Quick & Easy Meals Under $15
All meals can be modified to fit your budget & family preference.
Prices based on my local Walmart in Northern Kentucky.
🍕🍝Recipes Below🍲🍗
I pick these meals based around the seasonings I already have at home. Salt/Pepper/Garlic etc. And additional items at home such as milk, eggs, flour, butter.
Alfredo Stuffed Shells- Boil pasta until al dente. Remove from water, drain & rinse with cool water to stop cooking. Set aside to cool while you prepare the filling. Debone chicken and shred or cut into small but size pieces. In bowl with chicken add 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup of Alfredo sauce and depending how much chicken you have used 1/2-1 cup of cottage cheese. Add desired seasonings (I used salt, pepper, onion powder & garlic to taste) combine all ingredients. You want the consistency of the mixture to be like tuna or chicken salad. Wet but not runny. In a greased baking dish put a thin layer of Alfredo sauce. Fill each shell with a tablespoon of the chicken mixture. Place in rows side by side until pan is completely filled. You may have leftover shells. That’s fine. I always cook extra shells in case I have shells that tear. Use remaining Alfredo sauce to over the top of all shells. I use a spoon to spread sauce over and try to push sauce between shells without disturbing them. Cover in mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. When cheese is bubbly and starting to brown on the top I will turn on broil for 1-2 minutes watching carefully. Remove and let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Chicken Tortilla Soup- Place the chicken thighs in a pot and cover with water. Let the water be at least 1-2 inches above the chicken. Add in salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder. Cover the pot with its lid and boil chicken on medium heat for 20 minutes. After this time, check if it's cooked through and then remove the thighs from the water. Set aside chicken to cool. At this point you will follow the tortilla soup directions on the back of package. I use the reserved chicken broth made from the boil in place of water in the soup. But depending how much broth was made from boiling the chicken you may need to sub with some water also. While soup is simmering shred chicken and add to soup. Serve soup with cheese, sour cream if desired and tortilla chips.
Creamy Italian Sausage Bake- Boil pasta. While pasta is cooking in a separate skillet cook and drain Italian Sausage. Once drained add in pasta sauce, diced tomatoes & cream cheese. Stir until every is well blended. I wouldn’t worry about the cream cheese being melted in at this point because it is going in the oven. In a greased baking dish add drained pasta and cover with meat mixture. Combine well and top with mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve garlic bread.
Pizza Ring- Unroll crescent rolls and place on greased baking sheet in a circle (see last slide) you may have to over lap a little or you can make 2 pizza rings! Place a thin layer of sauce on unroll dough, top with pepperoni, shredded cheese & Italian seasoning. Fold thin side of dough towards the inside of the circle all the way around until you have a ring. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Check Pizza Ring for browning along the way. You may have to adjust cooking time for different brands of rolls. When golden brown remove from oven, serve slices with leftover sauce for dipping.
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