onions, and add a bunch of Paprika, and a little bit of cayanne pepper, and salt. Turn them over a bit, as they cook, so they get brown on both sides. Great with eggs. Not bad with other stuff too.
Rice.
Two cups water, one cup rice. Whatever it is in needs a top, and it should fit tightly. It needs to get hot; it doesn’t matter how it gets hot. It does not need to boil, but it needs to stay hot, and sealed up for thirty minutes. Don’t stir. Don’t peek. Salt is actually optional, but most Americans want it. Fluff it up, after it is done, just before serving. If it doesn’t come out, change something. You will get there, don’t worry. I do mine in a covered pyrex dish, in the microwave, 5 and a half minutes on high, 15 minutes on low, and ten minutes just sitting there. Don’t peek.
Whole chicken breasts sautéed with onions, and two Jalapeno peppers, add ground Ginger. When the chicken is firm, and the onions transparent, add a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of tomato juice. Cover, and simmer for a while. Then add a tablespoon or so of finely ground corn meal. Stir as it thickens. Serve with rice. It’s spicy. OK, whimp out, and only use one pepper.
None of this stuff is expensive, all of it can be frozen as leftovers, and taken to work. (Well, the alfredo sauce will probably break.)
Tris
Here’s a quick favorite of mine.
Boil up one package of rotini.
Throw in the following items: One can of tuna, one bag of your favorite frozen mixed vegetables (thawed, natch) and some chopped onion.
Toss above items with Italian dressing.
I like to eat this with Triscuits. As a bonus, its good hot or cold.
A few recipes over here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2380114
Okay, some money saving advice.
First off, you need to tell your woman that “premium” brands are okay if they stand alone with little intervention by you two, the cooks. If you are making a casserole, go with the store brand.
I find that by far, eating at home is much cheaper. As a single person I can spend about $4.00 a day for food.
Eggs, damn cheap, learn to cook with eggs. Tuna, cheap, great for lunches.
Be willing to eat several meals of the same food item you cooked. Get a Food Saver and make quick meals out of left overs for later…you think the investment sucks initially but crap, in the almost two years I have had mine, I have saved enough in cheese alone to justify the cost.
Always look for meats on sale and divide them up and use the Food Saver to place them in the freezer…they will last up to a year in there. So if you think that you and your woman are in the mood for a steak tomorrow night, you pop that Food Saved steak in the fridge and you should be able to have a nice steak, a salad and some bread for an easy meal.
Crock Pot, Crock Pot, Crock Pot. You chop veggies, add in a little liquid and throw in the meat or chicken with some spices. You can be VERY creative with this and it’s minimal effort.
Grill early, grill often. Grilling can be a very tasty experience.
Learn to cook together, share the duties. Use it as a tool to rehash your day with a nice bottle of wine while you are chopping and preparing. Cooking is more than throwing something together to fill your belly, it can be a soothing and theraputic experience and as a couple can really bring you together. Think about that failed chicken dish and you will be able to laugh together about it later.
Get an indoor grill. I have one on the way! They are easier to clean and if you live in a winter prone area, you can have a nicely grilled fresh fillet in no time.
I have a buttload of recipes…if you are in the need for some specific type of dish, I can either pull it off my hard drive or hunt it down for you.
If I were up to it, I would go to culinary school and learn to cook professionally but alas, I am a humble person and don’t have the cash. So cook with your lady and make it a fun way to enjoy each other’s company.
BTW, most people I know that cook at home spend about 1/3 - 1/2 less in their overall food budget than by eating out constantly…and that doesn’t include McDonalds and Taco Bell. Besides, if you look at the fast food websites, most typical fast food meals give you 1/2-2/3 of your entire daily needs for calories, some 100% of your fat and are loaded with ingredients you don’t want or need.
Also, actually seeing the grocery bill is proof of the food you purchased, you probably never paid attention to how much you actually paid for eating out all the time.
Like I said, I have a ton of recipes that are easy, cheap and healthy if you are interested just jot me off an email when a dish sounds like something you two want to make.