Do you ever wish you had a list a super cheap meals that you could easily find with recipes that cost under $1 per serving? Well let's make one here! Here are some of my favorite meals and meal ideas that cost less than $1 per person served. Let us know your favorites (or link to them!) in the comments section!
Hot Dogs (make these buns into hot dog shaped buns!)
Quesadillas
Eggs and Pancakes
Vegetable Soup (or Garbage Soup!)
I also asked you a few weeks ago on the Little House Living Facebook page and here are some of your ideas!
Velveeta skillets meals...I skimp on the chicken, so it is about $2.25 a meal, making it cheap to feed my family of 4! ~ Amanda
I boil a box of rotini noodles. Then I brown up a pound of ground beef. Once its browned I add a can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, and a can of manwich. Once its all cooked through I add it to the rotini noodles and serve. Its AWESOME!! Its my kids' favorite recipe ever. ~ Tanya
Small pasta, leSuer Peas....a lil garlic....YUM ~ Alison
Eggs served on a bed of sauteed spinach ~ Holly
Mom created this & I still eat it. It's 2 packs of Ramen noodles, 1 pack of hot dogs, 1 can of vegetable soup. Cook noodles according to directions. Drain, leave some water in the pan. Mix 1 packet of flavoring, the hot dogs & soup together. Let sit 5 minutes & serve. ~ BobbiKay
Ground beef browned with some onion,add some peas,make a milk gravy & serve over toast or boiled potatoes.IE S.O.S ~ Jackie
Ratatouille ~ Joy
Omelets and quiche..... and homemade soups and stews - always 
~ Marci
Pinto beans, cheese muffins, and hashbrown casserole or beef tips and rice ~ Faith
Pasta, breakfast for dinner, beans and cornbread, hamburger helper, nachos ~ Elizabeth
Orrichette pasta, broccoli, garlic, red pepper flakes and real parmesan. A little pasta water makes it all come together. My favorite breakfast (I freeze them in big batches) is ww tortillas w/SW spiced, diced and roasted sweet potato, whole black beans, shredded cheddar and verde salsa. Since i make everything from scratch (except the cheese!) it's super cheap and utterly delicious. ~ Sandy
Soup or Burgers 1 lb. Gr. beef cooked and 1 can Campbell's vegetable soup. Mix all together put on hamburger buns. Really good!! ~ Susan
Macaroni and cheese with diced browned spam. ~ Cliff
We have our own hens, so a cheap meal on the fly for our family is breakfast for dinner. Pancakes from scratch, served with eggs on the side. ~ Charity
Dumplings with bacon and sauerkraut. ~ Georgette
Wegman's angel hair pasta with their vodka sauce served with buttered peas on the side. ~ Sally
Homemade pizza on a tortillas . Use pizza sauce, cheese, crumbled hamburger, shredded cheese, and veggies of choice ~ Rachel
Pinto beans and cornbread. Add some fresh diced onion, tomato and cilantro on top if you have it. YUM!!! ~ Becky
Share your favorite meals that are $1 or less per serving below in the comments!
Disclaimer: This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
We call them Maid Rite sandwiches, but they are a bit different from the restaurants’ loose-meat sandwiches. I buy reduced $ buns (french or any harder bread) from the grocery store. Then I brown a pound or two of hamburger and mince it up really well and drain. Then I add a jar of my homemade chicken broth (any broth/stock if you have it), You could add some dried mushrooms too if you wanted… and I season with a good 1/2 – full TABLESPOON of black pepper and some salt if needed. I just add whatever I want to taste. I simmer until the broth is evaporated. It comes out with a real deep flavor, and is yummy. – I freeze the leftovers for another night. Not sure how it comes out for price, you could certainly mix in veggies or even beans to stretch it further. Kids like cheese and ketchup on the buns too.
I also make Ramen stir fry. I buy the oriental ramen noodles and a bag of stir-fry veggies. I cook the noodles in the skillet, reserving some dried sections for crunches on top, then stir fry the veggies. The price really varies with how many veggies you add. Usually the 16 oz. stir fry veggie bag costs around $1.50 here and I’ll cook a full bag and 3 packs of Ramen for the family of 4, but you easily could get by with less or different veggies. I also add cooked chicken or even turkey to this if I have it around. Just a few pieces makes a big difference.
I have the specific “recipe” posted here (from several years ago): http://frogmamasfindings.blogspot.com/2009/05/quick-crunchy-ramen-stir-fry.html
My kids favorite is “hashbrown casserol”.
1 lb browned ground meat (we usually use venison)
6-8 shredded potatoes
1 lg shredded onion
and any veggies that need to be used up (shredded carrots, peas, green beans, corn)
Brown the potatoes, add the meat and veggies and cover till heated
Top with sour cream, cheese, homemade salsa or eat plain!!
