homemade macaroni and cheese, always makes alot and is very filling; espeically with leftover easter ham

pork and potato pie, a cheap pork roast, shredded & mixed with leftover mashed potatos, baked into a pie crust, topped with cheese and gravy.

i like to take leftover chicken or pork and make an easy sauce out of any pan drippings, milk, tbsp butter, some spices, and toss it with one of the many 1/2 boxes of pasta on hand too.

hope that helps!

We like to make chili by browning meat with onion and and adding a pkg of chili seasoning, add a can of stewed tomatoes and cook down and mashed to your preference for consistency. Add 2 cans of tomato soup and a can of kidney beans (I use white but you can use red or pink), cook until heated through, approx 20 mins on low heat, stirring often.  We like the chili served over mashed potatoes with a side salad.

I also make a meatloaf with eggs, bread crumbs, crackers or quick cooking oatmeal (which ever I have on hand), Montreal steak seasoning and ketchup.  If you like a firmer meatloaf use 1-2 eggs and add more filler (bread crumbs, etc) and I use approx 2 tblsp seasoning with approx 1/4 cup ketchup.

We also like ground beef gravy for a change.  Simply add water to browned beef and onion in same pan and add garlic and onion salt (or powder, if trying to limit salt intake) and cook until heated adding a small amount of flour and water to thicken into gravy.  Serve over noodles, mashed potatoes, biscuits or add veggies and serve with dumplings (Bisquick recipe).

These are just a few ways we stretch ground meat (you can use ground beef, turkey or chicken).

I also buy a chuck roast and with the left overs I cut up the meat in the gravy and serve with noodles and veggies or I heat in bar-b-que sauce and the shredded left over beef and put over rolls for bar-b-que beef sandwiches (you can do the same with left over pork roast). 

I hope that some of these suggestions sound good enough for you to try; you'll find they help stretch the grocery budget too.  Good eating

We make scalloped potatoes with ham and cheese in them which is a great one dish meal.

Meatloaf (burger, crackers, ketchup, salt, pepper, onion powder, egg) with mashed potatoes. Left over meat loaf can be used for sandwiches the next day. Mashed potatoes over hot dogs broiled with cheese, you can even add canned corn to this. A Great fast and easy meal that tastes great!

You can never go wrong with Chili mac.

One pot meal, chicken, beef or pork, green beans, sliced canned potatoes and can of stewed tomatoes ( onion and garlic flavor). Cook for about 20 to 30 min. You can use fresh potatoes but it will take a little longer to cook.

Spaghetti Goulash (Noodles, sauce, burger, corn) Yum!

Nachos at home with burger( i add hot sauce to my burger), refried beans, olives, green chilies, cheese. Topped with sour cream and salsa or fresh toms. Bean and cheese burritos are a great easy thing to make at home. Also Quesadillas are easy to make and you can use a variety of different ingredients that are left over from other meals. Bacon, hamburger, chicken, pork. You can even make it open face like a pizza.

 Broccoli Rice Casserol - Broccoli, rice, 1 can tuna (you can use chicken as well) egg whites, cream of chicken or mushroom soup.

 
Kielbasa is a great meat to use in many dishes. We make a Cabbage and noodle dish, it has cabbage, wide egg noodles, potatoes and kielbasa. Use can make it with just the cabbage and noodles with the kielbasa or you can make it with the cabbage and potatoes with kielbasa if you don't want both the noodles and potatoes.

Then we make red beans and rice ( or you can buy zatterans) and put kielbasa in it, another great one pot meal.

 
Stuffed baked (or microwaved) potatoes are great. You can place anything in them you want. Some of our favorites- ham chicken or burger, broccoli, cheese with sour cream topped with bacon bits and sometimes salsa. Chili with cheese, sour cream and fresh tomatoes.

 
Pizza pie is one of my favorite dishes from childhood. It is a little spicy, but wonderful. It has burger in it with sour cream, oregano, salt, pepper, green chilies, stewed tomatoes, hot sauce, garlic, onion, cheese and then topped with refrigerator biscuits or bisquick biscuits.

 
Here is what we do with our burger. Let say that you are making goulash and it calls for a lb of burger. We only put in about 2/3 to 3/4 of a lb of burger. You still get the burger, but it saves you money at stretches your meat farther. We buy it, cook it up and then freeze it in meal size portions. This works for most burger meals, nachos, pizza pie, stuffed potatoes, etc.

Hope this helps. If you need exact recipes please let me know. 

Hello! Don't I remember those meals my mom used to make.....and the first thing that came 2 mind was Tuna Casserole until I read ur kids dont like tuna...lol...BUT..sheperd's pie was always a staple...and I have substituted ground beef with ground turkey and it has gone over quite well (it's all in the seasoning)! That being said, we have done taco night w/ground turkey..which can be economical if u buy the store brand taco shells and make ur own taco sauce out of tomato sauce...my mom also used to do Kielbasa with Baked Beans...a lil more filling than hot dogs (lol) and it really tasted great..also, make ur own english muffin pizzas and do a garden salad on the side....

