Favorite Family Meals For Under Five Dollars

[dgridley]

Can you feed your family "on the cheap"? What is your favorite meal for under five dollars?

Here are five meals under five dollars from Family Fun magazine:

Turkey Scaloppine
Oven-Baked Orzo and Vegetables
Chicken Legs with Watercress
Lemon Beef with Mustard
Quick Pork Loin with Spinach

Each dinner serves four.. can you top that?

[dgridley]

No one making meals under $5?

Tweeted: "Favorite Family Meals For Under Five Dollars - theBubbler" daveincarthage shared http://www.thebubbler.com/forums/cooking-eats-drinks/23969-favorite-family-meals-under-five-dollars.html

[pk]

I think my kids would say, dollar menu at McDonalds.
3 double cheese one for each and two fries split 3 ways. (I am not a big fry eater). Quick, fast and cheap to feed 3 people.

And before some people start griping about fast foods...I really don't make a big habit of this form of dinner. Just a joke.

Of course it does make for a fast lunch.

[pk]

Actually if you wait until ground beef is on sale you can get 1 1/2 pounds, can of Manwich or throw your own sauce in and buy some bargain buns at Walmart with some carrot sticks and ranch dressing or add a box of Mac and Cheese. Again, cheap and fast.

[pk]

Prego Sauce (meatball kind) over cooked noodles, and a side salad. Has to make it under 5 bucks. If you want to spurge add a 1/2 pound of real meat with thick sauce with green pepper in it. Yum.

I actually think you could add some bread with this and still stay close to the 5.00 mark.

[dgridley]

Part of a pack of hamburger (that origianlly cost under $3), a can of Sloppy Joe sauce ($1) and a pack of hamburger rolls (79 cents).. my dinner (and shared with a neighbor) last night.

Originally Posted by pk

Actually if you wait until ground beef is on sale you can get 1 1/2 pounds, can of Manwich or throw your own sauce in and buy some bargain buns at Walmart with some carrot sticks and ranch dressing or add a box of Mac and Cheese. Again, cheap and fast.

[pk]

Sounds great to me Dave. My son totally loves sloppy joes.

OK, since I'm telling on myself as to how I can get buy fast, cheap and easy...and we all know there are those times when you just don't want to cook, or pay a lot for food but...you want to all sit down together? Buy one of Pizza Hut's or Little Caesars 5.00 pizza's. To make it even better find a picnic table and eat at the lake. That's what we do so it's kinda special and I didn't have to do any work. lol

[dgridley]

I like to buy the one pound tubes of breakfast sausage on sale and then use it in spaghetti or in place of the hamburger in hamburger helper.. you can get the seasoned or flavored vairities for an extra "kick".. alot of times they are on sale around here for just over a dollar and I stock up for tacos, spaghetti, etc.

Originally Posted by pk

Actually if you wait until ground beef is on sale you can get 1 1/2 pounds, can of Manwich or throw your own sauce in and buy some bargain buns at Walmart with some carrot sticks and ranch dressing or add a box of Mac and Cheese. Again, cheap and fast.

[Blue Baboon]

I bought a bargain pork loin fillet for $3, which was originally about $8-$9. I sliced it, marinaded it than broiled it. Cooked it with some carrots and mashed potatoes. It's nice when you can get a good piece of meat cheap. Doesn't happen very often.

[Blue Baboon]

Beans and wienies is a cheap meal for us or biscuits and gravy made with one of those gravy packets.

Welsh rarebit, which is a beer cheese sauce over toast. Just add a side veggie with it. If you don't care for beer in it, just substitute another liquid.

Take a can of soup and bring it to a boil. Drop in Bisquick dumplings and cook until done. I don't like a lot of canned soups, but somehow the dumplings improve the taste.

Call up brother in law, ask for some free venison. Throw that in the slow cooker with some bbq sauce, add baby carrots and then make up a pot of mashed potatoes. Dinner is done.

[Blue Baboon]

Take toast and top with baked beans mixed with bbq sauce and add a slice of cheese. Melt the cheese slice either in microwave or toaster oven.

[dgridley]

We had chicken patties the other night topped with a can of cream of celery soup.. if we'd had cream of chicken we would have used that.. makes a fast easy gravy substitute..

I used creamed soups for a lot of things.. including chicken and biscuits.. cream of chicken soup, mixed vegetables, chicken, and biscuits..

Originally Posted by Blue Baboon

Beans and wienies is a cheap meal for us or biscuits and gravy made with one of those gravy packets.

Welsh rarebit, which is a beer cheese sauce over toast. Just add a side veggie with it. If you don't care for beer in it, just substitute another liquid.

Take a can of soup and bring it to a boil. Drop in Bisquick dumplings and cook until done. I don't like a lot of canned soups, but somehow the dumplings improve the taste.

Call up brother in law, ask for some free venison. Throw that in the slow cooker with some bbq sauce, add baby carrots and then make up a pot of mashed potatoes. Dinner is done.

[pk]

Just tonight we had big chicken drumsticks @ 99 cents a pound.
I put them in the crock pot, add Lemon Pepper seasonings and then put a lemon pepper sauce over it and cooked it most of the day. They come out so tender, juicy, and flavorful. Kids said it was the best ones they have had yet.

I added a packet of instant butter and herb potatoes and dripped some of the juice from the crock pot on it, and made a small side salad to go with it all.

Another thought was to put a box of Mac and Cheese with it but wanted to do something more with the liquid from the sauce so we went with the potatoes.

Easy, cheap, and good.

[pk]

Eggs make a great quick and cheap meal.

For 3 I break up 7-8 eggs, whisk it with some milk, pepper, salt and tarragon. Cook them adding cheese when they are almost done. Add toast and a box of frozen sausages (sale: 99 cents) on the side with a glass of milk. Feeds the 3 of us and is a cheap meal.

We call it Topsy turvy night when we do this for dinner.

[pk]

Ground pork burgers. Our store has ground pork on sale quite often for under 2.00 a pound. Add some Sweet Baby Rays on them as they cook. Buy hamburger buns at the Outlet for .50 a bag. Pick up a bag of salad with carrots, on sale for around 1.00 or pick it up at the reduce sale for .50 a bag. Add some ranch dressing or crumble some blue cheese over it. There you go, cheap, good, and quick.

[Blue Baboon]

I add ham, mushrooms or chicken to a box of Mac n Cheese. All you have to add is a veggie on the side. Cheap and easy.

[dgridley]

Mac & Cheese with peas and hot dogs.. always an old standby..

[pk]

The 3 of us can actually eat and get full off less than 5 bucks at:

TACO BELL!

[dgridley]

Yeah, Taco Bell has some tasty, cheap items on the menu..

[pk]

I think if I let my son he would eat taco bell every day. lol

[AshleyOohDang]

what you will need :

Wolf Chili($1.25) , Mac and Cheese(2 boxes/$1.00) or White Cheddar Mac and Cheese.. corn(.86can) & bag of Fritos($1.49)

make your mac and cheese , add chili , warm up, add corn, top off with Fritos and a slight drizzle of Ranch.