Looking for low cost and healthy meal ideas.

[Metalhead]

I am growing tires of beans and frozen veggies with rice and hot sauce, after all.

My food budget is not abysmal, but I do like to cut financial corners where I can. Especially since I am saving up for a vacation later this year.

I know how to make tacos, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup (from scratch), and my super unhealthy deep dish pizza crust. I need to expand my culinary horizons with a food budget of about $75 a week.

So, I was hoping some of you could link me to some low cost and healthy recipes here.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Food cost can be more dependant on how big your freezer is.

Cook large batches.

Is ground beef an option?

 

[Metalhead]

Ground beef is an option, but I prefer chicken breasts, which are cheaper in my area.

 

[tree]

I misread the first post.
I thought it said $75 per month.

So I was thinking about what I ate
when I had less than that.

Peanut butter and popcorn with nutritional yeast
& spices on it was supper, most of the time.

Canned green beans with PB and nutri yeast
for breakfast.

Lunch?
Not actually.

 

[Isadoorian]

Meal-prepping and couponing would likely be the way to go

Prep your meals for the week/month on Sundays

r/mealprepsunday is a great place; lots of fairly budget friendly things

r/MealPrepSunday

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Ground beef is an option, but I prefer chicken breasts, which are cheaper in my area.

$15 ground beef
1,2 onions
Garlic
$4 1 large ragu
Pasta, rigate,other
1 bolognese

8 meals, 8 lunches.

It's also the way you proportion it - it's easy just to have a little less and save some for lunch next day.
Also cold pasta ,reheated pasta is better for you. So I read.

 

[Mia]

Find a cooperative in your area, and join. It usually requires that you work there a few days per month or pay a fee to belong. You can usually find a coop by going to a local health food store and looking at the message boards where people offer services, or you can ask in the store.
If no coop's exist find a bulk food store that sells dry goods.
Find a farmer's market or vegetable stand that sells fruit and vegetables at low cost. Usually at the end of their day they lower prices, learn to haggle.
Follow an elderly local female to the market, and see what she buys. Kidding, she might become nervous, did that in Italy and France and Greece. Found the least costly places that way, by following the locals.
Low cost healthy food? Tell me what you buy, and I'll give you some recipes. Depends on what you like to eat, and what you're willing to try.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Easiest meal I know of is a roast chicken. Be sure to take out the innards before prepping and roasting.

You can use a frying chicken which is cheaper, put some minced garlic under the skin (slit the skin , with finger make a space and put garlic in there in various places over the breast and thighs, also fresh rosemary is good under the skin as well for flavoring (just the leaves), squeeze a lemon over the chicken, drizzle on some olive oil and roast in oven at 400 degrees for abut 1 hour 20 minutes or until leg and thigh are easy to separate. You can put the squeezed lemon inside the chicken before you roast it or sprinkle the empty cavity with spices like Cavenders, paprika, or any prepared chicken seasonings. Put some chicken broth in the bottom of the pan (about 1 inch), can use for gravy after cooking.

Even if you just stick the chicken in the oven in a pan with some chicken broth and skip all the rest above it will be quite edible and last for several days- can make sandwiches with leftovers and put in salads.

If you like potatoes, put a few small red potatoes around the chicken in the roasting pan and drizzle with oil before cooking. Can also put veggies there too like carrots, mushrooms, etc.
The recipe for the chicken above is from Emeril Lagasse.

 

[tree]

And save the bones to make soup with....
in a crock pot.

 

[Progster]

Buy in bulk, cook in bulk, and then freeze. As for recipes, there are hundreds of website and blogs with recipes to try. Be aware of deals and offers, buy in bulk whenever possible, also go to the supermarket towards the end of the day, because sometimes you can find meat items reduced to clear - perfectly good to eat if you use it straight away or freeze it.

 

[Mary Anne]

I actually save money by not buying any packaged processed foods. Packaged foods equal chemicals and empty calories, and fats, added sugar, and salt. You are paying not for any nutrition but for the processing, the package, and the advertising of these concoctions.

I juice nearly everything fresh with a Nutribullet blender. I shop at Asian and International grocery stores for all my produce. If you have farmers markets, Aldi grocery stores, or Walmart, they can be excellant healthy options for sourcing foods inexpensively.

