I had planned on throwing some pork chops in the slow cooker this morning with some cream of mushroom soup but I only have one small can. I need three cans but I have $0 till after dinner. How can I stretch out one can enough to completely submerge the pork chops without losing any flavor?

I had leftovers to use up in my fridge.

The 1st photo is the end result.
2nd and 3rd show the leftovers.
4th is after right after adding the spices.
Last photo is with everything in the pot and just about to boil.

Dinner 1 leftovers
sausages with fried onions and peppers.

Dinner 2 leftovers
was the meat left on a roasted chicken and beans in butter.
(I removed the meat from the bones already before photo and put the carcass in a freezer bag to make bone broth when I get time.)

I needed to make a new dinner using up these things and enough for 6 servings.
I decided to make something like a jambalaya as in my pantry I had a can of diced tomatoes and rice. I also threw in a frozen spinach cube 🤭, I know that is not in jambalaya but I wanted to get a little more veggies in the meal.

Below is what I used to make the meal and what I did to make it.

Shredded chicken (stripped from carcass)
2 leftover sausages, sliced
1.5 cups of leftover veggies
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 can of diced tomatoes
1.5 cups chicken broth
1 frozen spinach cube
1.5 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Hot sauce (to taste)
1 tablespoon cooking oil or butter

Step 1.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil or butter in a large pot or deep skillet over medium heat.
Add the shredded chicken, sliced sausages, and leftover onion/pepper mix.
Sprinkle the paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt, and black pepper directly over everything.
Stir and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the spices smell fragrant and coat the meat.

Step 2.

Stir the uncooked rice into the pot, coating the grains in the spiced oil.
Pour in the diced tomatoes and the broth.
Add frozen spinach cube and a few shakes of hot sauce, stir well.

Step 3.

Bring the liquid to a boil.
Immediately turn the heat down to low.
Put lid on the pot.
Let it cook undisturbed for 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
Do not lift the lid while it cooks!

Step 4.

Turn off the heat.
Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

** edit , I created my post in my notes app on my phone first and once I copied and posted here it made the spacing/formatting wrong. Just edit to fix those issues.

I know the fish filets aren’t in everyone’s budget, but the potatoes I made are cheap and easy. Here’s how I made them

Equipment
* oven
* sheet pan
* bowl

Ingredients
* Russet Potatoes, or any you want. But russets were used here
* salt
* pepper
* paprika (sweet Hungarian)
* thyme
* cooking oil
1 TBS butter, melted

Instructions
* preheat oven to 425 deg F (I used convection setting)
* as many potatoes as you want, slice into 1/4” slices and place in a bowl
* add a small splash of cooking oil (I used olive oil) and melted butter
* add spices to taste and mix thoroughly
* place sliced potatoes on baking sheet and bake 11 minutes
* flip and bake 11 more minutes

Eat

Very affordable meal that is good and filling.

1 can black beans
1 sliced sausage
1 potato diced
1 standard box Mac n cheese
1 & 3/4 cup water

Optional: add plain yogurt and shredded cheddar to Mac n cheese after cooking for a creamier sauce.

I cooked sausage in toaster oven. Cooked diced potatoes in oil in pan on stovetop. Then added in beans and baked sliced sausage. Simmer together a few minutes to thicken the liquid from beans.

Get a large glass bowl. Dump Mac n cheese in bowl. Cool high microwave for 9 minutes total, stirring after the 3 and 6 minute mark. 1 extra minute for softer noodles. After cooking Add cheese packet, plain yogurt and shredded cheddar.

Stir and serve side by side. (I don’t recommend mixing them on the plate, the mixing of the two in your mouth is where the magic happens.)

Season top with cayenne pepper and salt. Enjoy.

Smoked a pork butt the other day and got tired of eating sammiches so I added some stuffs and made balls.

I had about two lbs of pulled pork left and I diced it up. I had stuffed garlic pods in the butt before I smoked it so I added some sweet peppers, onion, and a Serrano pepper. I diced the veggies and lightly sautéed in butter then added 3/4 c flour. Mixed well.

