Soups, stews and casseroles, especially those using leftovers, are often very budget conscious and you can be as creative as you like.

My family - oddly enough - is highly fond of tuna casserole. In fact, it is the request my grown daughter makes most often when she comes for a meal :-)) And leftover chicken gets used in my household a zillion ways - chcken ala king, chicken curry, chicken cream enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken noodle soup, chicken chili, chicken salads (both hot and cold), etc.

Also other very inexpensive cuts of meat can be used for these sorts of dishes as they tend to cook long and low and with a lot of liquid.

Ham and bean soup and corn bread, grilled or oven roasted chicken hind quarters...I paid $.60 a pound last week...baked potatoes and a vegetable of your choice.
The best way to save money on food is to make your own....never buy a sloppy Joe mix....browned meat, a can of Rotel some chopped onion browned with the meat and some grated cheese is delicious.
never buy salad dressings....there are many very good ones you can make your self.
Never buy "pan ready" stuff, like marinated chicken breasts or prepared twice baked potatoes....do it yourself!

Check out:

https://www.budgetbytes.com

Unfortunately, it's morphed into something quite different now, but if you look back at the early entries in her blog, it started out as all about how to cook on a slim budget, with lots of advice about shopping, menus, and meal plans, in addition to recipes.

We love mujadara- it's lentils and rice with onion and cumin. I don't think you could make a more inexpensive meal and it is very good. Topped with a bit of yoghurt and cucumbers it is lovely. It's a winter time standby at my house as we try to reduce the amount of meat we eat.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/lebanese-lentils-rice-and-caramelized-onions-mujadara-recipe-1925439

One easy meal is Annie's or Kraft boxed Mac N Cheese. Make as usual and then add a drained can of solid pack tuna. Serve with fresh veggies: carrot sticks, red, yellow or green bell pepper strips, celery sticks, etc.

I love leftover meat loaf sandwiches., but I usually make extra and freeze so I'm not eating meatloaf for days in a row.

Chili also provides plenty of protein and is quick and easy. Serve with relish veggies, crackers and fresh, frozen or canned fruit.

Pulled pork. Pork seems to be less expensive right now. Get a pork butt roast or pork arm roast. Put in crockpot with a can of gingerale and cook on low for about 8 hours. Then pull/shred and add BBQ sauce as desired. Serve on buns or not.

I make a 5-hour oven stew and serve with a salad and a crusty bread.

Vegetable soups and ham n beans with corn bread are budget friendly.

Another easy and inexpensive meal is baked chicken legs or thighs. I just cut off any excess fat and dry with a paper towel. Then rub sparingly with Olive Oil. Put on foil covered baking sheet or jelly roll pan. Bake at 450 about 45-50 minutes. My grandkids love these. For some reason, we don't like these leftover, so I just make what I think we will eat at one meal.

Roast chicken.

Pizza. You can make your own crust or buy a ready made crust. What you put on will determine the healthiness and cost.

Spaghetti with meat sauce is also budget friendly. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Chuck roast in crock pot for 8 hours on low. Can add potatoes and carrots later, if desired.

When my kids were young and household was busy, I made a file of easy, "go-to" recipes for when I was in a hurry and couldn't think of what to cook. It made life much easier.

i'm with lizbeth on roasted chicken. how many people? an oven-stuffer roaster could be 2-3 meals for say 2 adults and a child. first, as roast chicken... toss a LOT carrots,celery and potatoes in bottom of pan while cooking. second could be chicken pot pie... dark meat chunked up, left-over veggies, gravy from the drippings and a tube of those biscuits as a crust. third could be chicken rice/noodle soup. pick meat from carcass, simmer bones for an hour or so, strain, toss chicken back in along with rice or noodles.

Great list above.

How many in your family? 2? 4?

Any specific likes, dis-likes, loves? Dietary restrictions?

Always a budget meal for any category except caviar and truffles. Lobster.

So many things I like much more than any expensive ingredients.

The most expensive food is the stuff that you throw out. Don't buy too much, that you'd have things go bad before you can eat it. Cook for leftovers, and then be sure to eat the leftovers. Learn proper food storage techniques. Understand what "sell by" dates are "best by" dates are... they do NOT mean that the food is inedible!

Thanks! I am gluten free, but I can make most meals GF by swapping ingredients. I am feeding 4 people. We hate fish except tuna and tilapia (tilapia is expensive though) and we don't like eggplant or zucchini.

Pulled pork sounds really good, I will definitely make that soon! Roasted chicken also seems delicious!

Lobsters! dungeness crabs! Salmon!

Here in NYC, there are a few big Asian stores, where you can find expensive food at a great discount.

Lobsters about to die or just died at $2.00 a lb.