I also do not buy anything with sugar, including soda, candy, or desserts. I make a healthy dessert smoothie from fresh and frozen fruit. No boxed cereals. No empty calories. I occasionally buy a pound of beef or a whole fish when it’s on sale, and portion it out and freeze the individual portions. But mainly it’s whole nutrition foods like carrots, kale, spinach’s, berries, oats, yogurt, seeds and nuts, brown rice, beans, eggs and such. No pizza, no cheese. I miss ice cream, but can make rich tasting low fat healthy dessert smoothies that taste and texture the same.

My life long cholesterol problems have completely vanished, and I have lost 50 pounds in 9 months. I am healthy! My dietary changes did not happen overnight, but have been worked in for the past year slowly, and with occasional slip ups. (I do love Cheetos).

 

[tree]

One thing I learned to do was pour boiling water
on to vegetable scraps to make vegetable broth
for soup or gravy liquid.

This article contains a suggestion which goes
beyond that.

How to have a zero waste kitchen: tips from Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Skye Gyngell and more

Batter frying is a fun thing I have done when there
are more people than servings of pizza leftover
or mac & cheese.

 

[Mary Terry]

This is one of my favorite subjects as I love to cook for others. Here are some ideas:

Always look at the manager's specials for meats first before you shop the rest of the meat department. Buy in bulk and repackage meat in smaller portions to freeze so you can thaw only the amount you need to cook a meal. If there is a sale on 5 pounds of ground beef, then buy it and repackage it into 1 pound or 1/2 pound bags to freeze. Sometimes I shape the beef into hamburger patties, separate them with pieces of wax paper, and freeze. I can pull out as many patties as needed to cook, and they don't all stick together in a huge frozen wad. (This is a real time saver with my grandchildren).

Use coupons including digital coupons if available from your store. My store (Kroger) also gives discounts on gasoline based on the amount of food purchased. I usually save about 50 cents per gallon which is an added savings.

Dried beans are cheaper than canned beans and taste better anyway. Stock up on canned tuna when it is on sale. Whole chickens and chicken legs and thighs are cheaper than breast meat. Make oven meals on a baking sheet such as a couple of pieces of chicken with sliced potatoes, carrots and broccoli stalks drizzled with olive or vegetable oil.

Make soups and stews from scratch. Cheap cuts of meat can be cooked low and slow to tenderize them and bring out the flavor. A crockpot or stove top Dutch oven on lowest heat setting work great for tough cuts of beef.

Eggs are relatively inexpensive so make hard boiled eggs for breakfast or lunch, cut them up to put on top of a salad or turn them into deviled eggs. Scramble, fry them, or make an omelette or fritatta using your leftover veggies in them.

Fresh veggies go bad real fast so try to use them up soon after you buy them and freeze the leftovers to use later in soups, rice mixtures, etc. You can chop and freeze raw onions and peppers for later use.

Some cheeses freeze well, usually the hard cheeses like blocks of Parmesan and Swiss cheese. Butter freezes well, too. You can freeze bread if it is airtight sealed. Put pieces of wax paper between the bread slices so you can thaw only the amount you need.

Make your own chips with flatbread, Naan bread, pita or tortillas. Just brush the bread with a little oil, season with salt, pepper or spices of your choice, cut them into wedges, put on a baking sheet and roast them in a hot oven till crispy. Let them cool completely and store in air tight containers.

Plastic bags are expensive and non-reusable so invest in some mason jars with lids to store things in the fridge or on the counter. You'll have to use plastic to freeze things.

If you're in the US, go to Foodnetwork.com for tons of ideas.

 

[Mia]

Another suggestion, some community centers form clubs that cook together. They buy bulk food items and make meals for themselves and their families as a group. Then freeze all the portions for a week. These are usually associated in some way with food banks and or community churches.
There are several in the area that I live in, who come together once a week in a community center kitchen to teach cooking and economy for those who wish to learn. Once taught the basics of cooking, they pool funds and plan and buy food for two weeks and make meals together. It they don't exist in your area, you might think about starting one. It's also a good way to meet new people.

