Fun video idea: give each child a five dollar meal challenge they have to plan and cook for the family dinner. Will be interesting to see what they have learned and how they succeed.

I’m currently in college and 4 of us rent a 3 bedroom house. I grew up cooking with my mom so all of us split the cost of things like flour, eggs, and milk and then I make things like bread or waffles and then freeze them. It’s cheaper and healthier than eggos and we know all the ingredients in it. We also frequent the clearance isle and discount store down the street.

Frugal fit kids: if you're doing any camera work or helping in a video, make sure to put on your resume "interned with local entertainment company" (Frugal fit Cinematic Universe?) and write down all the tasks aka skills you learned. It's really good for college/honors program applications as well as jobs and whatnot!

Thank you for the continual reassurance that it's okay to make basic, simple meals, especially when you're starting out. It's very helpful to not be looked down on for using things like knorr pasta sides or similar

This brings back so many memories. When I was first married 40 years ago , I got pregnant right away and we survived on generic mac and cheese, 19 cents a box and tuna cakes. Basically, a drained can of tuna, a slice of bread torn into little pieces and an egg. Shape into patties and fry in a little oil. My son came out looking just fine!

When I was growing up and we'd go through a time when things were super tight, my mom fed us cocoa and toast for breakfast. The cocoa was homemade, and was always a very special occasion type thing...so we always thought it was a magical special breakfast, when in reality we were out of food.

The nonjudgmental way you approached this video was so kind. When you weren’t taught how to cook growing up and you’re on your own for the first time, it’s easy to feel ashamed for resorting to some pb and apples, but I really appreciate how you recognize that meal is sometimes a reality and that’s okay. Love the videos 😄

This is bringing up so many college memories. My roommate and I made “spaghetti sauce” out of tomato paste, water, and garlic powder, onion powder, and dried oregano. One year I had to feed myself and my puppy on $5 for a week. Luckily eggs were on sale that week. Pup and I ate plain scrambled eggs twice a day. We were delighted when I got paid so I could buy us some more food!

👀👀 I got my my eyes out for Carolee in the comments 👀👀😂

Louisiana native here. My mom made red beans like this and they were fine, but red beans are REALLY elevated by adding some thyme and sage. It gives such a depth of flavor and reminds me of red beans served in New Orleans.

This video is taking me back. To avoid having to wash a pan to make grilled cheese, my roommates and I would toast our bread in the toaster, place the cheese between the toasted slices, and then nuking the sandwich in the microwave. No pan needed. This was the height of college laziness. Oh, whoops, efficiency.

... "and then my pants didn't fit anymore." It's funny because it's true!! I can SOOO relate.

The real theme of this video: Oh! This is still hot.

My favorite college meal (still love it).. microwave some potatoes, cut open and put canned black beans on top. Put any kind of cheese on top and microwave. Then pour hot sauce (probably stolen from a taco bell) all over it. FIESTA POTATOES!

Any food is appropriate for breakfast lunch and dinner

I joined the Army after high school. The first time I couldn't come home for Thanksgiving I was living off post (and newly married). I decided to cook my own turkey for the first time. I called my grandpa several times that day with questions. 😂🤣 I think he loved it though.

When my husband and I were first together I made zatarains boxed rice meals a lot. Hubby loved the red beans and rice that they have. Very inexpensive and super easy to cook since everything came in the box. He also love mac-n-cheese with cooked ground beef mixed in. Cheap, easy and family friendly.

I remember a house full of boys in college who all got scurvy bc they were eating Kraft Mac & Cheese + beer 24/7. No joke. (I think it started as a challenge and ended with malnutrition - LOL)

When I was in college I would bring zip lock bags to the chow hall and fill them up for mid night study snacks

I do the Parmesan pasta roni with imitation crab. I sauté the crab in some butter and make the pasta then add the crab in. Pretty darn good.

My mom worked nights when I was in high school so my brother and I took turns cooking. One of our regular dishes was Kraft Mac-n-cheese with hot dogs cut up into it.

