I am delighted that you chose cheese as a flavor enhancer. As someone who has struggled with weight, finances, and diabetes I have cone to understand the importance of cheese as a flavor enhancer. By reducing but not eliminating cheese, my budget goes farther, my calorie intake is lower and I don't have to give up a favorite food completely. BRAVO!
People trash American cheese but look up Roy Choi's instant ramen recipe! Add a slice or two of American cheese, a little pat of butter and an egg basically and it turns instant ramen into something a lot more luxurious. Though I'm not sure how bad ramen is for diabetes but those three things add a lot of protein and fat and improves the texture and taste substantially. And you stay fuller a LOT longer.
These are without a doubt, the most informative and creative Dollar Tree cooking videos I've ever watched on TH-cam. These meals are for everyone, in every walk of life. Not just homeless people living in tents. (God bless them all) But students, young couples, single moms, families going through a rough patch, senior citizens. ANYONE. You should write a recipe book! And BTW, I've eaten fried bologna when I was down and out and also when I was bringing home lots of money!
I am very impressed. My husband is about to retire & our income will be very reduced, even with me working, so I've been binge watching various cooking videos of these types to get ideas, and this video by far is the best. No more rice & beans, thank God. You do a great job & are very articulate. Thank you!!
I started watching your videos from early to newest and I can't tell you how impressed I am with how you're able to make COMPLETE MEALS with just a few dollars. You are by far the best at doing this on TH-cam and for that, I thank you!
You and your meals are excellent and budget friendly. I struggled so in the 80’s feeding 2 young children and a nursing student newly divorced . You are a Godsend.
After watching several of your videos, which I LOVE, I realized there is one thing from the Dollar Tree I use almost every day, but I haven't seen you use it - the No Salt Seasoning. It is amazing and has lots of great spices that are perfect for seasoning soups and stews, pasta, meat, salmon and fish. I keep it in my pantry at all times.
The peas are actually "over-ripe" - sweetlet-grade peas are younger, smaller, more tender, sweeter, and more desirable - thus more expensive [think the higher end of the Green Giant range, and the single-meal served buttered packets]. Older peas are rounder, harder, bigger, and kind of drier - the sugar is converting to hard starch storage [more towards a dry pea-soup pea, or dry beans] and are cheaper. There are probably between three and five grades of frozen peas out there, and Dollar Store would be carrying the less expensive, older and starchier grade[s].
These are all meals that my nephews would eat as well. It’s challenging to get them to eat so I love these ideas. I love how well behaved your dogs are.
Yesterday I bought a frozen mixed veg, broccoli, French fries, eggs, shelf stable milk,cheddar cheese, 4 cans of organic tomato sauce, tomato paste, vegetable oil,bag of brown rice, white beans, chicken broth, 4 cans of chicken and mayo, oops and flour tortillas. I’ll meal plan today.
The red casings on bologna is not edible, it's a fibrous type of casing, a combination of cellulose and paper, cited with glycerin. Not recommended to eat it or feeding it to your pets. From Google, I was always told growing up it's not edible, just an FYI 😊
Your breakfast bowls look good! Admittedly I would never have thought to use steak fries for the potato. MAKES PERFECT SENSE! My husband makes a breakfast skillet when we camp using thawed tater tots…. Just never OCCURRED to use steak fries. Thank you! 😊
I’m actually re-watching some of your videos that I haven’t seen lately. We moved from Seattle to rural northern New England some years ago, and in doing so were able to pay cash for our house from our equity. We were not aware of all the problems our 1860 house would present, and most of our earnings went to just getting our house livable. The only kitchen appliances I had were a toaster oven, a microwave and a George Forman grill. Not even a working refrigerator at first. It’s amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it!❤
Yes!!! ❤ I love that she has such a solid understanding that everyone may not have the same things easily accessible to them! I’m going to mention again that if you’re someone living without a full kitchen/stove/oven etc, a cheap Walmart electric griddle can be a huge help. I believe I paid $10 for mine on Black Friday. Probably up to $15 now but if you can swing it, they are great to use in place of a regular stove top and pan.
I've found that cutting the sausage slices in half or quarters improves the broth and makes it feel like there is more meat. I'm impatient but it's recommended to really brown your sausage before putting it in the soup.
Your meals looked very tasty and different from other ideas I’ve seen, and i think you got a good amount of variety there for such a strict budget. Nice job, thanks for the inspiration 😄👍🏻
I lived in a motel with husband and 2 small children for over a year! It was hard. We had a small fridge and microwave but what helped the most was a cheap electric griddle I got at Walmart on Black Friday for $10-15. I ended up using it ALL the time. Our go to meals were very often eggs 😂 but I started doing an egg/salsa and cheese mix wrapped in flour tortillas and then grilled on the griddle to brown the outside, breakfast burritos 🎉. I did the same with tuna melts (tuna/mayo/veg and cheese in a wrap) wrap like a burrito and grill on the griddle. Those were my kid’s favorites for awhile. I know tuna can be high in mercury and such, I believe the darker cheaper tuna is safer (like skip jack). The more expensive albacore actually has more mercury.
The hard peas are probably overripe or even a little dried, actually. Young peas are tender and barely take any time to cook completely. The more they sit around, the more moisture they lose and the harder and drier they become. You can fix this by soaking them in water for some time before you cook them just like you would dried peas and legumes.
