FRUGAL RECIPES

COPYKAT recipes (create your favorite restaurant dishes for fraction of the price)

I can of cherry pie filling (you can also add more…try pineapple, blueberry, peach…mix them up!)

Pour the fruit pie filling(s) into a cake pan. Pour cake mix on top of fruit filling. Slice butter and place over cake. Bake at 350 for one hour.

12 oz. bag of Mozzarella Cheese          8 oz. bag of Four Cheese
2 (15 oz) cans Tomatoe Sauce             16 oz sour cream
5 green onions                                    8 oz cream cheese light or ffree 12 oz egg noodles
1 (lb) lean hamburger-crumbled, cooked, and drained
Add tomatoe sauce to hamburger
mix green onions, sour cream, and cream cheese seperate & stir
Spray glass pan with pam
take 1/2 of hamburger mix & spread on bottome of pan
then half of noodles on top of bottom layer
then 1/2 sour cream mix on top just dabbing & spreading
Repeat the last three items again
add all of mozzarella cheese and four cheeses evenly on the top
Bake 350 about 40 minutes

*this is a meal in itself but you can always add a salad if you like

BAKED MAC AND CHEESE (freelancer, Kim)
1 box elbow macaroni cooked
1 block or more of cracker barrel cheese cut is
squares
1 can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken which
ever you prefer most
1 cup of milk
bread crumbs or crushed crackers
pads of butter

heat oven to 350' degrees
mixed macaroni, cheese, milk and soup in a casserole
dish, sprinkle alot of breadcrumbs on top and lay pads
of butter on top of that, bake for 30 minutes or until
cheese is melted, It is my mother recipe for the whole
clan in Maine. Have fun trying.

I make a chicken or beef pot pie for next to nothing.
-Left over chicken or beef from previous meal
-combination of vegetables (When I fix vegetables for
dinner if there is not enough for another meal I put the
left overs in the freezer. Then when I have enough veggies
frozen I pull them out and put into potpie.)
-chicken or beef gravy equal to approximately 8 oz can. I
make the gravy from the drippings from the meat.
- 1 can of stewed tomatoes ($.89)
-2 package of two deep dish pie crusts ($3.00)
-Italian seasonings that I have one hand
-Sautee the chicken, veggies, stewed tomatoes, and gravy in
a frying pan.
-put those ingredients into one of the deep dish pie crusts
-use the other pie crust as the top of the pot pie
-put pie on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for
approximately 30-35 minutes.

This will feed four people very easily. It is a filling
dish. The mixture will make enough for 2 pot pies so I freeze 1/2
of the sauted mixture and the second set of pie crusts for
another dinner.

TOTAL COST FOR 2 MEALS - $3.89

This makes a delicious ham salad that makes many sandwiches for under $3.

Yum Yum freelancer, Suzanne H.

You will need:

bananas

"cooked" chocolate pudding (or your choice) I use 2 lg boxes

graham crackers

Layer grahm crackers in a single layer in an 8 X 13 cake baking dish

next layer on top of crakers sliced bananas.

Keep repeating until almost at the top ending with graham crackers.

Poor your cooked pudding on top and let it soak into

te mixture.......refridgerate This is sooooooooooooo yummy, I haven't found

anyone that doesn't like it yet and it is really cheap to make.

Of course you can experiment with the fruit and the type of pudding.

SALAD SANDWICHES freelancer, PAM the hillbilly

slices of bread ( 2 or so per person )

chopped tomato, pepper, onion ( hopefully homegrown )

garlic clove

cheese slice for each one

optional: meat bits and fresh herbs

Toast bread and rub with cut garlic while hot. At this point you may butter or drizzle olive oil each slice. If you don't it's still delicious! Add veggies and herb bits and meat( if you're my husband ) in single layer on each. You can mix them together or keep seperate in order to custumize them. Do this on a broiler pan as we are just topping each with a piece of your favorite cheese ( American's good ) slice and broiling for 1 or 2 minutes until cheese is melted.

I have done these for snacks at home parties and cut them into 4ths. I can never seem to make enough and if you grow the veggies and herbs it is cheap too! There are tons of variations you could try of these. Enjoy!

Mexican Dish, freelancer AMY

If you like mexican food, here is something quick and easy to make. You will need 2 cans of Van Camp's Spanish rice and 1 lb. hamburger meat.
All you do is brown the meat really well, and then mix it with the spanish rice and make a batch of cornbread and you have a simple delicious meal. My dad and I like to complement this meal with ranch style beans. What a meal!

BBQ feast freelancer Anna

Here is a great SIMPLE recipe for a family.

Chop an onion, some garlic, and any other thing you like, such as bell peppers, hot peppers, etc, even mushrooms, etc. Throw in whatever is in your fridge. Throw it all in the crockpot. Add either a cheap cut of meat or some chicken. Throw in some bbq sauce and/or some condiments: worschtershire (sp), brown sugar, tabasco, teriyake, any kind of sauce in your cupboard (good way to use up what is left in the bottom of the jar, bottle, etc). Grab some buns (Safeway has buns for 19 cents all summer) and you have a great bbq dinner. Make up some potato salad or mashed potatoes and corn on the cob (20 for $2 at Safeway this week).

Weight Watchers Mix! freelancer, Daisy

my son joined weight watchers and this recipe was given to me it makes a lot and is fantastic.

use one pound ground burger or turkey meat

one large can tomatoes or fresh if you have them

one onion chopped

one can whole kernel corn

2 cans chili beans

1 pkg taco powder and 1 pkg hidden valley rach dressing mix

brown meat and onions add in rest and let simmer add water to desired consisity it is so yummy with tortilla chips or dh likes it with cornbread

RANCH SALAD DRESSING MIX freelancer, Anjie

2 Teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons dried minced or powdered garlic

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

8 teaspoons dried minced powder onion

2 teaspoons sugar

2 ½ teaspoons paprika 2 ½ teaspoons parsley flakes

Combine all ingredients stir to evenly distribute. Place mixture in dry container with tight fitting lid. Shake dry mix before measuring for prepared dressing. To make Ranch Dressing from dry mix. Combine 1 Tablespoon mix with 1 cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing) and 1 cup buttermilk. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Stir until well blended. Chill before serving. Makes about 2 cups of prepared dressing.