25 DINNERS FOR $5 | CHEAP MEAL IDEAS & GROCERY HAUL | TASTY & EASY RECIPES | JULIA PACHECO

Welcome back to my kitchen! When you’re at the end of your grocery budget, and don’t have much left, it might be overwhelming to try to make a lot of meals out of a few inexpensive ingredients. I know, I’ve been there! At the end of one of my recent videos, I shared that this is actually why I started my cooking channel. Here are 25 of my FAVORITE cheaper meals ideas that cost around $5. So that when you’re overwhelmed, wondering what in the world your family is going to eat, you can make delicious, nutritious meals for cheap! Eating on a budget doesn’t have to be boring!! I hope you find a little cooking inspiration. Thank you for watching 🌼

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0:00 CHEAPER MEAL IDEAS ❖ RECIPE LINKS ↓
0:34 Tamale Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/tamale-casserole/
3:27 Ramen Stir Fry https://www.juliapacheco.com/ramen-noodle-stir-fry/
5:46 Sausage & Egg Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/crescent-roll-sausage-egg-casserole/
9:09 Chicken Broccoli & Wild Rice Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/chicken-and-rice-casserole-with-broccoli/
11:43 Tomato Bacon Alfredo https://www.juliapacheco.com/tomato-bacon-pasta/
13:57 French Bread Pizza https://www.juliapacheco.com/french-bread-pizzas/
16:17 Potato Soup https://www.juliapacheco.com/cheap-potato-soup/
18:04 Vegetable Pasta Soup https://www.juliapacheco.com/vegetable-noodle-soup/
19:44 White Bean & Spinach Soup https://www.juliapacheco.com/white-bean-and-spinach-soup/
22:21 Enchilada Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/black-bean-enchilada-casserole/
25:11 Lentil Spaghetti https://www.juliapacheco.com/lentil-spaghetti/
28:05 Spaghetti & Squash https://www.juliapacheco.com/spaghetti-with-yellow-squash/
30:00 Rice Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/chicken-and-rice-casserole-with-broccoli/
32:25 BBQ Hotdogs & Mashed Potatoes https://www.juliapacheco.com/bbq-hot-dogs-w-broccoli-mashed-potatoes/
34:18 Turkey Shepherds Pie https://www.juliapacheco.com/easy-sheppards-pie/
37:25 One Pot Sausage Broccoli & Rice https://www.juliapacheco.com/turkey-sausage-rice/
39:09 Creamy Veggie Pasta https://www.juliapacheco.com/vegetable-pasta/
41:01 Chicken Drumsticks
42:59 Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken & Rice https://www.juliapacheco.com/salsa-chicken-and-rice/
43:55 Taco Bowls https://www.juliapacheco.com/burrito-bowl/
45:03 Turkey & Rice Goulash https://www.juliapacheco.com/ground-turkey-and-rice/
47:45 Lentil Stew https://www.juliapacheco.com/lentil-stew-2/
49:17 Classic Goulash https://www.juliapacheco.com/easy-goulash/
50:49 Sausage Egg Casserole https://www.juliapacheco.com/egg-casserole/
52:40 Chili Macaroni Soup https://www.juliapacheco.com/chili-macaroni-soup/

CHEAP MEALS PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf5__fRVN0JZWfs2i0zPl9TFpoxES0S58

Cheaper Meals BLOG Posts!
CHEAP FAMILY MEALS UNDER $10 https://www.juliapacheco.com/cheap-family-meals-under-10/
20 CHEAP FREEZER MEALS https://www.juliapacheco.com/20-cheap-freezer-meals/
EXTREME BUDGET MEAL PLAN https://www.juliapacheco.com/extreme-budget-meal-plan/

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Hey there unfortunately grocery prices are just not coming down anytime soon so today I will be sharing 25 yes I said 25 of my family’s favorite dinners that you can make for only $5 these dinners are very affordable but they do not taste cheap they’re still full of flavor nutrient rich and

Delicious let’s get to my kitchen and let’s get started okay to start us off today this one is a favorite for sure this tamale casserole is so good while I’m at the grocery store I do want to show you the products that I’m getting to stay right around $5 first I need a

Half a pound of ground turkey for this recipe so I went down the turkey aisle and the cheapest turkey I could find was right around $4 so that was out of budget but I looked over to the middle frozen meats aisle and I saw a a pound of ground turkey for just

$254 so I grabbed that and I put it in my cart next I’m going to be picking up a can of red enchilada sauce this will add a ton of flavor to this dinner next I’m going to be picking up a can of corn and I tend to buy the store named

Products over the name brand products just because the storename products are typically a lot less expensive so for example this can of corn is 74 cents cheaper for basically the same thing I’m just getting the store name versus the name brand so I definitely suggest you

Doing that next thing I’m grabbing is a can of pinto beans then off to the baking aisle where I’m going to be grabbing a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix I got the original box which is the least expensive box I know the like one with honey and the vegetarian one is

Just slightly a little bit more expensive the last thing I’m going to be grabbing is a block of cheese I’ll only be using half of this block of cheese for this recipe and I’ll save the rest for future recipes so to get this dinner started to the pan of my stove I’m going

To be adding in our half a pound of ground turkey break the ground turkey up and cook it through once it’s cooked through add the turkey to a large bowl and then add in the can of enchilada sauce the drained can of corn that we got next add in the drained and rinsed

