Meals on a Budget

Do you ever get bored with cooking and not know what to make? Well I do a lot, so I started coming up with little things I could do to change certain meals etc. It's so hard to cook for a toddler, she never wants to eat anything and it's always a constant battle but once I figured out these cheap, easy ways to come up with new meal ideas, it really helped a lot.

Cooking with noodles- 8 meals under $10*

Noodles are incredibly affordable and easy to come by, here are a few things you can do to spice up your noodles. For health benefits, use whole wheat pasta, any type of pasta will do for any of these recipes as well, unless specified.  Most of these recipes can be made as entrees or side dishes. One meal is about 4 servings.

Ghetto Pasta

2 cups of noodles (any kind)

1 can of Campbells soup (tomato or mushroom work best)

1 tsp butter

salt to taste

Cook pasta, drain, add butter and mix until noodles are coated then add can of soup and serve.

Cheesy Pasta

2 cups of noodles

2-3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

1 tsp butter

pinch of pepper

Cook noodles, drain, add butter and coat noodles, add the cheese, stir and serve.

Veggie Pasta

2 cups of noodles

1/2 cup chopped peppers

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 can of chopped tomatoes

optional: salad dressing of your choice

pinch of pepper

Cook noodles, drain and cool, add chopped veggies (raw), stir and drizzle with sauce of choice, then serve. Best served cold.

Veggie Pasta 2

2 cups of noodles

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 cup of chopped cheese (cheddar works best)

balsamic vinegar

pinch of pepper

Cook noodles, drain, add tomatoes, stir then top with cheese and drizzle some balsamic vinegar and serve. Best served cold.

Home made Mac & Cheese

2 cups of noodles

3-4 slices of cheese or 4-5 tbsp cheese whiz

1 tsp butter

1 tsp Parmesan cheese
1 tsp milk

Cook noodles, drain and coat with butter, add cheese and stir until smooth, add milk, stir in well, top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

*recipes using ground beef may be a little more expensive ($15-18) but your taste buds will thank you :)

Goulash

2 cups of noodles 

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1/2 lb ground beef

pinch of pepper

Cook ground beef and set aside. Cook noodles, drain. Add cooked ground beef and can of tomatoes, stir well, add pepper to taste and serve.

Spaghetti

2 cups of noodles (Spaghetti noodles work best)

1 can of spaghetti sauce (I use Hunts)

1 lb ground beef

optional: pre-mixed spaghetti veggies

Cook beef until browned. Add can of sauce and 1 cup of cooked spaghetti mix veggies, simmer on low. Meanwhile, cook noodles, drain and serve the sauce over the noodles.

Swedish meatballs

2 cups of noodles (egg noodles work best)

1 cup chopped peppers

1 cup chopped mushrooms

15-20 meatballs (cheaper if they are home made)

2 cans gravy (you can make your own if you wish)

pinch of pepper

Cook meatballs. Put in oven ware (I use a silver aluminum pan about 10" by 5" with some depth) cover in gravy, add the vegetables and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 375C or until veggies are soft. Cook and drain noodles. Serve the meatballs and sauce over the noodles.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!