Budget Conscious Recipes....

[Camilla]

I was inspired by Brooke's thread about budgeting and how to save money. I just put in today's dinner into the crock pot and thought I'd share what we are eating today.

Split Pea and Lentil Soup

1 package dried split peas
1/2 to 1 package dried lentils
about 5 cups chicken stock (you can use water for this, but I use chicken stock I make from boiling the chicken bones/remains from previous dinner, and then store it in the freezer...but you can use bullion cubes, swanson broth or whatever you wish here...vegetarians can use veggie stock or water)
1 large onion
4 humongous carrots peeled
2 medium cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 stalks cellery
2 Hebrew National hotdogs (not for vegetarians clearly)
(today I put in leftover roast beef from last night, cubed into small pieces)

Add all ingredients into the crock pot, stir, set on high, and keep an eye on it. Add more stock or water when it gets absorbed. If you do two packages dried peas/beans/lentils, you will need more than five cups of stock, and I would suspect that you will probably use another 50% more stock as it gets absorbed into the peas/lentils. You can also add beans, or whatever you like.

Once the soup is soft, and all the lentils and peas have fallen apart and the soup is thick and smells awesome, REMOVE THE BAY LEAF and then use a HAND BLENDER to puree smoothly (I have the braun one that costs very little, from Bed Bath and Beyond) or you can use a regular blender. I blend the entire thing, until it's a beautiful thick puree. If you find it too thick, add more hot stock and blend again. For the kids, I take another hot dog and slice it into pieces and stir it in when I'm done blending b/c they like that. I forgo the hot dog for myself...but that's another story.

This recipe basically costs only a few dollars, TOTAL...including everything. In fact, per serving, it costs probably CENTS. You'll have plenty of leftovers too, so my guess is that it's good for two meals for four, depending on how many bags of lentils/peas you use. Each of my bags of lentils/peas cost around 1.20 or so, and the stock is almost free (I make it from leftover chicken) and the carrots I buy in 5 pound bags, and the onions in bulk too.

Enjoy. Anyway, do you guys have any other budget conscious recipes?

[Tucker's Mom]

Oh yummy!!:yahoo: Can you come and cook for me?:funny: We eat a lot of chicken - boneless, skinless. I watch for sales and then stock up and freeze. Tonight, I'm fixing chicken breasts, noodles, a veggie (probably Gr Beans) and fruit salad. I so hate to cook - always have - so, I'll make a deal with anyone. I'll clean your house, if you'll cook our meals.:laughitup:

[red&black]

I'm going to try this recipe I saw on MSN yseterday:

BBQ Lentils

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 cup chopped red onion

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon mustard powder

• 2 cups fat-free chicken or vegetable broth

• 3/4 cup tomato sauce

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons agave nectar or dark honey

• 1 1/2 cups brown lentils, rinsed

• Salt and pepper to taste



DIRECTIONS

Lentils do not require pre-soaking, and they cook quickly. Here is one of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy them!

Heat olive oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until softened and translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add garlic and spices and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute; do not brown garlic.

Add broth, tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard, agave nectar and lentils, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, but intact, about 30 minutes. Lentil cooking times vary. If necessary, add an additional 1/4 cup water and simmer for 5 minutes longer if lentils are not tender. Season with salt and pepper.

[smilee1079]

Barb... I crockpot small chickens. So you're saying take the bones from that to make chicken stock? How?

[red&black]

How to Make Chicken Stock


Method 1. Leftover Chicken Bones

1 Put the leftover bones and skin from a chicken carcass into a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Add veggies like celery, onion, carrots, parsley.

2 Add salt and pepper, about 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper.

3 Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to barely a simmer.

4 Simmer uncovered at least 4 hours, occassionally skimming off the foam that comes to the surface.

5 Remove the bones and strain the stock.

6 If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by simmering a few hours longer to make it more concentrated and easier to store.

Method 2. Chicken backs, wings, and legs.

4 lbs of chicken backs, wings, and or legs that have been hacked with a cleaver into 2-inch pieces. You can ask your butcher to prepare the chicken pieces this way.
1 large yellow onion, chopped.
Olive oil
2 quarts of boiling water
2 teaspoons of salt
2 bay leaves

1 Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large stock pot. Add one chopped onion. Sauté until softened and slightly colored - 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

2 Add half of the chicken pieces to the pot. Sauté until no longer pink, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer cooked chicken to bowl with onions. Sauté the rest of the chicken the same way. Return onion and chicken pieces to the pot. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes.

3 While the chicken pieces are cooking, fill a large tea kettle with 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil.

4 After the chicken pieces have been cooking for 20 minutes, raise the heat level to high, add the 2 quarts of boiling water, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 bay leaves. Return to a low simmer, then cover and barely simmer for about 20 minutes.

5 Strain broth and discard solids. Broth can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for several months.

[Suzanne R]

I make a lentil stew with sweet potatoes and carrots added, rather than green peas. It's wonderful!! Sometimes I put a little ham in it and sometimes I don't.