Can of pinto beans 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning our box of Jiffy and 1/3 a cup of water give this a really good Stir I have a 9×13 baking dish right here I’ll spray it with plenty of non-stick spray then add the casserole right into the baking dish spread it out to the best of your ability and then I’m just going to shred half of the block of cheese that we got from the store Spring

Sprinkle the shredded cheese right on top and then bake this in a preheated oven to 350° for about 30 to 35 minutes and then you could serve it up we like to top this with kind of like our favorite Taco topping so I topped mine today with an

Avocado that I had on hand some tomatoes and sour cream but top this with anything that you love and you know what don’t worry if you don’t have any toppings on hand this is really good alone too I really think this Ramen stir fry recipe will surpris you so to get it

Started we are first going to be grabbing a frozen bag of stir fry vegetables I’m grabbing this Deluxe bag it has frozen broccoli green beans carrots peppers and more veggies in it it is a delicious bag of vegetables next we’re going to be grabbing three packets

Of ramen this is the only ramen brand my grocery store has right now and we think it’s pretty good and then if you don’t have soy sauce on hand you could grab this great value bottle of soy SAU sauce for only about .58 so you will be able to stay on

Budget I didn’t grab that bottle just because I do have soy sauce on hand so to get this recipe started to the pan on my stove I added a tablespoon of olive oil and once my oil was hot I added our stir fry vegetables right onto the pan

And I’m going to cook them for about 5 to 7 minutes to cook those veggies through and while we have our veggies cooking up I am going to start on our ramen so to the pot of boiling water add all three bags of ramen save the

Seasoning packets to the side and I do want to let you know if you have more people you’re feeding you could always buy another bag of ramen or two and if you have less people you’re feeding just don’t buy as many bags of ramen but now

That our ramen is cooked through I am going to drain the Ramen Now add the ramen into the pan where we cooked the vegetables and then add about A4 a cup of low sodium soy sauce I do recommend the lower sodium soy sauce just so this isn’t as salty then add in A4 a cup of water and just one of those

Ramen seasoning packets you only need one trust me this will be super flavorful but give this a stir and let this cook together for a couple of minutes and then you could serve this up here’s my bowl of food I sprinkled mine with a little bit of sesame seeds and

Let me tell you this is so unbelievably good it does not taste like you’re trying to be on a budget and this is super healthy and filling now we’re making This Magnificent sausage and a casserole so the first thing we’re going to be grabbing from the store might seem a

Little odd and silly but just trust this recipe trust this process it’s going to turn out great I first grabbed a can of crescent rolls then I head it over to the meat area and I grabbed some sausage you could buy the ground sausage like this but we personally like the sausage

Links for this recipe they’re a little bit more expensive but we really like them for this specific recipe then I headed over to the egg area and I was just completely shocked about those egg prices they have really gone up recently holy moly and for six eggs it is 303 at

My Walmart I don’t know about your guys’s grocery stores but I just couldn’t believe this so I decided to go get my eggs at Smith Smith wasn’t too far from the Walmart I was shopping at so I kind of wanted to see the egg prices there compared to Walmart Smith

Is kind of like a Kroger store here in Utah so I just grabbed these dozen eggs for $4.89 it was a little bit cheaper here at this Kroger store so I was happy to see that now let’s head back to my house and get started the first thing

We’re going to begin on is cooking up our sausage I’m only using half of this package of sausage just go ahead and brown that sausage up right now while our sausage is cooking away we are going to crack our eggs into this bowl so in this bowl I cracked six eggs the nice

Thing about this recipe is you only need six eggs so that does make it a little bit more budget friendly I whisked those eggs up breaking the yolks and then I added in my seasonings a half a teaspoon of onion powder garlic powder paprika pepper and salt just whisk those seasonings In you will need a 9×13 baking dish for this recipe so I grabbed my baking dish I sprayed it with non-stick spray just because you don’t want the egg to stick to the baking dish then I grabbed my crescents and I am going to unroll them

And place them onto the bottom of the baking dish I’ll set this to this side now that we have our sausage cooked through I’m going to slice it into discs and then kind of chop it into smaller pieces you could really cut your sausage into however big or however small pieces

You’d like and then after I was finished with that I grabbed my baking dish and I’m going to place the sausage over the top of the crescent after you’re finished with that and kind of spreading that sausage out pour the egg mixture over the top and bake this in a

Preheated oven to 350° for about 22 to 28 minutes or until the egg has Set this makes the most delicious breakfast for dinner or of course you can make this for regular breakfast we had some tomatoes on hand so I topped it with tomatoes and I served this with salt this recipe is amazing because you could really make it your own by adding

Veggies to this recipe or cheese or different Meats it’s so good now we’re making this chicken broccoli and wild rice casserole and don’t go judging this recipe on me until you try it it is really really good so the first thing I grabbed from the store

Was a can of cream of mushroom soup I also grabbed a can of cream of chicken soup and then I headed over to the canned meat area and I grabbed a can of chicken grabbing cans of chicken like this is a great budget friendly way to add chicken to your recipes when you’re

Really trying to stay on a stricter budget and then I went over to the rice area and I grabbed a box of long grain and wild rice reron or you could use really any type of reron you like for this recipe then I went over to the frozen veggies and I

Wanted to grab a frozen bag of broccoli fettes but they only had the frozen broccoli Cuts so I just grabbed those broccoli Cuts let’s head back to the house and get started to this big bowl add in the box of long grain and wild rice also add in the seasoning packet

