In Need Of Some Easy,Cheap Recipes

reply to post by REMflyer


Plus you can make jellies and fruit cheeses with loads of stuff that you can forage...hawthorn berries, quince, crab apples...plus elderberry and elderflower cordials when they're in season...just avoid those growing along busy roads.

Originally posted by kdog1982
reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

 

The different varieties of pies is a good idea.I never really have gone down that road,but it will be cheap,easy and something different.
Someone mentioned Shepherds pie also,which being remotely Irish,is really good and I haven't done that in a very long time.

I have, from budget concerns in the past. The neat thing is, that with the varieties of soups and choices of meat and veggies, you can do a LOT of variations, to suit most tastes.

One of my family's favorites is Runsas, they are meat and cabbage rolls wrapped and baked in a yummy bread.

Dough: 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees) Filling: 3 Tblsp unsalted butter ( 2 melted)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (I use a whole small can) 1 1/2 lbs gr beef
1/4 cup veg oil (I use olive) large onion chopped fine
2 Tblsp sugar 1/2 head of cabbage chopped fine ( I use it all
1 lg egg salt and pepper
3 1/2 cups ap flour 8 slices american cheese ( I use a shred mix)
2 pkgs instant yeast
1 tsp salt

for dough: lightly grease a lg bowl, mix water, milk, oil, sugar & egg in lg measuring cup
mix flour yeast and salt in your stand mixer with the bread hook
on low add water mixture into the flour mixture after it comes together increase speed to med and mix until shiny & smooth ( 4-6 min) Turn dough out onto heavily floured surface shape into a ball and place into greased bowl cover with plastic wrap and place in warm area to rise until double (about an hour)

Filling: With one Tblsp of butter brown your meat, drain all but a couple tblsp of fat out, transfer meat to a paper towel lined plate and leave the fat in the pan. Cook onion in same pan until soft, add cabbage and stir until soft, return beef to pan and season with salt and pepper ( a bit of spike and garlic powder go a long way here too)

With racks at upper mid and lower mid in the oven heat it to 350 degrees
lightly grease 2 cookie sheets
divide dough into 8 equal pieces roll each piece flat individually
The easiest way to fill them is to lay each sheet into a deep cereal bowl and place cheese on the bottom, put about 3/4 of a cup of filling into each one, wrap the dough over and pinch shut
place 4 buns per sheet,cover with wrap and place in warm area to rise again, about 20 minutes
bake until golden brown about 20 minutes brush with the 2 Tblsp melted butter

They are super cheap and very good. You can also use a premade dough (frozen or refrigerated) but the scratch recipe is worth the time. I use alot of cabbage, because it grows so well up here.

Colcannon is another cheap gem that the family loves.
It is homefries, ham chunks and cabbage all cooked down together.
Just make sure you brown your potatoes a bit before adding the cabbage to get some extra flavor.

I have a ton more in some great cookbooks I have, ask if you need more ideas.
The cookbooks are Depression Era Recipes by Patricia R. Wagner
and Secrets of The Great Old-Timey Cooks Historic Recipes, Lore & Wisdom by Barbara Swell
among others, I agree with everyone on Cooks.com too, I also get their magazine ( as a running Christmas gift) that is full of great stuff. Good luck and happy cooking.

The Magic of Maruchin

Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the noodle

So you say you want it cheap and simple. Well it don't get much cheaper and simpler than this. I buy a 12 pack of them from WalMart for $2.24. That makes 12 meals for me for, in most cases, for under .20 cents plus the minimal cost of a few other ingredients. I don't think any meal I make from them goes over $1.00.

Basic ingredient - Maruchin brand Ramen noodle packets.

NOTE: - If you are on a low sodium diet you can toss the flavor packet and substitute a packet of Herb Ox brand sodium free chicken base. If you like beef, Herb Ox makes a sodium free beef base too.

Method one...

NOTE: - This method is expandable to feed more than one by simply using two or more Ramen packages and adding more of the ingredients. Scallions, otherwise known as green onions, are a great flavor enhancer for almost all of the dishes listed below.

Cook the noodles and toss the water. Then add some butter and the flavor packet. Voila, you have a quick and simple buttered noodle dish for one. And I can cook the noodles in my microwave in 6 minutes while preparing other ingredients.

When you have your chicken flavored buttered noodles you can add other things to make it more interesting. Try "Little Smokies" brand cocktail sausages cut into 4 or 5 pieces each. Now you have a dish with both carbs, flavor and meat. Any other cooked meat will work just as well. Got some leftover pork roast or chicken, just cut it up into appropriate size pieces and use them instead of the Little Smokies.

OK, I know; its not a well rounded meal yet. well bippy, there is nothing stopping you from adding some veggies too. Any pre cooked vegetable can be added to the noodles after they are cooked. The same goes for raw vegetables that you like to stay raw. But, you can also cook some vegetables right along with the noodles. Green bell peppers, onions, celery and much more can be cooked in the water with the noodles.

I made a quick cheesy version the other day with the sausages and a serving of southwest vegetable and cheese sauce from a frozen steam in the bag mix.

