Since my last post I have been asked a few questions multiple times. I want to address these. So in today’s post I will be talking about quick easy inexpensive dinner ideas. My family is pretty adventurous when we eat. But we still eat a lot of yummy meals that can appeal to anyone. Both Mike and I also love to cook and consider ourselves foodies. So it is not weird for us to constantly be testing out new recipes in the kitchen. Because of this we have found lots of delicious meals that cost us next to nothing.
I will say that there are a few basics we always have around that make cooking simpler. These items are not purchased regularly and we consider them in our “stockpile” prices when we are restocking our pantry or freezer. These items include but are not limited to: Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, Sesame Oil, Olive Oil, Vinegars (Red wine, rice, balsamic, apple cider, and white), and basic seasonings. We also always have some produce around. These will either be fresh or chopped and frozen. These items include: onions, green onions, garlic, celery, and bell peppers. I also make our own broth. I make this by saving and freezing the veggie scraps and chicken bones when we have them, and when I have enough I use my pressure cooker to make broth. I then portion it out and freeze it for later use. Our pantry also almost always has dried pastas(both regular and gluten free), rice(white and brown) some flour and sugar(white and brown). Having these basic items on hand helps make preparing meals quick and keeps your weekly costs down because they are already in your pantry. Having a good pantry is key to being able to prepare different meals. But you do not need to build it all at once. Take your time and purchase when the prices are right.
Now onto the recipes my family enjoys!
The number one requested recipe in our home has to be the Korean Beef Bowls. I almost always have everything on hand and it only takes the amount of time to cook the rice. Sometimes I make it with cauliflower rice for the adults and brown rice for the kids. Others its over jasmine rice. Also you can make it spicy or not. We like it spicy so I add a squirt of Siracha to the mix. We follow this recipe.
We also do a lot of tacos in our house. The kids request tacos for “Taco Tuesday” almost every week. I mix it up by doing things like crockpot chicken tacos or crock pot fajitas. Also when we get carne asada on sale we make that. This also makes great leftovers and I usually make a bake out of them later in the week for quick grab and go lunches!
I make all kinds of meatballs. I do this when I get cheap ground meat. I pre-make them and freeze them for later cooking. These are simple and quick and so easy to change up! You can eat them by themselves or on sandwiches or on pasta. Typically I will sear them on the stove and then throw them in the slow cooker with our sauce of choice. Some non marinara sauce ideas are: Sweet and Sour, BBQ sauce, Honey Mustard, Blue Cheese dip and Buffalo Sauce.
Buffalo Chicken Sliders is one of my favorite. I eat it on a salad or GF wrap since I am Gluten Free. But the rest of the family loves the hawaiian rolls, or even a wrap! This is simply some chicken in the crockpot with some onion and Franks Buffalo Sauce. And some Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing to serve it with! Here is the recipe!
Slow cooker Beef and Potato Au Gratin is another family favorite. It makes a lot and also is good leftover. We make breakfast burritos with it by adding in some scrambled eggs the next morning! Get it here.
I use my pressure cooker all the time. And one of our favorite ways is to cook a whole chicken. This cuts down the cooking time to about 30 minutes and can serve your whole family. We usually serve this with carrots, rice, and a salad. I loosely follow this recipe.
We eat sausage and peppers often also. Sometimes I will chop the sausages up into bite size pieces and we eat it over pasta with a side salad. While others we grill the sausages and eat them on buns with the peppers and onions grilled on top. We stock up and freeze them when they go on sale at the market. They cook quickly and if you do your chopping of the peppers and onions ahead of time it's a relatively quick and simple dinner.
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