Searching fast cheap meal ideas? Busy moms often don’t have the energy at the end of the day to cook a family meal from scratch. Our busy lifestyle makes it difficult to put 4-course meals on the table every night like our mothers did. Wouldn’t it be nice to cook a quick meal that even children will enjoy? Kids are known to be picky eaters, and most inexpensive recipes include things kids don’t like.

Noodles are typically the fastest cook recipe ingredient because it only takes 10 minutes to have a plate of hot, steaming noodles ready to top with your favorite sauces. Cheap meal ideas can be made delicious and healthy by adding vegetables, protein like chicken, beef, or eggs, and cheese.

Make your own kid-friendly meals by adding some leftover meat, veggies, and your favorite dressings or sauces and you’ve got a personalized dinner that took less than 30 minutes from kitchen to table. There are few pots to use so cleanup is easy too. Here are some cheap and easy noodle meal ideas:

Spaghetti and chili

Ingredients:

Cooked spaghetti noodles

Canned chili

Grated cheese

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes. Heat 1 or 2 cans (15 oz) chili pepper over medium heat until heated through. Drain the noodles and toss with butter, season with salt and pepper. To serve, pour 1 tablespoon of chili into each noodle bowl, top with shredded cheddar or mozzarella.

Stir fry noodles

Ingredients:

Leftover hamburger, beef, or chicken

Bag of Frozen Sauteed Vegetables

Hot cooked noodles

Favorite stir-fry sauce

Chopped onion and garlic

Soy sauce

Thaw vegetables in a colander under running water for 5 minutes or until tender. Cook over medium heat in a tablespoon of oil. Add the minced garlic and onion to the vegetables and cook until the onions are translucent. To fry the sauce in the skillet, add the leftover meat and cook until hot. To serve, pour the sauce mixture into a hot noodle dish and top with soy sauce and your favorite seasonings. Sliced ​​almonds or sesame seeds make a good garnish for the finished dish.

Advice:

Cook up a batch of hot buttered noodles and let the kids top it with their favorite toppings like shredded cheese, chili, canned chicken, seasoned taco meat, jarred Alfredo sauce, creamy soups, or any other dressing or sauce you can think of . In my family, we have a leftover night where we take everything out of the fridge and serve it buffet style and let everyone serve themselves. I make a pot of noodles or rice and some garlic bread to make a hearty meal.