I dont know of any recipes however I have the same problem. We use alot of chicken and ground beef. Chicken is cheap and it is filling. Stock up when your local grocery store has thighs for 99 cents.  Ground beef can make alot of things. Tacos! meat loaf, hamburgers, chili. All these are less than $10 a meal. I have a family of 5 and can feed all of us for about $100 a week, sometimes less. Also another "cheap" trick I found is using cutting down real potatoes to make french fries. It is SOOOO much cheaper and much better! Good Luck  

hi,I think that most of us have been there, done that, :-). There are only 2 of us now, and i used to waste a lot of food, so I am trying to pare down to! I freeze a lot of left overs, to reheat or make another meal with. All of the ideals are great!. This is not recipes but it may help you. I buy large amounts of meat when it is on sale and freeze it. someone said to cook the ground beef and freeze in small packages, to save time and freezer space. i also buy dented cans or smashed box items, because they are usually 1/2 priced. I have also bought turkey when on sale, some stories will do this, I have them cut it up like a chicken and cook it as I need it. I freeze left over vegs untill i have enough to make veg. soup. Potatoes tend to be grainy but still good. I make potaote soup with lift over mashed potaotes ( my Mom's ideal, ;-)  ). Lots of luck!

Tuna casserole can be reconfigured with some leftover chicken or a can of chicken meat for the kids who reject fish.  Another old standby for a filling and cheap meal is biscuits and sausage gravy.  Brown the sausage meat.  Make a roux with flour and the fat in the pan.  Wisk in milk and simmer to thicken.  Serve over biscuits.  You can do the same with burger and serve over toast or any starch such as noodles,rice or potato.

 We eat a lot of veggies in my house and the healthiest way I have seen to liven them up is adding a can of stewed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes and garlic. I live in England so lots of my standbys don't exist in the same way, so I am recreating!

Last night's meal cost about 3 pounds or $6...

I sauted in olive oil, garlic and salt: asparagus (buy one bunch get one free), half a diced onion, some left over black olives--halved. Once bright green, I added a can of diced tomatoes, basil and oregano. I boiled some refrigerated stuffed pasta (1 pound a pack--I stock up and freeze). Portioned out the pasta and added the "chunky veggie"sauce. Served with a side salad with left over sweet peppers. I make meals like this one all the time--whatever veggies and pasta or rice are on sale and add a can of tomatoes.  This meal counted for 1 serving of starch and 4 veggies. Add a sliced chicken breast for some protein.

Retromom,

The best advise I can give is to review portions also.  A pot roast could blow out of my house in a day (family of 3 with a teenager).  Often we don't look at portion size and here in CA meat is expensive and produce can be found at the local farmers markets for 1/2 the cost of the grocery.  I typically cook more meat and save the overage for another meal.  I.E., cooked chicken makes a great addition to a Chef Salad, the extra boiled eggs get used in potato salad, etc.  Leftovers are almost always the adults lunches which leaves us time to run errands.  Beyond money I've also cut down on prep times and for a working Mom thats crutial.

Overall, I've upped our veggies both in meals and snacks, added vitamins and introduced a "food chain" if you will to our diet and wallet to ensure that we are meeting nutritional needs and not "wasteless wants" - bottom line, I spend $70-$90 dollars less a week!  And this is just on a family of 3...

I am in the same position! I feed my family (me my husband and our 5 year old girl) on about $250 a month. I like to make simple yet filling reciepes my grandmother taught me.

Like:

Taco Salad- Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, taco meat (hamburger and taco seasoning) shredded cheese. you can also add other stuff if you like. I also like to put Doritos (any flavor) crushed into it. A little ranch and your ready to go.

Enchiladas-Corn tortillas, beef, cheese, canned chili, and onions. Make meat like taco meat, heat tortillas add beef and onions and cheese inside, roll it up and put it in a casserole dish top with remaining meat, chili, onions and cheese.

homemade pizzas you can buy the crust and toppings. verry cheap and the kids love it.

Homemade Spagetti- Spagetti noodles, hamburger of course and use the canned tomato paste and a can of stewed tomatoes with garlic and orageno in it.

Boxed dinners a faily cheap and make enough for everyone and simple.

Ok I could go on and on but since I have posted enough for a whole weeks dinners I will leave it at that. Hope this helps.

Sopa- spanish for soup although I dont make it soupy

Ingred: pasta shells (macaroni, abc's, stars, whatever u have), tomato sauce, caldo de pollo or chicken boujon, onion, salt/pepper, cheese if desired and browned hamburger meat

fry pasta with onion in a little bit of oil, then add tomato sauce, caldo de pollo salt pepper, to your taste, simmer for about 20-30 minutes when done add meat and cheese and let sit until sauce thickens. quick, easy and very inexpensive.

also sometimes i take frozen burritos poor enchillada sauce and cheese over them and bake them in the oven.

any type of meat u fry up u can always add potatoe to stretch it out.

also for breakfast my mom always added cut up hotdogs into our eggs or fried bolagne, it may sound weird to some people but its good.

