Since we had a nice long thread about beans recently, I have a great supply of bean recipes now.  What are your other super stretchy meals?

I'll post mine as I think of them.   

Chicken

I can make a meal out of a baked chicken then use the rest for stew or soup.

Spaghetti

I buy canned sauce for .89 to $1. If I don't add any meat or other seasonings then it's a cheaper meal.

The first one that I can think of is my "oat loaf" which is a vegetarian version of Goetta that I posted recently.  Depending on the spices, I can make it more sausage like or more like meat loaf.  For Goetta, the steal cut oats or oat bran make give it the right texture.  You can use regular oatmeal for oat loaf.  Parsley, salt and sauteed onions make it surprisingly similar to regular meatloaf (though not the same).  It's a great way to incorporate oats into your diet if you want to try to lower your cholesterol some.  I also added a can of mushrooms yesterday for "mushroom loaf."  Also very good and healthy.

Homemade vegetable soup and dumplings is very stretchy and a good way to use up slightly rubbery carrots. 

I need to keep my eyes open for canned sauce!  That sounds like a great deal!

Mimi:

That sounds like a great deal!

Tomato sauce and such are $1 a can where I am so I find that canned sauce when on sale is a cheaper option. I'd love to be more natural and make it from scratch with tomatoes but that would require me to be able to grow them, LOL.

Ginger peanut cabbage soup--cut cabbage into strips, boil in a little bit of water with salt and ginger until tender.  Stir in a spoonful of peanut butter.  Add ramen noodles if a more filling meal is desired.  (Shredded carrot is also a nice addition.)

Egg drop soup (thanks to my Chinese roommate!)--Add powdered ginger (about 1/4-1/2 tsp.) and salt to water for "broth" to desired taste.  Whisk in an egg and boil until egg is cooked.  (German version is the same except use chicken broth or boullion.)

Baked pasta.  Boil up 1lb. of pasta, your choice (penne, ziti, etc.).  Drain when done.  Add 1 jar/can of sauce, 1/2 lb. or so of browned ground meat (optional) and stir.  Add to lightly greased casserole dish and top with 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  If you want this to be creamier, when you mix up the pasta, sauce and meat, add 1/2 cup of sour cream.  I can make a very full 9x13 pan of this for about $5 and it feeds us 3 times.  ($1 pasta; $1 sauce; $1.50 meat; $1 cheese; $0.50 sour cream)

Pork schnitzle.  My DH makes this; it's just breaded pork chops cooked in the skillet with olive oil (our preference; sometimes we use garlic flavored olive oil).  We pair it with a few cucumber chips and some buttered noodles.  If you can get real spaetzle, it's even better.  We can make this meal for about $5, but there are no leftovers.  ($2.50 pork; $0.50 bread crumbs and 1 egg; $1 cucumber; $1 noodles)

Store-bought pizza and fruit.  Sure, it's not original and could be unhealthy if consumed more than once or twice a month, but a store-bought pizza for $3.50 and fruit bought on sale for dessert makes a cheap meal.  Sometimes, if DD isn't that hungry, there's a slice left for me to take to work the next day.

Breakfast for dinner.  Eggs may have risen in price, but it's still one of the cheapest sources of protein available.  There's nothing like a couple eggs, a couple slices of bacon (if you're controlling yourself; could easily be a 1/2 dozen slices of bacon), some toast and juice.  Or pancakes, a piece or two of sausage, and milk.... Mmmmmmmmmm.

This post is making me hungry....

 Oh, that sounds yummy!

I love spaetzle!  One of my favorite meals as a kid was lentils and spaetzle, hold the lentils! They're really cheap to make too.  If I can, I'll find the recipe and post it.

mmm does adding hotdogs to baked beans count ? 

stretchy meals most have been mentioned.  spaghetti, casseroles, fried egg sandwiches.  Spaghetti sauce is always on sale. Classico sauce I buy on sale for $2.50. the spinach florentine one does not need additions and everyone likes it.

at the spaghetti factory, one of the sauces they have is a tomato sauce with button mushrooms which is easy to do at home, can of mushrooms in canned sauce.

pasta salad is another stretchy meal.   I know you can make lots of stretchy meals from kraft dinner but my guys don't like me adding stuff to it.

Carrot soup is a favourite here. plus good old hotdogs

That sounds really good too! 

How do you make carrot soup?