Dungeness crabs, live, with a leg or a claw missing at 1/2 price.

Salmon bones with lots of meat on the bones for $1.00 a lb. Quality salmon after filleted for sushi making.

Vegetables and fruits are cheaper than regular supermarkets. Not so fresh vegetables at $0.10 a lb.

dcarch

Bean dishes are great way to stretch or maximize expensive proteins -- just about every country has some sort of bean dish. Meats can be used primarily for flavor. Going beyond chili to other thick soups and stews: Tuscan bean soups, Portuguese bean and kale soup, cassoulet (swap the expensive confit for chicken thighs -- see the SeriousEats version), black bean soups.

Rice noodles are a wonderful base for many things -- the high flavored Asia bent will really open things up, and Asian markets can be a great source for bargains: Think pad thai, pho, or simple Vietnamese noodle bowls.

Take advantage of Turkey season and stockpile some birds to use over the next several months. Many markets run the turkey as a loss leader. So many things you can do with the meat.

Beans of various kinds, soups, omelets, roast chicken. Tonight, I'm having a can of Lucky's black eyed peas over a big piece of cornbread, drenched in butter and honey. Delicious!

You can find an app that will help you easily track the prices of your basics, whether it's lentils or apples. That makes it easier to know if a sale is worth it. Look at the ingredients you have this week, either from your standard list or sales, and make a plan of what they can be made into ahead of time. Stay away from most packaged and preprepped products. They can be great time savers, but when you have a limited budget, it's better to put it to higher quality fresh foods than to paying someone to do the work.

When I was on a really tiny budget for three people, I stuck mostly to vegetables and fruit (there were always carrots, onions, squash, eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, garlic), fresh dairy and eggs. I was able to turn them into just about any cuisine with the right spices.

Breakfast for dinner is a great value. Also, hams are going on sale right now, so grab a shank ham, remove the meat and freeze some slices and some diced for casseroles like cheesy potato and ham, pasta with ham and some veggies, topped with cheese and baked until golden brown top. Use the shank bone to make bean, pea or lentil soup. If potatoes are on sale, make potato soup, very filling.

Check store sales right now for a freezer if you don't have one. Well worth the investment for stocking up on sale items. If canned vegetables/fruits go on sale, grab extra. one of our local stores just offered 2 cans for $1,

Pork roasts, boneless, can be cut into chops. Cabbage is a bargain right now, and fantastic when sautéed in leftover bacon drippings.

Go through any cookbooks you have and you will get some great ideas.

Shopping savvy can save you a lot of money. Buying need to eat now food is usually a bargain. If you have some spare cash to invest, then i would suggest a FoodSaver. I buy meat that's in offer and freeze. I never pay top money for meat.

Pasta is cheap. Check out Italian recipes.

Vegetarian food is often cheaper too.

Ditto homemade pizza. So cheap to make yourself.

Pinterest has TONS of slow cooker meal recipes, as well as fast cheap and easy recipes.

Right now the price of turkey is very good. Buy up some and freeze for future use. I have 3 in the freezer and one thawing for our Thanksgiving meal. Eggs fixed with different foods are good also and in this area are less than a dollar a dozen. I do shop a lot at Aldi and Meijer. Find the foods that you like that are inexpensive and then look for recipes if you do not have any. Good luck with your meals. I used to make menus all the time when my children were home. It helps with when you go shopping.

Sue

Lots of great ideas on shopping sales and stocking the freezer. I also think making good use of leftovers is an important budget saver. Growing up we always had a roast for dinner on Monday nights. The funny thing was that my brothers and I always looked forward to the leftovers more than the original meal.

Mom would shred the leftover roast beef and use the Bisquik recipe for drop biscuits. She would stir shredded beef into the dough and make biscuits with them. Add brown gravy and a vegetable and you had a quick dinner that we loved.

Even now 40 years later, I will put an extra roast on to cook just to be able to freeze shredded beef to use in these for a quick meal.

Thanks everyone! These all sound delicious. Will have to try these ideas!

My favorite meal is using the very last bits and pieces of a turkey - usually all dark meat - and sautéing it with some white wine and mushrooms and adding this to cooked wild rice with a bit of cream to hold it all together. SO good!!! I call it "turkey hash". Since I don't cook the turkey, I don't have these bits and pieces, but I do the same with a rotisserie chicken I buy at the grocery store.

We dice up the last (again, usually dark) bits of turkey to make turkey burritos, our family’s Christmas tradition :-)

Do you like chicken livers? Our cheapest meal when we were first married was fried chicken livers, a baked butternut squash and Ocean Spray cranberry sauce.

Sweet potato and back bean burritos are really good.

Kielbasa or other sausage with cabbage, apples and potatoes.

Soup, soup, soup...