Good ideas for buget foods

[mickpc]

Well I am living on my own again, good and bad!

I am wondering if you guys have suggestions for budget meals I can cook for myself. I don't mind food from different regions, the only thing is I have gone off hot (spicy) foods, well hot like strong chilli.

Tonight I cooked myself some dahl, yet to try it out, but with a little salt will go down well.

Cheers Mick

Oh yes and I am a first time poster, new member, so hello :)

[mcnerd]

Unfortunately we don't know what amount a "budget" meal is for you or where you live as to what is accessible. Some people's budget is $1/day or less, others may be $50/day or more.

I would start with stocking your pantry with common food items (canned goods, mixes, etc) so that things are available when you get a chicken for example, or pieces, that you can cook a dozen different ways and have with rice or other vegetables. Variety is what you make it. Nothing is wrong to do if it tastes good and fills your stomach.

I do Google searches all the time when I want ideas. For chicken just type "chicken recipes" and you will be busy cooking for years.

Last night I had hot dogs and some sauerkraut I got at a discount at the store. Before that it was a can of peas, a can of corn, and some tomato sauce mixed together. That was dinner with leftover for the next day. Be creative.

As for spices, buy them only when they are called for in a recipe AND you know you will use that spice again in less than a year. Eventually you will have a good selection.

[Semigourmet]

Gosh, lets see. there are many dishes that can be made and leftovers be used in a few other dishes.

Roasting Hens, can be roasted or boiled off. (and are inexpensive)
Boiled you can make your own broth for soups and other dishes, I usually get about 13-15 cups of broth from one hen. Leftovers can be made into soups, stews, enchiladas, tortilla pizzas, quesadillas fricasee (spelling) etc.
Roasted: you can use the drippings to make a gravy. (I usually put the drippings into a container and let cool. then scoop off all of the fat) the leftovers can be made into all of the above list. and the gravy can be used in the soups as it boosts the flavor of the soup A LOT!

Pot Roast: after you make your pot roast you can use the leftovers in many dishes. Stews, soups, boiled beef and homemade noodles, you can also make a sandwich spread out of the leftover beef. and use the gravy in the soup or stew to beef up the flavor.

I hope some of these help. I have recipes if you need or want them just let me know I will either send them to you directly or post them here.

Congratulations on the recent change in your life! I hope it is a blessing for you and not a problem. there will be chanllenges obviously, but seems you are on top of it. Good Luck! any way we can help we will be here for you!

And Hello! Welcome to the forum!

[RecipeRiver]

Good foods that usually cost very little are:

Turkey (most stores have small packages of thighs or wings that are really cheap, and it's good meat too.)
Rice - anyone on a budget needs to get a big bag of rice.
Bags of frozen vegetables - Not as good as fresh, but still pretty good and sometimes a very good price.
Beans - Navy, pinto, etc. These are very low price, especially if you buy them dried and in bulk.
Ramen noddles - You can't beat the price of these noodles and you can dress them up with all kinds of different foods.
Potatoes - You can probably get 10 lbs for $2 or $3. Good food that can be cooked many ways. It was my ultimate poor food and I still love them.

[mcnerd]

Check out the latest cooking rage on the Internet -- Depression Cooking -- on YouTube by a 93-year old lady. 10 Videos, 10 meals, and you can't get much cheaper for tasty meals. Besides, the videos are very fun to watch. More surprising is her grandkids and neighborhood kids love her meals.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

[Kelly]

Hey thats cool that you have started cooking on your own.. Good for you in terms of cost and health too.

Suggesting Budget food would be little difficult as no idea about where you stay and whats your budget like.... But still based on experience of living alone, i could say cooking come rice and potato is the best with some dal.

And other dishes that could be done are Boiled egg, boiled vegetables. etc which are good for health too and very less chances of a bad taste.. :)

[cookingwithliz]

Sometimes in this busy world it is hard to find time to cook whether it be for one or 6. I buy chicken breast, pork loin, turkey etc. and cook and freeze in individual meals. You can pull your main meal out of the freezer and cook some fresh veggies to go with it. It is surprising how much you can freeze. I bought previously frozen tuna steaks a couple weeks ago. The tuna had to be cooked, so I grilled and froze it. I pulled one of the steaks out the other night and used it to top off my salad for dinner. It was pretty good.

www.recipedirect.net

[lesley]

Sometimes when my othe half is working away, I'll roast a chicken, eat it hot the 1st day, then have it cold over the next couple of days...there's loads of sides that go well, even if it's just coleslaw & a crusty roll.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm162/bazmj_1/WelcometotheGroupCup.gif

[kastal]

You may try the following recipes which are not only delicious but also no hot spices are used

Chicken Nuggets:

Ingredients:
For Chicken Balls:
1 chicken breast
1 medium size onion
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tspn salt
1 tspn crushed black pepper
1 tspn mustard powder
1 tbspn soya sauce
4 bread slices
For Fritters Batter:
2 cup sifted plain flour
1 egg
1 tspn baking powder
1 cup milk (or as required)
Pinch of salt
1 tbspn oil

For Frying:
1/2 cup roasted bread crumbs
1/2 cup simple bread crumbs
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:
1. Put all the ingredients mentioned for chicken balls in chopper, and chopped them finely so that smooth dough of meat forms.
2. Make small balls of chicken mixture. Smooth balls will be formed only when you dip your hand in cold water periodically while making each ball so that it will not stick to your hands.
3. Now make the fritter batter by beating all the ingredients mentioned for batter and make sure the batter would not thick or thin, to check the consistency of batter drop it from the spoon and all the batter drop easily.
4. Mix both types of crumbs and dip the balls first in fritters batter and then coat in crumbs. Leave the balls for few minutes in fridge or you can freeze these balls.
5. In the end deep fry all the balls till they become light golden in color. To fry properly, the temperature of oil should be accurate moderate level it would not very high or very low, otherwise the chicken will not be done well and balls become soggy.

Sandwich:

Ingredients:
1 cup cabbage (chopped)
1 cup carrot (chopped)
1 cup capsicum (chopped)
1 cup spring onion (chopped)
1 tspn white pepper
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn salt
½ tspn Chinese salt
1 tspn chili sauce
1 tspn soya sauce
1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
3 tbspn oil
Cheddar cheese slices as required
Bread Slices as required
Butter as required

Procedure:
1. Follow the procedure of Filling Preparation of Vegetable Roll (Click here for the recipe of Vegetable roll).
2. Take a bread slice, put 2 tblspn of vegetable filling over it, put a cheese slice and cover it with another bread slice. Similarly make other sandwiches.
3. Grease the sandwich maker with butter and put the sandwich on it and turn on the maker.
4. Take out the sandwich from the maker on turning it light golden in color.

[tazman]

You can go to the grocery store and get a a rotisserie chicken. You can eat some of it that day and refrigerate the rest. You can then use it to make chicken salad (chicken, ranch dressing, hard boiled egg, pickle, garlic and salt), you can put it with some tomatoe sauce for pasta, etc.
Pasta is also something that's good the next day reheated in some olive oil.
You can make Humus and get some pita bread for a great snack or even a meal.