Really cheap, really nice recipes

Brijewina

Hi,
I can relate very much to being on a tight budget, unfortunately you can't make your bills cheaper once they arrive but you can reduce what you spend on food shopping, at least that gives you a sense of gaining some control back!
Rather than typing out a whole lot of recipes, which was very nice of other members to do for you, I know two main sources to access which may also benefit other members too, and knowing them and not passing the information on would be a crime, if I know something great I feel so much better if I can pass it on and let someone else gain knowledge from it too!
So I came across a little gem a few years back which is a book called the $21 Challenge. The concept is designed around having a thorough look at what you have in your cupboards and fridge/freezer, working out some meals you can make for the week based on what you have, and then shopping for whatever else you need, but only spending $21 or less for the week! I spent $10 two weeks ago and then had $14 to spend this last week but with my daughter being gone a lot I only ended up spending $2 on milk and still have the other $12 for next week!! I had $22 to spend for next weeks shopping so can now put that spare $12 with that and stock up a little bit which is great.
This book is derived from a website that the girls started up called Simple Savings, google it and you'll find it easily. All the information is there to help you with everything I've explained and more but the book itself you may be able to get from your local library and it has so many good cheap recipes in it, I mean lots, from snacks to meals to sweet things.
The other tip I have is a website/blog called Stonesoup, the girl Jules Clancy who runs it and I'm sure won't mind me telling you about it, is a wonder to behold! I first found her because I was googling how to spend $2 or less a day on your meals and she had this great format with a weeks worth of meals that ended up being $2 for the whole day, and really tasty yummy meals too! My favourite from that week was a hearty lentil stew, so yum and healthy and can be served on rice to fill you up more.
She has a free newsletter you can sign up to which contains great info for ongoing cheap and tasty meal ideas, and the best thing about this site is that all meals are five ingredients or less and can usually be cooked in 15 mins also!! She is all about having a minimalistic approach to cooking but producing really yummy things. At the moment she just had a weekly email containing this 10 ingredient list which provides you with 5 meals from the 10 ingredients, genius! If you become a member you will never look back, I love her concept and approach to cooking, it's always easy and inexpensie and so tasty! The newsletter is free to sign up to as I said, and once you're a member you get sent links to some free eCookbooks as well, a baking one and a dinner/meal one, both really good. If the links don't work send her an email and let her know as I had a bit of trouble getting them to work, but then she'll get back to you and send you them in an attachment so they will work then.
As you can see I can't say enough good things about these two little fnds and love to tell others about them as I want other people to benefit also. Stonesoup has an archive which I only found out about recently, but you can access that and find hundreds of great recipes that go back to years ago when she first started that will keep you going for a lifetime! There is also a drop down section on the main page from the 'recipe' heading which you can look up a big list of recipes for whatever category you're looking for and there you'll find heaps of good inexpenive recipes. Hope this information will be helpful to you, both people have changed my life as far as cooking goes, knowing I've always got a good quick recipe at arms length and never have to think about getting takeaway which I can't afford, as these meals are so quick and easy to do, perfect for when you're exhausted at the end of the day and only have minimal energy. I think if you know you can cook something in 10-15 mins you can get yourself through that, and then can sit down and have something really wholesome and yummy too, with the satisfaction of knowing you hardly spent anything to make it, perfect!!
Enjoy and good luck!