Soups.

Soups are the ideal meal for someone looking for a low cost dinner idea. Soups can be customized to your tastes, and are great no matter what the weather. They are perfect for cold snowy, or rainy days, but they also make a nice light meal on a hot summer night as well. Or, you can serve cold soups during hot months.

Soups are inexpensive and feed several people. A soup allows you to clean out the odds and ends from your fridge, and not have them go to waste. If your produce drawer has a little of this and a little of that left, you can chop it all up, add some onion, and chicken stock, and you have a great soup.

Soup allows you to use vegetables that may be too soft to serve fresh. In many instances you can use vegetables that would otherwise need to be thrown out in a soup. Soups are more forgiving of overripe foods.

A soup only requires a little bit of meat, and it goes a long way. One chicken breast can be enough for a whole pot of chicken noodle soup that feeds four, but served on its own as a main dish it would seem paltry. The beauty of serving a soup for dinner is you can take that last chicken breast, or that bit of left over pot roast, etc. and make a delicious soup or stew using it.

There are all kinds of soups out there that are great meals, feed several, and are inexpensive. You can combine them with breads, crackers, chips, etc. to add something a little more filling to the meal, and still end up with a very inexpensive meal. In addition, soups can be flavored to taste, so if you like it salty, and someone else prefers it bland, you can season it in your own bowl.

There are soups for every person, soups with pasta, soups with rice, soups with potatoes. Soups with an Italian or Spanish flare, etc. The fact is, soup is a meal that can satisfy everyone, is fast and easy to make, and has a relatively low cost per serving.

Recipe for a low cost soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 can chicken stock.
• 4 cups water
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 large carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 lb of noodles (uncooked) or 1 lb potatoes diced
• 1 large chicken breast, precooked and chunked.
• Seasonings

Directions:
Chop up the vegetables and put them in your soup pot with a few tablespoons of water. Sauté for a few minutes to soften the veggies up and draw out some flavor. Add some salt to season. Add liquid, and allow ingredients to come to a boil. Taste, season, add chicken, let simmer for a few minutes, and serve. If you are using noodles instead of potatoes, then add at end, and serve when soft. Serves 4.

Crock pot meals.

Making a meal in a crock pot is not only easy and convenient, but in most cases it is also really inexpensive. Usually you are doing much the same as what you are doing with a soup--combining odds and ends, and leftovers to make a meal that is tasty and filling. With a crock pot dinner you can again clean out your produce drawer, and use less meat to make a filling, and tasty dish.

In addition, because of how these meals cook, you can add items in frozen, thus using up the stuff that has been sitting in your freezer for too long. There are going to be some expensive crock pot dishes, but for the most part, you can create your own crock pot meal using what you have on hand. For example, using the last piece of chicken in the family package you bought, a cup of rice, the end of a gallon of milk, the last of a carton of sour cream, a little cheese, and some veggies, you can create a scrumptious and delicious meal that feeds several, and leaves everyone feeling satisfied.

Once again, the idea is to reduce cost by using what you have on hand, and using up food items so things do not go to waste. You can make a great stew, roast, or dish in a crock pot that requires a handful of this and little of that.

Low cost crock pot dinner recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of meat of choice
• 2 large potatoes
• 1/2 pound baby carrots, or cut peeled carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp garlic or garlic seasoning
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• a splash of milk
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook for 6 hours. Stir occasionally to ensure everything is coated and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Breakfast for dinner.

A great idea for a low cost dinner is to have breakfast for dinner. Breakfast foods like eggs, pancakes, and even cereal (hot or cold) are often far less expensive than a typical dinner entree. You can have a fun meal that fills you up, and that is very cost effective. Making a whole steaming plate of pancakes and a pan of eggs to feed 10 costs less than chicken breasts and rice for 4. Even with butter, syrup, etc. a breakfast is usually cheaper than a dinner, so on occasion, have breakfast for dinner and reduce your dinner bill.

Low cost breakfast for dinner idea:

• Hashbrowns
• Eggs
• Pancakes
• Bacon

Potatoes.

Potatoes are one of the least expensive, and most filling foods that is also healthy, and low calorie. You can make a great dinner with a potato at the center of it, and make it really inexpensive. How? Try making a potato bar, or having twice baked or stuffed potatoes. These are great tasting options that combine a really cheap ingredient (potatoes) with small amounts of more expensive ingredients (meats, cheese, etc.) to make a very tasty, and very filling meal.

Potatoes are very filling and come in different sizes which make them ideal for families with different ages. You can bake up a large potato for Dad, and a small potato for your toddler, and let everyone have their own. Then set out a variety of potato toppers, and you have a fun, healthy, dinner that is low mess and low cost.

In addition to being the main event, adding potatoes to meals can be a great way to reduce the overall price, and still have a filling, healthy meal. For example, a big bowl of mashed potatoes can help fill tummies, and allow you to have smaller portions of the more expensive items on the menu.

In addition to the items mentioned above, potatoes can be served in a variety of ways making them an ideal food because you can have them with every dinner and not feel like you are eating the same thing over and over. You can mash them, fry them, bake them, dice them, etc. Eat them as wedges, fries, cubes, in a dish, on their own etc. You can eat them plain, topped with gravy, mixed with other foods, etc.

Pasta

Pasta is a cheap way to feed a lot of people a good tasting dinner. Pasta comes in many shapes and sizes and it can be topped with cheese, oil, red sauce, white sauce, pesto. It can have meat mixed in, or not. It can have vegetables or not. It has a lot of options making it an easy meal any day of the week, and one that will not break the bank either. Like many of the meals mentioned above, you can toss your odds and ends into a pot and make a pasta dish. You can have a chicken alfredo pasta with vegetables like peas, broccoli, carrots, etc. Or you can have a red sauce with meat, mushrooms, carrots, etc. There are a lot of ways to make pasta, and feed your family for less.

A low cost pasta recipe:

Ingredients:

•         8 ounces spaghetti
•         2 (8 ounce) cans mushrooms, drained
•         1/2 cup butter
•         4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked
•         2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
•         1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
•         2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Break spaghettini into 1 inch pieces. Cook according to package directions. Drain. Saute mushrooms in butter or margarine. Cut chicken into large pieces, and mix with mushrooms. Stir in sour cream and condensed soup. Fold in noodles. Turn into a buttered casserole dish, and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 40 minutes. Serves 6
   
Really any meal can be a low cost dinner as long as you plan ahead. For example, you could buy shrimp for less than you buy chicken or beef if it is on sale, and you can make a great dinner out of it.

Here is how to turn any meal into a low cost dinner.

1. Plan ahead. Plan menus that overlap ingredients. For example, you might make egg rolls one night, and stir fry the next, and a soup the next. You can use the same zucchini for all three meals as none of them require a lot of any one ingredient.
2. Watch for sales. When there is a sale on an ingredient you use often when cooking, buy plenty of it and stock up. Your freezer is a great tool for lowering the cost of your dinners.
3. Don't waste. Spending money on food that you do not eat makes costs higher. So, do not cook more than you will consume, or it is wasted money, and do not buy more than you need or it is wasted money.