4 Quick & Simple Frugal Meals For Family Dinners

1. Mexican lasagna

First, get a 9x13 lasagna pan to put all your ingredients into. You're going to need two cans of tomato sauce. You may not use both, but having it on hand is good. We'll start with one can of tomato sauce. 

You'll also need a can and a half of drained black beans, a can and a half of drained white or whole kernel corn, a package of soft tortillas, a can of refried beans, a pound of ground beef, a packet of taco seasoning, and a package of shredded Mexican cheese.

Brown the ground beef with the taco seasoning packet and the can of refried beans mixed into it.

To create your Mexican lasagna, layer ingredients in your pan. First, spray the lasagna pan with cooking spray. Spread some tomato sauce, layer the flour tortillas, and then the meat and bean mixture. 

Add the corn and black beans over the top with some cheese. Relayer the same way, then bake it.

Bake for 350 degrees for 45 minutes, covered with aluminum foil. Once the 45 minutes are up, uncover it, bake the lasagna for another 15 minutes, and then serve. 

2. Broccoli ham potato soup

The following recipe is new, but it sounded delicious, so I thought I'd try it. It didn't disappoint. You'll be using a crockpot.

You're going to need cubed ham. I used a ham steak and cut it into cubes. Add it to the pot. I would recommend using two ham steaks.

You also need salt, pepper, two cans of cream of potato soup, two cans of water, 8 ounces of shredded cheese, and a package of frozen broccoli. You'll also want to slice 10 small potatoes thinly. I put all the ingredients into the pot and mixed them well.

Slow cook this for 8 hours on low or 2 hours on high.

3. Ramen soup

Next, I'm going to make some ramen. I like to add some ingredients to my ramen to make a meal: carrots, Enoki mushrooms, cabbage, Korean red chili paste, and Mongolian barbecue sauce.

Boil water and add the ramen noodles. Cut up the cabbage and add it along with the carrots, mushrooms, chili paste, and barbecue sauce. Add an egg into the pot and cover. Cook for a few minutes until the carrots and cabbage are crisp-tender. 

4. Fried rice

I'm going to make a little fried rice next, but a little bit different. I'm using spam. I cut the spam into small cubes and had the spam frying in a pan. I'll add a can of water chestnuts to the pan, along with black beans and corn.  

I have about 4 cups of cold white rice that I'll be using. I'll add the rice to the pan, stir it, and add soy sauce and sesame oil. Once that cooks for a few minutes, I'll add four eggs, constantly stirring to scramble them into small pieces. Serve with a poached egg and radish kimchi if desired. 

Quick & simple frugal meals

I hope you enjoy my frugal meals as much as my family does. They're easy to make, don't cost a lot, and our whole family loves them. With a few simple ingredients, you can create delicious meals.