For a cheap but filling meal, it’s hard to beat boxed macaroni & cheese. Ramen is really the only other college-type staple that comes to mind, and I’ve shown many ways you can jazz up that simple steaming bowl of chickeny salt water.
While I’m all for fancy-schmancy six-cheese homemade mac, and love health-ifying with butternut squash puree or acorn squash, sometimes you just crave that classic boxed taste. But if you’ve eaten it way too often, or just like some variety, I’ve got just the thing. Consider this recipe to be the even-more-broke cousin of my famous chili mac recipe.
If you look for a good sale, you can get store-brand mac n cheese for about 25-35 cents, hot dogs are on sale often for $1 per pack of eight, and beans, especially dried, are always affordable. It is likely you can create two servings or one huge serving for under $1. And with only three ingredients, there is just no excuse to not try it, no matter what your level of cooking knowledge (or lack thereof).
Ingredients:
1 hot dog
1/2 cup beans (dry cooked, or canned)
1 box macaroni & cheese
Optional: butter, milk (for mac n cheese)
Step 1: If using dried beans, bring 1 cup beans per 2 cups water to a boil, and simmer 2-4 hours, until tender. If using canned, simply drain and rinse. Cook the hot dog by either boiling for 10 minutes, grilling it, or microwaving for 1 minute 45 seconds.
Step 2: Boil the macaroni, following directions on the box. Cut the hot dog into slices, drain the macaroni. If using butter or milk in your mac, add those as well as the beans and hot dog. Mix together and enjoy!
One thing every mom loves is having someone else make dinner for them once in a while. Whether your mom loves to bake, or is seldom seen near the stove, everyone loves lasagna. I don’t know about you, but I know in my house lasagna is always welcome. There is just something comforting and satisfying about a heaping plate of sauce, meat, and noodles. Some may argue that lasagna is just fancy pasta, but truly, layering it creates a whole different experience.
Several of the tricks I use in my lasagna I already have written about in my sneaky healthy lasagna post, and a few more I mention in my YouTube video. The video will show you how to assemble this recipe step by step, and is found by clicking this link, and is also at the end of this post.
For the cheese layer, I seldom am willing to pay a premium for cheese such as ricotta when I know cottage cheese works just as well and is far cheaper. I use a mixture of cottage cheese and sour cream here, and it is super tasty. But if you are a purist who only wants ricotta, or if you have some fancy type of cheese, feel free to switch it up.
For mother’s day, if you are lucky enough to live near your mom, and haven’t already made reservations somewhere, give this simple 30-minute recipe a try. Putting lasagna together is far easier than you may think, and it always impresses. Lasagna looks amazing and tastes even better. Impress your mom, date, siblings, friends, or coworkers. Heck, make a whole pan for yourself and it will last all week. Just give it a try!
Step 1: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and olive oil (the oil helps keep the noodles from sticking as much) and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Step 2: Dice up your mushrooms, garlic, and onions. Add the ground turkey to a pan over medium heat, and cook until browned.
Add in the garlic, onion, & mushrooms, cover and cook another 5-10 minutes.
Step 3: In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese and sour cream.
Step 4: Once the noodles are cooked and drained, layer a 9 x 13 baking pan with 4-5 noodles, overlapping the edges. Add half of your cooked meat mixture on top of the noodles. Pour 1/2 your sauce on top, followed by half of the cheese mixture. Lay down a layer of 1 cup spinach, and then another layer of 4-5 noodles, again overlapping. Repeat the layers, saving a small amount of sauce to pour on the top.
Step 5: If you want, shred a layer of sharp white cheddar cheese on top. Pop your lasagna in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees.
That’s all there is to it! You could also make this in a disposable aluminum pan, cover with foil, and put in the freezer for a night you don’t feel like baking. Most likely, you will just make the house smell amazing and will devour the whole thing in one meal!
With the healthy protein from the turkey and cottage cheese, the extra tomatoes boosting your lycopene and vegetable intake, and a healthy layer of spinach, you don’t have to feel guilty about going back for seconds!