Rebecca I think you do a fantastic job cooking and keeping it real. I only have one tip... Saving one cup of the pasta water per recipe to add back into your pasta dishes it helps to thicken your sauce or broth and as you store your pasta dishes the sauce or broth is going to get sucked up by the pasta leaving them dry, so the added liquid will be a welcome addition to the overall dish
Pro-tip: you could have lightly smeared the grilled cheese roll up’s with a thin coating of mayonnaise and grilled. It works the same as butter and toast up golden toasty just like butter.
Absolutely right! If you have ever made mayo from scratch you quickly realize that it is a Whole Bunch of oil with only an egg to emulsify it. Plus it has a bit of other flavorings to make it even more tasty. Bet mayo would be even more Yum than plain ol cooking oil!
I recognize the dollar tree pairing knife! I bought one a little bit ago and actually love it! Nice and sharp and not $100 (had a sales person try to get me to buy a cut-co brand one). It does the job and I can buy 100 of them and not feel bad about it if it breaks or dulls. 😊
You might be able to up the flavor of your soup by frying/sautéing the sausage and veggies before adding them. Just do them at the same time as those you use for the pasta dish, and just divide them. You could add the small amount of grease left in the pan along with them. I think instead of having either a bologna sandwich or cheese roll up for lunch, I would do a combo on some days. That way you at lease feel like you are getting a variety of options. ❤
Crisco (or any brand shortening) might be a cost-effective and shelf-stable way to have both ‘oil’ cause it melts in a hot pan, or “butter” cause it makes good cookies, pie crusts, etc. (Crisco brand comes in ‘butter flavor’, probably knock off brands do, too.) Might be a good “catch all” when the budget is really tight! Also, what I love about Poorman’s Meal, Poorman’s Soup, and Hobo Stew is that for non-cooks, or cooks without confidence, it’s a basic building block recipe…a protein, a fat, seasoning, bulking starch (like potatoes, turnips, squash, beans, rice, pasta) liquid (for soup/stew), root vegetables, green veg if you have it…so basically, leave the water out for the pan fried version, add some to the stew. Those meals are a great way to take leftovers and make a great meal out it! And pretty much anything you think will taste okay together, throw it in! One stalk of celery, throw it in, onion that’s getting sad (or a potato) cut off any really sad part, throw it in! Three boxes of pasta all with not quite enough for one meal…and they’re all different sizes/shapes, throw them in…doesn’t matter!! Helps reduce waste in your own kitchen, even if you have plenty of money for food, it’s still good to not waste if possible (I’m as guilty as the next person, but making much more of an effort now!) Be creative…you can’t really go wrong! And…maybe the portions are smaller than what you’d prefer, but a half full stomach is a lot better than an empty one!
Cambels used to make a soup that my kids and I loved. It was Chili beef soup. For some reason they discontinued it. We used to have breakfast than get all bundled up and go outside and play in the snow. When my children and I started to get cold we would go in and have a bowl of chili beef soup. It was the best! My kids talk about those times and always say they miss that soup flavor. The rolled grilled cheese sandwiches would've been a big hit with it too. 🥰
You could grill the bologna sandwiches like grilled cheese to get that yummy fried bread flavor, too. For cast iron, you "can" do acidic things as long as it isn't for a long cooking time. I usually just add the tomato at the end and toss together. Then clean the cast iron right away and it's fine. Great menu ideas. Thanks so much!
Thank you Kelly! It doesn't feel like enough to me sometimes but my boyfriend came home and said "you made all this for $10? No way." And that made me feel like I accomplished something. I always love the comments and being able to help people
Thank you for your hard work and experiment. I am a low income senior and am fighting money budgeting. All the time. Keep up with what you are doing and there are a lot of people that have no clue. 4:43
I shopped this from H-E-B in Austin. The equivalents ended up being 15.03. The sizes were equal or greater than what you'd get at dollar stores. Since 1 dollar is now 1.50 I am thinking that is basically the same now. Loved the interesting recipe ideas, just providing another cost datapoint.
That breakfast bowl looks fantastic. And maybe if you could spring for a loaf of the Dollar Tree garlic bread you could add some of that to the pasta dishes. But they still looked really good.
cool menu and ideas. my tip is to cut your sausage thinner and in half and cut the pepper mix so its smaller this will help get more flavour in each bite, surprisingly it looks more generous when you think your getting meat/veg in each bite then occasionally getting one chunk.
Trade off though is that beans and rice are cheap and provide a lot of volume. I'm a firm believer though that it doesn't matter how filling something is, if it doesn't have a lot of flavor it will always leave you hungry
I love that these older videos pop up from time to time in my feed...I've probably watched this 5 times...Today I was laughing at Loki and River. You were doing your taste test and all you could see were Loki's ears....too cute.
I used to do the grilled cheese roll up with a hot dog in the middle dipped in ketchup, or with pepperoni in it dipped in marinara. Saves you getting hot dog buns and tasted amazing.
I love your videos! Not sure how I haven't ever seen this kitchen before? I love how the dog went right to the stove looking for scraps on the floor- too funny!
A little tomato paste or beef bouillon would add some depth to the soup and pasta casserole. Or even a little condensed tomato soup or ketchup....even BBQ or hot sauce.
This just came across my feed and I have been watching you for like a year so I’m backtracking - your camera presence is so strong now in comparison! You seem so nervous and scared - I can hear the breathlessness and the shaking and it’s like an entirely other person. Still amazing content, just wanted to share how surprised I was by how far you have come! Well done!! ❤
Thanks for some more inspiration.. I stay away from the Dollar Tree mixed veg w/peas, as well.. they're really not very flavorful and they almost never get soft enough for my family's tastes - unless you immersion blender them to a puree, which I have done to use them up & add nutrients to spaghetti sauce lol.
Yeah they definitely aren't the best! I'll have to use other veggie blends moving forward that don't have peas. But a good idea to puree them into pasta sauce!
Agree on the dollar tree frozen peas being quite hard. They do soften over time and if i use them i almost always use the slow cooker to allow them to cook out. Great low cost ideas! thx
I don't mind eating the same meal multiple times a week either...like if we have chili, I like having chili for at least one meal a day until it is gone (sometimes 2 meals a day)...I know there are people that do not like leftovers or want variety, but if I like something, I can eat it often.
Loved the Fried Bologna Sandwiches. Our Hood Classic snack/meal when I was a kid. Only thing missing is some potato chips and a cold soda. Eating real good
I can def eat the same thing for a week which is why I mostly make huge batches of something in my crockpot, eat it for a week, then freeze anything left for another day. I don't do breakfasts, but will eat a main meal once a day and then the rest of the day will be devoted to smaller snacks or non-cooked items. I'm glad I can do that as it really saves me from having to cook something every single day. I can also second the spicy in the food...I like spicy too. 😃
I usually run the frozen peppers and onions under water to thaw and then dry on a clean towel or paper towel before adding to the pan. I would call that 1st dish hash, maybe break the bigger fries in half. ketchup and potatoes are like peanut butter and jelly, they NEED each other ! Mayonnaise works great when making grilled sandwichs but it has to be mayo not a dressing like miracle whip. Mustard makes a good dip for grilled cheese. My gbrats like the rolled grilled cheese and a ketchup dipping pile. I was going to make the sauage with peppers, onions, pasta and a mustard bbq sauce for dinner last week when I was watching the gbrats but then 2 of them went with their dad so the 2 little guys and I had tuna and cheese ramen... those sausage grate well to go further, they also make a very tasty spread
Your cheese roll ups with a nice bowl of tomato soup is really good. I added spices to my tomato soup and also a couple of diced Roma tomatoes that I sautéd in a skillet with a little olive oil and added to my soup.
Actually, the spahetti I made could be a dollar tree meal! Ingredients: Seasoning blend veg Spaghetti Sausage (Morrell's?) Tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce Oregano Parmesan cheese Italian seasoning Salt Olive oil Diced garlic ( yes, they have this at dollar tree) Mexican blend cheese (You could buy some Texas toast garlic parmesan flavor to eat with it) Makes about 4-5 servings 😊
Every mother knos only one slice of baloney or at most slice n half down the middle= 6 sandwiches!!!! Rollups excellent idea!!!! Potatoe bowls special treat on weekends!!!! I had just mustard on my baloneys!!!! Lolol whole lot of dog ears!!!!!!
Great plan - I find that seasoning when reheating works well when it’s not a soup. Soups flavouring develops in the fridge improving every day. This must be considered especially for salt! When working on such a tight budget, repetition is necessary if you want a balanced diet. Also using fresh vegetables, with the exception of corn and tomatoes, stretches a lot further, than frozen or canned.
You made me so hungry for the breakfast!!! it looks amazing and your face said how great it tasted. I am an old country woman and I was thinking of doing this version but adding county gravy to it...
i make the tater pepper and sausage "hash" alot. top with a few soft fried eggs and some toast. use the tater tots to just thaw and use meat masher to make the hash, add "spam" , peppers and onion.
I have watched a lot of these challenge videos. I will say that these items you made are different then others so I enjoyed that. I have also had trouble with peas from there. But all in all I liked your video. Will look forward to others you might do.
Good, simple ideas for a person on a time/money crunch. I think cheese was a good idea for a flavor enhancer because on a low budget plan you need more fat and more calories and more protein and cheese is really good for all of those things. The individual slices help manage the portion control but using a real cheese is also good idea if it’s a time issue more than it is a budget issue. Whenever I look at you finishing up these meals, the issues are usually pretty consistent with blandness and repetitiveness. I know we all like round numbers, but I wonder what other items would maybe have added to that like with more vegetables or a different kind of cheese or a thing of salsa. It is a very low budget, but it makes one thing how much more each additional item could add to that diet whether it was flavor or nutrition. I think the volume was pretty adequate.
Good video. I feel like if you bought the tortilla shells and a bag of dried beans you could do alot. Add the beans to soup for added iron, use another portion of the beans to mash up to make refried beans so you can have like cheese and bean burritos, or can even add beans to sausage with the peppers and make like a jambalaya type dish too.
idea:use the mozzarella sticks and cut in half long way and make some garlic butter to fry them in and the pasta sauce..home made mozzarella sticks 😋 👌 👍
To me soup is soup, I wouldn’t have put so much pasta in the soup. And to me as you said the vegetables wasn’t cooked long enough.in soup I don’t want my vegetables crunchy. But all in all I love to watch your channel,I live along and you give me lots of ideas of things to make for one. God bless
You caught my attention with the "Grilled Cheese Roll-ups"....I've never heard of them before you showcased it. My 9 y/o LOVES grilled cheese and when you pulled the bread slices out i thought it was just that....but THIS looks FUN!..... You are right about acidic foods (tomatoes in general) not being good for cast iron. The caveat to that is a WELL SEASONED cast iron skillet. I noticed the cast iron seasoning flaking a bit (just be careful of that) but otherwise you can cook tomato based products in it. A better reference would be another TH-cam influencer..."Cowboy Kent Rollins".....any and all cast iron cooking questions to include CAST IRON CARE....can be found there. KEEP THESE VIDS COMING!!!!! This channel is a GOLD MINE for cheap and flavorful eats!
