Frugal Meals

[alsoknownasDean]

I tend to make pasta sauces every so often that aren't too bad.

A couple of tins of tomatoes or some passata, whatever vegies are cheap (NOT capsicums at the moment, I'm not paying eight bucks a kilo for capsicums), maybe a tin of beans, some herbs, some plonk, and either cheapo mince or a stick of nice hot salami chopped up.

I tend to like to use the salami because you don't need much of it for a decent flavour.

Works well. :)

[LadyMustache]

Our top frugal go-to meals tend to be mostly meat-free:

Vegetable burritos with salad (using up whatever beans/vegetables we have lying around)
Red lentil soup (with homemade stock) and homemade bread
Veg and bean chilli (I'll make double and use half for the burritos) with rice and cheese
Baked potatoes with cottage cheese and salad
Baked potatoes with baked beans
Homemade pizza and salad
Vegetable frittata (again using up any ropey-looking vegetables/leftover ham or bacon)
Egg, homemade potato wedges and peas, followed by fresh fruit
Veg fajitas with roasted mushrooms and sweet potatoes instead of meat (then loaded up with sour cream, avocado, salsa)

[Gerard]

we call these small, hard, irregular dumplings "rizzles".  I don't know why, but the word's been in our family forever.

I think it's your family's pronunciation of "rissoles"!

wrt biscuits generally, I never have buttermilk around, but Mark Bittman taught me that I can use yogurt instead. I was suspicious, but the results convinced me. And I realized I can even use a mix of yogurt and that sour yogurt-water that gathers after it's been in the fridge for a day. Now that's being cheap.

[The Borgs]

Roti... Now that is a delicious idea for my next cooking experiment. Thanks!

Be careful with that recipe. I made a half serve yesterday for dinner. It's 7.30 in the morning here now and I trying to restrain myself from going into the kitchen and making another batch to eat now! And they are heading straight for my hips and ass, I can feel it.

[Adventine]

Roti... Now that is a delicious idea for my next cooking experiment. Thanks!

Be careful with that recipe. I made a half serve yesterday for dinner. It's 7.30 in the morning here now and I trying to restrain myself from going into the kitchen and making another batch to eat now! And they are heading straight for my hips and ass, I can feel it.

Heehee!

[jamal utah]

This may not appeal to everyone, but one go to quick meal that I use is tuna and ramen.    I boil a package of ramen noodles and also add frozen vegetables.  I then put it in a boil with a can of tuna and some sriracha and there you have it.  You got protein, vegetables, and carbs for less than $1.50.

[The_path_less_taken]

Sham Salmon Salad

Feeds 4 peeps. (well...interesting note is that the Bumblebee canned tuna from Walmart and the one from Costco is wayyyyyy different. As in, the Costco one is more densely packed with less water. So I use those.)

1 can of Bumblee tuna in water
3-4 regular raw carrots, grated super fine (the cheese grater side for taco cheese)
1 stalk (or so) of celery, finely minced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, very finely minced
mayo to taste (you'll use less if you don't squeeze all the water from the can, can also sub olive oil here)
lots of black pepper
a dash of garlic powder

mix well.



I once served this to some Haida and Tlingit natives on a fishing boat off of Ketchikan: they all asked me where I got the salmon. Too funny. The finely shredded carrots give it the color of salmon salad, and the minor sweetness they impart makes it taste more like salmon.

If you don't tell people, they will ALL assume it's salmon salad. Promise!