(Oh, and if you do make this for mom, super mega bonus points to do the dishes after!)
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As any home cook knows, the best recipes are the ones that combine as many of the following characteristics as possible:
Delicious – the family will eat it
Fast – not too much prep or cook time
Cheap – won’t break the budget
Easy cleanup – because who likes dishes?
Healthy – because duh
Luckily for you, this recipe combines all those things! In one pan, in under 30 minutes, using frozen, canned, and pantry items, you can have a family-pleasing, heart-healthy, budget and waistline friendly meal on the table.
Ingredients:
2 large frozen chicken breasts (or thawed)
2/3 cup lentils (or other bean if canned)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup water or stock
1 pound pasta
1 cup chopped veggies and/or fresh spinach
Seasonings of choice – I used garlic salt and some dried onion
Step 1: In a pan, combine the lentils, water, tomatoes, and chicken. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered. Cook for 10-15 minutes and turn chicken.
Step 2: Add the pasta (and more water if you need it) and bring back to a boil. Simmer covered another 7-8 minutes.
Step 3: Add in any fresh chopped veggies for the final 5 minutes or so of cooking.
The spinach I threw in last. You could also make this in a crock pot on low for several hours. Make sure the chicken is fully cooked (cut into it and be sure there is no pink) before serving.
If you want to turn this into a soup, you could do so easily by adding more water. If you want a thicker sauce, let boil uncovered a few minutes to thicken.
We all know the feeling: it’s time for dinner or you need to pack a lunch, but you don’t know what to make and have little to no time. Rather than caving and just buying a pizza or going through the drive-through, try this simple recipe. With less than 5 ingredients (3, in fact) and requiring little time (as long as it takes for pasta to boil) it is a tasty time-saver.
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The ingredients are also something you are likely to have. Especially if you make pasta, make just a little more than you need for that meal, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. Pasta is very versatile in terms of just adding in a few other ingredients for a different, complete meal later.
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Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cooked pasta
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup frozen broccoli
Step 1: Boil 3/4 cup pasta in 1 1/2 cups water, lightly salted if you want. Add the broccoli after 5 minutes, and let boil another 5 minutes. Drain.
Step 2: Mix the drained pasta and broccoli in with the cottage cheese. And that’s it!
This shows you how very simple eating vegetarian can be. It is extremely frugal as well. Frozen broccoli often is on sale for $1 per bag or less, and you only need 1 cup. Pasta is a cheap staple, and the cottage cheese is an affordable protein. This meal is all-around healthy, frugal, and tasty.
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You can of course add to it, such as cooked shredded chicken, ham cubes, shredded cheddar cheese, or drained and rinsed canned beans. Make it your own and save a few bucks a day by not going out for lunches or save hassle with this quick dinner.
Who doesn’t love a little comfort food now and then?I know I do! I believe in life with moderation in all things. Eat well most of the time, be active most of the time, indulge a little some of the time!
Not only is this chili mac super easy and fast, it is also ridiculously cheap. To bare-bones it, just get the store brand mac n cheese and the frugal-est can of pre-made chili and mix the two. This recipe is just one step up from there by making your own quick chilli. You can use the chili alone, or top hot dogs or baked potatoes too.
Ingredients:
1 box macaroni & cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar for extra oomph)
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 small can tomato sauce (6 oz)
1/4 cup chili powder
Step 1: Prepare the macaroni by boiling and draining pasta. You can choose to make your own pasta and cheese sauce if you don’t want the preservatives or seasonings from the packaged version.
Step 2: While noodles boil, brown the ground meat and drain fat. In a sauce pot, combine the meat, diced tomatoes with juice, chili powder, drained kidney beans, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes to 2 hours.
Step 3: If you’re using this just as chili for a meal or topper, longer simmering is better. But basically as soon as flavors combine and it is heated through you can add into the macaroni. Just pour it all in there, and give it a good stir.