That comes with that rice then you’re going to want to add in the bag of frozen broccoli that we got from the store followed by the can of chicken after you add that chicken in add in your can of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup after you’re through

Adding both both of those cans in add in one cup of water and then after you add that water in go ahead and add in your seasonings you could really use any type of seasonings you like but I added in a teaspoon of onion powder and garlic

Powder and paprika and then a half a teaspoon of salt and pepper then you’re going to want to give this a really good Stir I’ll set this to this this side I pulled out my 9×13 baking dish and I’ll spray it with plenty of non-stick spray after you’re through spraying this go ahead and add the casserole right in there and then after you add that casserole in there and kind of spread it

Out evenly cover this with aluminum foil and bake this in a preheated oven to 350° for about 50 to 60 minutes or until the rice is nice and tender here’s the finished product this isn’t a super thick dense casserole it’s a a little bit more thin and my family really

Enjoys it like that I topped mine with a little bit of cheese that I had on hand this is so flavorful and delicious I promise you are going to love it just as much as we do now we’re making this tomato bacon Alfredo and the first thing we’re going

To be grabbing from the store is about a pound of pasta and I don’t know what your shelves look like at your store for pasta but I don’t typically have a ton of selection so I was going to buy a pound of fetuccini pasta but they only

Had this Linguini so I just got that instead next I grabbed a can of petite diced tomatoes this is a petite diced tomatoes with olive oil and G garlic so it’s going to give this dish a lot of Flavor now we’re going to be grabbing a

Jar of alfredo sauce this is about 16 oz of that alfredo sauce and then grab one of these packages of real bacon bits it’s about $1.70 total so it is pretty good price the first thing I’m doing is boiling up our pasta in this pot of water I’m just boiling it according to

The box instructions nothing special but while that pasta is cooking away I am starting on the sauce so to this large pan I added my jar of Alfredo right in there and there’s always so much sauce left over in these jars so I don’t always show this on camera but I

Typically like to add some water to my jar give it a shake and then add the excess sauce right into the pan pan then I added in my can of petite diced tomatoes I did partially drain that can last thing I did was add most of those

Bacon bits into the pan I gave this a stir and I let this simmer covered for about 5 minutes I did stir often while it was simmering but after that simmering time was up my house was smelling so so good I can’t even explain it to you it really was smelling good

But then I added in my drained pasta I gave this stir and then it was time to serve it Up here’s what dinner looks like and if you know me you probably know by now how much I love pasta dishes one thing I love about this pasta dish is it almost has kind of like a smoky flavor about it from the bacon it is just super duper

Good you got to give this one a try I’m sure you’re going to love it now we’re making this French bread pizza the first thing that we’re needing for this recipe is a loaf of French bread so I grabbed this one and I can’t believe it’s

$147 I remember when it was just a dollar at my grocery store for years and years then I grabbed a can of tomato sauce for 44 this is my little pizza sauce trick that I’m going to show you here in a moment then I grabbed our cheese and our pepperoni I only used

About half of this bag of pepperoni for our pizzas now let’s get this recipe started the first thing I’m going to to do is slice our French bread in half just like this now we’re going to making our butter mixture so I have 4 tablespoons of melted butter I added in

A dash of garlic powder onion powder and Italian seasoning I’m going to brush this butter mixture all over the French bread on the inside just like this this is going to give this pizza so much great flavor after I was through with that I baked this in a preheated oven to

425° for about 5 minutes while it was baking in the oven I’m going to start on our pizza sauce now so I have our tomato sauce right here I added it into this bowl then I added in a dash of pepper a teaspoon of salt and about 2 teaspoons

Of Italian seasoning this is my little hack for inexpensive pizza sauce and it really is super duper good I definitely recommend you trying it out after the bread was out of the oven I poured the pizza sauce on the inside of the bread kind of like how you would with a normal

Pizza and then after I was finished with with that I sprinkled our mozzarella cheese over the top and then after I added our cheese I added our pepperonis and I do want to let you know of course you could customize these pizzas however you want to eat them you could add

Sausage or veggies really anything you like this baked in my oven for 5 to 7 more minutes or until the cheese was nice and Melty this is such a fun Twist on regular pizza night and that garlicky butter sauce that we brushed on the bread before we baked it gives this so much added flavor I definitely recommend you doing that these are just really really good I love potato soup especially at

This time of year so now that’s what we’re making the first thing I’m going to be grabbing is a bag of hash browns this is the southern O’Brien style hash brown so it has the added onions and the peppers in it this is going to give our

Soup some extra flavor let’s head over to the gravy aisle now and grab a packet of country gravy and a lot of times we think the store brand is going to be cheaper than the name brand but do pay attention to the price per ounce because

The Walmart brand was 49 cents per ounce versus this brand was only 40 cents per ounce so that was cheaper now I’m going to be grabbing this little box of nor bolon and let’s head back to to the house and get cooking so the first thing

I’m doing is to this large paw adding our bag of hash browns right in there then I’m going to be adding our packet of country gravy add that entire packet right in there then I’m going to be add adding our bullon you’re only going to be using two of these bullon cubes not

