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$5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals and Cooking Tutorials for the Busy Home Chef

MyFreezEasy - Save Money, Eat Healthy with Freezer Meals

Italian Meatballs & Pasta

May 4, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs from 5DollarDinners.com

These giant meatballs are simply amazing. Because of the way the slow cooker cooks meatballs, you can make really large meatballs and serve one or two on each plate on top of a pile of spaghetti. The combo of Italian sausage and ground beef is perfect. And you can use whatever flavor of marinara sauce you'd like - roasted garlic would be amazing, garden marinara would be … [Read more...]

Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce

April 4, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

The slow cooker saves my sanity on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis. One of the favorite ways to use my slow cooker is for making double batches of sauce and chili and soup and roast and...well, all the things ;) My large slow cooker allows me to make big ole batches of our family's favorite recipes. I can serve a portion of the batch for dinner that night, and let the … [Read more...]

15 Bean Minestrone Soup

February 12, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 4 Comments

See that soup right up there...this is a soup that resulted in a "fight over the leftovers" ;) My husband and I had to duke it out for what was leftover from this soup. This is a hearty and filling soup that we gobbled up! It makes a ton so there were some leftovers after my boys were through with it. Oh, and if I ever write a "Feeding Teenage Boys on a Budget" cookbook, … [Read more...]

Gnocchi Mac n Cheese

February 5, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

Alright my friend. Let me tell you about this homemade mac n cheese sauce. The closest thing I can describe it to would be the Stouffer's freezer mac n cheese flavor. Except this is so much better, and fresher, and tastier. (aka not-processed sauce, so better tasting!) If you've never made a homemade cheese sauce, don't fret...I'm going to talk you through it. It looks … [Read more...]

Homemade Chicken & Spinach Macaroni and Cheese

January 31, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 1 Comment

I've got one more brand new recipe to share with you as part of this month's 31 Days of Rotisserie Chicken recipes. I adore homemade macaroni and cheese. I love 'fiddling' with the cheese sauce. I love mixing and matching cheeses and this one just might be my favorite...I'm still drooling over this combo of white cheddar and sharp cheddar. The Homemade Bacon & Spinach … [Read more...]

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rollups

January 18, 2016 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 1 Comment

Holy delicious!!!! These lasagna rollups will not disappoint! They are the perfect "company supper" and won't cost you a fortune as you feed your family, friends or a crowd. They are made in 3 "phases" and because you're using rotisserie chicken and pre-made Alfredo sauce, they are super simple...using only 4 ingredients :) Phase 1: Cook, rinse and drain the lasagna … [Read more...]

Crab Cake Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

November 10, 2015 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

I am super-de-duper stoked to share this recipe with you. I knew right away what crab recipe I would feature...a recipe that is both budget friendly (yeah for cheap pasta and getting cheese on sale!), but would also be pleasing to my Maryland-raised husband! Hello, crab cake mac n cheese... This delicious-ness right here is like a crab cake and a bowl of mac n cheese had … [Read more...]

Minestrone Soup

October 26, 2015 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 2 Comments

I adore a bowl of Minestrone soup. I adore pretty much any bowl of soup. And that's why I've loved this month...sharing all these amazing soup recipes with you. My taste buds and tummy are happy, and I hope yours will be too...as you try these new recipes! I like to make my Minestrone soup with butter as the fat base for sauteing the veggies. It some how adds just the … [Read more...]

Italian Meatball Soup

October 16, 2015 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

First, let me start by saying this is not Italian Wedding Soup. (See that recipe here.) This is a more tomato-y version of Italian Wedding Soup. It's thicker and more like spaghetti and meatballs in soup form. And using small shell pasta instead of spaghetti. Also, I'm very much a 'make your own' kind of girl. But this week, something had to give. I've been traveling more … [Read more...]

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

October 12, 2015 by Jenn K Leave a Comment

I love a great bowl of chicken noodle soup. And not just when I'm not feeling well. (Although, it certainly does make me feel better when I'm under the weather.) Now that we're coming up on the winter months, I'll be getting a 'stash' of onions, celery and carrots into the freezer so that I'll have them handy when I need to make another round of this delicious-wonder-pot. … [Read more...]

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