You can add in any spices you want too, hot sauce if you like that kinda thing, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, etc…
There you have it, a thick, hearty comfort food that is sure to please your palate and fill your tummy. Depending on if you hit sales and buy store brand or not, you can easily feed six-eight for under $3!
Now I may have lost many of you on the title alone. But trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong? If you hate liver & onions, that’s ok. If you’ve never had liver, then you can’t say you don’t like it!
Liver is an extremely inexpensive meat per pound, because most people don’t know what to do with it, or don’t like it. Their loss is my gain. And yours.
Beef liver is what liver & onions is typically made from, because it is much larger. Chicken livers are a lot smaller, and are perfect for this recipe which requires blending them into a sauce. They cook up quickly, and easily fit in the blender. It is up to you, I imagine beef liver would taste similar.
Organ meats (offal) were traditionally a large part of many cultures. However it seems they are not thought of much and even spurned in today’s society; where we can all basically afford whatever cut we want. But every animal killed for a steak, wing, or ham contains edible parts like the liver, kidney, and even heart.
Some avoid liver because they are concerned that it stores toxins, since the liver’s main job is to detoxify chemicals and drugs in the body. Chris Kesser sets the record straight: “While it is true that one of the liver’s role is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons), it does not store these toxins. Toxins the body cannot eliminate are likely to accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues and nervous systems.”
So eating liver will not cause you to ingest a bunch of toxins. It will cause you to ingest large amounts of all kinds of vitamins and micronutrients though. Gram for gram, liver has more copper, iron, vitamins A, C, D, and E, B vitamins, and P, K, Mg than apples, carrots, or lean red meat in most cases combined. Of course, where the liver comes from is important. A grass-fed, naturally raised cow’s liver is much healthier than a CAFO animal fed antibiotics, growth hormones, corn, and packed in too tight to lie down.
If you are lucky enough to already like liver, rock on! Keep eating that superfood. And hopefully you will love this recipe, as a new and exciting way beyond the typical onions or pate to enjoy liver. If you don’t like liver, give this a try anyways and see what you think. Blended up with other veggies and pasta, you may not even notice. Look for it in the frozen section if you can’t find it in the meat aisle.
Ingredients:
1 pound pasta (I used bowtie)
1 pound chicken livers
1/4 cup cream or milk
1 can diced tomatoes
Handful chopped kale or spinach
Garlic salt
Grated Parmesan cheese
Step 1: Boil the pasta for 7-9 minutes. While that’s boiling, cook the livers over medium heat until only slightly pink, then turn heat off. Drain pasta and put in a large fry pan.
Step 2: In a blender, combine cooked livers, milk, and garlic salt to taste. Blend well and coat pasta. Add in can of diced tomatoes and greens. Cook another 10-15 minutes, until greens are wilted and everything is heated through.
Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top. That last tiny hit of saltiness really makes this sing. It is a bit gamey, but I absolutely loved it! Which is good, because it made about four meals’ worth for me.
Lasagna is a classic favorite recipe. It is also a recipe that is super simple to double or triple and freeze extras for later. Meat, cheese, and pasta, what’s not to love. It takes a little bit of work, but is very worth it. I’m also always looking for ways to sneak a little extra nutrition into recipes in ways that aren’t too noticeable. Lasagna presents a perfect triple opportunity.
1. When you make the sauce, combine a jar of traditional sauce and a jar of chickpeas (or other bean) in a blender and blend until smooth. This adds extra protein and fiber with nearly no change in taste.
2. Add a layer of spinach under the noodles. When baked it doesn’t have a strong flavor of its own, and is barely noticeable.
3. Use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. It is lower in calories (100 vs. 175) as well as fat (4.3 vs 13 g), though it does have 3x the sodium.
Ingredients:
1 package lasagna noodles
1 large package cottage cheese
1 bunch spinach
1 pound ground beef
1 jar pasta sauce
1 can chickpease
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup shredded cheese (use mozzarella if you have it)
Step 1: Make the sauce by blending beans and sauce. Add the diced tomatoes and mix well.
