Cheap Meals for a Week for a Family

Cheap Family Meals

Hey, friends! I'thousand warning yous upfront — this postal service is looooooong! I wanted to share all of my favorite cheap family unit meals with you, but I just take so many. I thought about splitting them upward into several posts, but then yous'd have to search through various posts, and that would be annoying.

It's kind of funny that I have such a large repertoire of cheap family meals because, ha, ha, surprise! I don't like cooking. Merely I exercise like saving money and the all-time way to save coin is by feeding my family (whom I also like!) from scratch. Most of these cheap family meals are quick and piece of cake to make — all of them are cheap! Under $ane per serving, and most are well under $1

All of these recipes are very basic — information technology'south merely how I cook. I don't measure out and I virtually never use recipes. I even vary the ingredients each time, based on what's available in my fridge and on sale at the grocery store.

That's how I stay inside our grocery budget with my big family, all of whom have huge appetites. I call them my hobbits because they always want 2d breakfast immediately after breakfast, and so they want elevenses, and so lunch, followed by tea, supper and dessert. Sometimes I feel similar I'1000 going to die of cooking.

But my vast feel with inexpensive family unit meals is why I have such a large repertoire of them.

I'll bet you've never seen so many ideas for cheap family unit meals all in one place. Since they're all well under $one per serving, you can really buckle down and work on reducing your grocery bills.

Y'all'll find lots of diverseness here, each at $one or less per serving. Great nutrient doesn't accept to be pricey, and these recipes are proof.

33 Main Dish Cheap Family Meals

Stroganoff. This is a regular in our repast rotation, because it'due south amazingly easy, yummy and cheap. Start your pasta cooking while you lot gather the sauce. Brownish 1 lb. ground beef, ane diced onion, and three minced garlic cloves in a large pot. Add together 1 lb. sliced mushrooms and lightly saute. Add 4 c. water with 4 tsp. beef burgoo. Stir 3 Tbsp. cornstarch into 1/four c. absurd water, and mix that into the sauce. When the sauce is hot and thickened, stir in 16 oz. sour cream. Serve over hot pasta.

• cost: about 85 cents per serving

Stir Fry. This is my go-to meal for using upward leftovers. I just start rice in my instant pot and while it'due south cooking, I toss leftover craven (or beef or pork) into my wok with whatever vegetables I have in my fridge (or a package of frozen veggies) and some coconut oil. Add about ane/2 c. soy sauce, ane/2 c. water, 1 tsp. burgoo, ane tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. garlic powder to the meat and veggies. Stir 1 tsp. cornstarch into 1/two c. h2o, then stir it into the sauce in the meat/veggie pot to thicken the sauce. Y'all've got a nutritious, hot meal in nether fifteen minutes. And it cost you lot next to aught!

• cost: a few cents for the rice, if y'all have leftover meat and veggies

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. My kids dearest this recipe and then much that it'southward a staple effectually our house. It helps that it's so easy! They'll fifty-fifty whip upwardly a batch as a snack. Only eddy your sixteen oz. box of pasta to al dente, bleed most of the h2o from the pot, and add 2 c. milk and one/2 cube of butter to the pot with the pasta. The hot pasta will warm the milk and melt the butter. Add together 8 oz. shredded cheddar and stir until the cheese melts and everything combines into gooey yumminess. Macaroni and Cheese is 1 of those classic, cheap family unit meals!

• under 60 cents per serving

Fried Rice. My kids dearest to make this themselves for luncheon whenever nosotros have leftover rice. Rut about 3 Tbsp. coconut oil in a large skillet. Add the rice. Add cubed ham, if you have some, or y'all can skip the ham. (Whenever I serve a large ham for dinner I cube up the leftovers and portion them out in ziplocs in the freezer for this purpose. I also save the bone in the freezer or use it right abroad to brand ham and edible bean soup or split pea soup.) Crack in a couple of eggs while frying the rice, then add a purse of frozen, mixed veggies. Flavour with table salt, pepper and a little garlic. If y'all use up leftovers, your merely cost is the eggs.

• price: under xx cents per serving

Quesadillas. We make these all the time for lunch. Place a couple of tortillas in a large, hot, oiled skillet. Superlative them with shredded cheese and some other tortilla. When the cheese looks mostly melty, flip the quesadilla. These are yummy with just the cheese, but nosotros also like to add shredded meat or vegetables if nosotros have them in the refrigerator from another meal. A personal favorite is to add corn and salsa in with the cheese.

