- 3 hours ago
Feeling too tired to cook but still craving something warm and comforting? In this video, Nicole shares five lazy casseroles that are perfect for low-energy nights when you want dinner to do most of the work for you. These easy, oven-baked meals are packed with flavor, use simple ingredients, and are designed to save you time, money, and cleanup — ideal for busy weeknights or whenever cooking feels like a chore.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Cheap and easy casseroles are on the menu today. Minimal effort, minimal ingredients, maximum
00:06satisfaction is what I'm serving up. And throughout this episode I'll share some tips on how to make
00:12things even more inexpensive along the way. Starting with an easy meatball sub casserole.
00:18It's a new and fun way to serve up an old classic. So I'm starting with store-bought
00:23garlic bread from the freezer section. This is maximum flavor, minimal effort because
00:29it's already buttered and flavored for us. You're going to prepare this according to the package
00:33directions. Pop it open, place it on a baking sheet, put it in the oven while we prepare the meatballs.
00:38Then we're just going to heat up some frozen meatballs. If you are like me and you make
00:44meatballs from scratch all the time then you should batch prepare them. Cook a bunch, bake them off,
00:51and freeze them. That would even make this even cheaper down the road. The recipe calls for 40
00:56Italian meatballs. I think they're talking about the smaller ones. These are a pretty decent size.
01:02So I'm just going to do one whole bag. You just want two jars of your favorite marinara. And then
01:07in go the meatballs. Everything really is already cooked. We just need to heat these through. Kind of
01:11gives a jump start on the casserole. So when we put in the oven it takes hardly any time. Garlic bread
01:16done. Now you want to let it cool and then tear it into bite-sized pieces. And you want it to get
01:21that crispiness on the outside because it's going to absorb that sauce. You don't want it to be too,
01:27too soggy. I don't feel like waiting on it to cool so I'm just going to use my knife and kind of chop it
01:31up. I mean you know you put cubed up bread in a lot of different casseroles. The garlic bread with
01:36double the flavor. Good idea. Alright so I'm going to take that garlic bread. Put it all in. I love a
01:43meatball sub but I forget about them. I'm going to put all these crumbs in there. It says to pour the sauce and
01:48meatballs right on top of here and then top with cheese. I'm going to put just a little bit of
01:52cheese before I pour it on. Just to kind of get it all in there. A little bit of mozzarella and
01:59grated parm. Meatballs and sauce are nice and hot. And we're just going to pour this directly over.
02:04You want to kind of distribute the meatballs evenly. This is a hearty casserole. This will definitely serve
02:11a family with leftovers. Two families. Hungry teenage boys. Really these are made with pantry
02:18staples. You've got things that you can keep in the freezer on hand. So I always buy things like
02:24the pasta sauce even if they get the nice one when it's at Costco or when it's buy one get one free.
02:29Same with cheeses. They last for a long time in the fridge so I can pretty much I only buy them when
02:35they're buy one get one free. I do think this is going to be a great way to eat a meatball sub
02:38because when you go to eat them they not only are they messy but sometimes that meatball rolls out.
02:43This you can eat with a fork. And because everything is pretty warm it only takes about
02:4920 minutes in the oven 350 degrees. Oh that is heavy. Oh man this looks good.
02:59The way the cheese has formed a crust on top of the meatball. A plus 100. I mean that was two whole
03:06jars of sauce but you don't see a bunch of sauce bubbling around the edges because it's kind of absorbed
03:10into that. I'm going to garnish with some fresh basil. This looks fancy for only having five or
03:16six ingredients. Fix yourself a little salad in a bag and call that a complete dinner. Super hearty.
03:24I mean I hardly made a dent in it and this is a huge portion.
03:31Flavor explosion in the form of a casserole. You know you can see how the bread like soaks up that
03:36sauce but it is so flavorful but the crust on the bottom is still has some texture so it's not like
03:42just just an entire bite of sogginess. This is an excellent family friendly choice. We're off to a
03:49great start. Let's save some more time and money. You know when I do a series of recipes I always like
03:54to include something for the taco Tuesday and we are doing a taco casserole. For this I am doing a turkey
04:01taco casserole because that is the best way to save money. The recipe calls for ground beef. I'm going
04:06to use ground turkey. I can even double up the amount of ground turkey and it's still the same
04:10price if not cheaper than one pound of ground beef. Plus when it's mixed with all the seasonings like in
04:15a taco situation you can't tell. Nobody's going to care. I'm going to add in just a little bit of oil
04:21since turkey is leaner than the ground beef. All right ground turkey. It's browned and crumbled. I'm going
04:26to get some of those juices out. This isn't turkey breast so it does have a little bit of fat in it.