One of my favorite things to make in college was "burrito enchiladas" where I'd just take 4-6 of those frozen burritos, stick them in a casserole dish, and cover them in enchilada sauce I made from a budget bytes recipe (basically just 1 can of tomato paste with seasonings), sprinkle it with cheese, and bake it. It was so good! And I always had about half the enchilada sauce leftover so I could do it twice. I also did a similar thing with perogies where I'd make "pizza perogies". Put them in a casserole dish, cover them with a can of tomato sauce, and sprinkle cheese and bake them. Perogies are so yummy and where I live in Canada you can get a bag of 30 perogies for about $3.

Broccoli pasta dish, everybody has finished their broccoli and still have some pasta left on their plates. Love it

YAY college student stuff! Thank you! ***le broke community College girl trying to graduate in the spring*** Edit: toast tastes better cut into triangles. Edit 2.0: English muffins, a slice of cheese, microwave sausage patty (add an egg if you want.) ... toast yo muffin, then cook the sausage in the microwave. Assemble and enjoy! (Maybe nuke another few seconds to melt cheese.) Instant fettuccine pasta side, cooked chopped pork chop, sautéed brussels... mix together and yea. Yum. SO yum. Pancakes. You can make 100000 of them for like 4 bucks. Dried split peas, ham hock, chicken stock, chopped ham (steak, or sandwich is fine) carrots, celery, onions. (Ham and split pea soup. 10/10)

I used to eat Top Ramen noodles and put frozen veggies in there while it cooked. Yumm!

Cocoa and toast was my favorite breakfast growing up. My mom would cut my toast into 3 "sticks" and I would dunk them in the hot chocolate. It gets soggy fast, so it's dunk and eat quickly. OMG it was the best!!!

Some of my College food: Rice + seasoned veggies, Rice + rice vinegar + drained can tuna rolled in seaweed wrapper =mock cheap sushi, Rice+ butter + soy sauce, Rice + canned chili stuffed into bell pepper, microwave potato + chili from can, mashed potatoes + ground beef + can of cream of mushroom soup for gravy, english muffin pizzas, top ramen with an egg cracked into it let set a few minutes until cooked to your liking, Top ramen + frozen veggies, Top ramen + chicken, egg salad with crackers, Rice a roni + drained tuna, Tuna fish salad with crackers, Pancakes + jam + cool whip, Yogurt + cool whip, Frozen cool whip+ banana + caramel sauce, Soft boiled eggs + crackers, Toasted english muffins + pb, Toasted english muffin + cream cheese, Cinnamon sugar toast, Hamburger made with an english muffin bun, French toast made with english muffins, I could never eat a whole loaf of bread before it went bad so I stuck to crackers, and english muffins during college. Almost everything was cooked in a toaster or microwave oven.

When I was in college, I stir fried a lot of cheap veggies; I made large batches of them to eat throughout the week. I remember my first stir fry was Bell peppers and onions with oyster sauce. I ate it with rice and a fried egg. I learned to start cooking based on stir fries after that.

😂 Me thinking 'didn't she say she gained a bunch of weight in college?' Christine, "this was when I gained 30lbs in two months..." My husband and I lived together while still in college and we ate a lot of hot pockets 😂😂

Oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter & jam mixed in. 👍

I lived like a king during my college years. I lived with my parents and my mother packed lunch for me.

My go to college meal was: microwave rice and then dumped a whole can of cream of chicken soup on top. Usually served with green beans

My college go to meal...store brand box of Mac and cheese with a can of drained tuna mixed in. I would add a bag of microwave steamer peas when I was feeling fancy!

Cocoa and toast!!! I used to eat that all the time in grade school. Dipping the buttery toast in the cocoa first is so good!!!

1) homemade English muffin pizzas 2) cream of tomato soup + canned diced tomatoes + fresh basil

Lived in a apertment with 3 others going to university/collage. One day I wanted cinnamon rolls but only had cinnamon, sugar, butter and tortillas at home. So I buttered the tortillas and then springkled it with cinnamon and sugar and cooked it in the oven at 175°C (about 347°F) till golden on the top. It ended up as a favourite snack, especially with coffe or tea in the afternoon.

