Chicken noodle casserole

Stop by step chicken noodle casserole.  Defrost peas and place them  in bottom of greased (Pam) baking dish,  

Divide bag of noodles in half.  ( I weighed six  ounces since three of us eat meat. ) 

I boiled water, salted it, amd cooked noodles until they were tender. ( you can cut the, easily with a fork.) 

I defrosted the chicken I cut from bones while de-boning  chicken breasts.  ( cooked) 

Prepare cream base from mix.   Let it come to a boil and thicken.   

I added a couple of handfuls of grated cheese.   

Stor all imgredients together in baking dish.   

Make 1/4 cup bread crumb topping :   Bread crumbs, parm cheese, and  1 T ranch dressing mix. 

The cream soup base, bread crumbs and ranch dressing mix are homemade.   

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Total cost 1.50.   

I would serve it with some Italian bread and / or broccoli.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.