My post is not at all like Mary's. My boys are 4 & 2, so lunch is often PB&J for them, and leftovers or homemade burritos for my husband and myself. Breakfast is often frozen waffles, pancakes, or homemade granola (recipe below). Also, I was not organized enough to get together my best recipes, all the ingredients and then take a picture of them. BUT–I wanted to share some frugal recipes I've found…frugal for us. As I read more of the others, I'm seeing we're not the most frugal people–I'm looking forward to more ideas! Here are some easy recipes that our family likes.

AND–as I've been putting this together, I realized in a fit of spring cleaning I threw out all my receipts, so I can't even tell you how much this costs per serving. I'm sorry I'm not following any of the rules! But I'll give you lots of recipes in an attempt to make up for it!

Breakfast Granola (From my sister-in-law, who said she often triples the recipe and free subsitutes ingredients)

  • 4 c. oats
  • 1 c. almonds
  • 1/2 c. sesame seeds
  • 1/2 c. coconut
  • 1 c. rice crispies
  • 1/2 c maple syrup (I use 1/4 c. of pancake syrup and 1/4 c. corn syrup because I don't like the maple taste)
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/4-1/2 c oil

Bake at 300 for 35 minutes, stir after 20 minutes. After baking add dried fruit:

  • 1 c raisins
  • 1 c dried cranberries
  • 1/2 c grapenuts

Tuna is such a low cost protein, yet my family is not a fan of it. I finally found a recipe that they will eat, from the Kraft Foods magazine.  These Tuna Cakes are tasty and not that expensive:

  • 2 cans light tuna, drained, flaked 
  • 1 pkg. Stuffing Mix
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
  • 1/2 c. shredded carrots
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 T Sweet pickle relish
  • 3/4 water

I did have a problem with them staying together (they didn't look as round as the picture), but they were quite tasty.

Another food we like is smoked sausage. Often it goes on sale buy one get one free or even buy one get TWO free at our local store, so I'm often getting it for $1.33 or $2 a package.  I used to use 1/2 a package for these recipes, but my boys now love it so much I use an entire package.

Sausage Stir Fry
Prep Time: 15-20 min.

  •  ½-1 pkg. Smoked sausage
  • 2-3 T. oil
  • 3 ¼ c. of fresh or frozen chopped vegetables (broccoli, carrots, onion, mushrooms, etc.) (Or one bag of stir-fry mix from the frozen food section, getting on sale for $1)
  • ¾ c. parmesan cheese (powder or fresh, shreaded)
  • 1 c. cooked rice
  • Seasoning to taste (I do a quarter tsp of salt, pepper, garlic, oregano)

Cook rice.  Chop up sausage into bite sized pieces.  Sauté vegetables in oil until crisp and tender.  Add sausage and season to taste.  Heat thoroughly, mix in ½ c. parmesan cheese, and serve immediately over warm rice.  Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese.

Sausage, Black Beans & Rice
Modified from a Bush's Beans wrapper, off a can of black beans.

  • 1 T olive oil
  • ¾ c onion, chopped fine
  • ½ c green pepper, chopped fine
  • 1 c diced tomatoes
  • 1 can Black beans, drain & reserve juice
  • ½ t thyme
  • 1 t garlic salt
  • ½ t hot pepper sauce
  • 1 ½ to 3 T cider vinegar
  • ½ package smoked sausage
  • 2 cups cooked rice

 

In large skillet heat olive oil; cook onion and green pepper until crisp tender, stir in tomatoes, beans thyme and garlic salt.  Cook 3 minutes; add vinegar, pepper sauce, reserved juice and sausage.  Continue to cook 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.  Garnish with lime wedge (optional)

Chicken recently went on sale in the packages of 3 breasts. which all weighed about a pound and a half. I decided to split the packages up, and freeze 2 breats in a bag. The pieces of meat are so large, I figured 2 was enough for the 4 of us. Then when I'm cooking I cut them up into smaller pieces, so they cook faster and we don't over eat. I used two in all of these recipes and it was plenty. 

Sweet & Sour Chicken 
Modified from allrecipes.com

  • 1 (20 oz) can of pineapple chunks, juice reserved
  • 1/4 c soy sauce (we use low salt)
  • 1/2 c vinegar
  • 3/4 c brown sugar
  • 1/4 c cornstarch
  • 1 c carrots, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced (I only do this if I happen to have them on hand, which is not very often)
  • 1 1/2 lb cooked chicken meat, cut into stripes (I do one pound and add more veggies)
  1. In a large sauce pan, over medium-high heat, stir-fry chicken. After a few minutes, throw in all chopped vegetables (DON’T put in the pineapple). Remove from pan when chicken is no longer tender and vegetables are soft. 
  2. Turn heat to medium-low heat, and in the same pan blend reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. Mix in corn starch and stir until thickened.
  3. Stir in vegetables and chicken mix, cook until heated through. Stir in the pineapple chunks before serving.

This Chicken and Rice with Black Bean Salsa was wonderful the first time around and even better as leftovers in a burrito.  I love that it only calls for 4 ingredients!

  • Chicken
  • 1 jar salsa
  • 1 can black beans
  • Shredded cheese

I also like to buy pork loins when they're onsale for around $1.67/pound. Then I have the butcher slice them about 3/4 of an inch and we have a good stock of boneless pork chops. I freeze some in mairnaide to grill. Last week we had one pork chop left over and I chopped it up and used it in fried rice. This could also be done with leftover chicken. Again, I modified a recipe I found here, using leftover broccoli and rice we already had in the fridge. It was a fun way to use of leftovers and get a totally new meal–I want to be able to do that more!