Looking for easy, low cost and healthy recipes

[Metalhead]

Yesterday, I made some beef and brown rice with some canned chipotles and some frozen veggies mixed in. It actually did not bad at all, although ground beef is rather pricey these days. This will help feed me for the next couple of days.

Another low cost healthy recipe I like making is broccoli chicken in the wok seasoned with fresh ginger.

What are your favorite low cost healthy foods to make? I am not exactly made of money, but I do want variety and I do want to eat healthier than I have been.

 

[Els]

Potato salad.
Basically, you boil the potatoes, wait till they're cold, add whatever vegetables with it (tomatoes, oignons, cucumber, spinach, even lentils, whatever you have). You add oil + vinegar or mayonnaise and pickles, parsley or whatever, even hard boiled eggs.
Can do the same stuff with chickpeas and grated carotts as a base, then add whatever with it.
Can do the same with pasta instead of potatoes. Can do the same with rice.

It's nice for summer, it just needs whatever basic ingredients and combining them. It's just like making a salad but with consistency so you don't die from hunger. It's adaptable to what you have in stock and the money remaining in your pockets.

Lemon, garlic, ginger, parsley, and other spices and dry herbs also helps changing tastes. It can easily become a bit always the same because of having to buy the same stuffs over and over...

 

[menander]

That sounds delicious, @Els !

I eat cheap, super cheap, by never buying processed food. Ever. I make yogurt, buy frozen veggies, lots of carrots that last long, and bananas or apples. I do eat rice and oatmeal and fish. And lots and lots of water. Sometimes I buy the store brand juices for veggie content.

My diet both sucks because it's way too narrow, but great because there is no processed foods. Of course, even the beans are processed with tons of pesticides, but I can't afford organic unless my portion size would be equivalent to what a little chihuahua might eat!

 

[Mia]

Depends on what you enjoy eating, what you are used to. The least expensive cuisine is vegetarian. But it's double the work of most others and combining for a complete protein with grains and beans or peas and nuts and seeds is time consuming. And you need to be knowledgeable and have some ability with a knife. Although it sounds as if you do anyway.

I'm fortunate in that I grow fresh food in the summers and herbs and lettuces and tomatoes inside in the winters. If you have access to a farmer's market, that helps as well. At the end of the day, they often sell off boxes of produce very cheaply. It depends on how much time you want to devote to finding fresh food.

Lots of the food that I grew up eating has been replaced with healthier alternatives. So, brown rice replaces white rice, standard pasta is replaced with konjac (shirataki) or whole wheat noodles, white flour with eight grain or barley or corn or whole wheat flour in combination. It depends what your priorities are, I have more time now since I retired at fifty-five.

I would say that the best things you can do for yourself, you are already attempting. Asian cuisines are probably the healthiest, with their emphasis on fresh vegetables and small amounts of protein and soy and ginger and garlic and onion.

 

[unperson]

Chick peas are cheap and the canned ones are easy to chuck in a tomato/potato curry, can do falafel but it's more complicated.

Porridge - cheap, easy to cook esp if you microwave it.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

I eat a lot of stews. We bulk buy chicken from Farm food and put it in the slow cooker with vegetables and potatoes. Sweet potatoes are great for this. Potatoes salads a big one for us. Pasta sauces with potatoes (I have coeliac disease and rarely have gluten free free pasta).

 

[Els]

Also for dessert, quick & cheap:

Yoghourt + fruits + honey. Optional : seeds, nuts, canella, oats, and so on.

Applesauce is also super easy and cheap, you can make that with apricots too.

 

[Els]

Oh, and pies and crepes/pancakes. Those are stuffs I do easily. I don't have an english receipe through and I'm used to do it so I don't follow anything. But I think you can find receipes. It takes a bit longer if you never did it through, but once you got it, it's also cheap to make.
Bruschetta is economical too. I don't buy meat so it's even cheaper lol.