If you did the same thing with the sausage frys peppers and put about 5 to six beaten eggs and cheese maybe with a table spoon flour and 1/4 tsp baking soda pour on top in a cake pan and put cheese on it and bake that is soo good you can put on a bun too as a breakfast sandwich. You can cut breakfast portions in zip lock baggies freeze and microwave. I bet if you had some spaghetti sauce you could add water to half and make tomatoes soup with grilled cheese or add some rotel and have casadias. I am going to do that save the rest of spaghetti sauce for a pasta meal. Maybe make bologna grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh wow you are making a soup. Lol I sometimes get the little cans of tomatoes sauce and make my own pasta sauce. Cheaper. You could shop at Walmart and Dt and show meals using Walmarts cheapest items. So you could incorporate produce. Fried rice and pot stickers is a go to meal, I like to make with Dt items. But I do get my peas carrots frozen at grocery store it's cheaper. I really like your channel you have great ideas.
If a person needed to be budgeted but could add $3-4 I would get another loaf of bread for toast to add to breakfast or with soup. For additional protein I would pick up eggs and a can of bean (or make) to add to the soup and breakfast if desired. I might want to skip the hot dog type meat and use beans instead.
Definitely going to make the cheese roll ups with sauce for my 16 month old grandson. He loves cheese and to dip his foods. I never would have thought to roll out the slices of bread. You are so clever! ❤️
I doubt you will see this, but I used to rate foods on 4 criteria, same as you: 1) how great it tasted 2) how filling it was 3) how healthy it is 4) how much $ it cost I find it’s not super hard to find 3 (for example Fiber Gourmet pasta is delicious, filling and super healthy, but $$$), but all 4 is much harder. I used to love the Michelina’s meatloaf dinner because it was all 4! Then they added pork to it which I can’t eat. Oh well.
Thank you for sharing this budget friendly recipe. Budgeting better with my groceries has been on my mind with the rising prices. This kind of video is very helpful for me and I am sure many other people right now. I try to budget best I can but I know I can always learn. I’m making lots of food for my cooking channel so I use a lot of food, so every penny I can save on groceries counts. I hope that we can continue to learn from each other. Never stop learning and growing!
You can use a cast iron skillet when using tomato-based foods. You just can’t leave it in the pan for a long length of time. My Mom used hers for everything.
I am delighted that you chose cheese as a flavor enhancer. As someone who has struggled with weight, finances, and diabetes I have cone to understand the importance of cheese as a flavor enhancer. By reducing but not eliminating cheese, my budget goes farther, my calorie intake is lower and I don't have to give up a favorite food completely. BRAVO!
This is how I am losing weight. Small portions of foods I love, so I will stay on it. I hope it has been going well for you.
People trash American cheese but look up Roy Choi's instant ramen recipe! Add a slice or two of American cheese, a little pat of butter and an egg basically and it turns instant ramen into something a lot more luxurious. Though I'm not sure how bad ramen is for diabetes but those three things add a lot of protein and fat and improves the texture and taste substantially. And you stay fuller a LOT longer.
Blue cheese and cheddar are my favorite for this. Though blue cheese is expensive, you don't need much.
Also American and beef Raman with some garlic and butter has been my favorite since I was 10, I'm 36 now.
@@strange4202 can i have your recipe please? I'm a viewer from germany ❤
You are so audience friendly and your meal ideas are great. You need your own television show.
These are without a doubt, the most informative and creative Dollar Tree cooking videos I've ever watched on TH-cam. These meals are for everyone, in every walk of life. Not just homeless people living in tents. (God bless them all) But students, young couples, single moms, families going through a rough patch, senior citizens. ANYONE. You should write a recipe book! And BTW, I've eaten fried bologna when I was down and out and also when I was bringing home lots of money!
I am very impressed. My husband is about to retire & our income will be very reduced, even with me working, so I've been binge watching various cooking videos of these types to get ideas, and this video by far is the best. No more rice & beans, thank God. You do a great job & are very articulate. Thank you!!
Yes, my husband and I just retired and these are excellent hacks to save money for retirees and those of us who only cook for one or two people.
Try Three Rivers Homestead for great ideas
I started watching your videos from early to newest and I can't tell you how impressed I am with how you're able to make COMPLETE MEALS with just a few dollars. You are by far the best at doing this on TH-cam and for that, I thank you!
Thank you for all your hard work. You show a true understanding of the lack of time the working poor have to prepare to eat. Great video
Omg thank you! That is truly what I want to show from these videos and your comment means a lot to me!
You and your meals are excellent and budget friendly. I struggled so in the 80’s feeding
2 young children and a nursing student newly
divorced . You are a Godsend.
