Quick, Easy Homemade Chicken Soup

If you can get a couple of cans of chicken broth and a package of egg noodles on sale, you can make this real cheap.

2 cans of chicken broth, add water if you need more liquid

1 package of wide egg noodles

leftover chicken, already cooked, shredded/cubed/chunked

preferred herbs/spices

(You can also add these if you have them on hand, but we do not: chopped carrots, celery and onions.)

Simply warm the broth/water and chicken, as well as any veggies, until heated through. Then add the herbs/spices and the noodles and cook until the noodles are done.

Spaghetti Meal

enough spaghetti for your family

1 can corn

1 can peas

1/4 to 1/2 pound ground beef, or the same amount of chicken/turkey (not ground)

1/4 cup each of shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheeses

1 tsp to 1 tbsp for each person: parmesan cheese

Split the pasta between each person.

Top with some corn, freezing the remainder to use in a recipe later on.

Top with some peas, freezing the remainder to use in a recipe later on.

Top with meat, freezing any leftovers to use in a recipe later on.

Top with cheeses.

Serve with a salad or garlic bread.

This can be a frugal recipe, depending on how much you have to spend on the ingredients. Purchase what you can on sale, store brands, etc. We usually use whole wheat pasta which is a but more expensive than white.

Lasagna Roll-Ups for the Freezer

 Sauce:

1 large can of tomato soup

2/3 can of water

1/2 to 1 pound browned ground beef. Heat and cool.

Cook up as many lasagna noodles as you will need. Do not cook all the way, as they will be put into the freezer and cooked again later. I usually end up having to cook more. It depends on how much cheese you roll up in each.

Filling, Mix up:

I tub cottage cheese

1 tub ricotta cheese

and as much of the following as you like: Shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheeses, and dried parsley.

Lay out a noodle and place as much cheese as you want in it. Roll it up and set on  plate. Repeat for the rest.

Wrap 2 roll-ups in plastic wrap, doing this until they are all wrapped in pairs.

Fill a plastic snack size baggie with sauce for each pair. Freeze leftover sauce in quart size freezer bags in amounts you need for pasta sauce.

Put as many ’sets’ as you can in each gallon size freezer bag. A set is a pair of roll-ups and a bag of sauce.

To cook:

Thaw as many roll-ups and bags of sauce that you will need. Place roll-ups on a baking sheet and pour sauce over them. Bake at 350* to 375* for 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve with salad and a slice of garlic bread.

These fillings, if made right, are very filling. Each person will only need one.

Individual Pizza Menus

These menus all assume that you are working around a $1 personal pizza from the grocery store. My daughters and daycare children love these, so I try to come up with different combinations of foods to serve with them.

They do *not* each get there own pizza. They must all share the pizza, whether we have 2 or 6 children here at the time. The point is to make a more healthy, frugal meal. Simply split the pieces of pizza between them all, and add one of the following combinations to the plate. Don’t forget to give them each a cup of milk.

apple slices and peanut butter***

apple slices with cheese

banana slices and grapes*

corn and peas

green beans and carrots

celery and carrot sticks with peanut butter***

fruit cocktail

applesauce and strawberries**

berry mixture**

fruit salad

salad mix

Can you think of any other combinations? Please share.

* Grapes should be cut into quarters for small children.

**Pediatricians believe that berries should not be given to children until ages 1, 2, or even 3 - they may have allergic reactions. Only you and your child’s pediatrician can determing if your child is ready.

***Some children have allergic reactions to peanut butter. Consult your young child’s pediatrician if your child has not been introduced to peanut butter yet.