 

[Karamazov]

First thing that comes to mind is “Spinach Noodle Bake” (that’s what my family call it: no idea what the real name is)

Three layers in a (small) baking dish:
• 1st: 1 Lightly fried onion mixed with shredded spinach.
• 2nd: Tin of chopped tomatoes (I drain it to avoid sogginess)
• 3rd: 5oz Split lentils, pre boiled with a stock cube (I use low salt veggie ones)
Generous amount of grated cheddar on top, and then bake for half an hour at 200C

Serve on top of noodles.
(I like pepper and soy sauce as condiments)

 

[simetra]

I love making egg fried rice.
Doesn't need a ton of ingredients, and variation is possible if you switch vegetables for example.

This video shows how its basic form is done:

 

[Barymore]

I like the quick and simple chickpea curry by the happy pear lads:

dry fry 1tbsp cumin & 1 tbsp coriander seeds for 5 minutes
add to a blender together with
1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 inch ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1 red chili (or just half.....) some fresh coriander and a good pinch of smoked paprika
can of tomatoes and blend up the lot
fry some chopped onions, add chopped veg (we use cauliflower) and the blended sauce, let bubble, add coconut milk and a can of chick peas. Add potatoes or rice and its done! If the seasoning is a bit much just replace the whole lot with 2 tbs of curry powder!

 

[BenderRodriguez]

If you like broccoli, you could try this recipe: Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan Recipe | SimplyRecipes.com

You can skip the Parmesan, it's not a problem, but keep the lemon juice, it makes a big difference and I like adding some pepper flakes to mine. Even self-appointed broccoli haters seem to love it.

Baked/jacket potatoes are always a great and healthy option: I don't like smothering mine in a bunch of stuff, a bit of salt, pepper and oil (or a touch of butter) is enough to make them tasty. They will definitely taste better if you don't use a microwave. Eggs are also cheap here and there are so many things you can do with them.

Not sure what else, where you live can make a big difference in what's cheap. But supermarkets here reduce things significantly one day before the expiry date and if you cook the meat well (stews are great), it won't be a problem.

 

[Metalhead]

Well, I have a decent grocery list to go to the store with for now. So many of these sound doable. Thanks, y’all.

 

[Isadoorian]

If you use reddit at all, the Eat Cheap and Healthy community has some good stuff from what I've seen

Eating healthy on a cheap budget • r/EatCheapAndHealthy

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

At most grocery stores you can buy five dozen eggs in a big flat for about $6.

 

[elbowgrease]

I usually do some variation of:
some garlic, part of a carrot, a mushroom or two, some broccoli, part of an onion, some greens (kale, arugula, chard, etc.), part of a sweet potato, can of beans or fish, all steamed for a few minutes and then mixed with rice. It's fairly cheap and seems well rounded, and is an easy theme to vary. I used to do basically the same thing but fried, sometimes with eggs and potatoes, but lately I've been cooking without oil, so I haven't been using potatoes or eggs.

 

[Aspychata]

Spinach noodle bake sounds interesting. All great suggestions. l found protein spaghetti noodles with 10 grams of protein per serving and mix with tomato paste and herbs and ready to go.

For vegetarians, l read it's good to mix proteins for well rounded meals.

Because l am older, l read you need to up your protein every year and l agree with this.

 

[Ezra]

Spaghetti. I like whole wheat noodles with Classico sweet basil sauce and canned sliced olives and parmesan cheese. An inexpensive and easy meal to make.

 

[Mia]

If you do not like the carbohydrates in noodle or pasta dishes you can cook the pasta, cool it down by rinsing and reheat it.

"Reheating Pasta Makes It Significantly Better For You. When pasta is cooled down, your body digests it differently, causing fewer calories to be absorbed and a smaller blood glucose peak. And reheating it is even better - it reduces the rise in blood glucose levels by 50 percent."

Reheating Your Pasta Makes It Significantly Better For You

 

[Metalhead]

Spaghetti. I like whole wheat noodles with Classico sweet basil sauce and canned sliced olives and parmesan cheese. An inexpensive and easy meal to make.

I do that quite often, although I do like to add hot Italian sausage to my spaghetti. That is not authentic Italian noodles, but my kitchen is a far way from Italy. I also like making my own sauce