After watching several of your videos, which I LOVE, I realized there is one thing from the Dollar Tree I use almost every day, but I haven't seen you use it - the No Salt Seasoning. It is amazing and has lots of great spices that are perfect for seasoning soups and stews, pasta, meat, salmon and fish. I keep it in my pantry at all times.
The peas are actually "over-ripe" - sweetlet-grade peas are younger, smaller, more tender, sweeter, and more desirable - thus more expensive [think the higher end of the Green Giant range, and the single-meal served buttered packets]. Older peas are rounder, harder, bigger, and kind of drier - the sugar is converting to hard starch storage [more towards a dry pea-soup pea, or dry beans] and are cheaper. There are probably between three and five grades of frozen peas out there, and Dollar Store would be carrying the less expensive, older and starchier grade[s].
These are all meals that my nephews would eat as well. It’s challenging to get them to eat so I love these ideas. I love how well behaved your dogs are.
Yesterday I bought a frozen mixed veg, broccoli, French fries, eggs, shelf stable milk,cheddar cheese, 4 cans of organic tomato sauce, tomato paste, vegetable oil,bag of brown rice, white beans, chicken broth, 4 cans of chicken and mayo, oops and flour tortillas. I’ll meal plan today.
The red casings on bologna is not edible, it's a fibrous type of casing, a combination of cellulose and paper, cited with glycerin. Not recommended to eat it or feeding it to your pets. From Google, I was always told growing up it's not edible, just an FYI 😊
Your breakfast bowls look good! Admittedly I would never have thought to use steak fries for the potato. MAKES PERFECT SENSE! My husband makes a breakfast skillet when we camp using thawed tater tots…. Just never OCCURRED to use steak fries. Thank you! 😊
I’m actually re-watching some of your videos that I haven’t seen lately. We moved from Seattle to rural northern New England some years ago, and in doing so were able to pay cash for our house from our equity. We were not aware of all the problems our 1860 house would present, and most of our earnings went to just getting our house livable. The only kitchen appliances I had were a toaster oven, a microwave and a George Forman grill. Not even a working refrigerator at first. It’s amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it!❤
I'm catching up on your old videos! I can't thank you enough for the work you do. It's so important, I hope you know that! ❤
Thank you! 🥰
Yes!!! ❤ I love that she has such a solid understanding that everyone may not have the same things easily accessible to them! I’m going to mention again that if you’re someone living without a full kitchen/stove/oven etc, a cheap Walmart electric griddle can be a huge help. I believe I paid $10 for mine on Black Friday. Probably up to $15 now but if you can swing it, they are great to use in place of a regular stove top and pan.
@@megannewell5118 That's a great idea!!
I've found that cutting the sausage slices in half or quarters improves the broth and makes it feel like there is more meat. I'm impatient but it's recommended to really brown your sausage before putting it in the soup.
Your meals looked very tasty and different from other ideas I’ve seen, and i think you got a good amount of variety there for such a strict budget. Nice job, thanks for the inspiration 😄👍🏻
I lived in a motel with husband and 2 small children for over a year! It was hard. We had a small fridge and microwave but what helped the most was a cheap electric griddle I got at Walmart on Black Friday for $10-15. I ended up using it ALL the time. Our go to meals were very often eggs 😂 but I started doing an egg/salsa and cheese mix wrapped in flour tortillas and then grilled on the griddle to brown the outside, breakfast burritos 🎉. I did the same with tuna melts (tuna/mayo/veg and cheese in a wrap) wrap like a burrito and grill on the griddle. Those were my kid’s favorites for awhile. I know tuna can be high in mercury and such, I believe the darker cheaper tuna is safer (like skip jack). The more expensive albacore actually has more mercury.
The hard peas are probably overripe or even a little dried, actually. Young peas are tender and barely take any time to cook completely. The more they sit around, the more moisture they lose and the harder and drier they become.
You can fix this by soaking them in water for some time before you cook them just like you would dried peas and legumes.
You’re absolutely right, I’ll sacrifice variety any day. If I make something for dinner, I’ll have it for lunch the next day. Waste not, want not.
Rebecca I think you do a fantastic job cooking and keeping it real. I only have one tip... Saving one cup of the pasta water per recipe to add back into your pasta dishes it helps to thicken your sauce or broth and as you store your pasta dishes the sauce or broth is going to get sucked up by the pasta leaving them dry, so the added liquid will be a welcome addition to the overall dish
I think the way you use french fries in your videos is just pure genius! Those roll ups are so smart. 🥰🌱🌷💐☘💗✝
Pro-tip: you could have lightly smeared the grilled cheese roll up’s with a thin coating of mayonnaise and grilled. It works the same as butter and toast up golden toasty just like butter.
Absolutely right!
If you have ever made mayo from scratch you quickly realize that it is a Whole Bunch of oil with only an egg to emulsify it. Plus it has a bit of other flavorings to make it even more tasty. Bet mayo would be even more Yum than plain ol cooking oil!
I prefer brushing olive oil with some Italian herbs in it then toasting in toaster oven 😋 yummmmm 😊
I recognize the dollar tree pairing knife! I bought one a little bit ago and actually love it! Nice and sharp and not $100 (had a sales person try to get me to buy a cut-co brand one). It does the job and I can buy 100 of them and not feel bad about it if it breaks or dulls. 😊
You might be able to up the flavor of your soup by frying/sautéing the sausage and veggies before adding them. Just do them at the same time as those you use for the pasta dish, and just divide them. You could add the small amount of grease left in the pan along with them.