  I read all u posted and when it came to cabbage and noodles i had to laugh we love that. Do you brown the onions first? It is so sweet,and filling.I never put potatoes in it (next time) I like to throw stuff in a pot and pray,lol. I have just started to cut our portions as you do. More people should learn to "eat to live" not live to eat. I will buy a 4lb roast and cut into 3or 4 1lb pc's. then use one for a "roast" one for soup,one for stew. We(2)always have plenty,with salad and bread. Have u ever checked out "Creative Homemaking.com and Living on a dime.com? Thanks for all the ideas. greatgrammachick

retromom,Do u have a save-lot or Aldi's near you? It does save to go there as long as you are not stuck on brand names. Please check out creative homemaking.com it has alot of ideas to save and cut down. I may have already posted it but worth doing again. ggchick

Hi I'm from Michigan and here we can go to the local farmers during the time they are picking potatoes and get truck loads of potatoes! Everyomne knows you can do a lot with potatoes.My fiance' loves to fish and some of the things we do are can salmon for salmon patties.Canned salmon lasts for quite some time and it's really healthy! The recipe I have is so simple. We also go to places like save-a-lot and Gordon's Food Service or Sam's club to buy certain items in bulk.For instance I'll buy in the summer a 10lb box of hamburger patties at Gordon's(They actually taste good!) I find different ways to do hamburgers on the grill or I'll put hamburger patties,brown gravy,onion and whatever else I can think of (Mainly a starch) into my crock pot and let it go. Just use creativity and try new things,You never know unless you try it!

Another good cheap crock pot recipe.

Spaghetti sauce,Noodles(Whatever you perfer) I use rotini wich is cheap at save-a-lot,hamburger,can mushroom(Save-a-lot) and cheese.Let it go on low heat in your crock pot.Buy a loaf of french bread at your local bread store or reduced and make your own garlic bread.

I love my crock pot! One of my husband's favorites is cubed potatoes, either cubed beef or pork, BBQ sauce(enough to cover meat and potatoes), and seasonings (we use garlic and onion). Throw it all in the crock pot for the day. The meat is really tender. Be warned BBQ sauce can be spicy, so if you don't like spicy I would tepmer it some with catsup.

When boneless chuck roast is on sale at the market, I buy up several & put in freezer.  Preheat crockpot on HIGH for about 10 minutes. In AM I put the frozen roast in the crock pot and add 1/2 cup boiling water that has been mixed with 1 TB beef granules, and a little season salt.  That's the base.

Add sliced onions, celery, bell peppers, can diced tomatoes, mushrooms, or

1/2 cup barbecue sauce & dry BBQ season rub, or

Use your imagination...

Cover  crockpot and cook on HIGH one hour. Turn down temp to low and cook the rest of the day, about 6 hrs (No worries if you are doing this before you leave for work early. Put cold ingredients in cold cold crockpot and turn on LOW before you leave. By dinner time 8-10 hrs later, it will be done.

To the above, we might be having swiss steak over rice; pulled beef (pork works well too) over noodles or Barbecue on a bun (don't forget the dill pickles on top)  Yummy

This is absolutely my favorite weekday meal.  Don't forget other options like 1/2 turkey breast, chicken pieces all go in frozen.

I just had to respond to this,  I don't know how long you have been putting frozen items in the crock pot but I am concerned that this leaves the meat in a dangerous temperature zone for too long.  When you have frozen items in the crock pot it has to go through the thaw cycle then cooking cycle.  I think it takes too long for the meat product to reach a safe temperature zone.
I guess it is the "old food service training" that is comming out.  I would be particularly cautious of any poultry, particularly turkey since it is a much larger piece of meat.

I have great recipe for chili.  It tastes really good and its really easy!

2 lbs. ground beef                                                                                                                                                        

1 Lg. Onion (you can use yellow or white, depending on how strong you want it)

2 Packettes Chili Seasoning (we prefer McCormick's as they're not as salty)

2 Lg. Cans Dark Red Kidney Beans

1 Reg. size can of Stewed Tomatoes

Butter

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cumin

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop Onion according to taste

In a Large cooking pot Carmelize Onion in 1 pat of butter and 2 Tblspns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Add Ground Beef, mix with onions,  Add 3 more pats butter and season pinch of black pepper

When Ground Beef browned leave grease in and add 1 Packette Chili Mix and incorporate into beef and onions

Add 2 Lg. Cans Beans and Stewed Tomatoes

add pinch of cumin (to taste)

Add last packette of Chili Mix and stir to incorporate all ingredients.  Note- do not drain juices from kidney beans, you'll need the liquid.

Turn heat down to low heat and simmer, stirring frequently for 45 min. to 1 Hr.

Let Chili rest for 10 minutes and serve

You can serve with cheddar cheese on top and/or crackers.  You can also squeeze some lemon or lime over each individual serving.  There are 2 of us so this lasts us 2-3 days.  You can double recipe, just double everything but be careful with the cumin.  This tastes great in the summer but it's awesome during the winter!   Enjoy!       chicagosinger