• cost: under l cents per serving

Enchiladas. Whenever I brand these I make a huge, double batch so I have a agglomeration to freeze for lunches. They freeze really well and are piece of cake to catch from the freezer. I cook a family-size package of chicken breasts (nigh ten big breasts) in my instant pot, forth with 2 entire minced onions, a small can of green chilis, plus i/2 c. lime juice, a piddling sriracha, chili powder, cayenne, garlic, cumin, table salt and pepper. In one case it's cooked, shred the meat. Add 2 – 16 oz. cartons of sour foam, 2 lb shredded mexican cheese, and ii cans foam of chicken soup (I utilise a roux instead of canned cream soup) to the shredded chicken with all the juices. Don't bleed the chicken! Gustation your filling and run into if it'due south seasoned to your liking. Spoon the filling down the center of flour tortillas and gyre them up. Line enchiladas up in a unmarried layer on a cookie sheet. This recipe makes nearly 40 enchiladas. Serve with spanish rice and black beans for an amazingly cheap family unit meal. Freeze extra enchiladas for later.

• cost: nigh 85 cents per serving

Sausage and Fried Potatoes. This meal is simple and easy to make, but my kiddos beloved it. First, wash and slice ane.five potatoes per person in your family. (I utilise a food processor then it only takes a few minutes.) Next, add a pound of ground sausage to a hot skillet and use a spatula to chop the sausage into many small-scale chunks. Add the sliced potatoes, flavour them with table salt and pepper, and stir them effectually. Place a hat on the skillet. Every few minutes, flip the potatoes so the ones on the bottom don't burn and they all accept a chance to get crispy.

• price: about 65 cents per serving

BBQ Sandwiches. I can usually find big pork roasts for nether $1 a pound at the grocery shop, and so I usually make these with pork. But yous can apply any meat you find on sale. Chop the meat into smaller chunks and place them in your crockpot with a minced onion. Cover with bbq sauce. I make my own with 2 -8 oz. cans tomato plant sauce, 1/ii c. apple cider vinegar, 1/four c. honey, 1/4 c. molasses, 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp. sriracha, 1 Tbsp. dry mustard powder, ane tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. paprika, 1/ii tsp. cayenne powder, table salt and pepper to taste. Let it melt at least v hours on loftier, then shred the meat and permit it melt another hr. Serve on toasted buns and serve with french fries (just julienne potatoes, season them and bake for xxx minutes) to decrease the price further. These make great inexpensive family meals!

• toll: under 73 cents per serving

Pork Chops. Whenever pork chops are on sale, I buy several packages. It's super easy and price effective to fry them on the stovetop, coat them with apricot jam, and serve them with mashed potatoes and a frozen vegetable.

• cost: most $ane per serving for the pork chop, mashed potatoes and vegetables

Sausage Au Gratin Skillet. This is an easy, fast, frugal weeknight dinner. Starting time, wash and thinly slice a irish potato per family fellow member. Slice a kielbasa into rounds and throw them in a hot skillet with 3 Tbsp. coconut oil. Add together the potatoes to the skillet, comprehend it, and let them cook long enough for the potatoes to be tender, virtually 15 minutes. Add 1/four c. flour to your skillet and stir, so the flour mixes with the oil and coats the potatoes. Add together iii c. milk, plus desired seasoning, to the skillet. When milk is hot, bubbly and thickened, stir in two c. shredded cheddar cheese along with whatever actress  veggies from your fridge, or a purse of frozen, mixed veggies. Stir thoroughly, then permit the skillet residuum for a few minutes to finish thickening.

• cost: under lxx cents per serving

Au Gratin Goulash. Wash and thinly slice about 1 potato per family member. Butter a drinking glass baking dish. Layer most half the sliced potatoes in the blistering dish. Chop one onion, and top the potatoes with the onion. Top the onion with 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese. Top the cheese with a layer of vegetables/meat. I like to use broccoli and chopped ham, but yous tin use any combination that sounds skillful to you. Pour 1 quart of heavy whipping cream over the layers you have in the blistering dish. Season with salt and pepper. Add together the rest of the potatoes in a concluding layer. Top with some other two c. shredded cheese. Pour the rest of your heavy whipping cream over the top, season, summit with bread crumbs, comprehend with foil and bake at 400 degrees for one.5 hours.

• cost: under 70 cents per serving

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes. I don't know about you, but I consider ground beef to be kind of pricey. Especially since I'm feeding so many hungry hobbits. So I use the play a trick on that my grandma, who grew up during the depression, used to extend their rations. I turn the ends of the loaves of bread, which would otherwise exist wasted past my kids (why do they all go out the ends of each loaf in the bread bag to exist thrown abroad?) into bread crumbs, which I then add to my meatloaf. If I happen to non accept bread on paw, I use oatmeal. For 2 loaves, mix two lbs. lean basis beef, 4 c. bread crumbs, ii diced onions, 2 c. milk, 4 beaten eggs, viii oz. tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp. parsley, ane Tbsp. common salt, ane tsp. garlic powder, and 1 tsp. pepper. Press the mixture into a loaf pan and meridian with: two 8oz. cans love apple sauce mixed with 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/four c. mustard. Serve your meatloaf with homemade mashed potatoes as a yummy filler.

