On Mar 6, 7:41*am, "kilikini" > wrote:
> I know we just had a thread covering this topic a few months ago and I
> should Google it all. *That being said, it's a disgusting meal, but we've
> been forced to resort to it. *This will be tomorrow's dinner.
>
> We have a couple of cans of water-packed tuna, some egg noodles, canned
> peas, canned carrots, canned corn, 1 can of mushroom soup and a sleeve of
> saltine crackers - so, I'm thinking tuna noodle casserole. * Hey, it's
> filling, it's food, and truth be told, we had to go to a food bank to get
> *this* much.
>
> I need your input - with no flames, please.
>
> I've got lots of herbs and spices so bring on your best tuna noodle
> casserole recipes.
>
> kili

Hi,

You aren't forced to eat this if you don't want. Some ideas:

1. Instead of noodles, choose rice. It can be made into stir-fry
dishes w/ some soy sauce, also cooking the rice in the boullion. The
vegetables can suffice, and even one piece of meat, i.e., chicken
breast, can be shredded into it. Also add beans if you want.

2. Pasta with veggies is good. No one said there had to be meat in a
meal. Pasta with crushed garlic and grated cheese; pasta with peas and
ham in a white sauce (just a bit of chopped ham goes a long way),
pasta in marinara sauce with a veggie instead of meat.

3. Pasta carbonara: cooked bacon and chopped onion in a cream sauce or
"cream" sauce (flour, butter, milk, salt). Also pasta alfredo: cream,
pasta, grated cheese. Add peas and/or crushed garlic, or anything else
to the basic recipe. Very inexpensive and wonderful.

4. Quesadillas: 2 small corn torillas, with (rice, cheese, chopped
tomato, canned corn, beans, chopped potato, bits of whatever chopped/
shredded meat you want, garlic, peas). Choose quesadilla filling from
among items in parentheses, i.e., a potato-corn-cheese quesadilla is
fabulous.
Pan-fry (with or without oil) the filled tortillas till insides are
melted or hot, and tortilla is cooked. Squeeze lemon or lime on it and
eat.

5. Kale/garlic sauce with pasta: fry some bacon or sausage, set aside.
Roughly chop kale and crush garlic, and fry it in a bit of the meat
fat till kale is tender. Put crumbled, cooked meat back in. Serve with
the pasta and some cheese.

6. Breakfast for dinner: pancakes, waffles, funnel cakes, with sausage
or bacon, just a little meat it ok, or no meat. Kids go mad for this.

7. Day-old breads. Just heat them up, and they are crunchy and fresh-
tasting. Especially bagels, which are discounted deeply after a day.

The things that will chew up your budget are canned items, meat, or
processed items. Try to get fresh produce, in season or on sale, or on
day-old shelves. Check out ethnic cooking: Indian, Mexican, Italian,
etc. Lots of these cuisines don't rely on meat or "products" and are
cheaper, tasty, and way healthier. Stock up on rice, beans, pasta when
available at the food bank or on sale: they last forever. Olive oil
may seem expensive, but I substitute it for butter in many recipes,
dip bread in it, and the "extra light" olive oil can be used for
anything at all, no taste or odor. It also has proven health
benefits.

I hope this helps; I have had a tight food budget for years as a SAH
mom, and have tried to have healthy and interesting food.