Step 2: Brown the ground beef and drain. Mix into the sauce mixture. Boil the noodles for about 7-9 minutes and drain.
Step 3: In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese and shredded cheese. I had mixed cheddar/mozz so that’s what I used.
Step 4: Spray an oven-safe pan. Layer the noodles, spinach, beef/sauce, and cheese. Follow with more noodles and so on. Make one with four layers or two separate with two layers.
Step 5: Bake, covered with foil, at 350 for 1 hour.
The result is a perfect taste meld of cheesy, tomato-y, beef, and noodles. You can see the spinach but really can’t taste it. And if you want a vegetarian version, just don’t add the beef to the sauce mixture. The only change I’d make is double the amount of sauce and it would be tres magnifique!
I’m very thankful that I have the ability, when I’m at the grocery store and see a bag of mixed seafood on sale, I can just throw it in my cart and think nothing of it. That’s exactly what happened last week. I saw the mixed seafood on sale, and decided seafood linguini was for dinner that night.
Ingredients: 1/2 lb pasta 1 lb bag mixed seafood 1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables 1 tbsp garlic 1/3 cup butter/margerine 1/3 cup lemon juice Sprinkles of garlic, italian seasoning and sea salt (I added a few squirts of fish sauce because I have that. Because I’m weird. But it’s salty and goes great with seafood.)
Step 1: Boil the pasta. While it’s boiling, throw all the other ingredients into a pot. The lemon, butter and spices will coat the seafood and veggies. Simmer with a lid for about 5 minutes, then without a lid for another 10 or so.
Step 2: Once the pasta is done (~7/8 minutes) throw that in the pan to coat with sauce. You can adjust by adding butter, oil, lemon juice, or white wine as needed. Cornstarch or flour can thicken the sauce too.
Once the seafood is soft, and the vegetables give when poked with a fork, or you’re hungry, it’s done!
This classic student-loved recipe is still delicious as an “adult”, though you can fancy it up with different cheeses and noodle shapes if you want. Super simple to make yet very filling. It’s like macaroni & cheese only beefier.
Ingredients: 1 pound of macaroni 2 cups of cheese (any kind, shredded or cubed) 1 pound of ground beef 1 cup of milk
Step 1: Boil the macaroni for about 7 minutes, until al dente. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and drain the fat.
Step 2: Drain the pasta, add it back to the pan. Add in the cheese and milk, heat until the cheese melts, stirring often so the cheese doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan. Add the beef back in, mix well.
I used half cheddar and half pepper jack cheese, so it was a little tangy. I’d recommend trying it. You can use any kind of cheese and noodle shape you want, and even add veggies if you’re feeling crazy.
Still trying to use up all my freezer/pantry items, I pulled together this meal with frozen fish fillets (1 cod 1 salmon) a box of straight pasta, a can of alfredo sauce, frozen veggies, crackers, and various spices. This is a good example of what I call “kitchen improv”.
Ingredients:
2 fish fillets, ~6 oz
1 cup crushed crackers
Black pepper
Paprika
Garlic salt
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 lb pasta
2 cups frozen veggies
1 can alfredo sauce
Step 1: Smash the crackers in a plastic bag & add spices. Coat the fish on both sides. Spray a frying pan and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes (to thoroughly thaw) then flip and cook another 10 minutes.
Step 2: In a large pot, boil a gallon or so of water. Once boiling, add the pasta and simmer 7-9 minutes, until al dente. Add the frozen veggies and boil another 2 minutes. Drain.
Step 3: Put the pasta back into the pot, add the alfredo sauce and stir well.
Very filling and lots of protein & Omega-3s. This is a good way to get your fish for the week without it seeming too ‘fishy’, which turns some people off. Even the salmon taste & smell wasn’t terribly strong thanks to the alfredo flavor and crust.
The fusion of food, fun, frugality, and curiosity.