• cost: under 70 cents per serving

Pork Fajitas. Fajitas are super quick and easy, and they can be cheap family meals, if you use cheaper cuts of meat, like a pork roast. Bong peppers and tomatoes are generally used in fajitas, but yous can apply whatever you have on hand. Slice the meat into strips against the grain so it will be more than tender, and fry the strips in oil in a skillet. When they're most cooked through, toss your vegetables into the skillet. Add a tablespoon of water and immediately supercede the lid, and so the veggies steam in the skillet for a few minutes. Remove the lid and add 1 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. garlic powder and salt to taste. Wrap in a tortilla and serve.

• cost: under 75 cents per serving

Pasta Skillet. You can make a pasta skillet a million different ways past varying your meat, veggie and sauce. For the Italian variation I usually make, I start my pasta water humid. While the pasta cooks, I fry 1 lb of ground beef in my skillet. I add together a bag of frozen veggies to the skillet, add together the cooked, drained pasta, and add 2 cans of petite-diced italian style tomatoes. While hot, I top the whole matter with a little mozzarella. It'southward a consummate, cheap family repast that takes very little time to make.

• cost: under 70 cents per serving

Orange Chicken. This is another favorite at our house. I get the rice going in my Instant Pot while I brand the chicken. Cube chicken breasts into nugget-sized pieces. Cook them in a couple of Tbsp. of coconut oil in a big skillet. While they're cooking, mix together two c. orange juice, zest of one orange, two Tbsp. rice vinegar, i Tbsp. soy sauce, i Tbsp. dark-brown saccharide, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. garlic powder, one tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch stirred into 3 Tbsp. h2o. Once the craven is thoroughly cooked, add the sauce ingredients to the skillet with the the chicken. Stir until the sauce is thick and hot. Serve over rice. I oftentimes add a bundle of frozen broccoli to the chicken/sauce skillet as well.

• cost: nether 85 cents per serving

Potato Curry. First, scrub and cube 1 murphy per person. Estrus three tbsp. kokosnoot oil in a large skillet. Saute 1 diced onion, 1 green chili and 3 gloves chopped garlic. Add together 8 oz. tomato sauce, 1 tsp. curry powder, 1 tsp. chili powder, one tsp. cumin, ane tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. dry mustard pulverization, 1/2 tsp. turmeric and salt to taste. Add together cubed potatoes to skillet and saute for a few minutes. Add water to but barely cover the potatoes and cook until potatoes are soft. Serve over rice.

• cost: under 45 cents per serving

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Soup. Grilled cheese sandwiches are then piece of cake yous tin can put your kiddos in charge of them. Whenever I make soup, I usually brand an extra big pot and we have it for dinner with rolls, and so for lunch the next day with grilled cheese sandwiches.

• toll: about 90 cents per sandwich, plus the cost of the soup

Beans and Rice. First, bring 8 c. craven stock to a boil and stir in 4 c. rice and 4 Tbsp. butter. Return to a boil, and so turn the stove to low, encompass and cook for twenty minutes. And so turn the heat off and allow the rice stand for a few minutes. While the rice is cooking, saute iii cloves garlic, 1 minced onion and ii c. chopped celery in a large skillet. Stir in 2 cans kidney beans, 1 tsp. onion powder, common salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Permit the mixture simmer for a few minutes earlier stirring the bean mixture into the rice.

• toll: nether 50 cents per serving

Pasta Salad. When you're in the mood for something light, pasta salad fills the bill perfectly. Information technology's another dish that can be made a million different ways, so it's never boring. Just boil the pasta of your choice to al dente, then add assorted veggies and a vinaigrette dressing. I oft add together pepperoni or kielbasa and shredded cheese, too, to increase the protein and make it a complete meal.

• cost: it actually depends on the additions you choose

Burritos. Burritos are pretty healthy and super cheap, plus they freeze well, so you can make a bunch all at once and use them throughout the week. Mix a tin can of refried beans with 1/ii c. salsa to thin them a flake. Add 1 t. garlic powder, ane t. chili powder, one/2 t. cumin and table salt to taste. Oestrus the bean mixture in a saucepan or microwave. Warm a stack of tortillas for xv seconds in the microwave. Spread a scoop of the bean mixture down the center of each tortilla and wrap them up. Make them dozens of dissimilar ways for variety, and make them often to stretch your grocery upkeep further than you ever thought possible!

