20 Frugal Food Recipes for when money is tight!
Admit it. There was a time in your life when you overspent on food. And chances are, you still do.
The media constantly bombards us with many delectable options, distracting us from our goal which is to save money. What if we told you, you could eat the same tasty meals but at a cheaper price?
Here are 20 frugal recipes that will fit just right on your grocery shopping budget..and they don’t taste cheap, at all!
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1. Spicy Corn Fritters
Serve them with Sweet Chili sauce and sour cream – yum!
These Corn Fritters know exactly how to spice up your meal. Serve with cream cheese and smoked salmon on top. Makes me hungry just thinking about it! The best thing about this recipe is that it only takes about 15 minutes to put together – so perfect for the nights where you just don’t really feel like cooking. The kid’s can take the leftovers for school lunches the next day.
2. Leftover Pasta Bake
Leftover Pasta Bake is one of the best frugal recipes to make the night before a food shop. Get rid of all the leftovers and bits and pieces out of the fridge and throw them into a pasta bake! Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients it’s really up to what you have left!
This recipe is great to make the night before you go food shopping!
3. Cream of Pumpkin Soup
There’s nothing like a hearty Cream of Pumpkin Soup to warm you up on a cold night! I love it with crusty hot bread! It makes for a great meal in itself and it freezes really well! Make Cream of Pumpkin Soup when pumpkins are plentiful and make huge batches and freeze.
Serve with some garlic bread!
4. Mac n’ Cheese
Macaroni Cheese was my favourite food growing up, I had it every birthday. Not much has changed, except perhaps it is more of a side dish now than the main course! This is a good one for kids and it is nice and fast to make. The perfect Friday Night food (for the kids!)
5. Sand Cake
A Sand Cake is a very old fashioned cake — like a cross between a light sponge and a heavy butter cake. It makes for a wonderful birthday cake and can be made in large batches. It freezes really really well and is great iced, buttered or just plain on its own! Plus it has easy, basic ingredients that every kitchen will have, not to mention economical!
This is a fantastic cake to use as a base for a birthday cake!
6. Lemon Risotto
Lemon Risotto is a very fresh and filling meal that is frugal too. It will easily feed a family of four for under $10 with leftovers!
Get the recipe here! >
7. Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup
Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup is great for those cold winter nights “” warms our tummies well! This frugal recipe is easy to make and tastes a-maaa-zing. You can serve it with a side of bread and a dollop of sour cream. And best of all it freezes beautifully!
8. Slowcooker Sausages in Onion Gravy
Slow Cooker Sausages in Onion Gravy is perhaps one of the easiest frugal recipes on the entire website to make! You can use any type of sausages, I particularly like using Italian style as it gives it a bit of a kick, but if you are making it for kids, stick to the plainer varieties or honey flavoured (ohhhhh soooo goood!).
You really do need to add the garlic, it gives it a lovely flavour. This frugal recipe is suitable for freezing. Just allow the mixture to cool, place it into a ziplock bag and freeze for up to three months!
9. Frugal Sausage Casserole
Sausage Casserole is an easy “all in” recipe. A great complete dinner meal for the family! Use the honey flavoured sausages in cooking, they just give a wonderful almost caramelised flavour. Beef or Pork sausage is just fine.
10. Pea and Corn Fritters
As far as frugal recipes go, this one is as cheap as you can get and still satisfies the hunger pangs. These fritters are awesome for breakfast, lunch or dinner… or even a snack!
11. Budget Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine in a favourite pasta dish in my house – it’s so easy to make and is one of the most frugal recipes around. I love it in Winter – it’s comfort food to the max!
12. Family Size Chicken Caesar Salad
This Caesar salad is delicious and filling, you can opt-out the chicken for salmon if you prefer fish, both are equally as delicious. If there are leftovers, chuck it in the kids’ lunchboxes the next day!
13. Very Veggie Fried Rice
This Very Veggie Fried Rice recipe is chock full of vegetables. In fact, you can pretty much use any frozen or fresh vegetables you might have lurking in the back of the freezer or any veggies in the fridge that you can grate up and add to this delicious and filling meal.
14. Pinto Beans With Rice and Sausage
This is one of those frugal recipes that can be made in the slow cooker. Your house will smell amazing if you let this simmer all day!
15. Frugal Salmon Patties
My Mum used to make Salmon Patties for me weekly as a kid she served it with a nice light crunchy salad was a wonderful warm-weather food and nice and filling!
16. Golden Bake The One Dish Wonder
Golden Bake is very similar to a Shepherd’s Pie and it’s also one of our favourite frugal recipes here at Stay at Home Mum.
17. Cheesy Broccoli Pasta Bake
When money is tight we need to have a few key frugal recipes up our sleeves to stretch the grocery budget, and this Cheesy Broccoli Pasta Bake is one of them.
18. Savoury Mince Noodles
These savoury mince noodles are inexpensive. This is one of the best tasty and great all-round frugal recipes when the budget is tight. You can have this dish on the table for under $10.
19. Tuna Mornay
Tuna Mornay is a tremendously frugal dinner and tasty too! Best of all, you can feed a family of four for under $10! You can substitute the tuna for salmon if you aren’t a tuna fan.
20. Carrot and Sage Fritters
Super healthy and tasty you can get the kids into the kitchen to mix up the batch and peel the carrots. Such a great recipe for a quick lunch or to go with dinner and a salad!
Gahhhh this post is making me hungry!
