What's your favorite "the economy's in the toilet, I need to save my pennies" cheapo recipe?

Buy what you eat, make the meal from what you bought, eat what you made and eat the leftovers.(nt)

 
Hubby spent time in Alaska. His fave is chili over bread. . . .

something I had never seen till I met him.

 
Such sage advice mistral. I pride myself on making sure nothing goes

to waste. I believe there is a lot of wasted food.

 
Soups are great budget stretchers. I bought a pound and a half of lean stewing beef,

and so far have made a chili with a half pound of the beans and pulled a bag of frozen beans out of my freezer and made a nice red chili.
Last night I used another half pound of beef and a quarter pound of Italian sausage and made a large batch of minestronish type soup with penne pasta in it. I still have a half pound of beef left to do something with, and I think I am going to make a beef barley soup tomorrow.
A few weeks ago, I made ziploc bags full of beans from dried beans. I made black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans at a fraction of the price of canned beans. It has really been handy to have them ready to go. I slightly undercooked the beans so they wouldn't get mushy if I used them in a soup.
I made a version of the chicken soup that Traca posted above. I used one half chicken breast for the soup which served four. Try velveting the chicken and that will be the only way you will make chicken soup again; so tender. When hams go on sale for the holidays, but a couple and have the butcher slice them in thirds and use those to make soups like split pea and navy bean soup, very inexpensive that way. For me, what I try to do is put the emphasis on the soup, with protein being complimentary, more like flavoring. It doesn't always go over big with the meat lover in this house, but it healthier and inexpensive.

 
Yo Meryl!! The Great ***scape! Are you coming with me??

We need to go kid. Book your flight now. I’m flying solo - I have wings you know…. I'll meet you at the airport in Budapest.

I think we might be regarded as ***stremists, don’t you? Well let’s prove them right and go to the International *** Festival in Hungary this weekend! We could ***-out! Did ya see the two links I posted above? Check out those huge ***s near that water tower!

Oh what fun we could have Meryl! Please, please go with me!

 
I have been trying to clean out any leftovers we have not eaten. . .

regularly and then if we still won't eat them I feed the stuff to the chickens, who love anything we do, except, maybe, citrus fruit and onions.

That chicken food has gone up too, quite a bit!

 
Pat, I'm so glad you have both versions here! I ate myself sick enjoying this recipe.

When I went to make it again recently, I thought I lost the recipe. I'm so excited! I'm making this tonight!

Thank you ~*

 
Sorry for the delay, Pat, my computer was down. Here it is.

Paprikas Potatoes & Hot Dogs

1 pound hot dogs, thinly sliced
2 medium to large onions, chopped
2 large bay leaves
2 teaspoons paprika
6-8 potatoes (depending on size) thinly sliced, about 1/2"
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup oil for sauteing (half butter)

Saute onions until very soft (5 to 10 min). Remove from heat and add paprika - saute a minute or two. Add sliced potatoes and bay leaves and mix well with onion mixture. Add some water to not completely cover potatoes (a little more than half way). Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring gently occasionally, until potatoes are saucy and falling apart - add more water along the way if too dry. Add sliced hot dogs and continue to cook until hot dogs are cooked and potatoes are done. Adjust seasons.

The large amount of onions should be sauteed well. They pretty well dissolve and help flavour and make the sauce. About half of potatoes fall apart also helping make the sauce.

Without hot dogs, makes a nice side dish for sausages.

Hope you try it and enjoy it.

 
The neighbor kids will love this. They like to help me cook by standing on a chair at the counter.

I have them add ingredients, stir, do rubs on chickens and such. It's fun for all of us. Thank you for the recipe, Elenor.

 
Thanks, everyone! I have a standard selection for lean times, but...

I love variety. So I appreciate everyone's suggestions! Looking forward to having a few more choices to rotate through.

 
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