Healthier and cheaper recipes?

[mermaidwannabe]

As part of our New Year plan, my DH and I want to start feeding our family of 5 healthier and cheaper. We really are trying to focus on some bean dishes and/or meatless dishes or just try to stretch the meat. Our food bills are horrendous and we focus every dinner around a meat. I tried a tofu parmigiana, and while my DH and I liked it, the kids do NOT like the texture.

Anyways, since I've used so many recipes found from the crock pot thread, I thought maybe the DISers would have good, cheap but healthy meal ideas.

Thanks!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

How about peas and macaroni or a pasta primavera? Or what about breakfast for dinner?

 

[josh0208]

This is a great thread idea. I'm in as well.

We are also trying to cut the budget and eat healthier. My weekly grocery bill has been over $100 every week. I'm trying to use more of what we have in the pantry and freezer.

 

[deerhart]

Pasta Margherita
* * 1 pound penne pasta, cooked and drained
* * 1 pound mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded
* * 4 ounces pepperoni, sliced or cubed (optional)
* * 1/4 cup thinly sliced loosely packed fresh basil leaves
* * 1 (26 ounce) jar Ragu® Old World Style® Margherita Smooth Pasta Sauce, heated

Toss all ingredients in a large serving bowl. Mangia!
avg cost was about $8.00 (past $1.00, cheese $2 (used for both this and next recipe), pepperoni $2 and I used the left over from the next recipe, fresh basil $2, pasta sauce $1.50)



Slithering Stromboli
Ingredients

* # 1 package (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust
* # 1/4 lb. sliced provolone cheese
* # 20 slices pepperoni
* # 1 jar (1 lb. 10 oz.) Ragu® Old World Style® Pasta Sauce
* # 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz.)
* # 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* # 1 large egg, slightly beaten, optional

Cost: (pizza crust - $1.50 bought store brand, cheese $2.50, but next time would use lot less cheese, pepperoni $2, didn't use all and use left over for above recipe, ragu $1.50 , mozzarella $2 ,also used for above recipe, pamesan $2.50 - bought kraft pregrated that we normally use for spagethii and such $2.00, egg nominal)

These are also recipes that you can easily substitute things for (example I can often get pasta sauce for $1.00 or less per jar, can get shredded cheese for under $2.00 a package and use one package for both etc..

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 400°. Roll dough out to 14 by 10-inch rectangle. Layer provolone cheese over dough, leaving a 1-inch border around edges. Top with pepperoni in a single layer. Spread 1 cup of Pasta Sauce evenly over pepperoni; evenly sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over sauce.
2. Roll, starting at longest end, jelly-roll style. Fold in ends and pinch to seal. Arrange stromboli in an s-shape on baking pan, seam-side down. Brush surface, if desired, with egg.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until bread is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with remaining Pasta Sauce, heated.


As for meat, well its really regional. I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.80 a pound here and most of the rest of the meat I buy when its on sale. I will also buy in bulk and then split it up at home. We don't mind 80/20 ground beef but usually I can get ground chuck for a similar price.

Also track prices and buy your named brand stuff rock bottom with coupons if you can, otherwise go generic. Usually the generic is just as good and can be cheaper then the name brand on sale with coupons.

Also realize that when you go healthier, you may need to stock up on things you don't have, which has an initial outlay cost. Since we started cooking at home more elaborate better meals I have spent a small fortune on spices, olive oil, vinegars etc.. that I never really kept around but now need to cook. So you may not see the drop in grocery bill in the first few weeks (as you work out what meals to make and what you need to keep in stock and don't have)

 

[disneymarie]

I was just weighing this thought too. Especially meal planning for the week.

Tonight I am taking rice, frying it a bit first in an iron skillit for flavor, adding spices and stewed tomatoes with shirmp left from the holiday.
Like a jombolia

Another night, I will use a can of black beans, corn in the rice with some chicken tenderloins I have in the freezer.

Last week I made a chile, but added lots of mixed veg's and some short elbow type noodles.

I have a frozen chicken so thinking of soup with lots of veggies and maybe making some corn bread.

I wondered if online is a free diet or healthy meal planning site?
that was going to be my thread starter?
di

 

[Graciesmom77]

This is a great thread!

I am sick of spending so much money at the store. We have been trying to eat much better in the last 3 weeks and we have spent 400 bucks! Ahhh!

My kids love when I make a big salad and add just a little bit of chicken, dried cranberries and rasberry dressing. I add pecans to mine because I am a vegetarian, and I split a chicken breast between their 2 salads and it makes a really healthy meal for pretty cheap.

I also took a can of refried beans and made burritos with them, lowfat cheese, diced tomatoes, and poured a mixute of enchillada sauce and tomato sauce (we don' like them spicy) over the top. My kids loved it.

Make your own pizza with lots of veggie toppings (try pineapple, sounds weird, but we love it)

Soup and Sandwiches. (nothing like a hot bowl of soup in the winter)

Pork roast and veggies, and take the leftover pork and turn it into bbq pork.

 

[Graciesmom77]

Sparkpeople.com is an AMAZING site. Try it, I love it!

 

[mommylovestinkerbell]

Great recipes! Love this site!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Oh my gosh, I'm already copying these into my Word file!!

I'm going to try shredded zucchini in my spaghetti sauce, try a canned pumpkin ravioli recipe plus having soup at least once a week since there are bean soups, veggie soups, chili with half the meat and black bean soup.
Also make some pasta dishes with just veggies and Parmesan cheese sound good.
Enchiladas with beans and cheese sound like they would pass. Cheese tortellini is always a hit which we get from Costco. It's so hard to think this way when I've always started with the meat!

My meat-loving DH who grew up on meat, potato and veggie is willing to try it after his Mom has been having him listen to The China Study on health effects of eating too much meat, so that's helpful!!

