My family was poor, but my mom always had a hot meal for dinner, anything from fried bologna and eggs, spam and eggs, meatloaf, greenbeans and mashed taters, and on Fridays it was always bread pudding made from the leftover bread from the past week. Please list your cheap but delicious meals your mom served you. As the economy falters many of us will be serving those tasty meals of the past.
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Open face mayonnaise sandwiches. Literally. Actually, Miracle Whip, not mayo. Just spread on white bread. One of my childhood favorites. Sometimes a tomato and mayo sandwich. Cheap cuts of beef run through a hand grinder. Every sort of 'fake' version of something. Like Potato Buds (do they still make those? They came in a box) or Minute Rice. Anything cheap AND convenient. For school lunches it was usually cream cheese and jelly.
Nowadays for a cheap meal, a pound or two of hamburger, a bag of elbow macaroni or shells, and a can of Spaghetti sauce (the cans are much cheaper than the jars.) That will feed a family of 5-6 people. Can substitute ground chicken or turkey if it's cheaper. Add in a little Italian Seasoning if you can and it looks and tastes fancier. Sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese if you can stretch that far. Add a green salad and a 99 cent loaf of Italian bread and you're feeding a family pretty cheaply. If you can develop a relationship with your butcher, they might be willing to discount the price of meat on the day or day before it expires. I was able to do this for a while with a butcher at a grocery store. I would point out the packages where the date showed it was expiring and they would have to pull it off the shelf and he would discount it deeply. If you freeze it or use it right away, you're good.
Beans (bagged beans are cheapest and go a long way) seasoned with herbs and spices, and rices, (different types) go a long way. Add in a little meat where you can and you have a filling meal.
ALSO, if you haven't seen them, there are numerous videos on YT of people showing how they eat CHEAP, and I do mean, bargain basement CHEAP but still eat fairly well. Please check those out. Some people have done AMAZING things on a super tight budget. Good luck, fren. WWG1WGA
Our family likes to watch Struggle Meals and Cowboy Kent Rollins on YT. Latter includes home remedies, too.
I'll check them out. Thanks!
I stumbled across Struggle Meals a few years ago and I love watching episodes.
Kent Rollins is a great cook and a great patriot. I try to make a recipe from one of his cookbooks at least once a month. I gave a copy of his cookbook to some well off friends and they love his recipes. They're used to eating in 5 star restaurants all over the world and Kent's cookbook has a permanent place in their kitchen and they make stuff from his book all the time. My favorite is his chicken fried steak.