I think instead of having either a bologna sandwich or cheese roll up for lunch, I would do a combo on some days. That way you at lease feel like you are getting a variety of options. ❤
Crisco (or any brand shortening) might be a cost-effective and shelf-stable way to have both ‘oil’ cause it melts in a hot pan, or “butter” cause it makes good cookies, pie crusts, etc. (Crisco brand comes in ‘butter flavor’, probably knock off brands do, too.) Might be a good “catch all” when the budget is really tight! Also, what I love about Poorman’s Meal, Poorman’s Soup, and Hobo Stew is that for non-cooks, or cooks without confidence, it’s a basic building block recipe…a protein, a fat, seasoning, bulking starch (like potatoes, turnips, squash, beans, rice, pasta) liquid (for soup/stew), root vegetables, green veg if you have it…so basically, leave the water out for the pan fried version, add some to the stew. Those meals are a great way to take leftovers and make a great meal out it! And pretty much anything you think will taste okay together, throw it in! One stalk of celery, throw it in, onion that’s getting sad (or a potato) cut off any really sad part, throw it in! Three boxes of pasta all with not quite enough for one meal…and they’re all different sizes/shapes, throw them in…doesn’t matter!! Helps reduce waste in your own kitchen, even if you have plenty of money for food, it’s still good to not waste if possible (I’m as guilty as the next person, but making much more of an effort now!) Be creative…you can’t really go wrong! And…maybe the portions are smaller than what you’d prefer, but a half full stomach is a lot better than an empty one!
I love the breakfast idea. And I like the pepper and onion frozen veggies...so many ways to incorporate those into a variety of dishes! Thank you!
Cambels used to make a soup that my kids and I loved. It was Chili beef soup. For some reason they discontinued it. We used to have breakfast than get all bundled up and go outside and play in the snow. When my children and I started to get cold we would go in and have a bowl of chili beef soup. It was the best! My kids talk about those times and always say they miss that soup flavor. The rolled grilled cheese sandwiches would've been a big hit with it too. 🥰
Great menu but I figured it would be so much easier to do 14 days and 14 items to have more variety. I admire your plan!!
Maybe a future video! Good idea
You could grill the bologna sandwiches like grilled cheese to get that yummy fried bread flavor, too. For cast iron, you "can" do acidic things as long as it isn't for a long cooking time. I usually just add the tomato at the end and toss together. Then clean the cast iron right away and it's fine. Great menu ideas. Thanks so much!
Hi there I can't believe what you can do with 10 bucks it simply amazing what you do. I think the food look good too good job!
Thank you Kelly! It doesn't feel like enough to me sometimes but my boyfriend came home and said "you made all this for $10? No way." And that made me feel like I accomplished something. I always love the comments and being able to help people
Thank you for your hard work and experiment. I am a low income senior and am fighting money budgeting. All the time. Keep up with what you are doing and there are a lot of people that have no clue. 4:43
Not me binging every one of your videos today… haha thank you for all the great ideas!
haha whoa..that's a lot of videos! I love it! haha
I shopped this from H-E-B in Austin. The equivalents ended up being 15.03. The sizes were equal or greater than what you'd get at dollar stores. Since 1 dollar is now 1.50 I am thinking that is basically the same now. Loved the interesting recipe ideas, just providing another cost datapoint.
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
That breakfast bowl looks fantastic. And maybe if you could spring for a loaf of the Dollar Tree garlic bread you could add some of that to the pasta dishes. But they still looked really good.
cool menu and ideas. my tip is to cut your sausage thinner and in half and cut the pepper mix so its smaller this will help get more flavour in each bite, surprisingly it looks more generous when you think your getting meat/veg in each bite then occasionally getting
one chunk.
Yeah definitely should have cut it smaller but also could have cut back on pasta
Been binge watching all your stuff! Love the grilled cheese dippers. Your dog is adorable!
My husband loves fried bologna. My dad loved it, too. I know you’re a born and bred Carolina girl! I’m in western NC. So proud of you!
I hope you know how much you help older people who are on a very limited budget due to working in an era when wages were very low. Thank you so much.
I really love these videos. They are realistic and super simple.
Same! She does a great job!
Nice to see something that is not all beans nd rice.
Trade off though is that beans and rice are cheap and provide a lot of volume. I'm a firm believer though that it doesn't matter how filling something is, if it doesn't have a lot of flavor it will always leave you hungry
I love that these older videos pop up from time to time in my feed...I've probably watched this 5 times...Today I was laughing at Loki and River. You were doing your taste test and all you could see were Loki's ears....too cute.
I used to do the grilled cheese roll up with a hot dog in the middle dipped in ketchup, or with pepperoni in it dipped in marinara. Saves you getting hot dog buns and tasted amazing.
I sincerely love how you put so much thought into this.
I usely eat my dinner meals for 3 to 5 days in a row.I love your video's great ideals how to stretch your budget .
I love your videos! Not sure how I haven't ever seen this kitchen before? I love how the dog went right to the stove looking for scraps on the floor- too funny!