[Travmakar]

Here is a great link for budget conscious recipes.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/recipeindex.htm

[Camilla]

Wow, what great responses. I didn't check before now. I just made my SECOND BATCH of the pea soup, no lentils this time b/c I ran out. My kids and dh ate EVERY LAST SCRAP of the last bunch - so I made a HUGE amt this time, and will freeze half.

This time I took PHOTOS for you. This photo is of the UNBLENDED soup. I did cook it in the crock pot, but b/c I ran out of time, I put it in the fridge, so I had to re-heat in my enamel cast iron pot (from my grandmother) and hand blend it on the stove....which is an extra step that I hate, but since we went to a party last night, we didn't eat at home so didn't finish the soup.

Here's unblended soup on the stove: with the chunks of carrots, meat (which I don't think you can see), onion etc. Some people like it chunky, but my kids will pick out the onions and be scared of it, so I blend it all the time.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1376/7145831/13662581/343403931.jpg

Then I come in with the crazy hand blender and it looks like this...
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1376/7145831/13662581/343404259.jpg

SO DELICIOUS.

I'm going to try the BBQ Lentils recipe this week! I like stuff that can last, and that not only is inexpensive, but healthy and has simple ingredients.

Stacy - when you have the leftover chicken with bones, just pop it into a big ole' pot and make yourself some stock. It's so easy, and I love using all of the leftovers instead of paying 2.80 cents for a thing of Swanson chicken broth. That's just TOO EXPENSIVE and I don't like the artificial ingredients and additives anyway.

Anyone else have some good money saving recipes????

[Kari]

I have this soup in the Crock Pot right now...it's almost done and it smells awesome! Very easy to throw together. I bought all of the ingredients at Aldi and have listed the cost to the side of each item.

Easy Vegetable Beef Soup (http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=438100)

Ingredients

1 lb lean (93/7) ground beef (see note) ($1.99)
14 oz can diced tomatoes, no salt added ($0.45)
14 oz can beef broth ($0.39)
10 1/4 oz can condensed tomato soup ($0.59)
10 oz frozen mixed vegetables ($0.99)
1 1/4 cups water
1 tbsp dried minced onion ($1.09 for the whole jar)
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning, crushed ($1.09 for the whole jar)
1/4 tsp garlic powder ($1.09 for the whole jar)

Total cost (minus spices since they are pennies per use): $4.41


Directions

In a large skillet, cook beef until brown; drain off fat. Combine all ingredients in 3 1/2 to 4-qt slow cooker. Cover and cook o low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Number of Servings: 4


Note: 93/7 ground beef is too expensive at $4/lb so to save money I used 73/27 ($2/lb) and cooked and rinsed it. When you do that, it actually has even LESS calories than the 93/7 would when cooked and drained.

Nutrition calculations per serving:

* Calories: 291.6
* Total Fat: 9.0 g
* Cholesterol: 65.0 mg
* Sodium: 865.9 mg
* Total Carbs: 23.6 g
* Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
* Protein: 29.7 g

[Camilla]

Kari - what a great recipe. I'm going to print it out and do this one. I like your idea of using the higher fat recipe and then rinsing the cooked ground beef. That's great b/c you're going to put it in soup anyway, so who cares if a little water is in there! Thanks! Let us know how the meal is tonight.

[Heidismom]

Hey, thrifty cooks! Don't forget to use your turkey carcass in a few weeks to make stock! My aunt used to toss hers out, but I started asking for the carcass, and last year, I know I rendered about 5 quarts of really rich turkey stock, so anytime I do any poultry stews or soups, I just grab a frozen quart jar from the freezer, and I start dumping in veggies and whatever chicken, turkey, duck, quail, Cornish game hen I have and add seasonings. After the stock cools for about an hour, I put it into leftover Spaghetti sauce jars - not buying new ones!! - and cool a bit longer, then freeze.

Have any of you thought about getting a small chest freezer and getting frozen items, or freezing things when there's a good deal, so you can keep things as economical as possible? My mom canned a lot of fruits, vegetables, and pickles when I was growing up, because our family just didn't have a large income. Whenever my grandparents butchered cows twice a year, they always divided the meat 3 ways, and my parents got 2/5 for our family, which really helped the food budget. If you can afford the initial expense, buying a side of beef would be a lot more economical than buying a package at a time!

Don't forget that making a stew or soup about every week and using up your leftovers is going to be money-saving, plus you'll keep an eye on cleaning out your refrigerator better! :please1:

[red&black]

Our family doesn't do turkey (no one likes it!), but we do ham instead. And the ham bone is GREAT for soup beans etc.

I usually cook with veggie broth rather than meat broths. unfortunately there's no economical way to make it. :(

[Kari]

Barb - The soup tasted great! It has a really nice flavor. Hubby even went back for seconds. As for the water in the meat...I just used a bowl full to rinse it and then dried it on paper towels on a plate...you can also pat it dry to get rid of any excess water.

