Low Cost Survival Meals

[Florian9]

It's a type of sausage.

It's the best sausage in the world!!! Especially the spanish version.

Corned Beef Hash anybody?

Seriously though--local grocers have deals on canned meals. I sometimes get the 10 for $10 deal of Chef Boyardee's Italian meals. About 500 calories (though not very nutritious) with a pinch of cheese and some pepperoni slices.

[Praying]

This is something my mom used to make when we were kids, that we really loved. I've made it for dinner, or breakfast. Everyone seems to love it and it is very filling. It is really delicious.

Boil 2 eggs per person. Prepare a white sauce, - a rue, using butter, flour milk, salt, and pepper. I cook my flour slowly, because I want a white sauce, not a brown or tan gravy.
Slowly cook flour in butter. For 4 people, I use an entire stick of margarine, and almost a quarter cup of flour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in milk, (you'll use about 2 cups, give or take) and cook until thick, but not clumpy. You want it to be able to pour, but not too watery. Add sliced or chopped boiled eggs. Serve over triangles of toast.

[kmendel]

I used to make creamed eggs on toast for breakfast for my kids when they were little...........had completely forgotten about it. They liked it a lot.

[Tiger Lily]

Incredibly Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 box mac & cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tuna, drained

Cook up mac & cheese according to package directions, except leave out butter. Add soup. Add tuna. Mix. You're done.

[Tiger Lily]

Creamed Tuna on Toast

1 cube butter
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 c. flour
4 c. milk
2 cans tuna, drained

Melt butter in frying pan. Add salt, pepper and flour. Cook til it bubbles. Stir in milk a little at a time to prevent lumps. Cook and stir til it boils. Boil for about a minute. Stir in drained tuna. Serve on toast.

[You can make this recipe with one jar of chipped beef (cut in small pieces) instead of tuna, but leave out the salt as chipped beef is already very salty. I've never tried this kind of sauce with browned, drained hamburger, but that would probably be very good, too.]

[Praying]

Quick, Easy, and Cheap Chicken & Stuffing Meal for 3-4 that tastes delicious

2 Chicken Breasts Pieces (I buy the 2.5 bag of boneless chicken breasts pieces for $5.00 which has several pieces in it)
1 box store brand Chicken stuffing mix (89 cents here)
vegetable on the side of your choice (I like green peas)

Slice chicken breast pieces into strips, sprinkled with salt/pepper
Prepare boxed stuffing mix according to stove top directions, and immediately pour into baking dish.
Place chicken strips on top of stuffing.
Cover with aluminum foil, and bake 350 degree for 30-45 min. (until chicken is tender and thoroughly done.
Uncover, and bake another 10 minutes.

Serve with your favorite vegetable on the side.

By baking the chicken with the stuffing, it flavors the boxed stuffing even more. Serves 3-4, and costs about $4.00 for total meal. It is really delicious, and tastes like you spent hours cooking and preparing.


I have more chicken breasts left over from the bag I buy for other casseroles/meals.

[WKUHilltopper]

You all know how to gut a fish and field dress wild game? I'd start there too.

[LightOfMyLife]

Low cost sliced cheese brand Always Save-.99 12 slices make grilled cheese sandwiches & your choice of soup. We had this for dinner. I had tomato soup with added milk to make it cream of tomato & my husband had chicken noodle.

[debi208]

My best cheap recipe--cube potatoes and fry. Use either a can of refried beans or mash and refry your own pinto beans. Make burritos with the potatoes and beans. Add salsa, and cheese if you want. My friend made her tortillas, but I get the uncooked flour tortillas at walmart that are in the refrigerated section with the mexican cheeses and chorizo. you just heat them about a minute on each side in a dry skillet. you have to push them down in the middle with a bunched up cuptowel if they puff up. They are a little more trouble, but much better than the ones that are already made
Our version of goulash: Brown hamburger with onion, bell pepper, or even diced carrots. I mostly just use onion. Add a can of rotel and one can of diced tomatoes, or both of the same kind. Make a pkg. or 2 of mac and cheese noodles and drain and add to meat. Stir in the dry cheese packets. Makes a good amount , esp. with 2 mac and cheeses--my son in law has a big appetite so I double it like this when he is coming--and it is good leftover for lunch the next day. Oh yeah, you can add garlic powder or a little season salt. I have substituted tomato sauce also. You can't mess it up.

[Praying]

Mexican Casserole

You will need:
3/4 lb lean ground beef
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can ranch style beans
6-8 slices velveeta or any easy melt cheese
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 envelope enchilada seasoning mix
1 pkg. cornbread mix prepared per directions, but not cooked or a small recipe of homemade (below)

Note: You can substitute the hamburger meet for a large can of wolf brand chili. If you use this, you will not need the envelope of the enchilada seasoning mix.

Brown ground beef with chopped onions. Drain. Add rotel tomatoes, beans, and seasoning. Add 2 tbs. flour mixed with water to thicken if needed. Pour into oblong casserole dish. Place sliced cheese on top. Pour cornbread batter on top. Bake at 375 degrees until cornbread on top is done, - about 20 minutes.

Makes 6 large servings, or 8 medium servings. Throw in a tossed salad, and you have a quick, easy, and inexpensive meal for 6-8 people. The leftovers are great to pop in microwave.

Homemade cornbread (just right amount for this recipe)

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup (give or take) of milk (batter should be thick) Mix by hand just until mixed. Does not have to be smooth.