The entire box next add in four cups of water and bring this up to a boil once it does start boiling bring this down to a simmer and let it simmer for about 15 15 minutes stirring it frequently until it gets to the thickness that you like your potato soup to Be once it got to this thickness I served it up and I topped our bowls of soup just with some toppings that I already had on hand like shredded cheese sour cream cooked crumbled bacon and sliced green onions but you could serve yours with whatever you have on hand or

If you don’t have any toppings on hand this potato soup is good just by itself now we’re making this vegetable pasta soup so let’s first head down the bean aisle and get our cans of beans so we’re first grabbing a can of cantalini beans these are kind of like white beans

We’re also going to be grabbing a can of green beans as you see they were on sale green beans tend to go on sale at this time of year and then I grabbed a can of diced tomatoes followed by a box of ziti pasta I didn’t use the entire box of zii

Pasta I only used about 2 cups of it now let’s get started to this pow I added in 5 cups of water along with one cube of bullon this is just the bullon packet that I used for the potato soup recipe then I added in a can of diced tomatoes

Along with our can of Cellini beans I did drain those beans I also added in our green beans that I drained then I added in our two cups of zii Po pasta next you’re going to add in your seasonings a half a teaspoon of pepper 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning 1

Teaspoon of Rosemary then about 2 tpoon of salt you’re going to give this a stir and you’re going to let this simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes stirring it often until your pasta is nice and tender my house was smelling so good at this point I served our soup up and we

Like to eat our topped with a little bit of Parmesan cheese this soup is extremely nutrient Rich it has so many different vitamins in it and it’s really easy to throw together and so budget friendly my little toddler especially loves this soup now we’re making this

White bean and spinach soup so while I’m at the store the first thing I’m going to grab is an onion and typically yellow onions are the least expensive onion at the store but today I looked over at the white onions and they were actually the same price as the yellow onions and I

Just grabbed a white onion we like how the white onion has a little bit sweeter flavor it’s high in fiber and super anti-inflammatory so I put that in my cart the next thing I’m going to be grabbing is a can of cantalini beans after I put those cantalini beans in my

Cart I grabbed a can of petite diced tomatoes this is a big can of diced tomatoes it’s about 28 Oz and the last thing we are going to be grabbing is a bag of frozen spinach this frozen spinach has 12 ounces of spinach in it

There’s a ton of spinach in this bag for only11 12 so it really is a really great value so back over to my house I’m just going to dice up our onion and over to my pot on the stove I’m adding in about a tablespoon of olive oil once my oil is

Hot I added the onion right in there I’m going to cook the onion for a couple of minutes just to soften it once the onion gets nice and soft I added in about a tablespo spoon of minced garlic give this a stir let the garlic become fragrant it only takes about 10 seconds

Now add in a teaspoon of salt half a teaspoon of pepper a teaspoon of oregano and then one of these bowon cubes I like to keep these on hand and they go really far in recipes like I’m just using one for this specific recipe it’s kind of

Like a substitute for chicken broth then I added in six cups of water along with our Cellini beans and our big can of petite diced tomatoes the last thing I’m adding in is our bag of frozen spinach and if you’re not the biggest fan of spinach in the world you don’t have to

Add this big bag in you could use half the bag or a quarter of this bag but we really like spinach and spinach is super high in iron I’m going to let this simmer for about 15 minutes on low after that cooking time is up this is ready to Serve here’s what my bowl of soup looks like I topped mine with some of that mozzarella cheese I had on hand but you don’t have to if you don’t want to this soup is extremely delicious those beans are high in fiber and protein the spinach is great for your immune system and those

Diced tomatoes are surprisingly great for your skin now we’re making this enchilada casserole and this one brings back so many memories it’s a family favorite for sure there was a time period when we really couldn’t hardly afford groceries we were on food stamps and when I would

Make this dinner it was kind of like the grand dinner we would get so excited about it and we just loved it so much I first grabbed a can of pinto beans next I grabbed a can of black beans both of those cans are under a dollar each now

I’m grabbing a can of corn I know a lot of different foods have really gone up in price but here in Utah corn has really stayed the same price over time time now I’m grabbing a can of enchilada sauce over the years I found that this

Is the best priced brand in my area the last thing I’m grabbing is a bag of corn tortillas I definitely suggest you grabbing corn tortillas over flour tortillas just because corn tortillas hold up best when baking let’s head back to my house and get started to this mediumsized bowl I’m adding in a

Tablespoon of minced garlic next add in our drained can of corn then add in our pinto beans I did drain and rinse these pinto beans and our can of black beans as well then we’re going to add in our seasonings this is what’s really going to give this flavor a teaspoon of cumin

Teaspoon of onion and garlic powder and then a half a teaspoon of pepper give this a really good Stir I have my 9×13 baking dish right here I’m spraying it with plenty of non-stick spray then I’m adding in half of our can of enchilada of sauce spread that out just so it’s covering the bottom of the pan then you’re going to add about six corn tortillas down at the

Bottom of your pan over the corn tortillas go ahead and add about half of that bean mixture that we made up over the bean mixture you were going to add about six more corn tortillas you could always add more or less corn tortillas depending on if you like a lot or a

Little bit of them then over the top add the remaining Bean mixture and the rest of the can of enchilada sauce this is completely optional but I did have a little bit of some Mexican style cheese on hand that I wanted to use so I sprinkled that over the top but if you

Don’t have cheese you don’t have to add it this baked on 350° for about 30 Minutes top this with your favorite toppings we topped ours with avocado sour cream and and tomatoes but if you don’t have any toppings on hand I totally understand this casserole is also good alone you don’t have to top it with anything it’s super full of flavor