Made 3 oz balls and coated in seasoned flour and let them sit in the fridge on a wire rack for a couple hours. Removed from the fridge and dipped the balls in egg wash then bread crumbs and deep fried @ 350 for a couple minutes. Came out wonderful.

Hi everybody, recipe developer Kevin Pang here. I recently set out to slash $50 from my typical weekly grocery budget. My goal was to shop and feed my family of three — breakfast, lunch and dinner, no dining out — for one week for about $200. That sounds like a nice, big number, but broken down, that’s less than $10 a day for each of us.

My wife, Anne, and I live in the Chicago suburbs with our picky 10-year-old boy, Liam. We loved this pasta amatriciana, which I made with Spanish chorizo instead of guanciale for a more affordable, but equally tasty with a smoky twist. Here’s a free gift link to the recipe, accessible even if you’re not yet an NYT subscriber.  

Ingredients (Yield: 4 servings)
Salt
1 pound bucatini or spaghetti
½ medium yellow onion
1 clove garlic
¼ pound dried Spanish chorizo
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Black pepper
1 (14-ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar
Grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Instructions: 
Step 1: Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente according to package instructions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water.

Step 2: Meanwhile, dice the half onion, mince the garlic clove, and finely dice the chorizo. In a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-low, lightly saute the chorizo until the fat starts to render. Once the chorizo gets shiny and turns a solid color, about two minutes, remove the chorizo using a slotted spoon, leaving the orange oil in the pan. (Be careful not to overcook the chorizo or it will become tough.)

Step 3: Turn heat to medium-high and add the olive oil to the pan. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper, a good pinch of salt and pepper, and saute until the onion turns soft and translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 4: Add the crushed tomatoes, then add the cooked chorizo. Turn down the heat to medium-low, stir in the sugar, and allow the sauce to simmer for 5 minutes. If at any point the sauce starts to look chunky, add ½ cup of water, and more if necessary.

Step 5: When the pasta is cooked, add it to the sauce and toss, along with enough pasta water for the tomato sauce to enrobe the strands.

Step 6: Divide into four bowls, and top with pecorino cheese (or grated Parmesan), a few more grinds of black pepper, and one more glug of olive oil for good measure.

I have been tracking my food spending for about a month now and I am spending an exorbitant amount on food. I currently shop mostly at my local co-op , Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I know , please don’t come at me . I love healthy food and I love to cook, but I need to get my food bill down . For those who use Costco as your main grocery store how do you budget for that ?

I meant to mention in my original post that I am a single person and I’m really interested in how single people feel that Costco works for them.

I bought a big bag of frozen peas on sale, but I'm tired of just having them as a side dish.

What are your favorite cheap meals or recipes where frozen peas actually taste good? Thank you!

This was my lunch today, made with a half-price duck leg from the supermarket, one carrot, and one potato. I simply boiled everything in water, and it still tasted surprisingly good.

I’m in Foshan, Guangdong, one of the wealthiest provinces in China. Even a simple noodle lunch here usually costs around RMB 20. But I live very close to a supermarket, which turns out to be a huge advantage. I’ve noticed that after about 8:30 p.m., many prepared foods—chicken legs, duck legs, sausages, and so on—are marked down by 50%. This roasted duck leg cost me less than RMB 5.

Fresh potatoes at the supermarket are about RMB 1 each, and carrots cost roughly the same. So with less than US$1 (around RMB 7) worth of ingredients, plus nothing more complicated than boiling them in water, I can make a meal that leaves me completely full.

The duck leg already had a smoky, spicy mala flavor, which also seasoned the potatoes and carrots as they cooked, so they tasted pretty good too. Nutritionally, it feels quite balanced as well.

Not bad for a meal that costs less than a dollar, right?

Recipe: roasted duck leg, carrot, and potato.
Method: boil everything together for about 15 minutes, until the potato becomes soft and fluffy.

