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Are we calling it a depression yet?
Many times, what makes a dish frugal is our willingness to make it from scratch. Willingness to make it from scratch is often married to how easy it is to accomplish.
Here are a couple of really simple family favorites.
Carrot salad is a very frugal side dish and carrots are usually fairly cheap in the Autumn.
Carrot Salad
- 6 – 8 nice big carrots
- 1 cup mayo or Miracle Whip
- 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
Peel and grate your carrots, stir in the white stuff of your choice. The rest is optional, don’t let the absence of any of these items prevent you from making this dish. It’s yummy with extras, but not dependent on them.
- ½ cup – 1 cup raisins
- 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
- ¼ cup (or so) chopped walnuts
- 1 apple, diced
Just mix it all together and cover it and set it in the fridge for an hour or so before supper. You could eat it right away, but the extra time lets the carrots soften a bit.
This next one is a recipe my granny used to make for me. It’s my favorite of hers.
Sweet Rice
- 2 cups medium grain white rice
- 4 cups water
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- cinnamon and sugar
Prepare the rice according to the package instructions. Once the rice is done stir in the milk and sugar and continue cooking for about 15 minutes, until most of the milk is absorbed, but not all. Pour into a serving bowl and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. You really need to let this sit for at least ½ an hour, otherwise it’s like eating lava. (ask me how I know) It’s also very good cold.
I tell my Pirates that this is what they serve in Heaven. Yup, it’s that good! They know I’m kidding. Don’t they? Maybe I should explain “tongue in cheek” to my sheltered homeschool Pirates. 
Now you know I love ya, ‘cuz I’ve just given away my most valuable family recipe!
Please go visit Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday to learn a jillion other handy-dandy helpful ideas.
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Hi Anna, that sounds delicious. I love lentils!
Hi, don’t know if you take unsolicited advice from blog lurkers but I know you have posted about beans and rice before, so have you ever tried mujadrah? My fam is lebanese so we used to eat it a lot – its basically fried onions with lentils and rice, served with plain yogurt. Try googling it, might have a different spelling because it is a transliteration… anyways whatever.
Wow – am I glad I found you today – Thanks for posting on WFMW. I have always wondered about that carrot salad, but always when it wasn’t easy to rush off to google to search for it & having such a short memory, it never got accomplished. I have never ever heard of that rice dish. I’m game!!
Thanks so much!!
Kristin
The sweet rice sounds wonderful. I ‘ve been making a rice pudding recipe that uses chocolate chips and it’s yummy. Bet this one is just as tasty. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve saved the sweet rice recipe. It sounds wonderful! Thanks!
yummy thanks for the sweet rice recipe… i can’t wait!
Found you via WFMW! Love the recipes… I have found that my kiddos will eat carrots when there is no fruit in the fridge, and since they are so cheap, they are a frequent snack here!
Oh I love sweet rice. That was a special treat we got as children.
Hi Melissa,
I just sprinkle the cinnamon on the sweet rice, but that’s how I like it. If you like a really cinnamon-y taste then try it that way. It’s just on the top, if you don’t like it you can scrape it off, or you could just try it on one serving.
Enjoy!
I’m not so sure about carrots, but that rice recipe sounds fabulous! How much cinnamon do you use? Enough barely to flavor it, or does the whole dish taste a lot like cinnamon. I think if I were doing it, I’d coat it with cinnamon and sugar… like a churro. Maybe that’s not the point though…
pasta salad is a favorite of mine for lunch and it costs $3 for a weeks worth – $1 for the pasta, $0.50 each for a green pepper and a cucumber, around $1 or less for the italian dressing i use, but the small amout of italian seasoning i use.
They certainly would be serving that in my idea of heaven! Thanks for sharing
I love carrot salad! Thanks for sharing.
Any rice down here in Louisiana better have gravy on top!! LOLOL
TFS
I love making things from scratch. They always seem to taste better and you know what is going into them. THanks for sharing your recipes!
Mmmm. Carrot salad. Haven’t had that in forever! Thanks for the recipe. I wouldn’t have guessed it was that simple.
This carrot salad recipe sounds wonderful! I just found your blog today and really enjoyed it. I’m sure I’ll visit again.
In my family we always had warm rice with cold milk poured over and sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon sprinkled on top. It’s so tasty! I’m going to give your method a try =)
Sounds yummy and easy to make thanks for the recipes. Have a great day.
Grammy
What neat recipes! I’m always looking for basic frugal eats..
I’ll def be trying the rice one…
thanks!
There’s nothing better than a homemade meal from scratch. At least that is what I tell my kids when I say no to McDonald’s.