And like I said my family loves it now we’re making this lentil spaghetti and before you go judging this recipe give it a chance I headed down the bean and rice aisle and I grabbed a bag of lentils this whole bag is $1.34 and I didn’t even use half the bag

I only used a half a cup of it so this is very affordable lentils are also considered a super food next I’m grabbing another can of spaghetti sauce I’m just grabbing the garlic and herb flavor right now then we’re going to go head over to the spaghetti noodles and I

Did grab a bag of these spaghetti noodles for under a dollar now let’s head over to the frozen vegetables and I grabbed a bag of this zucchini blend I have been craving like zucchini and squash recently so this is why I grabbed this bag but you could use any type of

Frozen vegetables you like for this recipe let’s head back to my house now and get started the first thing we’re going to be doing is cleaning and rinsing our half a cup of lentils so I just have my overthe SN strainer right here I’m just adding the lentils and I’m

Going to rinse them and kind of sort through them since lentils are grown in the ground you might find like a little Pebble in there so just look through them I just found like a little bit of dirt but after I was through cleaning our lentils I brought them over to the

Large pot on my stove and I added them right in There next you’re going to be adding in about 2 cups of water or you could use broth if you’d like for more flavor now I added in a bay leaf along with a teaspoon of oregano half a teaspoon of salt and a half a teaspoon of pepper

Give this a stir and let this simmer covered for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the lentils become tender you do want to Stir It occasionally while it’s simmering but then I started boiling up our spaghetti noodles in another pot now that my lentils are nice and tender I

Remove the lid and I’m removing the bay leaf in there and I’m going to let this simmer uncovered for a couple of minutes just to absorb the liquid now I’m adding in our bag of frozen zucchini and squash along with our can of pasta sauce now

I’m going to give this a really good stir and let this simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes Well this was simmering I did Stir It occasionally so nothing stuck to the bottom of my pot but once the simmering time was up I just added my drained spaghetti into the pot I’m going to give this a stir and then it is time to serve

It up and here’s what dinner looks like if you don’t typically cook with lentils you need to start cooking with them more often I like to think of them as kind of like a Powerhouse of nutrition they’re high in potassium fiber and folate they’re also super budget friendly now

We’re making this spaghetti with squash it only has a few ingredients and I was actually originally going to use a zucchini for this recipe naughty yellow squash but when I went to grab a zucchini in that section they were all sold out but then I saw that they had

Squash and the Squash was the same price so I just grabbed one of those squash and after weighing it it came out to only being about7 so that’s a really good price and squash do have a lot of health benefits just like zucchini next I’m going to grab a

Pound of spaghetti and then I am going to be grabbing a can of pasta sauce and if you are looking to save money on pasta sauce I definitely recommend you getting a can of the sauce over like a jar of the sauce typically the jars of

Sauce are twice the price now I’m going to start this recipe out by cutting my squash into smaller cubes over to a pot on the stove I have some boiling water in there I’ll add my spaghetti and I’m going to cook it according to the package instructions now over to the pan

On my stove I’m going to add in about a tablespoon of olive oil once that gets hot I’ll add in my squash along with my seasonings a teaspoon of salt half a teaspoon of pepper a teaspoon of Italian seasoning garlic powder onion powder then a half a teaspoon of oregano cook

This together for about 3 to 4 minutes now that my squash is tender I’m going to add in my can of pasta sauce I’m also going to add in about a third of cup of water I just added that water into my can of pasta sauce give this a stir and

Let this simmer together for about 5 minutes after this is through simmering you could serve it up just serve the sauce and the Squash over the bed of noodles this is so good super flavorful and that squash adds some extra protein and added health benefits now we’re making this rice

Casserole this casserole is very easy to make so the first thing we’re going to be grabbing at the store is a 1B bag of rice this rice is under a dollar next I’ll pick up a can of black beans and a can of kidney beans but you could really

Use any type of beans that you like you could use pinto beans Great Northern beans really any beans now I’m grabbing a can of tomato sauce and lastly I’ll pick up a package of bolon cubes bullon cubes really add a lot of flavor to recipes so now to this large ball I’m

Going to add in the bag of rice that we picked up next add in 3 tablespoons of olive oil the drained and rinsed can of black beans and kidney beans next add in the can of tomato sauce and then our seasonings there’s quite a few seasonings but this recipe is very

Flavorful add in a teaspoon of cumin 2 teaspoons of chili powder a teaspoon of paprika oregano dried basil a teaspoon of onion powder and garlic powder a teaspoon of pepper a tablespoon of salt and those are all of the seasonings now I have two cups of water right here this

Water is like boiling water I put it in my microwave to heat up to the water add in two of the beef bullon cubes that we got from the store and stir it super duper well to dissolve those cubes then add this into our big bowl and give it a stir I have a 9×13 baking dish right here I’ll spray it with a non-stick spray then I’ll add the casserole right in there spread the rice casserole out to the best of your ability and then cover this tightly with aluminum foil you’re going to want to bake this on

350° for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the rice is tender once the rice is tender give this a stir and then you could serve it up go ahead and top this with whatever toppings you have on hand or whatever kind of like taco toppings you have and

