ISO recipes, please help!!

[backwoodsbarbie88]

Hey,

I have a huge ask! Im looking for some yummy dinner meals. Mainly casseroles or crock pot meals to feed a family of 10! also giving three lunches for the next day! Trying to stay under $11.00 a day. But i'm a mama of 5 and super pregnant so im looking for someone who can give me meal ideas with the ingredents. Thank you!!

 

[Aunt Bea]

There really are no magic recipes.

This French Toast Bake would probably be a hit with the kids.

https://www.chewoutloud.com/texas-french-toast-bake-6/

or this Hash Brown Casserole

https://goodcheapeats.com/wprm_print/24275

In order to really save money it's always about using what is available, check the local food pantries, supermarket loss leaders, and coupon deals in your immediate area.

I'm sure that you probably have many classic budget-stretching recipes for things like macaroni salad, potato salad, tuna noodle casserole, mac & cheese, baked spaghetti, Spanish rice, fried rice, franks 'n beans, crack slaw, etc...

For inexpensive lunches, I would look at the old standbys of soup with a simple sandwich made using egg salad, tuna salad stretched with a couple of hard-boiled eggs, bologna, grilled cheese, PB&J, etc...

Another thought would be inexpensive hotdogs, macaroni salad, chips, etc...

I would encourage you to try and squeeze in a few treats for the kids like brownies from a mix, a couple of packages of cookies from the $tore, bananas, etc...

Finally, spread the word and try to enlist some help from family and friends. They may not be able to prepare food, but a donation of cash or ingredients would help to expand the options and ease the burden of doing this alone.

Good luck, it's a big task!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Pasta, such as spagetti carbanara,
Fry six strips of bacon until lightly crispy. Break into small pices. Boil one pkg. spaghetti noodles until tender, according to pkg. directions. Drain noodles, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Add the bacon bits, reserved water, and 1 tsp. coarse grind blacbk pepper. Break 2 eggs into the pasta, and stir. The heat from the hot pasta will cook the egg into a creamy sauce.

Soups, such as split pvea soup, or bean soups are inexpensive, and will make a good meal for a crowd.

Pea soup:
1 pkg. split green peas
1/2 onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 medium carrot, grated
1 smoked ham hock

Clean dried peas of any pebbles, or other matter. Place ham hock in large soup pot, cover with water, and bring to a meduim boil. Cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove ham hock. Add carrots and onion, and garlic to the pot.

Cook for ten minutes. Add the peas to the pot, making sure that there is about two inches of water above the peas. Reduce temperature to simmer. Cover, and cook 30 minutes, stir about every 5 minutes to prevent sticking. While peas are cooking, remove all meat from the ham hocks, and dice. Add the meat to the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The peas should be soft enough to turn into a smooth soup. If the peas aren't soft enough yet, add more water as needed, and coik another 15 minutes. If the soup is wattery, melt 1 tbs. butter in a skillet. Add 1 tbs. all uorpose flour. Stir unti blonde color is acchived. Laddle extra soup liquid into the butter/flour mixture (roux) until you get a thin paste. Add that to your soup to thicken it.

For bean soup, do the sane as for peas soup, except that you have to cook the beans until tender. Start by soaking them overnight. The cook over medium heat for an hour in 1 guart of water, seasoned with 2 tbs. Kosher salt. When beans are tender, add remaining ingredients. Simmer for twenty minutes more.

Orzo and Rice
1 cup brown rice,
1 cup orzo
1 lb. Ground beef
1 20 oz. can diced tomato
1/2 tsp. Dried basil
1/2 tsp. Dried oregano
1/4 tsp. Dried thyme
1/4 tsp. Dried turmeric (optioal)
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic

In a large soup pot, brown ground beef. Drain. Add onion, garlic, and herbs. Saute for ten minutes. Add 4 cups water to the pot. Add the rice and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Add the orzo, and tomato. Cook over medium low for 15 minutes. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

There's a few recipes that should help. Others will soon give you more, everything from funeral potatoes to stuffed cabbage rolls.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[backwoodsbarbie88]

Thanks!!

these are going to be a hit for sure!!

 

[Janet H]

Cook a ham! (get the precooked but needs to be baked sort). Add some sweet potatoes to the oven or a packaged scalloped potatoes mix and cook together. Add a salad or some greens beans. Great dinner and there will be left over ham! Make some brownies if you're feeling ambitious - use a mix and stick it in the oven when you pull out the ham.

Lunch: ham sandwiches with brownies

Dinner the following night: Fried eggs, pan seared ham, toast or muffins (breakfast.

Lunch on day 2: Take the leftover bits of ham and process them with mayo, mustard, celery, pickles, seasoning etc and make deviled ham sandwiches. Here's an easy recipe: https://bakeitwithlove.com/deviled-ham/

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I always purchace either a spiral sliced ham, or a bone in ham. The meat from spiral sliced can be used in sandwiches, added to potato dishes, such as scalloped potatos, potatos au grati, potato hash, or simply served with boiled, baked, or mashed potatos. The ham can be minced to make ham salad sandwiches, or use the slices to make sandwiches. Spiral sliced ham can be baked, or barbecued with a honey/mustard glaze worked between the ham slices as well. Hams with the bone can be scored with a cross hatched pattern, and studded with cloves, or glazed with honey and cloves. The ham skin can be used to add flavor to soups, chowders, rice, etc. The bones from both types of ham are used in bean, pea, and lentile soups. They also work in New England boiled dinner.

Hams are pre-cooked and ready to eat. Ham steaks can be cut from bone in hams.

Another inexpensive cut of pork that is very versatile is the Boston Butt, also known as pork shoulder. Everything from pulled pork, to maple glazed pork roast can be prepared from this cut. Leftovers can be used in soups, stews, and chowders, and in many pasta, and rice dishes.

For beef, bottom sirloin, or rump roast is economical, but requires a long braise at low temperatue (300' F.) to an internal temp of 195 to 215 degrees F. to make it tender. It can be simply seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and braised with chopped onion. It is the ready to be eaten in slices, made into shredded beef for burritos, and tacos, or added to soups, stews, pasta, etc.

Beef shanks, and oxtial are cheap, and give great flavor, and texture to soups. Make sure that there is plenty of marrow in the beef shanks.

Ask your butcher at your favorite grocers whick are the most economical cuts, and the best ways to cook them. I hope this helps.

Seeeeya; Chief longwind of the North

 

[blissful]

We eat these a lot.
Beans (legumes) from dry, usually around $1/lb and will make 3-4 qts (6-8 2-cup servings) of food in a recipe. Pinto, black, red, kidney, white/northern, beans.


Bring them to a boil, let sit an hour, rinse and add fresh water, cook until done, usually an hour more or less depending on how dry/old the beans are.


While the beans are cooking, put together a sauce base, about a quart of sauce.


Mexican base: simple recipe of tomatoes, onions, green peppers, paprika, garlic, salt to taste.
Chili base: tomatoes, garlic, chili powder, onion powder, cumin, salt to taste.
Baked beans: molasses, honey (sugar), chopped onions, mustard, ketchup or tomato paste, garlic, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, (optional liquid smoke) salt to taste.


Serve on toast, over potatoes, over sweet potatoes, or best yet, over rice ($1-2/lb). We prefer a brown basmati rice or a brown rice. I suggest highly nutritious rice with the bran and fiber so that the meal provides a nutritionally dense meal.



Other options for beans: calico beans, bbq beans, salsa beans, sweetened pineapple beans.