Inexpensive Meals; Cheap Meals to Get you Through Tough Times
Budget Meals and Cheap Recipes
Inexpensive Meals: Continental Breakfasts
Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. First up, we wanted to look at customary breakfasts served around the world to give you ideas for budget meals to serve your family.
For example, in Louisiana a cup of coffee is often enjoyed before even arising from bed. In the mid-western states, buckwheat cakes are typically part of a morning meal.
In the South, hot biscuits or waffles are generally on the menu.
Our goal is to share cheap recipes that you can plan budget meals around.
From the following typical breakfast menus you can compare the customs of different countries:
Inexpensive Meals: France
Coffee
Cocoa
Tea
Cold buns served with jam
Inexpensive Meals: England
Tea with cream and sugar or cocoa
Sausage and eggs or kippers (dried fish)Beans
Toast and marmalade
Inexpensive Meals: Mexico
Early breakfast of coffee or spiced chocolate
Late breakfast (what we consider lunch)Eggs rancheros
Toast with highly seasoned meat stock or gravy
Frijoles
Spanish rice
Fresh fruit
Inexpensive Meals
Of course, you are not saving money if your family does not eat the cheap recipes that you prepare for them! A good idea to save time, which is also a commodity in the mornings, is to make up sausage biscuits or other meats your family enjoys before hand and freeze them. Before rushing off to school or work, sprinkle a frozen biscuit with water, and pop into the toaster oven with a sausage patty and cheese inside.
Cheap Recipes
Serving breakfast foods for dinner is a nice change of pace, especially for those folks who never have the time to enjoy their breakfasts!
To make the basic omelet, start with 3 large eggs at room temperature. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and ½ tablespoon peanut oil in an omelet pan.
Whisk eggs and add 1 tablespoon milk per egg which makes them fluffier.
When the butter is melted, pour in the eggs. Make sure the top of the eggs cook by swishing the pan around.
Place fillings such as ham, cheese, and bacon on one half of the omelet. Add salt and pepper. Slide out onto a plate and fold over. Sprinkle grated cheese over the omelet just before serving.
Omelet Variations
The French Omelet recipe calls for milk to be used instead of water and is cooked to a creamy consistency.
The Spanish omelet is served with tomato sauce made from chopped tomatoes. Add filling such as sautéed mushrooms, green onions, and green peppers, along with basil or oregano.
For a Jelly Omelet, add 1 teaspoon sugar for each egg used. Before folding the omelet, spread it with jam, jelly, or marmalade. Fold, turn, and sprinkle with powered sugar.
Orange Omelet
Substitute orange juice and 2 teaspoons lemon juice for the water in the basic omelet recipe above.
Add 2 tablespoons of powered sugar to the yolk mixture. Cook as previously directed.
Shred 3 oranges and place slices of shredded orange well sprinkled with powered sugar over half the omelet.
Turn the omelet out of the pan. Garnish with remaining orange. Sprinkle with powered sugar and serve right away.
Budget Meals
Soufflés are budget meals that can be served no matter what time of day or night it is!
3 eggs
1 cup white sauce
1 cup flavoring, which can include grated cheese, chopped ham, mashed vegetables, even fruit.
Add egg yolks and flavorings of your choice. Cook until thick. Remove from stove and cool.
When ready to bake, fold in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Pour into a greased baking dish. Bake for half an hour in a 350 degree oven.
Do not remove it from the oven until ready to serve. Serve the soufflé in its baking dish.