Feeds 4 adults and 2 kids….sometimes theres even leftovers;)
Oh, these are fantastic ideas!!! Thank you
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 
Italian Black Beans and Rice—saute 1/2 c chopped onion in 1T oil until tender. Add 2 tsp minced garlic, 1 can black beans, not drained, 1/2 c chopped ham, 5 drops hot pepper sauce, simmer 5-10 minutes and serve over 2 c hot cooked rice. Serves 3. Serve with sliced tomatoes and cornbread. Don’t skip the hot pepper sauce! It does not make it hot just flavorful. If you have Aldi black beans are 59 cents a can there. This is one of our favorite meals. I often make this when I have leftover bits of ham from baking a ham and those little bits and ends are the ones no one wants on a sandwich etc. You can also leave out the ham.
Sorry–I forgot one ingredient. 1 1/2 t Italian seasoning is also added with the beans.
Stock up on turkey breast lunchmeat ends, or freeze any leftovers. Mix with gravy, put on toast.
cream peas and turkey – one of our favorite leftover meals, but one that’s easy enough to make using fresh poultry, also. Simply add diced (cooked) turkey or chicken and green peas (drain if using canned) to a basic white sauce. season with salt and pepper (and garlic, if you like it). Heat through and serve over toast. Sounds odd, but tastes so good.
I love reading your blog pages, but I have Type 2 Diabetes, so many of the noodle recipes have too many carbohydrates for me. We have substituted brown rice and Quinoa for all other types of pasta. We eat meats with 2 vegetables for dinner, often add a salad too. I eat lots of almonds and cashews too especially for snacks. Fortunately we live near a Costco and can buy Quinoa in a 5 pound bag. There is a Farmer’s market in our neighborhood on Tuesday’s too, so fresh food is available.. We are growing our own tomatoes, lots of dill, and Swiss Chard ( a staple vegetable at our home) along with green beans and yellow squash..
Yes, I am a believer of butter over any substitutes.. I am a believer of real foods as much as possible. No Cool Whip has touched my lips.. Keep on blogging and feeding your family with real food..
I really enjoy reading your blogs..
We love stir fried rice for a quick and cheap meal- add leftover chicken or diced ham and frozen mixed vegetables with the usual green onion and egg and you have a satisfying one dish meal.
My parents divorced when I was 14 and I had to learn to cook to avoid spending huge amounts of money eating out.
My mom and I did fine until my mom went to some religious extremist church sect and went batshit insane quoting scriptures every moment of the day. That cost her her job and naturally the income fell to zero when the douche of my elder brother decided to abandon my mom and I to our fates.
I used a lot of wartime inspiration to get by those dark days. I made my own garbage stews by dumping whatever was in the kitchen into a pot and stir frying the mess with plain white rice. It was awesome Chinese-style “wok” cooking… without the wok!
Some of these wierd recipes like sardines and fried rice were super because the tomato sauce in a single small can of sardines could cover a huge serving of rice. Same for Chinese fried fish which were inexpensive; some had black beans and salted, others had vegetables in oil. The oil was great at flavouring rice and I could use the excess for cooking other things too. I love these multi-purpose cheap $1 canned food from China no one usually cared about.
When the stove broke down I used a 30+ year old Japanese rice cooker for frying and it worked perfectly fine! They don’t make rice cookers as good as that antique anymore.
When food ran out or there was no money to buy -anything- we got by with lentils and plain rice with a little bit of soy sauce and pepper for taste. How about when the lentils ran out? Oh, no problems, Vietnamese soldiers could survive forever on boiled rice alone, and so could we.
Till today I still stock up my pantry like it’s a bomb shelter (I even call the canned food “C-rations”, and corned beef “WW1 food”) and know how to get the most bang for my buck out of the supermarket. I also learned to be a responsible and resourceful individual who is loyal to the end… unlike certain other persons I grew up with
Found this post from your best of 2012! Great ideas. I am going to share it on my facebook page tomorrow! Thanks for coming up with such a good list!
My favorite $1.00 meal would have to be split pea soup with cornbread! The package of peas were 50 cents & the cornbread was $1.00 from the Dollar Tree. This would feed 6 people for $1.50! Not a buck per person!
Tomato Basil soup (from garden produce) served with rice. I simply cook an onion & some garlic in a little butter or olive oil. I add a bowl of chopped tomatoes & some chicken broth. Cook until tomatoes are tender. I add chopped basil & parsley. Add a spoonful of brown sugar & salt to taste. Puree with a hand blender or cool slightly & blend in blender or food processor. Stir in a bit of milk or cream to make. A creamy soup. Go lightly. Very little milk is needed. We serve in soup bowls with a scoop of rice. Our children enjoy a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top. Homemade bread helps fill my teenagers endless pit stomachs.
Ham and bean/veggie soup is one of my go-to cheap meals. It probably costs $2-3 for the whole pot and it feeds about six people (more if you add a few more beans!) Here’s the recipe: http://kansaslife.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/slow-cooker-ham-and-bean-soup/
I buy Hamburger Helper when it’s on sale AND I have a coupon…THEN I add HALF the amount of burger, add 1 extra cup pasta and 1/2 cup H2O. My family likes it with less burger and it makes it go so far that my hubby has plenty for lunch the next day.
Patty you might be interested in this Homemade Hamburger Helper Mix recipe we have posted!
For a quick lunch I like to fix a box of kraft mac n cheese, I usually get it for .75 a box, and a can of tuna or shredded chicken served with sliced apples:) It’s yummy!