04:31Does everybody drain their ground meat like this? I feel like everybody does now. All right now we
04:36stir in salsa. These are the kind of shortcuts that have multiple ingredients combined into one. Got our
04:41tomatoes, peppers, onions and a bunch of seasonings. Going in with a can of beans. These are chili beans
04:48so again they have extra flavor added in and I'm not draining them because I want that sauce in there.
04:54All right once this simmers for a bit then we just build our casserole. Adding in a little bit
04:58of freshness with some green onions and tomatoes. Need about half a cup of each. Green onions we know
05:04are inexpensive usually less than a dollar. A couple Roma tomatoes is all you need. Also probably less
05:12than a dollar. And of course you can you know customize these ingredients based on your liking.
05:17Okay now we build a greased casserole dish. Into the bottom we put crushed up tortilla chips. Another
05:25tip use store brand when possible. That should be a given but it's going to save you money. Now we pour
05:32over our meat mixture. Remember I doubled the meat in here so this is extra hearty and it's still cheap
05:39and still easy. This is going to feed a lot of people. When you think about the per serving cost, cheap.
05:45Two cups of sour cream spread on top. Sounds like a lot. Also sounds delicious. Then go the toppings.
05:54It really can be whatever you like on your taco. This recipe calls for black olives and the green
05:59onion and tomato that we chopped up. It's giving Mexican pizza from taco bell.
06:06Then cheddar cheese on top. I almost always shred my own. You get more it's better and melts better.
06:12This is going to be good. Really I'm kind of shocked that I've never made this before.
06:17Now this just goes into the oven. 350 for about half an hour. We should make a margarita.
06:22If you know how much I love nachos and tacos then you know how much I'm gonna love this. I also love
06:28things like this for a taco bar instead of a taco bar because the bulk of it's already done and you can
06:34just serve it with various toppings. The chips have softened and cooked into that meat mixture similar to when
06:40you get an enchilada and the tortillas are all cooked in with the sauce. Now for the fun part.
06:46I'm going on with some more salsa. A little avocado. Make it healthy. Some of those green onions we
06:52saved from before. I just feel like it's gonna need the crunch. Cheap and definitely easy turkey taco bake.
06:58Mmm. It's one of those things I could eat every day. This is also just a great use of when you have
07:08like a half a bag of chips left over and a half a jar of salsa. Layer it up and call it a casserole.
07:13But if you're looking for something cheap and easy to try out on the next Taco Tuesday, this right here.
07:18This is the one. New spin on a classic. We are doing Japanese curry chicken pot pie. It's still cheap and easy.
07:26Okay. Thanks to a couple conveniences. First it starts with carrot, potatoes, and onion. All very
07:34affordable and of course readily available and they last a long time in your pantry and fridge.
07:38So things that you should just have on hand. These are what I consider staples. This is not a classic
07:43chicken pot pie because it's not made in a pie plate but rather in a casserole dish. And the topping
07:48is crescent roll dough from a can. All the ingredients are super familiar with chicken pot pie. With the addition
07:55of this. This you can find in most grocery stores on the international aisle. And it's just a few
08:01bucks. But no can of cream of chicken in this one. Grab a skillet. Go in with a few tablespoons of a
08:08neutral oil. Splatter. And I'm just going to cook these until these veggies begin to soften for about
08:17six to eight minutes. Even though the recipe does not say to do this, I'm just going to add in a little
08:22salt. Just to kind of help speed this process along. All right. Once they've started to soften,
08:26I'm going to go in with some chicken broth and a little water. But you could just do all chicken
08:31broth if you want. And bring this to a boil and let it cook for about five minutes. Then I'm going to
08:35reduce it and let it cook until those veggies are nice and fork tender. So for the final step,
08:41we're going to take our curry mix. This is what it looks like. Comes in kind of a little block.
08:46And we're going to drop it in. Cook it for about two minutes and it's going to kind of thicken this mixture up.
08:51I wish you could smell it. It smells like authentic curry. So good. You can see how it's starting
08:58already and it's only like halfway melted in there. But you can see how it's kind of creating this little
09:03like thick sauce. I like this little shortcut. Now all we have to do is add it to our casserole dish
09:11with our chicken and put our topping on it. It's a good thing to know about. I need to keep those in your
09:16pantry. Look how thick and rich this is. Creamy, tender, rotisserie chicken. And you know I only get
09:24my rotisserie chicken at Costco because why would you pay ten dollars when you can pay five? Spread
09:31that out evenly. Oh yeah. Then you use crescent roll dough to put on top. If you get the
09:38individual crescent rolls, you can just kind of pinch the seams together. You can always find these
09:43buy one get one free also. And they last a while in the fridge. So another good thing to kind of
09:48stock up on when you see them. All right, so I'm going to kind of unroll it over the casserole.
