Needing quick, cheap, easy dinner ideas

[escape_thereal_world]

Title says it all.

We are fairly open people looking to find some very easy, cheap, and quick ideas for dinner. Also, preferably not too unhealthy, thought we won't rule anything out.

Our norm is hamburger helper, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, bacon/eggs/bagels, and some frozen chicken stuff.

I'm wanting to make meals more and cheaper, so I need ideas for chicken dinners, pasta dinners, etc. ANYTHING

[Le bonheur*]

Baked ziti - just boil some pasta, drain pasta, add tomato sauce of your choice to the pasta. Mix. Put it in a baking dish add cheese and italian bread crumbs to the top and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes or so on 450 degrees just to give it a little crunch at the top and to melt the cheese.

There are a lot of chicken recipes I know but I'll give you one that's fairly simple.
Thaw chicken and cut it into small pieces if you don't want gigantic pieces. Then put it in a baking dish ( such as the one you used for the baked ziti ) and spread italian dressing over the chicken pieces and put some at the bottom of the pan so the chicken kinda soaks it up and you get the whole italian flavor. Bake at 450 degrees for about 30-45 minutes ( depending on your oven, and I just realized that's not too quick - but I'm not going to erase all that I typed ) and make sure it's cooked and wah-lah, italian marinated chicken. You can serve it with a vegetable and it's a yummy meal.

Hope I helped a little.

[escape_thereal_world]

Thanks, Britt!
By quick I mean under an hour, so that's fine
And I forgot one important thing - It cannot be spicey hot. Spice is okay as long as it's not hot. Boyfriend hates that

Britt, I love both your ideas! Thank you

[Le bonheur*]

Anytime! I have many more I just have to think of them.

[Reverie.]

I'm not good with recopies as i don't really cook and my parents do so I'm only learning slowly, but the kind of things my mum and dad cook aren't too long. They make chilli a lot which I imagine it simple, and that doesn't have to be too spicy either. Spag bol is nice. Maybe a pasta salad? Jacket potato with beans, or tuna with salad.

There are quite a few

[Boobies]

You can make meals in mass and freeze them (in individual portions for ease) to save money as well, mass chilli works well, it works well enough by itself as well and it doesn't particularly have to be spicy.
You can also bulk normal meals out with lentils, oats and baked beans depending what it is, I hear you can bulk mince out with oats and it doesn't taste too bad.
Spaghetti bolognese is also cheap and can be cooked en mass. Cooking en mass can take a bit longer, it in the long run it's much quicker, just cook it when you have a spare couple of hours, freeze then reheat when needed.
Another tip for lowering costs would be skimping out on meat as much as possible (though I hate it when my girlfriend does this, but I understand why -_-) and use more rice/pasta/other accompaniment.
Vegetables soups are also cheap to make just make it with lots of potatoes, this should really take much longer than it take to boil the vegetables + blitzing (if you want it smooth)
Most potato based meals are cheap to make, and mince is generally cheap meat so cottage pie may be another good thing to cook as well.

[volleyballchick751]

I really love this recipe,I make it alot.

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
9x13 oven safe dish

mix the water, soup and rice in the bottom of the dish them add the chicken on top. Sprinkle the paprika (I have also used chile powder works just as good) and pepper over the top cover with foil and bake at 375 for around 40-45 mins.

[Ella.x]

I quite often eat variations of rice with vegetables. Here's one:

Indian style:
1 cup of rice
2 1/2 cups of water
1 onion
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 cardamom pod
1 chicken stock cube
handful frozen peas
chicken cubes

cook the onions in some oil until soft, add the chicken and let it cook until the outside is browned. Add the spices, rice, water and chicken stock cube and simmer until almost cooked. Add the peas, cook for another couple of minutes. Season to taste - done!

Also stuffed peppers are great because you can use whatever you have in the fridge. Just mix some cooked rice or cous cous with fried onion, mushrooms etc and put into pepper halves. Cover with grated cheese and put in the oven until hot throughout and golden on top. Serve with tomato pasta sauce.

[escape_thereal_world]

Thank you. Those all seem like great ideas and recipes

I really like the idea of making mass quantities for later. Definitely will run that by my boyfriend. As for cutting back on meat products --- can't happen. We love pork too much Poultry too.

The vegetable ideas are great, as we need to eat healthier.

[Unicorn ♥✿]

Chicken and rice That uncle bens rice stuff you just microwave And cook the chicken however you like

[Nomatophobia]

Originally Posted by Glen Coco

Chicken and rice That uncle bens rice stuff you just microwave And cook the chicken however you like

I would add light mayo and milk to it to make it creamy and add chopped celery.