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I hate cooking. I hate it with a burning passion in my soul. I’ve always looked at cooking as a chore that takes too much time for too little reward. I promise you that if I didn’t have a family, take out would be my best friend. In contrast, I love to bake and always have. This is probably because I love desserts, so the time is actually worth the reward.
Although I hate cooking, I do it for my family every single day and continue to look for ways to make it easier. Whenever I look for a new recipe, it needs to be fast, require minimal ingredients, and be frugal to make. I’ve had some major flops along the way, but over the years I’ve found a few go-to recipes that fill these requirements.
Here are 6 easy frugal recipes that my family and I love.
1. Cheesy chicken, rice, and biscuit bake
Of course this recipe is a favourite of mine because it’s my own creation. I took a recipe I found online here, adjusted it for our family, and it’s since become the #1 requested meal in our house. This recipe is perfect for anyone looking to feed a lot of people with a very small amount of money. It’s super hearty and filling, extremely cheap to make, and results is very few dishes (my favourite).
2. Cheesy Bacon Spinach Dip
A few years ago, I went on the hunt for a homemade version of my favourite appetizer – a restaurant style spinach dip. You know the kind – hot, melty cheese with warm pitas…mmmmm. As soon as I found this one, the search was over. I personally always omit the bacon, and I promise you it’s delicious both with and without it. This is the perfect dish for a potluck and it also re-heats very well for leftovers.
3. Pumpkin cream cheese swirl muffins
Don’t wait for the Fall to make these muffins – they’re so good. I always do a double batch because my family will kill these in a day. I’ve tested this recipe with both pumpkin puree (in the original recipe) and pumpkin pie filling (goes on sale for cheaper!) and they came out very similar, so buy whichever is on sale.
4. Homemade creamy tomato soup
Just reading this recipe makes me want to make this soup ASAP. As you can see, I’m a big fan of recipes that consist of things I would already have at home. This recipe is extremely simple, very inexpensive to make, and usually only requires me to buy canned tomatoes. The portion size is already huge, but I personally add cooked pasta every time to make it more of a meal. It’s definitely a step up from canned soup!
5. Super soft peanut butter cookies
These are easily husband’s all time favourite item for me to bake. These cookies come out of the oven soft and stay soft for days after. I’ve tried at least 30 different peanut butter cookie recipes and this one reigns supreme. You can whip these up and be eating them in under 20 minutes.
6. Banana banana bread
Lets be real – everyone is always “freezing bananas to make banana bread” and then winds up having 4823920 bananas in their freezer. They’re already in your house and ready to go, so clear some of those bananas out and make this bread right now. With over 16k reviews on AllRecipes, I trusted this recipe right away and it didn’t disappoint. Under 10 ingredients is always a win.
Have you tried any of these? Link me your go-to easy frugal recipes!