• nether 45 cents per serving

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Vegetables. Whole chickens are inexpensive. I usually notice them for less than $ane per pound or even less on sale. I have a huge crockpot, so I like to surround the chicken with onion slices, halved, peeled potatoes and carrots halved in length and sprinkle minced garlic and herbs over the vegetables. An electric roasting pan would piece of work well, too. One time you have picked the craven clean, throw the carcass back in your crockpot and encompass with water and three T. vinegar to make Gratis craven stock that is far more tasty and nutritious than canned goop from the shop.

• under $1 per serving.

Italian Zucchini Goulash. When my zucchini plants are producing during the summer, I frequently experience like I can't keep upward with it! So I freeze zucchini (click the link to see how I do this) and use information technology all yr long to whip up my favorite zucchini recipes. This 1, reminiscent of lasagna, is so yummy that my kiddos request it. The directions are besides long for this space, and so click the link if you want the recipe.

• less than 58 cents per serving

Sausage Whorl Ups . These are a great way to use up leftovers! I usually make bread once per week, and I'll make these scroll ups with the extra dough. Make your favorite bread recipe. Mix together i 8oz package of cream cheese, ane/two c. salsa, ane lb ground sausage and 2 c. shredded mozarella. Roll a portion of the dough into a large rectangle, equally if you were making cinnamon rolls. Spread the meat mixture over the rectangle of dough and roll up along the shortest edge into a long log. Use a serrated knife and a depression-pressure, back and forth sawing motility to gently slice your log into money-shaped rolls. Place them on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubles in size, and then broil at 350 degrees for well-nigh twenty minutes or until gold brown and done all the style through.

• toll: less than fourscore cents per serving

Turkey broccoli roll ups. Follow the directions for sausage roll ups, but instead of using sausage and salsa, use cubed turkey, broccoli and provolone. Spread the foam cheese over the rectangle of bread dough, lightly season, spread the turkey cubes and the broccoli, then whorl upwards, cut and bake like you would a cinnamon roll.

• cost: less than eighty cents per serving

Scones. I often make scones when I'm making bread. If my twenty-four hour period has been busy and I just feel to exhausted to make dinner, I'll just set bated some of the bread dough and fry it in hot oil. I serve it up with whipped honey butter (from our own cows and bees) and my kiddos are in sky. If I go very long without making scones, my kids let me know!

•  cost: less than 20 cents per serving

Navajo Tacos. To make the Indian fry bread, whisk together 5 c. flour, two Tbsp. blistering pulverisation, one Tbsp. yeast and one tsp. salt. In a split bowl, mix iii Tbsp. melted butter and 2 c. warm milk. Mix the milk/butter into the dry out ingredients until they course a ball. Let dough rest for ten minutes. Heat 1 inch of oil in a pot until a drop of water skitters on the height. Split up dough into 20 pieces and roll each to about a 6-inch bore. Fry each dough round until golden brown on both sides. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Summit with chili, lettuce, tomatoes, light-green onions, cheddar, olives, sour cream and guacamole, similar taco salad.

• toll: Indian fry bread is less than 20 cents a serving, but the toppings will increment the toll.

Creamy Zucchini Casserole. This is also i of my go to recipes during the summer, when my zucchini is producing out of control. It'south really yummy, though (click the link for the recipe); i of the best inexpensive meals for your family.

• cost: under 45 cents per serving

Easy Sausage and Cabbage dinner. I make this regularly during the summer, when nosotros want a quick, light meal. I basically just saute a kielbasa and then add together cabbage, steam and season. Click the link if y'all want more than details.

• price: nether l cents per serving

Ham and Beans. I make this or separate pea soup every time we have ham, in club to fully apply upward the ham bone.  Immediately later removing the leftover ham from the bone, place the os in your crockpot, comprehend information technology with water and two Tbsp. vinegar (to leach the minerals from the bone) and let information technology simmer overnight on high. At the same time, rinse 1 lb. Keen Northern beans in a large pot and cover them cold water. Let stand up overnight. Drain and rinse beans then add them to the crockpot with your leftover diced ham, 1 minced onion, 1/2 c. brownish sugar, 1 Tbsp. parsley, 1/4 tsp. cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on high well-nigh 5 hours, until beans are tender. Remove the ham bone before serving. This is great served with a pan of cornbread, topped with whipped honey butter.

• cost: under 55 cents per serving

Spaghetti. This is such and piece of cake and cheap family unit meal that I almost consider it junk food. Y'all tin eddy up a box of pasta and estrus a can of pasta sauce in no time. Or you can put in a lilliputian effort and brand more than own marinara sauce by sauteeing a can of diced tomatoes, half a chopped onion, and a few garlic cloves then seasoning information technology to taste. Add some garlic toast and yous've got a cheap family meal everyone volition love.