Again if you don’t have any toppings on hand this casserole is very flavorful in itself this one is also a meatless meal but it’s not lacking in any protein cuz it has all of those beans it’s really delicious now we’re making these barbecue hot dogs over mashed potatoes

But you could use smoked sausage as a substitute if you like but since I am using the hot dogs I’m picking up this 12 oz package of hot dogs right now but of course like I said if you wanted to use smoked sausage you could use that

Instead of the hot dogs my family really likes broccoli so that is what I’m getting for the vegetable today and as you could see this 12 oz bag of broccoli florettes it’s $116 but I looked up and I saw the bag of broccoli cuts for 12 oz it was only

88 for the bag so that is like a almost a 30 C saving so I went with the broccoli cuts and we served this dinner over mashed potatoes and I’m just picking up this package of instant mashed potatoes for under a dollar now my family really likes this great value

Brand of barbecue sauce I remember when it was only 88 cents a few years back prices have really gone up but to start out this recipe I am just going to be slicing my hot dogs into to half Moons over to my stove I’m just adding in

About a tablespoon of olive oil to this Pan Once it’s hot I just added in the hot dogs along with a bag of broccoli Cuts I’m just going to cook this together for about 8 to 10 minutes and while this is cooking away I just added the bag of mashed potatoes into boiling

Water and I’m going to let this cook according to the package instructions now that my hot dogs and the broccoli are cooked through I’ll add in 1 cup of barbecue sauce and let this cook together for an additional 3 to 4 minutes and then you could serve it up

This dinner definitely does not taste cheap at all those hot dogs don’t taste like basic hot dogs this dinner is really good my entire family absolutely loves it and it really is perfect for this time of year now we are making this turkey shepherd’s pie and for this

Recipe I’ll be using the other half of the ground turkey that we used earlier next I’m going to grabbing a package of instant mashed potatoes the third item I’ll be getting today is a 12 oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables next I’m going to be grabbing a can of cream of

Mushroom soup for only 68 and wow look at the price difference between the name brand and the store brand I really personally can’t tell a huge taste difference between the two and it kind of is a big price difference and here’s something that might be a little confusing this bag of pre- shredded

Cheese just looks huge the packaging is really big and bulky but there’s only 8 oz of cheese in that bag and the price is $222 so if you look over at the blocks of cheese the packaging definitely looks Slimmer and it doesn’t look like there’s as much cheese in there but there is

There’s 8 oz of cheese in this block of cheese and that is a 22 Cent saving this is only $2 so if you shred your cheese at home you will be saving money and I do think shredding your cheese at home I just think the cheese tastes a little

Better but now that we’re back at my house we’re just going to cook up a half a pound of the ground turkey on my stove just break the turkey up with your meat masher and cook it through while the turkey is cooking away I am going to prepare the mashed potatoes according to

The package instructions but I added in 1/3 of cup extra water this will help the potatoes go further in the recipe and then it will also help the pot potatoes not dry out as much from baking in the oven but now that my ground turkey is cooked through I’m just going

To stir in the bag of frozen vegetables and I’m going to cook this together for about 2 to 3 minutes after this is finished cooking together I’m going to add in a can of cream of mushroom soup along with my seasonings I added in a teaspoon of pepper salt Italian

Seasoning paprika onion powder and garlic powder give this a stir Now that this is well combined I pulled out my casserole dish spray your casserole dish with plenty of non-stick spray then add the casserole right in there spread it out to the best of your ability and then you are going to add the prepared mashed potatoes over the

Top spread those mashed potatoes out and then you are going to add 4 oz of shredded cheddar cheese over the top sprinkle that cheese all over and then you we going to bake this in a preheated oven to 350° for about 35 to 40 Minutes this is one of those dinners that definitely does not taste budget friendly at all it has so many different yummy vegetables in it and you could always make this your own by adding different veggies if you’d like or you could use different Meats if you’d like

It really is so good now we’re making this one pot sausage broccoli and rice dish to my cutting board I am going to slice my 13 oz of turkey sausage into little discs just like this now that I’m through with that I went over to the pan

On my stove and I added a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil once the butter melted down and the oil was hot I added that sausage in there and I’m going to Brown the sausage on each side until it’s kind of like a

Golden color this adds so much flavor to that sausage now that I’m finished with that I added in 12 oz of frozen broccoli florettes I found that frozen broccoli after everything’s gone up in price it’s kind of stayed um the same price at my local stores so this is a great veggie

To buy it’s affordable and you get quite a bit of it for the price I added that broccoli in there I gave it a good stir now I’m going to season it up I added in half a teaspoon of onion powder oregano paprika salt and pepper and then I gave

This one one Laster and I let this cook covered for about 5 minutes to soften the broccoli now that I have my broccoli to the tenderness that I like it to be I added in a cup and a half of cooked brown rice or you could use white rice

Along with a dash of onion powder and ppra for extra flavor I gave this a stir to combine the ingredients and it was ready to serve here’s my bowl of food this is a delicious healthy meal that you could get for so so inexpensive also

This does make quite a bit of food so if you’re a larger family this one’s great for you you could also half this recipe very easily now we’re making this creamy veggie pasta and this one is a meatless meal to my pot of boiling water I added

In 10 oz of penet pasta or you could use any type of pasta you like go ahead and stir it and cook it according to the box instructions over to the pan on my stove I have a tablespoon of hot olive oil in there then I added in 8 oz of white

