[USER]

I really can’t cook. Sandwiches, tuna on rice, spaghetti, frozen fake meat patties, blueberry shakes, salmon, grilled cheese and tomato soup. This is my repertoire.

Is six or seven dollars frugal enough for one meal? Or indulgent?

If I buy something I like at a restaurant and take half of it home, I can get two meals out of it.

I usually costs about fourteen or fifteen dollars.

[Stephanie]

Why not just watch a lot of cooking videos and learn to cook? All you need to learn to cook is a good piece of meat and then you can buy canned vegetables or frozen and microwave them and get a rice cooker for rice.

[Sandy]

If you need to learn to cook, browse some cookbooks pick out some that sound good to you.. libraries always have large selections of cookbooks.

I usually spend around $3 a meal. And I eat organic 80 -90% of the time

[Sarita]

If you WANT to learn to cook, start slowly. Cook a vegetable from raw. Slowly you’ll learn. One REALLY does NOT need complicated recipes to eat well.

I’ve learned a LOT by watching cooking shows and then trying. It does not take a lot of skill to put a meat roast or chicken in the oven and cook it.

Then you may have enough for several meals. I have faith that you can do this.

[Anna]

On average my dinners run between $1.25 and $2 per person
Maybe look at precooked meals at the grocery store and divide those?

If you have an instant pot, I can teach you how to make spaghetti or lasagna in it in a few steps

The same goes for bean or bean /beef burritos

[Molly]

Vegetarian, lots of recipes, use frozen instead of fresh and just add whatever spices are your favorite.

My go to for winter is acorn or delicata squash with olive oil, cheese and cranberries

[Kathy]

Frozen-cheese stuffed raviolis bake with Alfredo sauce
Spaghetti with veggie sauce
Fresh asparagus

Rice stir fry
Green salads
Black bean soup

Cream of mushroom soup
Cream of potato soup
Roasted vegetables

[Melissa]

Save that splurge for once a week.
Buy ingredients you can use for multiple meals.

Potatoes- baked with leftovers or butter and cheese
1# taco meat= top another baked potato, rollup in a tortilla, nachos, taco salad, quesadilla

Rotissorie chicken piece with mashed potatoes, chicken fried rice,
roll up in a tortilla with rice and cheese

shredded chicken on a bun with potato wedges air fried. Ect

[Darla]

It all depends on your monthly budget. Rhetorically speaking, you need to ask yourself how much can you afford.

If you are trying to cut costs, then reducing groceries/meal cost is a way to do it as both are controllable.

As a vegetarian, lentils are an incredible source of protein, are inexpensive, and are shelf stable.

This is the one area that I would encourage you to focus on as you add 1 or 2 new simple recipes to your menu.

If you eat eggs, they are still one of the cheapest meals around. Make an omelette with veggies, and it’s relatively inexpensive but packed with nutrients.

[Barb]

The good thing about being frugal is you can do it at whatever level you want or need. Cooking at home will generally be less than eating out.

There are many good ideas here, some are too extreme for me.

It’s all good.

[Pauline]

In my opinion, you can be more frugal. Why do you think you can’t expand your repertoire?

If you can make grilled cheese, you can make a quesadilla; if you can make salmon, you can make chicken, etc.

please ask for help! I just read that you are a vegetarian- so salmon is in your repertoire, add sautéed shrimp with rice.

[Josette]

Get yourself a small crockpot and a recipe book for crockpot meals. Very easy to do. Many are add ingredients, cover and cook online all day!

[Tricia]

I don’t think six or seven is frugal. But also not indulgent.
Cooking is hard. I’ve set off a lot of smoke detectors.

And that’s okay. Some of my frugal meals for one:
1. Black beans and rice. Too with onions, cheese, salsa.

2. Cans of soup and some buttered bread.

3.. Raviolis or tortellini. Top with spaghetti sauce or what the package recommends.

4. Baked potato topped with pinto beans and rotel and cheese.

5. Tacos-cook a pound of ground beef with seasoning.

6. Hamburger helper

7. Chili-can be as simple as a can of chili and Fritos or can go all out starting with fresh onions and bell peppers.

8. Frozen chicken pot pies

9. Quesadilla

I second a crockpot and bulk cooking meat in it-chicken or ground beef do great. Freeze in individual portions.

[Mariann]

I would think that if you’re getting two servings from one restaurant meal, averaging $6-7 each, that it’s a little on the high side.

However, the time you spend shopping, cooking, cleaning up, and your mental load – I can see that being part of the plan once a week or so.

Also. Baked potatoes are easy to do in the microwave! Add some broccoli and cheese or vegetarian chili. I also like to top them with beans or black eyed peas.

A vegetarian friend also introduced me to cabbage steaks! Yum! Slice cabbage, brush with olive oil, S&P, garlic and grill or broil.

Salads and pasta salads are easy and don’t require a lot of culinary skills to accomplish, too.

[Annette]

Cooking like anything else takes practice. Also, if you tell yourself often enough that you can’t do a thing you brain will make it a reality.

Reframe cooking to a new adventure or even a hobby, remind yourself you will save money.

Start with something simple like spaghetti or chili. With every success you will built confidence.

Meal planning is my savior.

[Toni]

Take help from the freezer section and bottled sauces.
Frozen lasagna or ravioli with Caesar salad.

Veggie fried rice is easy and frugal and the soy sauce does a lot of work. Add some dumplings or egg rolls from the freezer section.

Look up some sheet pan meals, they are pretty hard to mess up.
Breakfast for dinner is frugal.

[Kay]

A supper easy meal for me that’s quick too is salmon fillets in the air fryer or broiled in toaster over…about 3 min on each side seasoned how you like …

goes great with rice and steamed broccoli or brussel sprouts

[Jane]

It sounds like you can cook the basics which is all you really need in my opinion.

If you wanted to expand your menu, you could look for easy recipes online.

I usually make things that don’t have a lot of ingredients.

[Megan]

How are you spending $6 or $7 meal when that’s the list of what you can cook? You can buy a whole loaf of bread and pack of cheese for $6 or $7 and make 8 grilled cheese sandwiches or 2 boxes of spaghetti and 2 jars of sauce or a whole bag of rice and several cans of tuna.

$6-7 would be frugal if you were earing differently, but aside from the salmon, everything you listed should be around $1/meal.

[Shelly]

I have a electric steamer for fish and veggies. I throw meat in a crock pot with seasoning cook until the meat starts to fall apart.

I like different flavors sauce seasoning herbs .. worstershire sauce in and on beef…. powder zesty Italian salad dressing mix in and on meats and veggies,, sesame flavor foods… bourbon flavor foods.

Different types of cheese.salad dressing… BBQ sauce…oven bake foods … rosemary chicken

[Rebecca]

Soup is the easiest thing : can to diced tomatoes, two cans of chicken bouillon (or beef), can of green beans, can of carrots, bag of pre-cut slaw, can of potatoes (cut them a little smaller), handful of chopped onion, chopped celery… adjust water as needed, add dry bouillon as needed. One bay leaf.

Let that boil for 10 minutes, add a handful of small pasta (elbow, ditali, etc). Medium boil 6-8 minutes. Done

[Carol]

So much of this is geographically dependent. In New Brunswick, CANADA $7.00 or $8.00/meal is very reasonable.

[Suzie]

A rice cooker is a great tool. They are inexpensive. Also, a slow cooker is an excellent add to the kitchen. There are so many options to cook in it.

Anyone that doesn’t know how to cook can do the slow cooker method.

If you can follow instructions, then you can cook.

[Celestine]

Commit to learning one or two recipes a month. You can start with different ways to prepare hamburger meat.

And you can move forward and incorporate chicken.

[Beth]

My frugal meals run about $3 a serving so no, $7 isn’t frugal, but it also isn’t indulgent. It’s somewhere in the middle. To be frugal you need 3-4 meals that come in at under $4 per person.

That means, for one ,eating several times off I’d one dish or semi prepared meals.

Try frozen pizza when it’s on sale for under $5- cut it in half BEFORE you cook it and pair with a salad.that’s a $3 meal for one.

Get frozen veggie fried rice for about $6 a bag. Use half the bag and add acup of frozen diced chicken- that’s a $4 meal for one.

My $3 meals are hobo stew (ground beef, 1 package frozen mixed veggies and one can tomatoes-) total cost with a salad and French bread is $8-9 and feeds 3.

Chicken fettuccini- jarred sauce $2. Noodles $1 chicken frozen strips about $1 per cup- use 2 cups $2 salad and bread – about $2 for 3 makes $7 to feed 3 people. These are also easy meals to make

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