• price: nether 38 cents per serving

Fried craven with ALL the fixins. I'thousand non kidding. Yous can become an entire plateful of fried chicken with all the fixins': buiscuits, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, and hot, crispy chicken for under $1 a serving. And I'g not talking tiny servings, either. I don't have room here for the entire recipe (and this isn't a quick, easy repast) simply you tin can click the link to find the whole thing.

• toll: under $ane per plateful of fried chicken with all the sides.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Need I elaborate? You may non want to swallow them all twenty-four hour period every day (nor do I!) simply they're very toll constructive and make a cracking, cheap lunch now and so!

• toll: around 50 cents per serving

Pot Roast and veggies. Pot Roast can exist pretty pricey, only you can sometimes find them on sale and stock up. The key to go along this meal frugal is to load up on the potatoes. Sear your roast in hot oil in a skillet on both sides. Place the roast in your crock pot and drench it with sliced onions, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Or sometimes I use an onion soup mix, which makes it tasty. Cook on high for three hours, then add potatoes and carrots, as well drenched in seasonings and onions. I like to get out the veggies big so they cook more slowly. I quarter the potatoes and halve the carrots. Cook for another three hours and serve. Serve with homemade rolls to quench big appetites.

• cost: about $i per serving

Cheap Family unit Meals for Kids

Information technology'southward dainty to accept a few kid-friendly, cheap family unit meals in your rotation. Not only are these meals inexpensive, just they're as well easy. And your kiddos volition happily leap in to help y'all out.

English language muffin pizza. The english muffin is the pizza chaff. Spread pasta sauce over the muffin, superlative it with your favorite pizza toppings, and toss information technology in the oven or microwave for a quick, cheap meal that will cost you lot less than 50 cents per serving. You lot could also apply a bagel or a pita as the crust.

• cost: most 50 cents per serving

Pigs in a blanket. Baking solar day is oft crazy around here, and after finishing I just don't experience similar making dinner. That'southward why I oftentimes reserve a ball of dough for my kids to cut into 'ropes' and wrap around hot dogs. Pigs in a blanket just take a few minutes if yous've get some bread dough handy, and they cost about twenty cents per serving.

• cost: about 20 cents per serving

Craven nuggets. These are so much meliorate for you than store bought. Are the ones from the shop even chicken? These aren't super easy, but they're worth the work!  Combine 1/two c. flour, 1 tsp. paprika, ane tsp. garlic pulverisation, i tsp. onion pulverisation, pinch of cayenne, salt and pepper in a ziploc handbag. Cut 4 chicken breasts into seize with teeth-sized chunks. Information technology'south easiest if your craven is just slightly frozen. Toss the chicken chunks into the pocketbook as yous cutting them. Shake them well to coat them with the spiced flour. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and shell them with 1 Tbsp. milk. Fill a 2d bowl with seasoned breadcrumbs. Remove the flour-coated chicken chunks from the bag a couple at a time, dunking them in the egg wash, then the bread crumbs, then dropping them into a skillet of medium hot oil. Once they're cooked through, remove them to a paper-towel-lined pan. If your oil is besides hot, they'll burn on the exterior before they melt all the manner through. Also, you need to cut your chunks small enough that they'll cook all the mode through. Serve with baked french fries to cut the cost farther.

• price: about fourscore cents per serving

Cheap Family unit Meals of Soup

Soup is nourishing, comforting and ane of the most cost-effective cheap family meals. Plus, it's so easy to make! I always serve it with a piping hot loaf of bootleg, whole wheat staff of life to keep the cost downwardly even more. I tin serve my unabridged family any of these soups, with bread, for well nether 50 cents a serving, plus take leftovers to feed them the adjacent day.

Minestrone Soup. I make mine from scratch, with nourishing beefiness stock as the base (click the link for the recipe). But this tin also be thrown together in 20 minutes with canned beef stock and canned beans and veggies. It'southward filling and nutritious all by itself, or make a sandwich to go with it.

• cost: nether 68 cents per serving

Potato Soup. I fabricated this at least once a calendar week when we were in higher and living every bit a family of four on less than $10k a yr. It's a great style to stretch a dollar! And information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel, too. I just scrub, dice and boil a pot total of potatoes. Drain the water off and comprehend the potatoes with milk. Add together garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Dunk your immersion blender in the pot and blend for a couple of seconds. Non too long considering yous don't desire a pot of runny mashed potatoes. You just want to thicken the soup a little using the potatoes as the thickener.