A little tomato paste or beef bouillon would add some depth to the soup and pasta casserole. Or even a little condensed tomato soup or ketchup....even BBQ or hot sauce.
You did so well for $10. Wow, all of it looked so tasty!!! You're are always very relaxed & pleasant..So keep up the good job!!!
Very creative and for $10 a week this is amazing! Thank you!!
Great video thanks for sharing
I am addicted to your videos! So calming and informative
This just came across my feed and I have been watching you for like a year so I’m backtracking - your camera presence is so strong now in comparison! You seem so nervous and scared - I can hear the breathlessness and the shaking and it’s like an entirely other person. Still amazing content, just wanted to share how surprised I was by how far you have come! Well done!! ❤
You have the best videos! Thank you
Thanks for some more inspiration.. I stay away from the Dollar Tree mixed veg w/peas, as well.. they're really not very flavorful and they almost never get soft enough for my family's tastes - unless you immersion blender them to a puree, which I have done to use them up & add nutrients to spaghetti sauce lol.
Yeah they definitely aren't the best! I'll have to use other veggie blends moving forward that don't have peas. But a good idea to puree them into pasta sauce!
Agree on the dollar tree frozen peas being quite hard. They do soften over time and if i use them i almost always use the slow cooker to allow them to cook out. Great low cost ideas! thx
I don't mind eating the same meal multiple times a week either...like if we have chili, I like having chili for at least one meal a day until it is gone (sometimes 2 meals a day)...I know there are people that do not like leftovers or want variety, but if I like something, I can eat it often.
I'm the same. It doesn't bother me, and there is no food waste. I also don't have to think!😂😂
Loved the Fried Bologna Sandwiches. Our Hood Classic snack/meal when I was a kid. Only thing missing is some potato chips and a cold soda. Eating real good
I love your videos! Great recipe ideas!
I can def eat the same thing for a week which is why I mostly make huge batches of something in my crockpot, eat it for a week, then freeze anything left for another day. I don't do breakfasts, but will eat a main meal once a day and then the rest of the day will be devoted to smaller snacks or non-cooked items. I'm glad I can do that as it really saves me from having to cook something every single day. I can also second the spicy in the food...I like spicy too. 😃
i love your videos because you reminds me of me at my most creative. i've had so many tough times but so much good food
Love your honesty
I usually run the frozen peppers and onions under water to thaw and then dry on a clean towel or paper towel before adding to the pan. I would call that 1st dish hash, maybe break the bigger fries in half. ketchup and potatoes are like peanut butter and jelly, they NEED each other ! Mayonnaise works great when making grilled sandwichs but it has to be mayo not a dressing like miracle whip. Mustard makes a good dip for grilled cheese. My gbrats like the rolled grilled cheese and a ketchup dipping pile. I was going to make the sauage with peppers, onions, pasta and a mustard bbq sauce for dinner last week when I was watching the gbrats but then 2 of them went with their dad so the 2 little guys and I had tuna and cheese ramen... those sausage grate well to go further, they also make a very tasty spread
Your cheese roll ups with a nice bowl of tomato soup is really good. I added spices to my tomato soup and also a couple of diced Roma tomatoes that I sautéd in a skillet with a little olive oil and added to my soup.
Me too🤗
Try adding a spoon or two of salsa to tomato soup and crushed tortilla chips (and a little shredded cheese) on top. Delicious!
So many awesome ideas here, thank you!
Actually, the spahetti I made could be a dollar tree meal!
Ingredients:
Seasoning blend veg
Spaghetti
Sausage (Morrell's?)
Tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce
Oregano
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Salt
Olive oil
Diced garlic ( yes, they have this at dollar tree)
Mexican blend cheese
(You could buy some Texas toast garlic parmesan flavor to eat with it)
Makes about 4-5 servings
😊
You can use mayo as a substitute for butter when making grilled cheese.
Every mother knos only one slice of baloney or at most slice n half down the middle= 6 sandwiches!!!! Rollups excellent idea!!!! Potatoe bowls special treat on weekends!!!! I had just mustard on my baloneys!!!! Lolol whole lot of dog ears!!!!!!
Great plan - I find that seasoning when reheating works well when it’s not a soup. Soups flavouring develops in the fridge improving every day. This must be considered especially for salt! When working on such a tight budget, repetition is necessary if you want a balanced diet. Also using fresh vegetables, with the exception of corn and tomatoes, stretches a lot further, than frozen or canned.
You made me so hungry for the breakfast!!! it looks amazing and your face said how great it tasted. I am an old country woman and I was thinking of doing this version but adding county gravy to it...
i make the tater pepper and sausage "hash" alot. top with a few soft fried eggs and some toast. use the tater tots to just thaw and use meat masher to make the hash, add "spam" , peppers and onion.
I like your meal plan I am definitely going to use the cheesy bread my daughter loves cheese so this is perfect
I made the cheese roll ups. I used the white bread but I put mozzarella cheese inside. OMG! So good!! Thanks for your great ideas!
I have watched a lot of these challenge videos. I will say that these items you made are different then others so I enjoyed that. I have also had trouble with peas from there. But all in all I liked your video. Will look forward to others you might do.
Good, simple ideas for a person on a time/money crunch.
I think cheese was a good idea for a flavor enhancer because on a low budget plan you need more fat and more calories and more protein and cheese is really good for all of those things. The individual slices help manage the portion control but using a real cheese is also good idea if it’s a time issue more than it is a budget issue.
