Frugal Moms

Tried tested and true cheap eats.  May take some “getting used to” for proper dining pleasure.  These are for when you really need to stretch your cents like they are dollars.

Cabbage soup.

1 head of cabbage cut into 1 inch chunks (3lbs)

3 c. min of homemade chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

Place all in the crock over night and have for a nice light lunch or light dinner. Cabbage will be see through “ish”.   Nice additions include cubed potatoes, pieces of chicken meat (tiny), carrots, and rice.  Works well and costs about 16 cents a serving.

Lentil Soup

2 1/2 lb dried lentils

3 cups of chicken stock

water to the rim of the crock

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp olive oil

Place all of the above in the crock over night being sure to check and add water as needed.  Serve as a hearty lunch with crusty bread or rolls.  Cost is about 32 cents a serving.  By the way all of these serve a family of 8.  So for a family of four you can cut the amounts in half or freeze half for use at a later date.

Split Peas and Ham Soup

2 1/2 lb split yellow or green peas (cheapest)

2 to 4 ounces of ham diced into tiny pieces.

water

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp olive oil

Fry diced ham in a aluminum frying pan with out aTeflon coating on it.  Fry it until it caramelized and leaves a  nice brown residue behind.  Dump the fried ham into the crock.  Dump the dried peas as well at this point and the tsp of olive oil.  Take the frying pan and fill it with water.  You will notice this nice brown color going into the water.  Continue until frying pan is clean and water is saturated with ham frying juices.  Dump this into the crock.  If there is still some nice brown ham juices left refill frying pan halfway and try to dissolve them into the water.  Dump this second pan into the crock as well.  Fill the crock the rest of the way with water and let it cook over night, refilling it with water as needed.  Serving cost is about 20 cents per serving.

If you rotate one or two of these recipes in a week, you will save tons.  Don’t do it more often than that though, as you may end up with a mutiny.  My kids like all of these foods in small doses.  One week we had all three in a row.  The eldest daughter came up to me and said, “Mom, I love you, but can we have food we need to chew tonight.”  I guess I over did it.  Yes, she had drumsticks that night.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS