Help me win this bet with hubby!

prncss89

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Hubby bet me a very quiet night alone by myself without him and kids if I can do this so now I need everyones help!!! (I never have time alone. I can't even go to the bathroom alone in this house lol) He said it is impossiable to make dinner for $15-$20. I have to buy everything needed. I can not use anything here in the kitchen. It can not be sandwhiches or hotdogs either. ANY HELP??????
 

lookingglass

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Originally Posted by prncss89

Hubby bet me a very quiet night alone by myself without him and kids if I can do this so now I need everyones help!!! (I never have time alone. I can't even go to the bathroom alone in this house lol) He said it is impossiable to make dinner for $15-$20. I have to buy everything needed. I can not use anything here in the kitchen. It can not be sandwhiches or hotdogs either. ANY HELP??????
I've got this one, go out and buy some pasta, canned tomatos, tomato paste, and some garlic powder. Cook the pasta to tase. Dump the canned tomatos and half the can of tomato paste into a wide skillet. Add garlic powder and salt and pepper to tase. You just made pasta with homemade red sause.
 

miss mew

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Originally Posted by lookingglass

I've got this one, go out and buy some pasta, canned tomatos, tomato paste, and some garlic powder. Cook the pasta to tase. Dump the canned tomatos and half the can of tomato paste into a wide skillet. Add garlic powder and salt and pepper to tase. You just made pasta with homemade red sause.
Pasta is a great idea!!


I always make seafood fettucine.

Go out and buy fettucine noodles and the packet of alfredo sauce (or a jar) and then get a can or pack of imatation crab meat.

That will be under $20 for sure.
 

tavia'smom

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I would buy a small sack of taters, potatoes, and white beans and whatever kind of meat you like to season it with hog jaws is good for that and not expensive and some butter milk and cornmeal and make beans and tates and cornbread but then again it would prove how much of a poor country girl I was growing up and still am.
but you need an egg for the cornbread but beans don't cost that much and neither do potatoes or eggs. you can get a 5 lbs sak and you could make either mashed or fried and fried or baked cornbread. I like both. but baked is better with beans. crumble the bread up put a bit of butter on it and the beans and mmmm
 

zissou'smom

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15-20$ is a whole lot of money to make a meal at home. I only spend twice that a week on groceries.

I think you can make anything you want!

I love this though, and so would kids:

Buy white bread roll dough (comes frozen in little balls) and thaw it out, spread the dough out into a small pizza size, put pizza sauce and cheese and whatever else you want on it, and fold them over in half. Yay! You just made calzones. Bake it for about as long as the instructions say.

If you have to buy everything from scratch (which is weird, since you would never have to do that under normal circumstances) it might be 10-15 bucks...
 

crittermom

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You can get some mac-n-cheese,a can of chili and have a meal too.
Just cook the mac-n-cheese as normal,open the chili and cook it while the mac-n-chese is cooking.Mix and you have a cheap meal.
I agree with the noodles and tomatoes too.It's cheap and GOOD!!
You can get some chicken,a can of cream of mushroom soup,and some rice or potatoes.Cook the chicken,open the cream of mushroom soup and either put it in the pan with the chicken--or put chicken and soup into the oven at 350 for a few minutes about 20-30 mintues.Cook your rice or potatoes(mashed or boiled) and then put the chicken and cream of mushroom soup over the rice or potatoes.You could even use noodles if you prefer.
We are a family of 6 humans,so I am the Queen of cheap meals that go along way!!LOL!!
 

tavia'smom

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or some hamburger meat and some mac and cheese hamburger helper and some biscuits.
 

tavia'smom

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you can even add a couple cans of peas and carrots and some mashed potatoes.
 

crittermom

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You can get some Kraut and Polish sausage too.
Hamburgers and french fries
Tuna fish and noodles with cream of mushroom soup
Hamburger,mashed potatoes and cream of mushroom soup.Makes sh** on a shingle as my Mom calls it.
 

kittenkiya

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Get a can of mushroom soup, some elbow macaroni, some shredded motzarella cheese.

Cook the elbows, mix with two tablespoons of mayo, add the mushroom soup, sprinkle motzarella cheese on top, bake for 20 minutes until cheese is brown.

Voila!
 

crittermom

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Originally Posted by KittenKiya

Get a can of mushroom soup, some elbow macaroni, some shredded motzarella cheese.

Cook the elbows, mix with two tablespoons of mayo, add the mushroom soup, sprinkle motzarella cheese on top, bake for 20 minutes until cheese is brown.

Voila!
YUM that sounds good!! I gota try that
 

lovinmom828

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Take some hamburger and mix with rice and toco seasoning and top with cheese after cooked.

Or get some potatoes and caned corn and sliced the potatoes up and place the potaotes and corn in pockets made out of aluminum foil and get hamburger and make pattys and place them on top of the vegies. and Bake in over it is soo good add salt and pepper if u like.
 

valanhb

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Homemade Chicken & Dumplings would be way under $15!

Take 1 chicken, bone in and skin on (cut up is fine, but you've got to keep the bones and skin to get the broth right, or you can "cheat" like I do and use boullion cubes with skinned and de-boned chicken). Boil the chicken in about 8 cups of water (or water with boullion) and seasonings (I usually use poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic salt, and celery salt) until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken and cool, then cut into bit-sized pieces. Add chicken back to broth, along with any vegetables you want - carrots, potatoes, celery, all sliced. Bring back to a medium boil/hard simmer (you may need to add more water at this point because of how much is steamed away and absorbed by the chicken). Then prepare your dumplings:

1-1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
Salt to taste

Mix those together to form a stiff dough. You can either just drop small bite-sized glops of it, roll it into small balls, or roll it out and cut into 1" x 1" squares. Add dumplings to soup. The dumplings will sink to the bottom, when they float they are done.

Serve when the dumplings and vegetables are all done.


This is a rather time consuming recipe, but it can certainly be done on the cheap, and you obviously don't have to sit and watch it the whole time either.
 

gailc

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Does he also want milk with the meal and "dessert" Just buy a half gallon of milk-maybe some day old bakery too. Its very easy to make a meal with this amount of $$ and have it taste good.
I hope you WIN!!!!!!
 

lillekat

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You can do absolutely anything if you're willing to shop around for better bargains. That includes a steak dinner. Hint: The bigger bulk you buy things in, the cheaper it gets and the longer it lasts.

I used to marinade chicken breasts in a mixture of tomato ketchup, lemon juice, brown sugar, lea and perrins worcestershire sauce, and mixed herbs. fry in the pan and serve with seasonable vegetables and/or rice. Most of the ingredients I would already have in the kitchen anyway, but I'm pretty sure you can buy all that for waaaaaay under 15$
 

kittenkiya

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On the mushroom soup and elbows, you can throw in a can of tunafish before you bake it. My kids always loved that dish.
 

willie'slove

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How's these ideas?

Hamburbers (already said)

Spaghetti (already said)

Ham, corn and noodles all mixed together. It's wierd but amazing. When I was little, my babysitter didn't have anything in the house, so she through us together that. And every since, its one of my favorite things.

Chicken wings!
 

jugen

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My husband makes what he calls boiled dinner. One turkey sausage, One head of cabbage chopped up, a few potatos and water(you can even use carrots if you want). He boils everything except the sausage for an hour and then puts the sausage in it for ten minutes. Voila! Quick, easy and cheap! For dessert, no bake cheesecake. Like I said, cheap and easy! (for him anyway!)
 

swampwitch

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I don't know how many people you have to feed, but I usually feed three of us dinner every night for $15-$20... but everything is expensive here on an island (a loaf of bread is going to cost you $4.00).

I'd advise a BEEF STEW. Stewing beef is inexpensive and you don't need much, and vegetables (1 potato, 1 stalk celery, 1 turnip, 1 green pepper, 1 carrot and 1 onion) don't cost much. If you buy flour in bulk and get only a cup or two, you could add dumplings, too.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
 

tavia'smom

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Originally Posted by SwampWitch

I don't know how many people you have to feed, but I usually feed three of us dinner every night for $15-$20... but everything is expensive here on an island (a loaf of bread is going to cost you $4.00).

I'd advise a BEEF STEW. Stewing beef is inexpensive and you don't need much, and vegetables (1 potato, 1 stalk celery, 1 turnip, 1 green pepper, 1 carrot and 1 onion) don't cost much. If you buy flour in bulk and get only a cup or two, you could add dumplings, too.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
All of that but the turnips sound good I hate turnips mostly because my uncle made me sit and and eat some one day and I didn't want it and he wouldn't let me get up till I ate it and now I don't even like to smell it cooking.
 
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