• cost: under 30 cents per serving

Loaded Baked Murphy Soup. This is a fancy version of the potato soup. It'due south perfect for when y'all accept company over in the winter. When I'm feeling extra fancy, I serve it in staff of life bowls. Saute 12 oz. salary, a minced onion and 3 cloves of garlic in a large stockpot while y'all're scrubbing and dicing about 12 potatoes. Remove the crisped salary from the pot and crumble it. Add together the diced potatoes to the pot and saute them until tender. Add 1/2 c. flour to the pot, and stir it effectually then it combines with the salary fat. Cover the potatoes with 6 c. milk, turn the heat low and let the milk oestrus and thicken. In one case information technology's hot and thickened slightly, stir in 1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese, sixteen oz. sour foam, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar to garnish.

• toll: under xc cents per serving

Broccoli and Cheese Soup. Wash, trim and chop nearly iii lb. broccoli. Saute one minced onion, iii cloves garlic, and broccoli in 1/two c. butter. Add i/2 c. h2o to the hot pot and immediately cover with a lid to steam the broccoli. Add 1/ii c. flour and stir it into the butter, then add 6 c. whole milk to the pot. Reduce heat and stir until the milk is hot and thickened. Stir in 1/2 lb. shredded cheddar. Serve with rolls and butter.

• cost: under 65 cents per serving

Cauliflower Soup. Follow the directions for broccoli cheese soup above, but substitute cauliflower for the broccoli.

• price: nether 65 cents per serving

French Onion Soup. Even my kiddos who aren't huge fans of onions in full general will gobble this upwards. Saute vi sliced onions in 1/two c. butter in a big stockpot on medium heat. Stir until tender and translucent, but don't brown the onions. Add 8 c. beef stock. (I use homemade, merely y'all could besides utilise canned or viii c. water with viii tsp. bouillon. Season with table salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 30 minutes. Ladle into glass bowls and height each with a slice of staff of life, a slice of provolone and a slice of swiss cheese. Place bowls on baking sheet and broil until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.

• cost: nether 43 cents per serving

Taco Soup. Brown 1 lb. of basis beefiness in a large stockpot. Saute 1 diced onion and 3 cloves garlic with the hamburger. Add together 1 can kidney beans, one can pinto beans, 1 can blackness beans, 2 cans corn, 2 cans diced, stewed, Mexican-style tomatoes, 1 can green chilis, all with the juice in the tin. Don't drain them. Add iv c. water. Stir in 3 Tbsp. chili powder, ane tsp. garlic pulverization, 1 tsp. cumin, ane/2 tsp. cayenne and salt and pepper to gustatory modality. Serve with tortilla chips.

• toll: nether 75 cents per serving

Chicken Noodle Soup. Homemade chicken noodle soup is so much more nutritious and filling than the stuff from a can. Information technology's also much cheaper! Click the link for my recipe.

• cost: under 54 cents per serving

Chili Con Carne. Chili is i of those like shooting fish in a barrel, cheap family unit meals that you can make a hundred different means, all of them delicious. Click the link for a good, basic recipe you can tinker with. Effort adding chili to your taco salad or Navajo tacos (recipe above). Information technology'southward too smashing on a baked murphy.

• price: nether sixty cents per serving

Lentil Soup. This is on of the hubs' favorites. Add 2 cups of lentils, 1 can of diced, stewed tomatoes, 1 diced onion, 1 clove minced garlic, and 1 Tbsp dill to a large stockpot, with half dozen c. water and bring it all to a boil. Lower the estrus, embrace, and allow it simmer for about 45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

• price: under 28 cents per serving

Slow Cooker Beef Stew. Whenever I make a roast, everyone knows it will be followed by beef stew. Get out the leftover basic, beef and drippings in your crockpot. Fill the crockpot with water and 2 Tbsp. vinegar (to leach the nourishing minerals from the bones into the stock). Plough your crockpot to high and permit it simmer overnight. The next day, add potatoes, onions and carrots to the crockpot. Nosotros normally have leftover veggies from the pot roast the mean solar day before, so I add those. Since they're already cooked, they don't demand to simmer long. If you're adding raw, they'll need almost five hours to simmer in the crockpot. I then add a can of green beans and a tin can of diced, stewed tomatoes, season to taste and serve with hot rolls and a glass of milk. My drippings are always total of seasonings from the roast the day before. If you lot don't have drippings, you might demand to add more seasonings.

• price: under 10 cents per serving because the majority of the ingredients are scavenged from the pot roast meal the day earlier.

Ham and Bean Soup. This is some other of those delicious, easy, cheap family meals made mainly from scavenged ingredients. Whenever I make a ham, I follow it upwards with ham and bean soup, or ham and beans, or split pea soup the next day. After removing most of the leftover ham from the os, I place the bone in my crockpot and fill the crockpot with water and ii Tbsp. vinegar (to leach minerals from the bone). Permit information technology simmer on high overnight, while you too allow the beans soak in a bowl of water overnight. The next mean solar day, add the beans to the crockpot with two cloves minced garlic and 1 diced onion. Let them simmer for at least five hours, then remove the bone and add 6 chopped carrots, 6 chopped stalks of celery, 1 can diced, stewed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Chop and add some of the leftover ham. Simmer another 2 hours.