 

[sk!mom]

Black Bean Quesidillas- 1 can of black beans- rinsed
Half a bag of frozen corn
1 small can green chilies
Whole Wheat tortillas and a small amount of cheese
on each.
My DD13 calls this her favorite dinner. DH spices his up with a super hot salsa. I serve them with shredded lettuce.

Black Bean Nachos- Baked tortilla chips topped with the above Quesidilla filling and shredded cheese.

Veggie pizza- tonights will be topped with mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion.

Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. My family likes potato soup and Tortilla. We normally have one or the other every week,

Tostados- tostado shells topped with fat free refried beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, salsa.

Salads are a fave here too- Chicken pasta caesar is served at least once a week. One chicken breast is enough for the three of us and I use whole wheat pasta.

 

[disneymarie]

We love Hawaiian Pizza,
canadian bacon and Crushed pinapple on pizza with sauce. i thought yuck at first, but the tang of pineapple and sauce, was great.

I forgot about wraps, some turkey breast, sherdded cheese, and fancy lettuce....

We make a taco salad too, sometimes hamburg, sometimes with chicken. Season and fry up, with taco seasonings, shredded cheese, toss, that is great in a huge bowl. Then a side of refried beans.

With my iron skillits I got for christmas I have been doing a lot of dried bean dishes, soups, baked beans, even bacon and potato soup.

I made corn bread in a skillit tonight too. another huge hit!!!!1

I am going through the pantry see what I have in can goods,
Not much in the deep freeze,

I guess If I can pick up some more chicken, small pack of beef to dice up, make fajitas....

I am going to check out that link now.....
di

 

[IDoDis]

We eat a lot of stir fry. You can buy the big bags of frozen stir fry veggies at Sams or Costco. Then, I buy chicken breasts in large packages when they are on sale an put them in smaller freezer zip lock bags. The only other thing you'll need is a bottle of stir fry sauce. We eat it over brown rice which is also very healthy. We prefer the Minute Rice brand.

When buying the the items in bulk, I figured each meal for a family of 4 costs about $5 each.

Another cheap and healthy meal is spaghetti, but I use ground turkey instead of hamburger meat and whole wheat noodles instead of the white noodles. I buy a one pound package of turkey, fry it up and then put 1/2 of it back in the freezer for the next week. We really don't need a whole pound of meat in the sauce anyway.

 

[Lorix2]

A favorite in my house is this soup without meat which is very filling and though it has V8 in it, it's high in sodium, though you could buy the low sodium V8:

About 8 cups of water
1 packet of Lipton Chicken soup
2 or 3 bouillion cubes
1 cup of noodles like macaroni, pinwheels, ruffles, ditalini, etc.
1 or 2 11.5 oz can of V8 (we like to use two)
Morton's Nature's Seasoning - season generously

Add everything once the water boils and then turn down to med high and cook for as long as the noodles say to on the box. Stir 1/2 way thru.

The other favorite soup with chicken:

2 chix breasts with bone and skin
dill seasoning
salt
sliced raw carrots
egg noodles of your choice


Boil a little more water than you would need to cover the chicken, I put the chicken breast side down.

Add generous amount salt and add the bouillion cubes, dill (enough to cover the top of the water) and the carrots.

Boil until the chicken is done, about 1/2 hour or so. Take off the skin, shred the chicken and add back in. Cook egg noodles while you are shredding and add them to the pot when they are done. You have to adjust the salt to your liking, but it would be blah without it.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Chicken, Black bean bake(I only use one large boneless skinless chickenbreast for this dish. Depends ony our family of course.)

1lg bs chicken breast
1/2 pkt low sodium taco seasoning
1 can rotel not drained
1 can rinsed black beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 pkt instant brown rice
1 cup of 2% cheese

I cook my chicken in a crockpot with the taco seasoning and rotel for 4 hours on high.I mix in the rinsed black beans and cup of corn and shred the chicken.

I pour this including the liquid over the instant brown rice and top with cheese and tin foil. I bake in the oven for 30-45 mins at 350.


Veggie Lasagna

2 boxes frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 c chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of squash yellow or green or both
1/4 cup or less of chopped onion and/or bell pepper
1 box smart taste lasagna noodles
1/2 cup of lowfat italian cheese
1 tsp garlic
seasonings as liked
2 cups of spaghetti sauce or lowfat alfredo sauce
2 tsps of oilve oil
1/4 ricotta cheese(optional)

I saute the spinach in olive oil and garlic and onions for about 3 mins and then add in all the other veggies. After 6 -8 mins total I add in some red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and a sprinkle less than 1/4 cup of cheese in the veggie mixture.

Now I don't boil my noodles, I just let it bake longer in the oven covered in foil so it's each person's choice about the noodle thing.

Pour a touch of sauce in the bottom of your lasagna pan and then begin the layering with noodles and veggie mix with sauce and some cheese. My top layer is always noodles and sauce and cheese. I cover in tin foil and bake for an hour at 375.

 

[puffkin]

This soup is so easy, filling and healthy. I think a serving is 4 points for Weight Watchers which is where i got the recipe.

Taco Soup
In a large crockpot place the ingredients in the following order:

1 lb FROZEN chicken breasts (I just put in enough to cover the bottom)
1 packet powdered ranch dressing
1 packet powdered taco seasoning
1 large onion diced
1 can black beans (with juice)
1 can kidney beans (with juice)
1 can cannellini beans (with juice)
1 can vegetarian baked beans
1 can diced tomotoes (with juice, I usually use the ones with green chiles)
1 can of corn (with juice)
DO NOT STIR

I cook on low all day. Before serving I pull the chicken out and shred it on a plate with a fork. Then I put it back in and mix it all together. It is a really good and hearty meal. Very yummy!