I bought the Michelina’s meals for $1 each. They usually have lots of extra sauce, so just put in extra minute rice or angel hair noodles and you can stretch it out a good deal for a more filling meal

I was married for most of my college life (yep, one of those weirdos), but some that I did: I could cook an entire Old El Paso taco dinner in the microwave (it wasn't amazing, but it was a taco) Ham steaks simmered with pineapple juice Totino's Pizza was a staple (please for the love of god, use the oven if you have one) Bagels topped with American Cheese Chicken & Yellow Rice - sauteed chicken in Vigo yellow rice (great for leftovers, and stretches the chicken) Sausage & Rice - Hillshire Farms Polish Kielbasa, sliced into coins and cooked in BBQ sauce, served over minute rice (I still make this and my college-age daughter loves it) No Salad Salad... This one is weird, and a holdover from being poor AND pregnant... Croutons, bacon bits, sliced cheese and salad dressing (I'd often do this at restaurants that had salad bars). No veggies. Nothing healthy. Just all the toppings.

As a current college student, I like to make meals that I have a bunch of leftovers for so I only have to "cook" one or two times a week. My favorites are chili (literally brown meat and dump cans into a pot), a taco mix (brown meat with and dump cans into a pot), and like shepards pie casserole. I am still afraid of cooking chicken though so I gotta get over that fear 😅

My dad’s college roommate introduced him to sausage Mac casserole. You make a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese with a roll of jimmy dean sausage (cooked separately and drained of excess fat) and a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup then you bake it for 30 mins at 350 in a casserole dish and we serve it with 2 cans of del monte green beans. It’s probably my family’s favorite meal.

I lived a poor college student life, and I ate cheaply. Pancakes for lunch or dinner is great. Cheap and very filling. Eggs in any form. Potatoes in any form. Both cheap, nutritious, and filling. Grilled cheese.

This was basically a whole video of Christine burning her mouth after telling us not to. Haha.

I enjoyed this video, Christine. I basically ate ham sandwiches and giant chocolate chip cookies for four years when I was in college. I shudder to think about it now! haha ~ Jennifer

I didn't go to college but I remember cooking like this in the early days of my marriage. I was in my 20's and broke lol.

23 min video??? WOOHOO!!!! and you know I already hit that thumbs up button ;)

Ramen with a fried egg on top! Chicken pot pie! This video was nostalgic:)

Scalding the roof of your mouth from any sort of microwave pizza is half the experience!

Lol this brought back memories. I used to eat this weird tuna salad my freshman year: canned tuna, Mayo, shredded cheddar cheese, sweet relish, salt and pep, and sun chips. Sometimes I’d crush up the chips and mix it in. Sometimes I’d dip my chips in the tuna salad. Sounds weird, but it was so good.

My mother didn’t like to cook so my favorite meal growing up was Dinty Moore stew with a can of refrigerated biscuits. We ate a lot of canned fruit and veggies and I actually liked canned spinach with butter! 🥰

Microwave a potato, heat up a can of chili on the stove or in the microwave, top the potato with chili, cheese and a dalop of sour cream 😁 delicious

Great meals! Most of my college experience, I lived in an apartment that didn't have a kitchen. We had a small room that we used as one, and just used the bathroom sink to get water, do dishes, etc. We had a microwave, crock pot, toaster oven and a hot plate, as well as a dorm-sized fridge. Therefore, I didn't have a lot of space for cold or frozen things, and we didn't have cabinets. I had some shelves I had thrown in there, and a table to put everything on. One of my favorite meals was tuna casserole. I'd put pasta and water in a plastic container in the microwave, and cook it till it was done. Then drain in bathroom sink. Then I'd add 2 cans of tuna, parmesan shaker cheese, garlic salt, and a can of peas. I'd snap the lid on and shake it. It made a good 4-6 meals, depending on how hungry I was.