Menus from Dollar Days Sales

In our area we have a grocery store called IGA. They have dollar sales every so often that last a week. Everything in the store is not a dollar, but quite a bit is a dollar or less. Many are store brands. Here is a list of many of the dollar deals that I have found:

pasta/rice sides or pasta roni

boxed mac and cheese (3 or 4 for $1)

cream cheese

graham cracker crust

whipped topping

canned vegetables (2 or 3 for $1)

cucumbers (2 for $1)

1 pound baby carrots (2 for $1)

bags of spinach, cabbage and lettuce mixes

salad dressing

oranges (3 for $1)

grapefruit (2 for $1)

bananas (3 pounds for $1)

5 pounds potatoes

ramen noodles (6-8 for $1)

baked beans

soup (2 for $1)

gravy (3 for $1)

hot dogs

personal size pizzas

english muffins (2 for $1)

bagels

24 oz apple sauce

canned pears

canned peaches

canned pineapple

canned mixed fruit

large cans of apple pie filling

large cans of pumpkin puree

There are many things that can be made with these items. In my home, we usually have 3 to 5 people eating a meal. Each menu will serve 5 or 6 people. Here are some ideas, assuming that you already have some meat, baking needs and condiments on hand. You will also need eggs, cheese and milk.

Breakfast:

English muffins with peanut butter, banana, milk

Bagel with cream cheese, fruit cocktail, milk

Homemade whole wheat bread with peanut butter, applesauce, milk

Homemade pumpkin muffins with butter, pears, milk

Banana pancakes topped with apple pie filling, milk

Homemade hash browns, omelet, milk

English muffin breakfast pizza with pineapples, milk

Dessert:

Apple pie filling topped with whipped topping

Peaches and pears topped with whipped topping

Bananas topped with whipped topping

Homemade cheesecake

Pumpkin Pie

Lunch/Dinner:

Mac and cheese with hot dogs and corn, milk

Ramen noodles, hot dog, green beans, milk

Casserole: hot dogs, corn and potatoes, milk

1 individual pizza, salad, milk

Pasta/rice side, hot dog, salad, milk

Shepherd’s pie, salad, milk

Baked beans, hot dog, homemade bread with butter, milk

I’m sure that you can come up with other ideas as well.

I usually have leftovers, which are frozen whenever possible. Any freezer plan site will be able to tell you what can and cannot be frozen. Even if there is just 1 or 2 teaspoons of vegetables, or meat, I freeze them for soups or casseroles later on.

Also remember, there are plenty of snacks listed above as well.

Some of the meals above end up costing less than 30 cents per person, about $1.25 per meal. Sometimes less, often a bit more.

(Recipes)

Pasta sides meal:

1 box of pasta sides/roni, cooked as directed

1/4 to 1/2 pound chicken, cut small and fired in a little Shed’s Spread Light - add to pasta side when it is time to let the side sit for a few minutes, mix and cover.

Serve with a salad, or add a cooked vegetable before covering to sit.

Baked Beans:

1 can beans

1 cut up and cooked hot dog

a little ketchup

a little molasses

Cook and serve with homemade bread topped with butter. We like to sop the bean juice up with the bread and butter. Yum!

Cheesecake:

I’m pretty sure this is a Kraft recipe, but I am not positive. We have been using it for years and don’t even have/need a written recipe for it.

Mix 1 package (8 oz, I believe) cream cheese, 1 (8 oz) tub of whipped topping and 1/3 cup of sugar with an electric mixer. Spoon into a graham cracker crust, and refrigerate.

Shepherd’s Pie:

In a casserole pan, place 1/2 to 1 pound browned ground beef, 1 can of corn with 1/4 to 1/2 of the liquid, and then top with mashed potato (enough for your family). You can sprinkle with cheese if you wish. Serve with a salad.

Hope these ideas are helpful.

Warmest Wishes,

Shannon

Autumn Harvest Soups

You can create soups from any vegetables that you have on hand. I have a habit of making a few different types of soups, cooking them until almost done, and then putting serving size portions into quart-size freezer bags and freezing them.

Here are your choices of components. Use whatever else you have on hand. I would add herbs and spices when reheating.

