Simple recipes I use. [View all]

I thought I would start this thread and list some of the simple, from scratch (or mostly so) recipes I feed my family with. We are three grown men and me, and dinner is our big meal. We eat leftovers, Ramen noodles, or eggs as a second meal, at least for those of us not working. My oldest son will eat fast food for lunch.

We are not fancy eaters, just basic things that are pretty cheap, filling and as nutritious as I can make them on a limited budge. I scour the net, books and other sources (sometimes find things from watching TV) to find good, simple, easy things that don't take a lot of odd ingredients. I've made a menu chart, and have about 40 different recipes, so we can eat something different every night, though we have a few that we've come to want more often.

I have a good selection of spices, and will make up my own mixes (chili, Italian, poultry seasoning). I look for places to get good spices cheap. Some I get from Aldi, some from Wal Mart, every once in a while I'll get something from Big Lots or the dollar store.

Here's a list of the things we eat most often:

chili mac
cheesy mac
nachos
chili
beef stir fry
beef stew
chicken stir fry
roast chicken (whole, or breasts using the seasoning)
chicken pot pie
Mexican casserole
burritos
hamburger steak (sometimes do Faux Mignon)
sloppy Joes
hamburgers
spaghetti
shepherd's pie (which actually uses beef, rather than lamb)
soup
pintos and cornbread
squash casserole (I add ground beef for a complete dinner with some rice)
General Tso chicken
Frito pie
chicken lo mein
pizza
pizza casserole

Some of these I came up with on my own, some I adapted from other recipes. I try to keep our dinners around $5 for the four of us, though it's inching up to more like $7 for some things. A meat, veggies and a starch of some sort. I like things that are not too time-consuming to cook, or that doesn't have a ton of steps, or ingredients I might not use again for a long time (though I try to freeze/refrigerate things when possible).

Ask any questions, I'll do my best to answer.