Not a college kid anymore, but honestly if I was I'd really appreciate these ideas.

I say we start a petition to make "sprinkledee sprinkle" an official measurement!!

Toast w/ hot chocolate continues to be a favorite to this day. Moved up to sourdough and Stephens hot chocolate. Nom!

I remember finding 35 cents around the house and buying Top Ramen. I was getting paid the next day but that is all I had. I mixed it with butter and cream cheese and it wasn’t that bad.

Those chimichangas and burritos are bomb in the air fryer with sour cream, lettuce. Tomatoes, and salsa on top mmmmm

Something I used to do a lot (and I still do this haha). I would cook a pack of rice a roni or the rice sides (but it had to be the spanish flavor), a can of chili beans, and a meat item of my choice (sometimes shredded chicken, sometimes, ground turkey, or ground chicken/beef/pork whatevers cheapest at the time) and mix it with taco seasoning. Bam! My own Mexican Food Bowl, and I made enough to last me like a week. Sometimes, I'll buy tortillas or tostada shells and make tacos or quesadillas and stuff like that. It's real tasty!

This is late but I’m on a frugal fit marathon. I am currently a senior in college and here are my go to meals. Boiled or scrambled eggs on toast. (You can scramble an egg in a mug and microwave it for a minute if you don’t have a stove) add salt and pepper, and it’s amazing Mac and cheese (I usually get Annie’s but I also sometimes get the 34 cent boxes at Walmart when I’m real short on money) I literally always have milk and butter so this is my lazy meal. Sometimes I eat it with chicken nuggets or bbq meatballs but mostly I just eat it by itself tbh BBQ meatballs and mashed potatoes. I have instant mashed potatoes and you can literally just throw the meatballs in the oven, air fryer or microwave with bbq sauce and grape jelly. It’s great, add caned green beans or steamed broccoli if you are craving a veggie Breakfast sandwiches, microwave one egg for a minute (add a slice of cheese for the last like 20 sec), get the already cooked bacon that you microwave and then toast an English muffin or bagel. It’s amazing Grits are a staple when I’m super low on money. I always eat it with eggs and toast and it’s very filling Pasta! I eat so much pasta. I have an apartment with a kitchen so I usually just make Alfredo sauce from scratch with chicken and broccoli. You can also use jarred pasta sauce Chicken Parmesan with frozen chicken nuggets. Just nuggets, sauce, and cheese; throw it in the oven, cook some noodles and there’s dinner. Cream of chicken soup pasta. Egg noodles, a can of cream of chicken soup and chicken if you have any. Serve it with a veggie Biscuit tacos. Brown hamburger meat, drain it, and add taco sauce. Bake biscuits on the bottom of a muffin tin to create cups. Put your meat in the biscuits and top it with cheese. Melt the cheese in the oven and it makes like 2-3 meals. (1 can of biscuits and 1 lb of hamburger meat)

I liveeeeeeddd out of my cheap little red oyster rice cooker in college. I would come home from class or gym, throw a cup of rice (from my gigundo 20 # bag of rice I bought from the Asian market down the street) in the bottom with water, throw frozen veg and/or fish in the steamer basket (that came with it) pop the top on, button down, and go shower. And 10 years later I have refined the cooking time and bought a little nicer rice cooker but essentially am still eating the same thing lol

I had cocoa and toast nearly every morning throughout my childhood years. A little different, though. My mother made "real" cocoa on the stove with Hershey's cocoa powder, sugar and milk. And we would dunk the buttered toast in the cocoa. I never drank the cocoa, and still don't. But, I do still love buttered toast dunked in "real" cocoa. Yum!