[BusyMommy]

I stumbled upon a site called Hillbilly housewife--you can google (Mods, please delete if this it is against the rules to mention another site) that has very inexpensive meal plans and recipes. Much of the information is free, though I believe now there is a new owner of the site that does have some "pay" areas on the site.

Some of the recipes were very tasty and very affordable!

My cheap go to (and what my mom used to make when we were growing up) is to simmer a whole chicken, take off the meat, and then make a quick soup with the skimmed and cleaned up stock (add carrots, celery, egg noodles, and spices to taste) and then ladel over homemade (often leftover) mashed potatoes. Tasty and good for picky eaters.

[Sandee]

Greatdepressioncooking.com has some very valuable help in this matter. The lady in the videos is in her mid 90's and lived the great depression.

[Musician in His house]

Baked Beanie Weenies -- We buy cans of pork and beans whenever they are on sale (often on sale for .50/can), and a large pack of hot dogs (Gwaltney packages them as many as 24 to a pack for less than $5 for the pork and chicken kind). I combine several cans of pork and beans in a casserole dish, usually allowing one can per family member, and I add ketchup, mustard, BBO sauce, and brown sugar to make the baked beans, and then I cut up a couple of hot dogs per person, stir them in, and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or so. For our family of four, that's four cans of p-n-b, and eight hot dogs.

Pancakes/Waffles -- Cheap for the most part because it involves mostly staples like flour, oil, sugar, eggs, and milk that everyone keeps on hand. The only real extra expense is syrup, and maybe bacon or sausage if you wanna get fancy.

Soup -- Our grocery store right now has 10 cans of chicken noodle soup and tomato soup for $6. Not the store brand, either, but Campbell's. They've got store brand crackers on sale this week too. Always keep soup on hand, and "cream of" soup for gravies and crock pots, and chicken/beef broth (which are good in soup instead of water).

Oyster stew -- Two cans of condensed milk, two cans of water, one stick of butter, and two cans of oysters. Heat on medium or medium low until hot, eat with or without crackers, and stir in a small amount of ketchup for a bit of extra flavor, and some pepper and hot sauce for some zing. My family always ate it like that, with some gherkin pickles for a bit of sweet. Again, catch the condensed milk on sale (like around Christmas) and the biggest expense we have is the oysters, which are less than $2 per small can. Condensed milk is always good to keep on hand for the times when you run out of "regular" milk.

Boxed mac and cheese -- Again, they often go on sale, and even the store brand is pretty good. I'd like to try condensed milk in this instead of regular milk sometime, but I haven't yet.

Canned veggies often go on sale at our grocery store, so those are good to stock up on.

[Cindy S.]

Found this in a recipie book last week.

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion
1 can beef gravy
sour cream
noodles

Brown ground beef with onion.
Add beef gravy and 1/2 cup sour cream, heat through.
Serve over cooked noodles.

I liked it so much I am doubling the recipie to use later this week.

[twinkle]

Hangover Breakfast

I picked up this recipe from TV many years ago. I make this for dinner quite often. It is delicious! It's a one skillet meal.

Peeled and diced/sliced potatoes (approx. 1-2 per person)
1/2 chopped yellow onion
approx. 1 cup leftover diced ham
3 eggs whipped with small amount of milk
salt and pepper to taste

Fry salt and peppered potatoes in oil until about 3/4 done. Add onion and continue frying until nearly done. Add ham and heat/brown with potatoes and onion. When potatoes, onion and ham are done, pour whipped eggs over all (will resemble scrambled eggs). Coat all and turn often while eggs become slightly browned. I cook the eggs until they're very dry.

Optional: serve with salsa if that's your thing.

Everyone I've ever served this to loves it!

[araj54]

Hangover Breakfast

I picked up this recipe from TV many years ago. I make this for dinner quite often. It is delicious! It's a one skillet meal.

Peeled and diced/sliced potatoes (approx. 1-2 per person)
1/2 chopped yellow onion
approx. 1 cup leftover diced ham
3 eggs whipped with small amount of milk
salt and pepper to taste

Fry salt and peppered potatoes in oil until about 3/4 done. Add onion and continue frying until nearly done. Add ham and heat/brown with potatoes and onion. When potatoes, onion and ham are done, pour whipped eggs over all (will resemble scrambled eggs). Coat all and turn often while eggs become slightly browned. I cook the eggs until they're very dry.

Optional: serve with salsa if that's your thing.

Everyone I've ever served this to loves it!

Skillet breakfast. Yummy!! I've made it with hash brown potatoes (from scratch) also, and have used leftover boiled potatoes as well.

[kjlistrom]

Two chicken breasts, a can of cream of chicken soup and I do like the can says but I add a pack of taco seasoning to the whole thing. Mashed patatoes with it and it's not to bad. I make home made bread so that always goes with it to.

[Hootmon]

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?1699...-cheapest-meal

[JackieJ2]

We have made a lot of poor man' stroganoff . A lb of hamburger, can of mushroom soup (store brand) sour cream, dash of milk to thin out. We serve on egg noodles or toasted bread. Also as hamburger is browning I sprinkle garlic salt to taste. Sour cream 1/2 cup and 1 can soup. My kids ate a lot of this growing up.

[Praying]

We have made a lot of poor man' stroganoff . A lb of hamburger, can of mushroom soup (store brand) sour cream, dash of milk to thin out. We serve on egg noodles or toasted bread. Also as hamburger is browning I sprinkle garlic salt to taste. Sour cream 1/2 cup and 1 can soup. My kids ate a lot of this growing up.

Hmmmm.......that sounds really good! i'll have to try this one.