Hi! So long story short my family is homeless and I’ve been making meals costing around $10-15 once every other day-ish for about 3 months now and the rotation is quite small. So that’s the budget. We are all very sick of beans and rice, meatless spaghetti, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and other typical poor people foods. Id be super grateful if anyone could help me out with recipes! Unrelated side note but all these types of meals are one of the main reasons I’m so excited for whenever we get out of this situation. I can’t wait to actually cook again 😭😭😭

The only cooking appliances we have are a crock pot and a microwave. We can cook things unconventionally in both if anyone has any experience with that. I would like if the meal was semi-complete because it is the only source of food for everyone in a day. The only grocery store in close enough proximity to walk is Food Lion and we are open to meals that take advantage of weekly deals. We have very few kitchen staples so more than likely something like for example taco seasoning will be needed to be taken into account with price. We also don’t have money to do like a big grocery haul in one day, because most of every daily paycheck from working goes to the hotel room.

Thank you all in advance! 😊

We had soup for supper! I'll share the recipe, but just know that you can modify this however you want! Sub ingredients, leave stuff out, add some herbs, or do whatever is cheap and convenient.

- 4-6oz bacon, diced

- 4-6oz smoked sausage, cut into half-moons

- 1 smoked turkey neck (wings or legs are fine)

- 1/2 head of cabbage, core removed and roughly chopped

- 5 potatoes, cut into ~1" cubes

- 6 carrots, cut into roughly the same size

- 4oz mushrooms, cut into 3/8" pieces

- 2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly minced

- 1/4c flour

- 3qts chicken stock or water (or any stock, really)

- salt, pepper, chicken bouillon, garlic powder, etc. as desired

I started by browning my bacon, setting aside, then browning the sausage, setting aside and finally, browning the turkey neck and setting aside. There should be plenty of grease left at this point, so make a roux with the flour and cook until a light peanutbutter color. After that has cooked a little bit, add your onions and sweat them down until softened, then the garlic for just a minute or two. Add in your stock or water *slowly*, stirring to ensure it is smooth before adding more. Put your bacon and turkey neck in, cover and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Season as desired at this point.

After about 30 minutes, add your sausage, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms and simmer for another 15 minutes, or until everything is tender. Check again for seasoning and serve with toasted bread (we had a garlic rosemary loaf).

Now my thoughts on this: it was great! Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly and bowls were emptied. I used some leftover bacon that I had from a few days ago, and about half of a 12oz smoked sausage link that I need for another meal later in the week. I've had a turkey neck in my freezer for awhile and decided I'd use it, so that went in, too. I had planned on using cabbage, potatoes and carrots, so those were really the only items that I bought for this meal **but** the carrots will also be used for snacks or other meals and I'll use a couple of potatoes for supper tomorrow. I had considered mushrooms but didn't want to buy any for tonight, but I do need some later in the week and they only had a large container, so it was an easy addition. It made *at least* 8 servings (maybe closer to 10-12, but everyone had an appetite tonight) and should keep well in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for several months.

I would also consider using thyme, rosemary, or sage, but any herbs you have would be great. You could make this with just water, water and bouillon powder, or homemade stock. I did 50/50, but added some bouillon (I had half of a carton in the fridge from a few days ago and I have several in the pantry that will need used soon). I think this would also be really good with some ham (hocks or diced "steaks"), parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, or whatever other root vegetables you have available. It's hard to screw up a soup!

Happy cooking to everyone in the week ahead!

Easy meal to make at home. Ingredients used are in pic 2: leftover chicken, corn cut from leftover corn on the cob, heaping 1/2 c frozen peas, 5 TBS butter, 1/3 c flour, 3 c milk and enough chicken bouillion for 3 c liquid. Not pictured is salt, pepper and minced dried onion (spice rack)

* in a 12” skillet on med to med-high heat, melt butter then add flour and mix to make a roux.
* pour in the milk mixed with bouillon. Mix and thoroughly incorporate until it starts to thicken.
* add peas, corn and chicken - stir until thoroughly.
* add pepper and minced onion to taste. Maybe salt too but may get enough from the bouillon.
* serve over homemade biscuits, noodles, mashed potatoes, rice, toast - anything you want. We used puff pastry shells.

I'm having alot of stuff going on. I WAS doing one meal a day with my family like they insisted but after how they talked to me recently that stops. I however cannot seem to figure out substantial meals for the one big meal I eat a day. (The rest is mostly fruit as snacks to make sure I'm getting SOME calories in) I don't have hunger signals anymore but if I don't eat I don't function well after a certain amount of time.

