Frugal Lunch and Dinner

I decided to write out some things I did this month to slim the budget. I reviewed my shopping lists, my meal plans, and recipes.

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My first week of menu planning was originally from www.Hillbillyhousewife.com. I used her suggested menu. I had many of her ingredients on hand. I added a few of my own. I will go into detail on the menu in just a second. This was a good start for me. This lady is has a phenomenal meal plan on her site. She gives you the menu, recipes, shopping lists, and daily jobs to keep the kitchen flowing. It was an eye opener. This first section is breakfast.

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Here are meals that I cooked this month. I wanted to add that I make a meal plan with three meals a day and add snacks in the notes section. However, I rarely cook what is scheduled for the day. I may not be in the mood for pancakes for breakfast so I have muffins and a smoothie instead. I just cross off what I ate and save the pancakes for another day. But having a menu plan ensures I have the necessary ingredients and I don’t have to wonder what I’m going to make. I have choices.

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Lunch and dinner tend to be the same types of recipes. Since Pierce’s schedule is hectic I always make sure he has a hot dinner before work…even if it’s at 3 pm. I will post both lunch and dinner recipes.

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MAIN DISHES (click titles for recipe)

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Lentil and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings ~ I have made this a few times.

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Pinto Beans ~ Not really one of our favorites but worth a try.

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Butter Beans ~ I cooked half a pound of bacon to go in this soup. I also added a little of the bacon grease to flavor the beans. I also used baby Lima beans. I LOVED THIS SOUP!!

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Creamed Tuna & Peas ~ I don’t like tuna or peas, but this wasn’t so bad. I have it on the menu again.

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Black Bean Soup ~ You can add whatever taco toppings you like. We actually load up the soup and it's more like nachos. Sometimes I add a little hamburger (or ground turkey) to make it a complete protein.

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Pot Roast ~ I made pot roast one night. The next night I used the leftover meat to make Shepherd Pie.

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Shepherd’s Pie ~ This is another recipe that you throw together and can easily alter. There are two ways to make this. The first is to cook the veggies on the stove top, mix them with the meat and gravy. Or put all the ingredients in the dish and cook the veggies in the oven. I prefer to cook them on the stove because it takes less time in the over.

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Shepherd’s Pie

Left over Pot Roast Bag of mixed veggies (the stew mix or diced veggies) Brown gravy seasoning (or homemade gravy) 6-8 Potatoes I combined a bag of mixed veggies (or any other half bags left in the back of the freezer), diced pot roast, and gravy (made from a packet or left over pot roast broth.) Spread it in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then top with homemade mashed potatoes. I used to put the potatoes in my Easy Accent Decorator to make pretty scalloped potatoes on top of my dish. But I typically just spread the potatoes out over the mixture and dot the top to make peaks. The potatoes brown better and taste better.

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Ramen Stir Fry ~ I got inspiration for this dish from Pampered Chef. They had a ramen noodle recipe though I never looked at it.

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Fajitas ~ We made homemade tortillas. I didn’t have any fajita seasoning on hand. I usually use McCormick’s seasoning packs. But I pulled up a recipe for homemade seasoning and I had most things to make it.

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Fajitas

2 Chicken Breasts 1 Green Pepper 1 Onion Tortillas Cheese Salsa Any other toppings you like Sauté the chicken and add in sliced peppers and onions. Cook veggies to desired tenderness. I like mine to be a little crunchy with flavor left in them. Add the seasoning and some water. Wa-LA!! Fajitas!! I have been making these since we first got married. The recipe is on the back of the seasoning pack if you need more instructions.

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Biscuits and Gravy ~ I made this a few times. I used the cream sauce from the Creamed Tuna dish. It's basically a gravy. I made these biscuits.

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SIDE DISHES

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Scalloped Tomatoes ~ An instant HIT!! Everyone loved it.

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Southern Batter Bread ~ Breesa is the only one who was crazy about this recipe. We ate it anyway.

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Corn Bread ~ I have yet to find a homemade recipe I like…

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Cottage Cheese

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Sliced fruit ~ Usually cantaloupe or watermelon.

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Potatoes ~ I make these in a lot of different ways.

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Fruit Salad ~ It’s from a can but way better than fruit cocktail and thrifty too. The only thing I change is draining the fruit in a colander (rinsing if it has heavy syrup).

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SNACKS

Snacks are a necessity with kids and a pregnant mom. Here are some of the snacks we eat…

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Graham Crackers with peanut butter ~ sometimes I top with sliced bananas.

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Fruit ~ sliced apples, bananas, cantaloupe, etc

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Muffins

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Leftovers

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Sliced cheese from a block

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Cheese Quesadillas (if we have homemade tortillas)

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Cookies ~ homemade with WHEAT flour and SOOO good.

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Baked goods ~ I usually have something on hand: muffins, biscuits, cookies. I also have been experimenting with homemade bread…which I cannot resist snacking on.

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Popcorn ~ We pop it on the stove and add a variety of seasonings: sugar and cinnamon for a vaguely sweet snack, parmesan, salt, garlic salt, anything really.

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Smoothies

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Nuts