When I was in national service and living in an apartment with 8!! other girls, I used to eat cereal in the morning, lunch at where I worked, and then for dinner usually scrambled eggs with cucumber and tomato salad and toast. Alternatively, I'd make pasta with a jar of sauce and melted cheese on top. Such nostalgia. So many eggs. So many cucumbers and tomatoes. I feel like I also ate a lot of tuna fish sandwiches, and when I wanted to splurge, I would buy soy/vegetarian patties and have those. Also, a LOT of grilled cheese. We had a sandwich press so I would just do it in these, with ketchup and cheese. I remember hating to cook in that kitchen because it was so cramped and it was never clean so I would use the microwave and the sandwich press and that was pretty much it. Also, so many leftovers that I would bring from my parents house after being home on the weekend. When I moved into my first studio apartment in college, I finally learned to cook rice and ate a ton of fried rice, stirfry with egg noodles or rice noodles, lots of pasta, lots of omelets, and I also got over my fear of raw chicken and started making chicken breast. I am so glad to have branched out since then....

Lol the knorr packet, I used to throw the veggies in with the rice as it cooked and then also a can of drained chicken. Dinner done.

One of my college go-to meals when I just had the microwave was a potato, as it makes a great canvas for all sorts of things: Canned soups/stews, chili or chili beans; cheese; broccoli & sour cream; eggs & salsa; cottage cheese & tomatoes, etc. For vegetables I often went with lettuce and the standard raw vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, and celery for a simple salad, as they were the cheapest, too.

Don’t worry, I just taught my boyfriend how to cook eggs yesterday. He’s been out of college almost 3 years.

I moved out with my boyfriend at 20, and while I'd cooked some at home, I hadn't needed to fully survive lol so we literally lived on hamburger helper, chicken nuggets, lunchables. It was awful! 7 years later, he raves about my cooking 🥰

Yes PLEASE do another week!! I would like to see how much you actually end up spending for a whole month!! I love your meal ideas and tips!?

Just an FYI, especially for a college student, cook your eggs in the microwave. I still do it. I use a microwave safe mug, put 2 eggs, a splash of milk, bacon, cheese and green onion mixed together and microwave for 45 seconds. Pull the mug out and move the eggs around to cook it evenly then microwave for another 45 secs. Super fluffy eggs and delicious. Of course I add salt and pepper and the bacon is precooked but seriously the easiest way to cook eggs and you can make them with whatever you like.

The knorr rice sides bring me back, too 🥰

Please do more of these videos! Specially suited for a college apartment:)

One of my favorite lazy college meals was cooking spaghetti, and mixing it with some vegan cream cheese, garlic powder, maybe a few other spices, thinned out with some milk of sort (usually almond). but most importantly, lots of black pepper. And topped it off with bacon bits (which happen to be vegan actually). Sort of a lazy carbonara if you will

Long ago I lived in a house with no gas for the stove or oven. I used an electric skillet that was already in the house for everything! A whole cut up chicken with onions, potatoes and carrots, stewed for way too long, produced a heaty savory dish that lasted a several days.

I'm in my last semester of college - this video was very informative lol. It's encouraging to see that you really didn't know how to cook in college and ate a lot of microwave pizzas. There's hope for me yet!

Also, I use the heck out of the Tony Cha Cha (that’s what my best friend, who happens to be cajun, calls it, lol). My new favorite way to use it is to mix it with olive oil and make a paste and smear all over a whole chicken before air frying it. The skin gets all crispy and tastes like cajun bacon. So good.

The kids look so much like their dad, especially the boy in the Batman shirt. Beautiful family!

As a current college student, I really appreciate this one

When I was in undergrad when I finally moved into one of the apartments on campus I would make what i I joke called a dollar tree special. Fettuccine Alfredo with peas and Turkey bacon chopped up. All mixed together. I could find all the things I needed at dollar tree. Haven’t made it in a while since I graduate. I’ve leveled up in grad school and now get my ingredients from Walmart 😂(mostly because there isn’t a dollar tree super close by anymore.)

Ahhh! Thursday night Friends and ER...thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Yes!!!! So excited for this video

For dinner tonight, I had a black bean and mozzarella cheese rolled in a flour tortilla. Love them! I open a can of black beans, rinse well and drain. Then I put them in a storage container and when I get hungry, I just put it all together and microwave it for 30 seconds. I’ve also used up extra shredded chicken too! Back when I was in college, we did not have microwave so everything was cooked...lots of Mac and Cheese! Due to my crazy schedule, I would have bagged popcorn and hot chocolate for breakfast, granola bar and soda for lunch and candy bar with another soda for dinner. It was almost 40 years ago and this brings up so many memories!