 

[Streetwise]

I am growing tires of beans and frozen veggies with rice and hot sauce, after all.

My food budget is not abysmal, but I do like to cut financial corners where I can. Especially since I am saving up for a vacation later this year.

I know how to make tacos, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup (from scratch), and my super unhealthy deep dish pizza crust. I need to expand my culinary horizons with a food budget of about $75 a week.

So, I was hoping some of you could link me to some low cost and healthy recipes here.

look for coupons in the newspaper or magazines !when you go to the supermarket you can get things for free !because they double up but that's only in the USA!

 

[Mary Anne]

One thing I learned to do was pour boiling water
on to vegetable scraps to make vegetable broth
for soup or gravy liquid.

This article contains a suggestion which goes
beyond that.

How to have a zero waste kitchen: tips from Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Skye Gyngell and more

Batter frying is a fun thing I have done when there
are more people than servings of pizza leftover
or mac & cheese.

What do you batter fry, when you run out of food?
Thanks for that awesome link!!!

 

[tree]

@Mary Anne

In Grapes of Wrath, the families at the camps
fried dough. I remember one of the boys bragging
that they'd had chicken the previous night, but
the other kids disputed it. Said he'd had fried
dough for supper, just like everybody else.

Two pieces of pizza, when they are dipped in
cornmeal + whole wheat batter, feeds four
people, when there is salad to go with it.

Mac & cheese, batter fried....I didn't know that
was even a thing, until I had been making it
for awhile. They have that at State fairs in the
midwest.

I made the cheese and used either corn or
w.w. wheat macaroni. And as far as just frying
dough, I have done that, for myself. Had peanut
butter with it. From the jar.

 

[Mary Anne]

@Mary Anne

In Grapes of Wrath, the families at the camps
fried dough. I remember one of the boys bragging
that they'd had chicken the previous night, but
the other kids disputed it. Said he'd had fried
dough for supper, just like everybody else.

Two pieces of pizza, when they are dipped in
cornmeal + whole wheat batter, feeds four
people, when there is salad to go with it.

Mac & cheese, batter fried....I didn't know that
was even a thing, until I had been making it
for awhile. They have that at State fairs in the
midwest.

I made the cheese and used either corn or
w.w. wheat macaroni. And as far as just frying
dough, I have done that, for myself. Had peanut
butter with it. From the jar.

Yikes! I love that movie, but do not remember the fried dough part.
I still do not understand how a corn meal and whole wheat batter coating 2 slices of pizza makes 4 pieces of pizza. How thick is your batter? Do you add eggs? This is unusual to me.

“Corn” dough macaroni? ?

Please send a link to these recipes. Thanks. I do not come a fried foods culture, so forgive my lack of knowledge.

 

[tree]

Well, you'd cut the 2 pieces in half.
Then there would be four.
And due to the fried batter coating,
that would be more filling than if you'd not
done so.

You have never seen corn or rice macaroni?

The incident of the fried dough dispute is in the
book. It may not have been included in the movie.
============

I learned from my aunt to make corn meal dumplings
to go in a mess of greens or thin soup. She taught
Special Ed. Taught the class to cook and sew and things.
Then people said....well, if those kids can do that, what
do they need special ed for?

 

[Mary Anne]

Well, you'd cut the 2 pieces in half.
Then there would be four.
And due to the fried batter coating,
that would be more filling than if you'd not
done so.

You have never seen corn or rice macaroni?

The incident of the fried dough dispute is in the
book. It may not have been included in the movie.
============

I learned from my aunt to make corn meal dumplings
to go in a mess of greens or thin soup. She taught
Special Ed. Taught the class to cook and sew and things.
Then people said....well, if those kids can do that, what
do they need special ed for?

Never heard of “corn macaroni” before. Rice is rice....and macaroni is made of wheat. Nope, don’t know what you are writing about. I know what corn meal dumplings could be, though never had them. No wait...we have corn meal “hush puppies” here...it might be the same thing. They are tasty.

Fried coated pizza..that is also brand new to me. We have “double stuffed” pizza...and “deep dish”pizza, but not fried. We do have fried ice cream! That’s really awesome!!!!