Another of my favorites is to use pre cooked maple flavor sausage patties cut into pieces along with some poached eggs done just until the whites are firm but the yolks are still a little runny. I add them to the basic buttered chicken flavor noodles and VOILA again; you now have a breakfast dish. Cut the eggs up with your fork to get that golden goodness of the runny yolks into your noodles.

Method two...

NOTE AGAIN: - This method can be expanded to feed as many as you need to by simply adding more Ramen packages. While some of the ingredients will make this a little more expensive, it is still a very tasty and low cost "quick fix" dish.

The Ramen noodles also make a super good soup starter. The simplest, of course, is just to have the noodles and flavor packet.

But then what fun is that? So now, lets get creative again. You can get some very creative ideas by cruising your local oriental market or, if you have one nearby, Trader Joe's. Some large supermarkets also have a good selection of ethnic foods.

An extremely good recipe is to make as many Ramen packets as needed to feed your family and add any or all of the following ingredients to your particular taste.

1 - Fresh ginger root and/or garlic. Like garlic, ginger root can be used in many ways from whole slivered slices to grated and anything in between.

2 - Small oriental dumplings. You may need to visit an oriental market to find these.

3 - Fresh 48 ton 60 count peeled and cleaned shrimp. Be sure not to add them too early as they will become tough and tasteless if overcooked.

4 - Bok Choy - This one also needs to be added late to avoid overcooking.

5 - Scallions, or green onions (yes, I know they are the same thing). Cut them on the bias for an authentic look. These can be cooked right along with the other ingredients but I like them best added raw just before serving. For a milder flavor use just the white and light green portions. For a stronger flavor use more, or all, of the dark green parts.

6 - Mushrooms, cut any way you like them; or not cut at all. Don't forget that there are other tasty mushrooms like $hitakes, enokies and tree ears, just to name a few.

7 - There are many non oriental vegetables that can also be used.

Now it is up to you grasshopper, experiment for yourself and surprise your whole family with your ability to cook cheap and tasty meals on a tight budget.

reply to post by woodsmom


Oh,wow!
That sounds really good.

Thank you.

reply to post by happykat39


I will have too try that.
Creative way with the ramen noodles.

If you are hard up for cash, buy dry pasta and just use leftover meats and spices to "spike" your disjh.
simple italian pasta--

cream+ butter+spice+ leftovers (meat/veg)
or simply
Aolio= oli+ spices

bon apo

Kudos Kdog! Here are some of my winter time favorites:

Meatloaf, cut in egg, crackers, bread cubes, or cooked rice to stretch. Serve with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies.
Split pea soup with sausage balls. Brown sausage balls in soup kettle till done and remove, add celery and onions till beginning to turn clear,deglaze with chicken broth or water and buillon or chicken base. Add rinsed split peas and dehydrated or left over carrots. Bring to boil turn down and cover for 20 minutes. Make cornbread while simmering, toward end add sausage balls back in. Hearty stick to your ribs for these snowy KY nights.

Chicken pot pie. Premade roll out crusts. Boil chicken till done, drain, frozen big chunk stew veggies, can cream of celery and cream of mushroom soup, canned or fresh mushrooms, water chestnuts chopped, canned pimentos, sauted celery and onion. (I do big batches then freeze into portions). Heat all this through in a big sauce pan then right before filling pie plate fold in grated cheese and seasonings of choice. Hit it with a bit of cayenne then mound up toward center cover with second crust, bake 350 40 min or till golden and bubbly. Be sure to vent crusts.

If you're in the south, and they have Publix supermarkets where you are, keep picking up their recipe cards. We've tried a ton of them, and they are excellent. I know, go figure, right?

Originally posted by Gazrok
If you're in the south, and they have Publix supermarkets where you are, keep picking up their recipe cards. We've tried a ton of them, and they are excellent. I know, go figure, right?

I agree, they have some great recipes. They also are a better place to shop than WalMart even if their prices are a little higher. Their meats are excellent and so is their produce. And as to the higher prices, that is not such a big deal if you are a senior citizen and shop on Wednesday to get the across the board 5% discount.

reply to post by kdog1982


Vendetta egg aka egg in the hole aka egg in a basket:



www.youtube.com...

reply to post by happykat39


The real advantage of Publix is coupons. They also have some great sales (buy one get one, etc.). You can double up on manufacturer and store coupons also (use a mfg and publix coupon for a publix brand item). We routinely save 30-50% on our shopping trips there. While their meat is excellent, there's a small Spanish supermarket near us with good meat at unbelievable prices, so we'll get any "good" cuts at Publix, but go to the other for other bulk meats. For produce, we're in the country, and pass by at least 3 produce stands on the way to the store, so that's where we get produce.

Here's one of our favourites for day's like today.

It's called Mujadara, a Lebenese dish.It's basically rice, lentils, onions and whatever else you can dream up:



It's really cheap, inexpensive and very delicious.I like adding mushrooms, to the mix.

Here's a link to my favourite recipe:
www.maureenabood.com...

There's plenty of variations in all the usual places.