Thank you for the work you put in on this Channel

This brought back so many memories for me! I made similarly easy and weird “meals!”

Love love loved this!! Enjoy all of your videos!

1. Ramen: when you put the noodles in also add some frozen veggies of your choice, bonus points if there are peas, beans, or edamame in there to add protein, and some hoisin sauce if you have it and are feeling extra fancy. 2. “deconstructed quesadillas”: microwave some corn tortillas, cut a chunk of your favorite cheese off the block, and you have yourself a fast, no mess snack to walk out the door with.

I'm in love with your earrings during the red beans and rice segment!

I get so excited when I see you have a new vid🤗 you have an awesome aura! (LOL not a hippie) you r so inviting and informative to ALL ages! Keep up the good work! 👍TX!

I always love your stories and advice. Truly easy and delicious meal ideas.

Thank you for this video!! Next year I will be off the meal plan and I am so thankful that I found you!!

That's awesome! I remember Thursday nights 20 years ago!!! I would turn the ringers off on our house phones cause no one was gonna interrupt Friends and ER!

Thanks for the recipes. I did the red bean stew tonight but added a tin of tomatoes to thicken it a little. It was amazing! So worth the time soaking and stewing.

Buttered bread (both sides.). Put it on a baking tray. Slap a slice of American “cheese” on top. Toast or broil until the cheese puffs up. It has to be American slices, or it won’t puff. Take it out just as the puffed top starts to get some darker spots. Let it cool until it won’t burn you and then consume. Best winter breakfast ever.

I learned how to cook before I left home. My mom worked so I would have to start dinner before she came home. My mom would leave directions like: put meat into oven bag with season salt, flour, and 2 onions chopped up, put into the oven. It was a great way to learn to cook real food in a real kitchen before going to college and living off of cheap college food.

So much ramen! Grilled cheese, tomato soup, microwaved hot dogs. I'm glad I've upped my game.

I never did the college thing, but when I was first starting out as a working professional I turned to some rice cooked in chicken broth with a can of tuna. I still have no idea why I like it so much.

Dessert: microwave a couple tablespoons of milk with a teaspoon of sugar in a little bowl until it starts to boil. (You have to watch it, so don’t wander off.). I used a glass 4 ounce custard cup. Take it out, immediately plop in a big glob of peanut butter and stir until smooth. Drop in some chocolate chips (like, ten or so) and continue to stir until melted. Lick the deliciousness off the spoon. Measurements are approximate, because it’s literally “uh...that much looks right.” Learned it from my mom.

My college meals: Top ramen with frozen veggies and hot sauce or terriyaki; bagged lettuces/salad mixes with crushed saltines and homemade dad's ranch; and lots of soups in the crock pot (usually broth, onion, celery, carrots, diced tomatoes and either beans, rice or pasta). I'd also the cheapy $1 frozen tv dinner meals quite a bit.

Love this and love when you remind us that you are a real person! lol. Any college student who says they eat kale and salads and organic groceries are either lying or living at their parents house and not paying for their own food during college.

I definitely ate those little microwavable pizzas too! Along the lines of the last recipe, I loved spreading cream cheese on a tortilla with thin sliced deli ham and rolling those up for lunch. A favorite snack was pimento cheese with pita crackers :)

This video brought back so many cool and fun memories. I am sitting here waiting for my biscuits to get done baking to eat with my beef stew and I am giggling or laughing or smiling watching this. Thanks so much. 😁

Love this video - it was super nostalgic!

In my scrambled eggs, I add a slice of processed cheese and seasoned it with garlic salt. I like to fry a bit of ground beef and onion while my KD is cooking, once the KD is prepared according to the box, I mix in the ground beef again, seasoned with garlic salt. Cheap and filling meal.