Whenever I look at you finishing up these meals, the issues are usually pretty consistent with blandness and repetitiveness. I know we all like round numbers, but I wonder what other items would maybe have added to that like with more vegetables or a different kind of cheese or a thing of salsa. It is a very low budget, but it makes one thing how much more each additional item could add to that diet whether it was flavor or nutrition. I think the volume was pretty adequate.
Good video. I feel like if you bought the tortilla shells and a bag of dried beans you could do alot. Add the beans to soup for added iron, use another portion of the beans to mash up to make refried beans so you can have like cheese and bean burritos, or can even add beans to sausage with the peppers and make like a jambalaya type dish too.
I think you have done an amazing job with the $10 budget! Wow i can not believe how much food you made with all that!
Love the grilled cheese roll ups!! I never wouldve thought of this!! Also love tge sausagexpasta dish; the cheese is a nice finishing touch!!
idea:use the mozzarella sticks and cut in half long way and make some garlic butter to fry them in and the pasta sauce..home made mozzarella sticks 😋 👌 👍
Thank you for cross posting from Tik Tok to TH-cam! I love your videos
Can't wait to try your awesome ideas!!! Thank you for sharing .
To me soup is soup, I wouldn’t have put so much pasta in the soup. And to me as you said the vegetables wasn’t cooked long enough.in soup I don’t want my vegetables crunchy. But all in all I love to watch your channel,I live along and you give me lots of ideas of things to make for one. God bless
Great choice of the cheese as a flavor-enhancer because cheese is also a protein!
And the fat from it will help keep you satiated too! 🧡
Fried bologna!!! I grew up on that!!! Love it to this day❤
Some great ideas, thanks. ❤️🙏
A bag of flour would go along way. A person can make unleavened bread and quick noodles with just flour water and salt.
You caught my attention with the "Grilled Cheese Roll-ups"....I've never heard of them before you showcased it. My 9 y/o LOVES grilled cheese and when you pulled the bread slices out i thought it was just that....but THIS looks FUN!.....
You are right about acidic foods (tomatoes in general) not being good for cast iron. The caveat to that is a WELL SEASONED cast iron skillet. I noticed the cast iron seasoning flaking a bit (just be careful of that) but otherwise you can cook tomato based products in it. A better reference would be another TH-cam influencer..."Cowboy Kent Rollins".....any and all cast iron cooking questions to include CAST IRON CARE....can be found there.
KEEP THESE VIDS COMING!!!!! This channel is a GOLD MINE for cheap and flavorful eats!
You have great ideas and I have tried a few.. very good❤
If you did the same thing with the sausage frys peppers and put about 5 to six beaten eggs and cheese maybe with a table spoon flour and 1/4 tsp baking soda pour on top in a cake pan and put cheese on it and bake that is soo good you can put on a bun too as a breakfast sandwich. You can cut breakfast portions in zip lock baggies freeze and microwave.
I bet if you had some spaghetti sauce you could add water to half and make tomatoes soup with grilled cheese or add some rotel and have casadias.
I am going to do that save the rest of spaghetti sauce for a pasta meal.
Maybe make bologna grilled cheese sandwiches.
Oh wow you are making a soup. Lol
I sometimes get the little cans of tomatoes sauce and make my own pasta sauce. Cheaper.
You could shop at Walmart and Dt and show meals using Walmarts cheapest items.
So you could incorporate produce.
Fried rice and pot stickers is a go to meal, I like to make with Dt items. But I do get my peas carrots frozen at grocery store it's cheaper.
I really like your channel you have great ideas.
I love fried bologna. Especially on a grilled cheese. Looked like your buddy to your right was wanting to try your meals too. How cute.
If a person needed to be budgeted but could add $3-4 I would get another loaf of bread for toast to add to breakfast or with soup. For additional protein I would pick up eggs and a can of bean (or make) to add to the soup and breakfast if desired. I might want to skip the hot dog type meat and use beans instead.
Definitely going to make the cheese roll ups with sauce for my 16 month old grandson. He loves cheese and to dip his foods. I never would have thought to roll out the slices of bread. You are so clever! ❤️
I doubt you will see this, but I used to rate foods on 4 criteria, same as you:
1) how great it tasted
2) how filling it was
3) how healthy it is
4) how much $ it cost
I find it’s not super hard to find 3 (for example Fiber Gourmet pasta is delicious, filling and super healthy, but $$$), but all 4 is much harder.
I used to love the Michelina’s meatloaf dinner because it was all 4! Then they added pork to it which I can’t eat. Oh well.
Great video again, Rebecca.
You can cook dried beans or can black beans to add protein to the meals
Thank you for this video! Good job! I’ve learned so much from your Dollar Tree vids!
Thank you for sharing this budget friendly recipe. Budgeting better with my groceries has been on my mind with the rising prices. This kind of video is very helpful for me and I am sure many other people right now. I try to budget best I can but I know I can always learn. I’m making lots of food for my cooking channel so I use a lot of food, so every penny I can save on groceries counts. I hope that we can continue to learn from each other. Never stop learning and growing!
You can use a cast iron skillet when using tomato-based foods. You just can’t leave it in the pan for a long length of time. My Mom used hers for everything.
❤ all them!
Your dog is so cute. Standing by you like I would like to try some.