Summer Budget Dinner Menus

If you are trying to create a summer budget dinner menu, some key aspects will come into play. While creating a budget dinner menu, vegetables, seafood and canned foods are great. They are very inexpensive items and easy to attain. There are a variety of meals that can be created for under ten dollars and in one skillet.

Caribbean Fish and Sweet Potato Skillet

To make the Caribbean Fish and Sweet Potato Skillet you will need:

• 1 cup regular long grain rice, rinsed and drained
• 1/3 cup curry sauce        
• 2 cans (6 oz. each) tuna or salmon, drained and broken in large pieces  
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained     
• 1 can (15 oz.) cut sweet potatoes in light syrup, coarsely cut

1. Bring the water to a boil. To start this budget dish, pour one and one-third cups water into a large frying pan. Place it over high heat and bring the water to a rapid boil. When the water begins to boil, stir in the rice until moistened.
2. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir in the curry sauce. You will then need to scatter the tuna and tomatoes over top of the skillet mixture. Be sure to spread them out evenly. Lastly, arrange the sweet potatoes on top.
3. Cover and return to a boil. The last step in preparing this budget dinner menu item is to bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and boil gently until rice is tender. This takes around twelve minutes. This serves four people. This budget menu item packs in a lot of flavor with a very low cost.

Corn and Crab Cakes

To make corn and crab cakes you will need:

• 2 cans (6 oz. each) crab meat, drained      
• 1 can (8.25 oz.) cream style corn      
• 1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco   
• 2 medium scallions, trimmed and finely chopped      
• 1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs, divided

1. Mix the crab cake ingredients. Mix the crab meat, corn, hot sauce, scallions and three-fourths cup bread crumbs in a medium sized bowl. Be sure that all of the ingredients are blended well. This is a very important step, because it will insure that your summer dinner dish has all the flavors in every bite.
2. Coat the crab cakes. Spread the rest of the breadcrumbs on a sheet of foil. Create eight patties by dividing the crab mixture into even portions. The patties should be about half an inch thick. Coat each crab cake with breadcrumbs.  
3. Fry the crab cakes. Place a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with three tablespoons of Canola oil. When the oil is hot, cook the crab cakes until they are brown on both sides. This should take around four minutes.
4. Serve the cakes. These crab cakes are good with almost anything. The seafood and the corn give a great summer twang while keeping more of your money in your pocket. They are great served over a bed of lettuce leaves.

Fish Tacos

To make fish tacos, you will need:

• 16 frozen fish sticks
• 8 medium taco shells          
• 2/3 cup condensed cheddar cheese soup      
• 1/2 cup canned, diced tomatoes with jalapenos, drained
• 1 cup shredded lettuce

1. Cook the fish sticks. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place the fish sticks on a baking sheet. Bake them until they become crisp. This should take around twelve minutes. Using fish sticks is a great way to stay on a budget when making fish tacos.
2. Heat up the taco shells. While the fish sticks are cooking, arrange the taco shells on a tray. Put the tray in the oven to allow the shells to heat all the way through.
3. Assemble the tacos. To assemble this budget meal, spoon two teaspoons of cheddar cheese soup into the bottom of each taco shell. Take your taco shells and place two fish sticks in each shell. Add another two teaspoons of the cheese soup. Top them off with a portion of shredded lettuce and some diced tomatoes.