• cost: nether 20 cents per serving because the ham and stock are scavenged from the day before.

Carve up Pea Soup. This comforting soup is made only like the ham and bean soup above, only with dried, split peas instead of the beans. Click the link for a more than detailed recipe.

• cost: under 20 cents per serving because the ham and stock are scavenged from the mean solar day before.

Looking for even more delicious and cheap soup recipes? I've compiled a bunch of them here.

>>>33 Cheap and Easy Soup Recipes<<<

Cheap Family Meals for Breakfast

Oatmeal. My kids don't appreciate porridge as much as I do.  A bowl of hot, steel-cutting oats is perfect on a wintry forenoon. Oats toll nearly 5 cents per half cup, cooked and milk is about 8 cents per half cup, and so this filling breakfast is less than 15 cents total.

Piece of cake Frittata . You can brand this frittata with any combination of vegetables, or with any meat/vegetable combination. I frequently utilise leftover ham, cubed, with broccoli and swiss cheese. This quick, piece of cake, delicious and filling meal will price around $0.80 per serving.

Rice and Milk. We often utilise leftover rice equally 'common cold cereal' for breakfast the next morning. I proceed a sugar/cinnamon shaker in the cupboard, so the kids but fill their bowl with rice, pour milk over it, and sprinkle on cinnamon sugar. This frugal breakfast costs effectually viii cents for a half loving cup of milk and v cents for a half loving cup of rice, and so under 15 cents total.

Bread and Milk. My kiddos dearest to crumble a piece of whole wheat bread into a bowl and summit it with milk, cinnamon and sugar. The hubs won't impact information technology with a ten pes pole. He says his grandpa used to eat staff of life and milk topped with a raw, sliced onion. That explains everything!

Soaked Granola with Natural Sweeteners. Grains should be soaked before eating in order to improve their digestibility and make all of their nutrients available. This granola recipe uses soaked grains and natural sweeteners so you tin can feel practiced near starting your day with it! I go out out the nuts (to cut costs) and this granola only costs almost thirty cents per serving.

Homemade Yogurt. I fill up my Instant Pot with milk, add a little starter from a previous batch of yogurt, and push the yogurt button. 8 hours afterwards it'due south perfect! A gallon of milk costs a whole lot less than a gallon of yogurt, so information technology's pretty cost-effective, as well. Sometimes I drain the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined colander to brand greek yogurt. Earlier serving, I but mix in frozen berries and sugar to gustatory modality.

Pancakes. These babies only take a few minutes to whip together and a few minutes to fry up. Basic pancakes only cost about 20 cents per serving.

Waffles with Fruit Compote and Whipped Cream. Wafflestopped with fruit is one of our all-time favorite meals, and we eat it for dinner equally frequently as we eat it for breakfast. Choose your favorite fruit for variety, and clothes information technology up for special occasions with fresh whipped cream or ice foam atop the fruit. This delicious breakfast costs near 50 cents per serving.

Eggs and toast. Easy and quick to make, and the eggs can exist made at least v different means: scrambled, fried, poached, baked and boiled. Eggs cost near 11 cents each, and bread is nigh 8 cents per slice (just 3 cents per slice if you make information technology yourself!) then a breakfast of two eggs and toast is just thirty cents.

Homemade Muffins. These quick and easy muffins honestly simply take about iii minutes to whip together, and 20 minutes to broil. At nether 20 cents a serving, these muffins qualify as a cheap family unit meal! Click the link for the recipe.

French Toast. Just as cheap a family meal equally eggs and toast, this i is a little fancier!

Breakfast Goulash with Hash Browns. This casserole is fantastic for potlucks because it'south so piece of cake to make ahead of fourth dimension and reheat. Start by browing ane lb. footing sausage. While it cooks, butter a glass, nine x 13 baking dish, then fill it with 2 lb. frozen hashbrowns (yous can use bootleg, but y'all have to wash the starch off Really well or they'll exist grey). Shell together 12 eggs, i c. milk, 1 tsp. each of salt and pepper. Layer the cooked, crumbled sausage and 2 c. shredded cheddar over the hashbrowns, and so cascade the egg mixture over the whole matter. Broil at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until the eggs are set. This breakfast casserole costs under 50 cents per serving.

Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole. This is similar to the above recipe, only you roll unbaked crescent scroll dough into the bottom of the baking dish instead of hashbrowns. Top the crescent roll dough with cooked, crumbled sausage and shredded cheese, then pour the egg mixture over the whole thing and bake. This breakfast casserole costs under 45 cents per serving.

Lazy Quiche. My mom e'er made this for dinner when I was a kid. It'due south similar to the breakfast casseroles above. Layer sliced breadstuff in the bottom of a greased baking dish. Top the bread with cooked, crumbled sausage and shredded cheddar (or diced ham and broccoli and cheese, or diced turkey and provolone, or whatever meat/veggie/cheese you have on hand) then pour the egg and milk mixture over the summit and broil.

High german Pancakes. I've also seen these called Puff pancakes, Oven pancakes and Dutch Babies. Bake these in muffin pans and they will be popovers. Any you call them, they are super yummy, nutritious and cheap! German pancakes costs around xxx cents per serving.

Huevos Rancheros. A breakfast burrito is a quick, filling, and highly portable breakfast. Yous tin make them ahead of time, wrap them in plastic and freeze them for busy mornings, too. Scramble upwards a skillet of eggs with a little fleck of salsa. Spoon eggs downwards the eye of a tortilla, fold shut and savor. These price less than 38 cents per serving.

Omelet. I consider omelets to exist a repository for all the leftovers I need to utilize up. They taste yummy no matter what savory things you add, and yous get to top it all with cheese! If the filling is only leftovers, all you take to pay for is two eggs and some cheese; nearly 30 cents per serving.

Tips for keeping your family unit meals cheap:

If you have teenage sons, you know they are bottomless pits. A normal serving size for them is an entire dinner plate, heaped, of whatever we are having. And a second serving is just as big.

Groceries to make full those abysmal pits could price you a ton. And so I've assembled all of my best tips for keeping family meals cheap to help you out!

• A inexpensive way to extend meals when y'all have several teenage boys is to cook up a large batch of inexpensive filler, like rice or potatoes, to serve aslope meals.
• Serve breadstuff, rolls or a pan of cornbread with meals as a inexpensive filler.
• Buy grains and legumes in bulk for a HUGE price discount. They last for around 30 years, so purchase a couple of 50 lb bags at a time. Not merely will buying in majority salvage y'all money, just it makes sense to have a picayune extra food stored in case of an emergency.
• Freezer meals are a neat way to salvage money on groceries, because they assure that there is always something yummy and like shooting fish in a barrel to eat at home, lessening the temptation to stop and pick upwardly take out.
• Batch cooking, or preparing more than than y'all need immediately of either a unmarried ingredient or an unabridged meal, shortens your time in the kitchen, increasing the likelihood that you'll actually cook, which saves y'all money. I oft melt upward double the ground beef or craven I demand, and then set aside the extra, if I know I'll need it for tomorrow's meal. Or I'll make a triple batch of craven nuggets and freeze portions to use later.
• Breakfast for dinner. Breakfast is typically much cheaper than dinner, and then accept it for dinner a few times a month to save yourself some cash.
• Meal planning will aid you to save money on groceries considering you'll be less prone to impulse purchases.
• When fruits and vegetables are in season in your surface area you can discover them super cheap at farmer's markets.
• Have occasional meatless meals, or even designate a day each calendar week, like Meatless Mondays, to swallow meat-free, more than economic meals.
• Extend meat (in things like meatloaf, swiss steak and hamburger patties) by thoroughly mixing a filler into the meat in a 1:3 ratio, filler to ground beef. Bread crumbs, oatmeal footing in your blender, and mashed potatoes each make a corking filler. Bread crumbs and oatmeal are dry and will also crave you to add an egg and a bit of milk to maintain the moistness.
• Avoid throwing away nutrient by making a point of eating leftovers for lunch, or past having a leftover meal for dinner once a calendar week. Meals comprised of leftovers are substantially free and will really help you to stretch your grocery budget.
• Check out these 7 Easy Tips for Cutting Your Grocery Bill in Half!
• One-half the battle is thinking up meals, am I right? A repast rotation tin assistance with the dinner time daze of thought. There are several dissimilar styles of meal rotations. You could always have meatless Mondays, pasta Tuesdays, Chinese Wednesdays, soup Thursdays… Or you could compile a list of your 30 favorite dinners to rotate through monthly.

Final Thoughts on Cheap Family Meals

I hope you've constitute a few cheap family meals that entreatment to you. Even when y'all're cooking on a budget, be sure to not skimp on diet. You'll experience good well-nigh feeding your family unit these nutritious, succulent, cheap family meals that won't suspension the depository financial institution.

Add several of these inexpensive meals into your meal rotation, only two or 3 nights every week, and chop your grocery bill in half, without feeling deprived at all.

What are your favorite, cheap family meals? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

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