Mushrooms that I sliced along with one white onion that I diced and a tablespoon of minced garlic let these veggies cook together until the mushrooms and the onion have softened and then once they get to that point you’re going to add in a 14 o can of

Petite diced tomatoes I love buying cans of diced tomatoes like this because they are less than a dollar and they have loads of vitamin C and potassium in them so they very healthy for you and it really will help you on your grocery budget so I added that in there you’ll

Also want to add in about 34 cup of coconut milk or you could use heavy whipping cream whatever you prefer and then for the seasonings add in a teaspoon of salt half a teaspoon of pepper and 2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning give this a stir and let it simmer for about 4 Minutes after that was through simmering I added in our cooked drained penet pasta and I gave this a stir this is totally optional but we do like thicker sauce in our house so I added in a cornstarch celery which was just a tablespoon of cornstarch and a tablespoon of water mixed together and

As you see it does thicken the sauce up a little bit but now it’s time to serve it up I topped mine with a little bit of black pepper and parmesan cheese this is so amazing and I love how it’s a meatless meal so you got so many

Different veggies in there for Sunday night’s dinner we are having these fall-apart tender barbecue chicken drumsticks so I have my bag of drumsticks right here and I’m going to divide it between like a Ziploc bag and a plate the ziplock bag we’re having for another night’s dinner and the plate

We’re having for tonight and I counted and there’s about 22 chicken drumsticks in the bag and when you divide them there’s about like 11 for each dinner so that’s a lot of chicken drumsticks in that bag for only about $5 so there is a really great value there I’ll just place

These drumsticks in the fridge and I’m going to grab the other drumsticks for tonight’s dinner this recipe is actually in my cookbook on page 165 I’m just making Like A variation of it for tonight but I plac the drumsticks in my slow cooker and I’m going to season them

With salt pepper paprika onion powder and garlic powder but you could use more seasonings or less seasonings depending depending on what you have on hand and then the very last thing I’m going to do is pour one cup of barbecue sauce on top this recipy is so easy but I swear these

Chicken drumsticks are like the best ever so just add that barbecue sauce in and cook this on low for about 7 to 8 hours now that the cooking time is up and the chicken drumsticks are fall apart tender I have a sheet pan here and I have it lined with parchment paper

Place the drumsticks on the sheet pan and then you’re going to pour more barbecue sauce over the top and then just brush it all around so it gets everywhere place this in your oven under the broiler for about 2 to 3 minutes and this will caramelize the barbecue sauce

And make them extra extra amazing here’s my plate of food for extra nutrients we served our drumsticks with that bag of steamable mixed vegetables I just added a little butter and salt to that bag but these will be the best barbecue chicken drumsticks you will ever have they’re so

Easy to eat because cuz they’re so fall apart tender for the next night’s dinner we are making this salsa chicken and rice so to my slow cooker I’m adding the remaining chicken drumsticks in my Ziploc bag just add them right into your slow cooker next add in one cup of salsa

You could really use any type of salsa that you like or have on hand I’m just using the salsa that we grabbed from the store now if you have some taco seasoning on hand just add in about a tablespoon of that but if you don’t have

It on hand don’t worry you don’t need to add it just cook this on low for 7 to 8 hours and on the side I just made up one cup of our white rice just in my instant pot so super easy and then I served our chicken drumsticks over that rice and we

Like to kind of like eat the chicken with the rice it is really good so this salsa chicken and rice is super delicious it’s super high in protein and really affordable for the next night’s dinner we are making these taco bowls so into my slow cooker I’m adding 34 cup of our

White rice just add it right in there next add in 34 cup of our salsa and then for the water I’m using 1 and 34 cup of just regular water now add in the drained and rinsed can of black beans and then I’m adding in about four cloves

Of our garlic I just chopped that garlic up in two smaller pieces now add in a/4 of our onion with a teaspoon of salt and then give this a stir cook this on low for about 3 to 4 hours or until the rice is Tender if you have some taco toppings on hand like sour cream cheese guacamole or really anything you could top your taco bowl with that or if you don’t have anything on hand don’t worry this is super good without any toppings as well well this has really high protein from

Those beans it really is filling and flavorful now we’re making this turkey and rice goulash so the first thing that we’re going to be grabbing at the grocery store is one pound of ground turkey as you see this festive brand of ground turkey is only $254 whereas the Geno brand of ground

Turkey is $317 in the refrigerated section so look in the freezer section for the ground turkey it is a little bit less expensive now I’m going to be grabbing a bag of rice rice is super filling and as you see I could grab this one pound bag of

Rice for under a dollar and it will make multiple meals then I grabbed a can of diced tomatoes this diced tomatoes has garlic and olive oil in it so it has extra Flavor now I’m grabbing one can of mixed vegetables let’s head back to the house and get started the first thing

We’re making for this recipe is our rice and I’m making it in my instant pot you’re only going to need about a cup and a half of rice for this recipe you don’t need the entire bag as you see there’s extra rice here for different

Recipes then I added in about 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of olive oil I gave this a stir and I pressed the rice button if you don’t want to cook your rice in an instant pot or you don’t have one you could cook it in a rice cooker

Or just simply over the stove but while our rice is cooking away I am going to stir on our ground turkey so the pan on my stove I’m going to add our turkey down and I’m going to break it up and cook the turkey through at this point