09:54And then you just stretch it to the sides until it completely covers. This dish is slightly smaller
09:59than a nine by thirteen. So I have a little excess which was intentional because I'm here for the
10:06crust as much as the filling. Then just to kind of help the crust stick to the sides without kind of
10:12pulling away, you can use the tines of a fork and just kind of press it against the casserole dish
10:18just to kind of give it that pie look. I'm also going to cut a couple little slits in here just
10:24to let some of that steam escape. And optional, but recommended because it's cute. Some sesame seeds
10:30on top. And then again because all this is still pretty warm, we just want that top to cook. It goes
10:35in 350 degrees for just about 20 minutes or so. That's going to be delicious. That's your something
10:40different this week. Pot pie is piping hot. It smells incredible. I can already see why this
10:48was a hit in the test kitchens. This ain't your grandma's chicken pot pie.
10:55Remember color equals flavor. Give me all that good gravy. I'm going to add on
11:02a little freshness to kind of brighten it up. Some green onion. And it kind of looks restaurant worthy.
11:14Everything is so tender. Almost melts in your mouth.
11:16A lot of flavor in that little packet. Great shortcut to keep on hand. And next time you're having the
11:22craving for something comforting like chicken pot pie, but you want to kick it up. Great recipe.
11:27It's like when you have chicken pot pie, but you're kind of eating it with a roll or maybe like a creamy
11:31chicken soup, but you're eating it with the roll. That crescent dough kind of acts as like your dipper,
11:37you know, that you would dip in the soup. You're going to want to try this one.
11:43I'm bringing comfort and sophistication in this next casserole. French onion mac and cheese. We're
11:49keeping it cheap because there's no meat in here. Onions are the star of the show and you can get a
11:54bag of onions for about three bucks. This one is super easy. It takes a little bit of time because
11:58we are going to caramelize onions, but trust me when I tell you it's worth it. I'm going to start
12:03out with some butter and oil. That's just how I like to caramelize my onions. And when you caramelize
12:08onions, you cook them on a lower temperature for a good bit of time so that you can draw the natural
12:14sugars from the onion and then they start to caramelize in the heat. So you get this kind of
12:19like sweet, buttery, melty onion. You're not trying to saute it because it won't develop the same
12:24sweetness. But this is really how you can take something super inexpensive and elevate it.
12:29Just changing up the methods sometimes. I kind of stir it for the first minute or so,
12:34and then I just let it go on medium-low. Takes about 40 minutes, but you're just going to kind
12:39of let it do its thing. Be prepping the other stuff. Come back, give it a stir. Go get a glass of
12:45wine. Come back, give it another stir. Time flies when you're having fun. Dang, I'm going to stink when
12:50I go to the basketball game after this. About halfway done. Once it gets to this point, it'll
12:56start moving a little faster. But you can see, I mean, those onions filled that pan and now they've
13:01cooked down so much. In just a minute, you're going to see just how far they cook down to almost
13:06nothing. But the flavor is immense. Look at that. Those will melt in your mouth. Now time to bring it
13:14all together. I'm going to add in some fresh thyme because I'm really trying to up the flavor like
13:19french onion soup into this mac and cheese. A little bit of Worcestershire and some dry sherry.
13:25And then you're going to cook this until the sherry cooks out. Those are some delicious caramelized
13:30onions as is. Let's turn it into mac and cheese. At this point, you could take these onions out and
13:34start building your sauce. I'm just going to start building my sauce right here right now. Going with
13:39some butter. Let that melt. And then we're going to make a little roux in here and a little cream sauce.
13:45Got some water boiling and we're going to get our macaroni cooking. You want to cook it a couple
13:49minutes less than what the box says. So it just takes about six minutes here. All right. You know
13:54the drill. Make a little roux. So now it goes in a little flour. Let that cook for about a minute
13:58to get some of that floury taste out. And then in with some milk. It's going to be the most flavorful
14:05mac and cheese you ever had. You can see how creamy and delicious this looks. It's all thickened up.
14:13Taste it for seasoning.
14:18It needs it because we haven't added any so far. Salt and pepper. Just remember, this one might be a
14:25little time consuming, but it's still cheap and it's still easy. Oof, look at that. Okay, I'm going to
14:31stir in some cheeses to make this a cheese sauce. I'm going to go in with some Swiss and some white
14:37cheddar. Saving some for the top because the top of this mac and cheese is going to look like the top
14:41of French onion soup. I forgot how good this is. In goes the mac. Remember, this is a casserole episode.
