Feeding a family can be a challenge in many ways, including keeping costs in line.  What's your favorite budget-minded weeknight dinner?

Tacos are my fall back meal.  It is quick, easy and doesn't take very many ingredients.  Also I can easily add refied beans to make it stretch a little further. 

Pasta with a red sauce is always an easy fallback. It doesn't take much time to turn a can of diced tomatos into a decent sauce, and italian sausages thaw quickly in the microwave.

Buy chicken breasts when they are on sale, then bake them in Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar dressing and throw in a couple baked potatoes at the same time.  Easy and cheap.

Eating breakfast for dinner is a great way to save money.  Pancakes, omelets, eggs, French toast. We all enjoy it, it's economical, it's quick, and we seldom have time to cook breakfast in the morning, so it's a treat at dinnertime.

 As the Mother of a large brood of children, who have expanded and many are parents themselves, I learned early to stretch the food and the budget! One of my quickest big meals to feed them a quick hot meal is canned pinto beans and light kidney beans added to sauteed sliced smoked sausage,(ground sausage and/or hamburger can also be added or substituted) bell peppers and onions, a can or 2 or diced or rotel tomatoes, and lots of garlic(either fresh or powder or both). Simmer and let the flavours mingle and serve over rice.Served with Grand Biscuits. Less than 30 minutes total time.

  My mother gave me a recipe you can probably use "Mexican Cornbread' it's quick and easy and the family will love it.

  1 or 2 POUNDS OF GROUND BEEF (depends on how many people you feed)

  3 BOXES OR CORN MIX

  1 BAG OF SARGENTO SHREEDED CHEESE

  1 CAN OF SALSA (choice)

  heat the oven to about 350 F

  Fry yor meat in the pan let it drain when you finished cooking it

  Mix you corn bread mix together as it says on the box

  Put you meat in a casurole dish (made for ovens)

  Add salsa and cheese and put your muffin mix on the top, cook til the bread is nice and brownish

 And there you have mexican corn bread.  

1 of our favorite "cheap" meals is take 1 pound of  your favorite ground meat (beef, turkey or chicken) and fry it up with some chopped onion then mix it with a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese. Top with salsa and eat.

pick a starch (rice or pasta or potatos)

pick a meat

Pick a vegetable

Pick a theme ( mex, italian, dutch, asian ,indian)

get creative,

examples..rice+chicken+asian veg and soysauce

rice+burger and mex flavors OR rice+burger+tomato sauce OR rice+burger+curry or....

pasta and (olive oil with garlic and romano or tomato sauce or brown gravy or....)

pick a starch, pick a meat, pick a veg, pick a theme.

You can go for months and never have the same combo twice

 Thanks for reading, have fun!

 pk

Pancakes are great to freeze.  When our kids were in school we would make the rest of the left over batter up and put a piece of wax paper between each pancake and put them in a Tupperware dish or they could put them into zip bags and freeze.  All they had to do was put them in a microwave for about 30 secs or add your butter and syrup on it and zap it for 1 minute. Presto! Instant breakfast!

You can also pop them in the toaster on a low setting. 

1 package of Saffron yellow rice (about $.70)

1 lb of Ground Beef (on sale at $1.99)

1 lg. can black beans, drained and rinsed (less than $1)

optional ingredients:  onion, taco seasoning, salsa, sour cream, tortillas, corn chips

Prepare rice as directed.  Brown ground beef (with onion if you like), drain grease (add taco seasoning or not).  Warm beans.  To serve, layer rice, ground beef and black beans. Top with salsa and sour cream.  Serve with warm tortillas and/or chips.  My kids love this dish!  It is good without any other ingredients, but makes a nice presentation when topped with salsa and sour cream.  You can easily feed a family of 5 for under $5 and have dinner on the table in 20 minutes.  Great during the work and school week.

I like to make a quiche, easy to do with "on hand" ingredients, take a ready made pillsbury pie crust and add veggies, cheese and seasoning of your choice. Add a nice salad and you have a great healthy meal and filling too!  Another thought, now that summer is upon us, all I can say is plant something! Even if its in a container, veggies are easy to grow and nothing is cheaper or better tasting, with no pesticides,  than your own home grown vegetables! Get your neighbors together and everyone can plant a few different things and exchange. We all know how many zucchini we can get from just 1 plant.

When we have a particularly busy day that hasn't allowed me to prepare a full meal and the left-overs are just plain tired, I throw together chicken quesadillas.

1 can of chicken, drained and stir in chili powder and cumin, shredded with a fork
drained rotel (diced tomatoes with chiles)
diced chiles
Mexican style cheese
whole kernel corn
chili beans
diced onions
jalapenos
2 tortilla shells (per quesadilla)
sour cream

You can add or substitute ingredients according to your preferences.  The chicken will keep in the fridge, ready to use, for days.  There's also no need to pre-heat any of the ingredients before assembly or cooking up.

I spread the ingredients on the tortilla in a plate, then transfer to a skillet, placing 2nd tortilla on top.  Allow the bottom shell to get crisp and light brown before flipping.  Allow to crisp and brown on the other side and the  ingredients will be warm.

 One of our favorite cheap meals  is take a 1/2 pound of ground beef season the way you like brown it and drain it  In a separate skillet make one box of rice a roni fried rice when the rice is almost done.I stir in one 4oz can of mushroom steams and pieces and the ground beef. You can add a vegetable or a tossed salad to round out the meal. My family is my daughter and I so we only use a 1/2 a pound of meat. This meal also makes a great work day lunch.