Once our turkey was cooked through I added in our seasonings two teaspoons of Italian seasoning a half a teaspoon of pepper a teaspoon of onion and garlic powder and then a teaspoon of salt and I do want to let you know if you’re on a budget seasonings are pretty low cost

And they will last quite a while and if you add a bunch of seasonings to your food it will really amp up your food so just keep that in mind then I added in our drained can of mixed vegetables along with our can of diced tomatoes I

Gave this a stir and I let this simmer with the lid on for about 5 to 7 Minutes now I’m going to add our cooked rice right in there give this a really good stir to combine the ingredients and then it is time to serve it up this dinner is so unbelievably good especially for the cost it is full of immense flavor this is another one of

Those meals that does make for great leftovers for the next day so you can meal prep this one for the week and it is so so tasty now we’re making this lentil stew so to get it started I like to clean my lentils so I’m using a cup

And a half of lentils for this recipe and I’m just going to place them in my strainer and I’m going to to rinse them with water sometimes lentils have like a little bit of dirt on them just because how they’re grown and then you might be

Able to find like a pebble in them like occasionally so I just like to clean them now I’m going to dice up part of our onion six carrots and six cloves of our garlic over to my slow cooker I’m just going to add all of these vegetables right in there then I’m going

To add my rinsed lentils in as well next add three bullon cubes along Ong with our can of diced tomatoes then add in 4 and 1/2 cups of water at this point you could add in any other seasonings that you’d like like bay leaf would be really

Good in this or really anything I just kept it simple today cook this on low for about 7 hours or until the lentils are to the tenderness that you like them to Be my house was smelling so good at this point Lent are super high in protein iron folate and B vitamins if you didn’t know that yet they’re just like really healthy for you and they’re super inexpensive so I really like cooking with lentils and lentils are actually

One of my husband’s favorite foods he’s been asking me to cook with them recently so this was really delicious now we’re making this classic easy goulash so over to my pow on the stove I’m adding in half of our sausage I’m going to be using the other half of

Sausage for another recipe next add in a/4 of our onion that you diced break the sausage up and cook it through once your sausage is cooked through just add in 8 oz of elbow pasta It’s just half of the 16 oz box now I’m going to add in

The remaining bag of frozen mixed vegetables along with two bolon cubes also add in 5 cups of water and then you’re going to add in the can of pasta sauce next add in half of the can of tomato paste and give this a good stir and once this starts to simmer you’re

Going to want to add in your seasoning so add in a half a tablespoon of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of salt a teaspoon of pepper 2 tpoon of dried oregano 1 teaspoon of onion powder and a teaspoon of Italian seasoning or you could use any type of seasonings that you like let

This simmer on your stove for about 12 minutes stir it often just so the pasta doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pot and if the liquid line gets too low just add in some water until your pasta is tender I had parmesan cheese in the

Fridge so we sprinkled the top of ours with Parmesan cheese but you certainly do not have to do that this is so rich and flavorful it does not taste like you’re trying to be on such a budget that’s what I really like about this goulash and it’s really simple to throw

Together I need to make breakfast for dinner more often it’s normally affordable and just really good so to the pan of my St stove I added in a tablespoon of olive oil now I’m adding in a/4 of our onion along with the diced bell pepper I’m going to cook these two

Peppers and onions together for a couple of minutes now I’m going to add in the other half a pound of the sausage just break the sausage up and cook it through while our sausage is cooking away I am going to get started on the eggs now so

Over to this large bowl I’m going to add 12 eggs right in there whisk the eggs up to break the yolks and then you’re going to want to add in either a half a cup of water or milk since I didn’t buy milk at the store I’m

Just adding in water if you didn’t know that you could do that with your eggs I’m also seasoning them with a dash of salt pepper and pepera but use any seasonings that you love give this a whisk and then pull out a 9×13 baking dish you’re going to want to spray that

Baking dish with non-stick spray just just for Easy Clean Up In the End pour the eggs right in there and then you’re going to sprinkle the sausage onion pepper mixture all over the top and then kind of spread it out bake this in a preheated oven to

350° for 30 minutes or until the egg has Set egg casseroles are great like this because you can make them your own so easily by adding ingredients that your family likes and just making them your own for example my husband poured some hot sauce over the top of his dinner but this is absolutely delicious and very high protein and

Nutritious now I’m going to show you this chili macaroni soup so to the pot on my stove I’m adding in a tablespoon of olive oil along with the remaining onion I diced cook this together for about 2 minutes to soften the onion now add in the remaining tomato paste and

This is a good little trick to get tomato paste out of a can just open both sides and push it through stir this around and let the tomato paste cook for a couple minutes this will bring out the flavor of the tomato paste then add in the diced tomatoes your two cans of

Chili beans make sure you don’t drain your chili beans now add in the remaining 8 oz of elbow pasta along with one bowon Cube now add in four cups of water and then for the seasonings this gives it a lot of flavor flavor a half a tablespoon of brown sugar 2 tpoon of

Chili powder 1 teaspoon of cumin a teaspoon of salt teaspoon of pepper and a teaspoon of dried oregano give this a stir and let this simmer for about 12 minutes stirring occasionally until the pasta is Tender once the pasta is tender you could serve this up here is my bowl of food we topped ours with a little bit of shredded cheese and sour cream kind of as you would for like chili but top yours with anything that you have on

Hand or enjoy this is full of so much immense flavor I really know you’re going to like this one I would love to have you over here so make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next one bye for now