Vegetables:

pumpkin

squash

tomatoes

corn

peas

carrots

green beans

zucchini

potatoes

Liquid:

water

vegetable broth

beef broth

chicken broth

Meats:

pork

ham

beef

chicken

turkey

Others:

rice

(I would add pasta when re-heating)

beans

(I would add dumplings when re-heating)

Any combination of the above will work, and so would combining many items from each list. It is pretty easy, actually, to create soups for vegetarians as well as meat-lovers. Feel free to share your favorite recipes.

1 Pan Leftover Meal # 2

This is an easy one. that won’t cost much.

* You will need to brown any meat that has not already been cooked. Drain and rinse and put back into fry pan on the stove. I use usually extra virgin olive oil for browning, at a lower temperature, but you can use whatever you have on hand.

* Any raw vegetables that have not been cooked should be cooked until almost done.

Ingredients:

Meat, however much you have leftover, anywhere from 1/4 pound to 1 pound.

Vegetables, a mixture or just one. Whatever works for you. I am not sure on the exact measure, it will depend on how much meat. This is a good time to use up any leftovers from the refrigerator.

Pasta, thin. Egg noodles are fine. Uncooked.

Leftover water from cooking vegetables.

Any herbs or spices that you would like to use.

Combine all of the ingredients and cook on medium heat until cooked through.

You could make homemade biscuits or bread to go with this.

This recipe will save you money when you have little of it. Like before your paycheck or foodstamps come in. It will also help you to keep running your home as frugally as possible.

Stuffed Shells (Partially from Leftovers)

This one I threw together the other night. It is nothing fancy.

jumbo shells (.99)

water

pasta sauce (.99) (or 1 small can tomato soup mixed with 1 can water - .59) I did half with sauce have with soup.

cottage cheese (1.29)

shredded mozzarella cheese (leftover from pizza night, about 1/2 bag)

shredded mild cheddar cheese (leftover from pizza night, about 3/4 bag)

a little less than 1/2 pound browned ground beef (leftover)

leftover pepperoni

Mix all of the cheeses together.

Fill shells with the cheese and place in two baking pans.

I mixed two different sauces up, though you may choose to use just one. 1. pasta sauce, half of the ground beef and half of the pepperoni, and 2. Soup mixed with the can of water and the other half of the meets.

I poured 1 sauce over 1 pan of shells, and 1 sauce over the other.

I baked this for about 40 minutes at 375*.

***

I used foodstamps to purchase these foods, so I did not pay tax:

  .99

  .99

  .59

1.29

___

$3.86 split between 3 meals = $1.29 per meal

3 people ate at two of the meals, and 4 people ate at 1 meal.

So that is .39 per individual meal.

1 Pan Leftover Meal

Here is a recipe for leftover night. Since you have already counted the cost of these items in previous meals, this meal is free.

Add a little olive oil/butter/margarine to a big fry pan and heat the pan on medium.

Go through your refrigerator and add whatever you can find to the pan. Here was last nights meal for us:

boiled potatoes, already diced before cooking

whole kernel corn

1/2 lb. browned ground beef

Just mix it all up and warm through.

Along with this, we had leftover stuffed shells (made mostly from leftovers) that were warmed in the oven. My next post will be the recipe for that.

Leftover Soup

This takes minimal preparation. Here is what you do:

Keep containers in the freezer for leftover vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, squash, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.), meats (hamburg, pork, steak, ham etc.), vegetable water and pasta water. These will later be used for “leftover soup”.

This is a soup/stew, depending on what ingredients you are using.

The morning before you need to make the “leftover soup,” take all of the containers out of the freezer and put them into the refrigerator.

If you will be using a slow cooker, put all of your ingredients into it, then add water until it is 2/3 full. Cook on high for lunch (3-4 hours) and low for dinner (5-6 hours). Add any herbs/spices/pasta 20-30 minutes before serving.

You could also cook this on your stove-top, beginning 30-60 minutes before you want to eat, depending on what you put into it. Again, add other items, if you want, 20-30 minutes before serving.

This meal could end up costing you nothing, or very little (less than 50 cents) if you were to add pasta, dumplings and some spices.