14:52So now let's make this a casserole. This is going to be so good. Into a buttered dish.
15:00You will not miss the meat in this meal. All right. So remember, we're going to make the top look like
15:07the top of the soup. It always has some baguettes on there. Grab a baguette that you've sliced up and
15:11then just kind of tear the slices and shingle them on. This is a great thing if you have any leftover
15:17baguette also that maybe you've had in your freezer. Carb on carb. Here for it. All right,
15:24and then top it with the rest of our cheese. Again, to really keep this affordable, get your
15:30cheeses when they're buy one, get one, or definitely use the store brand if you want to save money.
15:35Honey. I kind of like take the cheese and kind of work it between the bread slices so that the bread
15:41kind of peaks out like on the soup. And then this goes into the oven 375 degrees for just about 20
15:47minutes. Another case where everything is still pretty warm inside. So we're just waiting on the top
15:52to get browned and bubbly. You really should get a glass of wine for this one.
15:58Quite possibly the best mac and cheese you've ever had.
16:02This is how you make mac and cheese a full meal. So you're going to get that toasty bread topping,
16:08that extra gooey cheese, but all the flavor is underneath. Something so simple. I mean,
16:14truly pantry staples, onions, butter, flour, cheese, and pasta. Sign me up. A little more
16:22time. French onion mac and cheese. I mean, you could put a salad with it to really round it out, but.
16:35Two of life's favorite indulgences in one pan. This casserole is a 10 out of 10 winner. I'm telling you.
16:44For my final trick, a one pan wonder because you know it's my favorite way to cook. This is lemon
16:48chicken and rice casserole. It's going to be bright. It's going to be satisfying. It's going to be
16:52comforting and it's going to be easy and cheap because it starts with bone-in skin on chicken
16:58thighs. I always have these in my freezer and they are always inexpensive. It's one of the few things
17:04that's actually still cheap. Recipe calls for four. I have five people in my family, so I'm doing five.
17:10I'm going to go skin side down first. So coat them with some salt and pepper on the skin side. Be
17:14generous. We're building those flavors in the pan and then some olive oil into the pan. Chicken thighs
17:19in and then leave them alone. Once they're down, season the other side and let that fat render out.
17:24It's going to get good and crispy. This process is going to take about five minutes or so before we
17:28flip it and then let it cook for another couple minutes and then set it aside. Chicken is par cooked
17:34at this point to those beautiful drippings in there. We're going to create even more flavor.
17:39In goes some garlic. Just let that get fragrant and then I'm going in with the rice. I'm going to
17:44toast this up a little bit. That way it doesn't get too mushy and stuck together. I'm going to
17:50coat it in that flavorful fat. Kind of toast these grains up a little bit. More flavor. I'm going to
17:56add in the zest of a lemon and the juice. You're going to get so much flavor from the zest alone.
18:01Juice is just double. That's going to lift some of that flavor off too. And a can of cream of chicken.
18:07It had to come in a casserole episode at some point. End with some chicken broth and now kind of
18:12whisk this up. Scrape up any loose bits off the bottom. And a little crushed red pepper. Recipe
18:17calls for tarragon. I'm just leaving that out today. My family doesn't love it. So now we put
18:24our chicken back in along with any juices that might have accumulated. Kind of leaving that crispy skin
18:29exposed on purpose. I'm going to make it a little fancy with some lemon slices too. And then this just
18:36goes into the oven 375 for about 30 minutes. I think your family will inhale this one. Ow.
18:44It was bound to get me. Smells divine. That looks good. Just going to brighten it up with some parsley.
18:52And there you have a really cheap and easy one pan dinner. I mean this whole thing less than 10 bucks
18:58too. Creamy lemon chicken and rice casserole. Cheap and easy. All those drippings that we rendered from
19:05that chicken has flavored this rice. It's rich and comforting but also bright thanks to that lemon.
19:17Rice is cooked perfect. Chicken is cooked perfect. This is the perfect dinner that your whole family
19:21will love. Easy enough to throw together on a weeknight but special enough to serve to company.
19:27There you have it. I have taken the guesswork out of what to make for dinner this week and I've saved
19:31you money along the way. Don't forget about those little tips about buying store brand
19:36Costco chickens and keeping your freezer and pantry stocked. That's going to really help you
19:40save money down the road. I hope you give these recipes a try and if you do let me know which one's
19:44your favorite. Everybody feel a little richer?
Comments