[doxierock]

Hello everone. I just got a recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup and I LOVED it. It's so darn easy and tastes great!! Just make sure to cook the rice before so it doesn't soak up the liquid of the soup. (It was a mistake I made and I had to counter act it with a large can of tomato juice). One of my favorite flavors is sweet with spiciness, which is why I added some hotsauce and red pepper to it. It freezes beautifully and is perfect for those cold weather days when no one feels like cooking. My boyfriend loved it so much that we had it for 3 days straight (he typically HATES left overs). If anyone makes it, please let me know how you like it!!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

2 lbs ground beef
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 28oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups of cooked white rice or converted rice
2 cups chopped peppers (I like to use red, orange and yellow because they are sweeter)
2 beef bullion cubes
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 chopped onion
1 can of tomato soup
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
(I also use some hot sauce and red pepper to taste)

In large saucepan brown beef, drain. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are tender. Yield 10 servings.

[red&black]

Here's a Minestrone I'm going to make this week. It costs a few dollars to make but it makes a very full dutch-oven of soup - lots of servings. The ingredients are somewhat variable, and the pasta used can be altered in amount, type (wheat), etc.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
5 carrots, sliced
2 cups veggie broth
2 cups water
4 cups tomato sauce
1 cup canned kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can green beans
2 cups baby spinach, rinsed (or in off-season buy frozen)
3 zucchinis, quartered and sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (dried is ok too)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (dried is ok too)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup seashell or bowtie pasta
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese for topping
1 tablespoon olive oil

DIRECTIONS
In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and saute garlic for 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion and saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots, saute for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add veggie broth, water and tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach leaves, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, the longer the better.
Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until tender. Drain water and set aside.
Once pasta is cooked and soup is heated through place 2 tablespoons cooked pasta into individual serving bowls. Ladle soup on top of pasta and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Spray with olive oil and serve.

[zoeysmom]

We're having a carry in meal tomorrow at work and I'm making a big batch of chicken and noodles.

Costco roasted chicken 4.99 Take the meat off the bones and shred. Put chicken bones in large pot with a diced carrot, and celery stalk, a diced onion, and 1 T herbs de provance. Simmer for 2 or 3 hours. Strain over large container and degrease (allow to cool or skim or use a gravy degreaser).

Add stock back to pot, add a handful of new diced carrots, a handful of peas or whatever other veggies you like. Adjust seasoning - will need salt and pepper. Add egg noodles. I use home style egg noodles (again costco has a big bag o'dried egg noodles for ~8.00 but it's about 8 batches too)

So for about 6.00 plus a misc dollar for seasonings, carrots etc, There's a big pot of comfort food that has many servings.

Can be made even more economically by buying a whole fresh chicken and poaching or roasting it yourself. And if I had more than one day's notice of the carry in lunch I probably would have done that over the weekend, but the convenience of the already roasted chicken is the way I needed to go at the last minute.

[Camilla]

All these recipes are great! I'm printing them all out and adding them to my recipe binder. I also like receipes using the rotisserie chickens available at costco. I am not even sure you can roast one yourself for 4.99!!! Seriously, the chicken itself is at least 4.00 and then there's the cost of gas/energy to roast it in the oven for hours, and then the seasonings. So I'm thinkin' buy it! :)

[Lin]

Our family doesn't do turkey (no one likes it!), but we do ham instead. And the ham bone is GREAT for soup beans etc.

I usually cook with veggie broth rather than meat broths. unfortunately there's no economical way to make it. :(

Ham and beans...yum... making cornbread too???

I'll be there when it's ready, nobody in my family likes Ham & Beans But me...must be the southern Ohio in me..

[andy&abby]

I make a Chicken tortilla soup that is really good.

Tortilla Soup
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 corn tortillas, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 to 6 cooked chicken breast halves, shredded (about 2 cups)

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro, and onion. Saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Reheat.
Garnish with monterey jack, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla strips

[red&black]

Ham and beans...yum... making cornbread too???

I'll be there when it's ready, nobody in my family likes Ham & Beans But me...must be the southern Ohio in me..

yep cornbread - but not that yankee cornbread with sugar in it baked in a pan. Cast iron skillet all the way.

[ImJustWingingIt]

Wow...thanks for the chicken tortilla soup recipe!!!

I've been looking for a recipe for this. I always order this at our favorite Mexican Food restaurant and have wondered how I could make it.

The only difference is that they add whole-kernel corn, a little rice, and a chopped avocado, then serve it with a sliced lime so you can squeeze the juice in if you want.

I'm gonna try this!!!

[maddoxies]

I LIKE mac and cheese, but Kraft dinner is no longer cheap. $1.50 a box up here.

I buy the macaroni in the large bag at the grocery store (0.99 ffor a family size bag) and the bulk, powdered cheese sauce (maybe, $1.00). For 50 cents more than a small box of KD, this makes many, many servings. I like the flexibility also of being able to choose how much I want to make and not be limited to the portion packaged box.

To fancy up KD a bit, I melt some margarine, add bread crumbs to a "paste" consistency. Put the mac & cheese in a cassarole dish, spread the bread crumb mixture over the top and put under the broiler for a minute or so to brown the "crust". It adds some texture and colour to plain old M&C, good for pot luck events, etc as well as a little extra touch for your family.

You can add a bit of seasoning to the bread crumbs as well.