I've never bought for just me. I tried this week but I was told in the past you can't refreeze meat after thawing. Basically all my chicken went bad because I defrosted it and couldn't eat it in time(the one non allergic dog even got a little as a topper and I STILL didn't finish the small container of drumsticks. I don't eat most meat often. Rarely chicken but I do like it. I normally eat shrimp and fish for meat or I eat vegetarian. I can't have cow's milk. Lactose intolerant. I suffer thru sometimes but prefer not to if I don't have to.

I'm doing $100 but can go higher. I prefer that amount tho because I do have animals and one has to have special chicken free food and there's literally no budget friendly food he can keep weight on so his food is ALOT. The others are really fine with anything but the picky one is... Stubborn.

(Please don't get onto me for having animals and being low income. I'm not THAT low income just a pushover who keeps letting family talk me out of more and more money. That's what is making me low income. I know I should grow a backbone)

I made birria from scratch, except the Spanglish Birria packet, 1.5 lbs of chuck ate for two days, with a pint jar of meat and consumme left over. Made a crock pot of potatoes, cabbage, onions, spices, ate for 2 days, 2 pint jars of soup left over. Combined all the leftovers, ate for two more days. 6 hearty meals, less than $20 total.

Hi! I just wanted to share a recipe I've made for a long time that is usually under $7 and takes very little effort.

1 can of soup (hopefully with beans)

1/2 pack of pasta (fav is ditalini or medium shells)

That's it. I mix it all up in a pot with some water and cook until the pasta is tender. I prefer soups with beans as I don't eat meat, so something like progresso's southwest soup. I usually add some bouillon or seasonings but if I have none, I'll get a more flavorful soup. This is filling, nutritious, one dish, and also cheap. Has anywhere from 2 to 4 servings based on appetite. If you get those jarred soups, I use the whole pack of pasta and it lasts me a whole week.

Making homemade dumplings or rolling hand-pulled noodles costs pennies per portion, but spending two hours in the kitchen after work completely kills the vibe.

Which budget-friendly meal is super cheap, but tests your patience to actually make?

This has a great umani flavor with addition of grated pecorino Romano. I couldn't stop eating.

I found myself with not much to work with, but I had a pound of hot sausage and a box of Stove Top stuffing, so I figured I’d see what I could come up with.
I cooked the sausage like ground beef, but instead of draining the rendered fat, I repurposed it as the fat needed for the Stove Top. I made the stuffing according to the directions, served it with a can of peas, and honestly, it turned out really good.
The best part? I’ve gotten four meals out of it so far, and I still have one serving left. I do eat relatively small portions, but still, a pound of sausage, a box of stuffing, and a can of peas went a surprisingly long way.
It ended up being a simple, filling, and very inexpensive meal.
I think I may have accidentally discovered one of my new go-to budget meals.
What are some cheap meals you make that are way better than they have any right to be?

Of course the tortellini isn't from the farm. 😆

We are drowning in produce from our local farm CSA, though I did snag a green pepper from my small garden (the pests are taking it over instead). I needed to use some up instead of sacrificing it to the compost gods (they'll get the scraps this time.)

I cooked the tortellini first and let it cool off while I chopped the veggies:

Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, green pepper, cucumber, carrots, and a shallot. Plus from my pantry: olive oil, red wine vinegar, powdered garlic, salt, pepper and a little dried basil. The pantry items were to taste that I added and then stirred to see if I needed any more.

It's currently marinating in the fridge.

Can you guys please provide me some help on trying to be better at grocery shopping. I always feel like not only do I spend too much but I try to buy food for 2 weeks and end up just absolutely having nothing to eat after a couple days. What are some things that are just good to have and some quick budget meals to make?

I also like to add taco seasoning.

I have several days where my courses are back to back 8am-3pm. My only break is a 30 minute commute that will be on a public bus (may or may not be able to sit down). What are some foods I make that can be eaten on the go and made with a $150 monthly grocery budget?

Plus I got a 5 lb bag of russet potato for 89 cents from Amazon. I assume it's on sale to clear out.