Need a few ideas to help you keep your budget in check? One way to do that is with the food you eat. With a few simple changes, especially joining in on Meatless Monday, you can make simple meals that are under $10! I've out together a list of our 5 favorite meals under $10 and some of them will even have leftovers which makes them that much more affordable!
5 Ways to Cook a Whole Meal for Less Than $10
Idea 1 – Meatloaf
Not my favorite use of ground meat I prefer meatballs but the kids seriously can't get enough meatloaf they'd eat it every day of the week. I pair the meal with some green beans and noodles which costs less than $10! The simple meatloaf recipe I use is:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup water
- bread crumbs
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, add enough bread crumbs to make it stick together (usually about 1/4-1/2 cup or so)
- Place in a loaf pan.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
Idea 2 – Roast Chicken
This is one of my favorite ways to stretch a dollar, I've shared my multi-use chicken dinner before and how I love to make stock after, we can usually turn a whole chicken into 5 meals for us! A chicken might seem expensive but it isn't by the time you add some potatoes and carrots you have a whole meal and then there are so many options with the leftovers!
Idea 3 – Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Nothing beats a hearty bowl of stew with a baking powder biscuit! The best part is you can throw it in the [easyazon_link keywords=”slow cooker” locale=”US” tag=”reamom0b-20″]slow cooker[/easyazon_link] and let it do all the work for you!
Not sure how to adapt your favorite recipes for the slow cooker? You'll love this post ==> 4 Quick and Easy Ways to Adapt Your Recipe.
- 1-2 lbs of stew meat, depending on how meaty you like your stew
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper
- 6 red potatoes, quartered
- 4 cups beef broth
- Carrots and peas
- Toss stew meat in flour mixture and brown in oil.
- Combine remaining ingredients in slow cooker.
- Add browned meat and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4.
Idea 4 – Vegetarian Tacos
This is very simple and basic. To make it more filling, use beans instead of meat. Just heat your favorite beans in a pan with some chipotle pepper. Add your taco shells, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese and you have a quick and cheap taco dinner for the whole family.
Idea 5 – Chili
Whether you like to go vegetarian or meatless, chili can be inexpensive. Our favorite recipe is Sweet Potato Tex-Mex Quinoa Chili. This hearty chili is great by itself, no side needed!
So those are just five recipes you can make that won't break the bank. A few of the others I wanted to sneak in are One Pot Pasta, and Tortilla Soup.
What other meals do you like to make that cost less than $10?
2 Comments
This all looks so delicious, especially the chili!
Chili is always delicious! I especially like my chili in a bread bowl 🙂