Healthy Fresh Flavorful Meals on a Budget - Help!

[LookinUp]

Such great ideas! Here are some of my family's favorites:
Roasted red pepper sauce - red bell pepper (garden or on sale), roasted and peeled; squeeze of lemon (I use cheap reconstituted); 2T butter, room temp; 1/4 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese; S&P to taste. Whirl in food processor or blender until fairly smooth. Fantastic on homemade chicken tenders or fresh whole-grain pasta. Leftover sauce can jolly up sandwiches.
Minestrone-ish soup - Brown 4-8 oz of ground Italian sausage or other meat and set aside (or crumble a homemade meatball or two); brown about a cup each of chopped carrots, onion, celery; add diced garlic, 4 cups stock & a cup or two each of whatever tomatoes (canned or fresh), beans and cooked pasta you have around (we love black-eyed peas). Add pinch or two of red pepper flakes and S&P, simmer for 10 minutes. A meal in a bowl - and super fast if you are using up leftovers.
Roasted veggies - No meat required on a RV night; very satisfying. Toss wegdes of sturdy veggies (potatoes, Brussels sprouts [blanched first], fennel, onion [cut into wedges, slicing thru the stem end to keep wedges intact]) in olive oil, spread on cookie sheet, sprinkle with S&P, roast at 400 degrees for about 25 -30 minutes or until done to your liking. If you find kale on sale, make a whole extra sheet of just that, for healthy chips! Some nights we have just potato and onion because nothing is on sale, but then I add a quick smoothie of yogurt plus frozen fruit.
Stuffed baked potato - I use leftover broccoli, a little cheddar or cottage cheese instead of sour cream, and crumbled bacon (1 lb on sale for $4 covers 3 meals).
Homemade "ice cream" - Freeze fruit in chunks when you have any extra. When bits finally add up to about 1 cup, pulse fruit in processor until fine, add sweetener to your taste, plus 2 - 4 tablespoons cream (any kind), and process until fully incorporated. Delish! Best served right away, or freeze extra in ice cube tray for mini-pops.
I also make chicken noodle soup whenever I have leftover chicken. It takes very little meat to satisfy my gang, so this is another great veggie-ful meal.
Wine - Trader Joe's for "Three-Buck Chuck." A $3 bottle of wine that's drinkable. Really. Get a case of wine, then run away! I love TJ, but most items are not so budget-friendly.


Finally, Mrs. C., one last thought. If you are still recovering from surgery, you might ask for temporary help from your church. My church has a ministry that arranges for meals to be delivered to folks recuperating from surgery or illness. My mother had meals for a couple of weeks after her own gallbladder surgery. Even if you don't need so much help, it might be nice to have dinner ready when you have an off day, or are just extra-busy squeezing in a follow-up doctor visit.

Hope your recovery is going swimmingly. Happy tinkering in the kitchen!

 

[TwoMisfits]

A twist on roasted veggie night - take all those roasted veggies and add a jar of Indian sauce (Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi, Korma, or Rogan Josh) and some Jasmine rice (or any really will do - plain old white works...and now you've got almost twice as much food and the Indian sauce makes it very satisfying (we did this 1-2/week when we gave meat up for Lent...

I would use any of a combo of sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, squashes, peppers, etc...and if I used Korma, I liked to throw in a few less veggies, since I threw in raisins and peanuts...

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I make a lot of soups, usually with veggies and beans. It's a great way to use up leftovers or veggies that are starting to get a bit wilted - nobody will notice! Add some homemade bread (do you have a bread machine) and you have a good and filling meal.

Another tip to save on costs - if you have a Farmer's Market near you, go just before it closes. Usually the sellers don't want to lug any leftover food home with them - they know it probably won't last until next week. Many will put up signs offering deals on the leftovers, or will give you a discount if you just ask. We do this a lot! My grandson is working in a Farmer's Market booth this summer so my daughter-in-law just shows up a little early to pick him up and gets a pile of discounted fruits, veggies and baked goods.

 

[Minnesota!]

This is a cheap dinner week for us since we ah, had too much "fun" this weekend. Ahem.

Anyway, tonight will be black bean tacos. Just a few cups of cooked black beans, and then I have peppers, onions, jalapenos. Top with cheese, etc.

Tomorrow will be my family on their own b/c I am working late (same with Thurs)

Wednesday will be omlettes with the leftover taco stuff, fruit, and toast.

Friday is payday, so...woo hoo!

 

[Brancaneve]

Do you have a local farmer's market? That is a great way to purchase inexpensive veggies and fruits.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I don't know where you live, but if you can get yourself to an Aldi's you will save alot on fruits and vegetables.

I second this. And in recent years Aldi's has taken great strides to clean up the ingredients list of their processed foods, if you are the type to worry about chemical additives and preservatives. Also, my husband has a soy allergy and many of the processed foods are soy free--I can even buy a couple types of cookies there! Aldi has also expanded their gluten free and organic product offerings. I still mostly buy my raw ingredients there, flour, sugar, butter, etc., the fruits and veggies are always cheaper than any of the other 3 grocery stores in my area (I've heard people say that Walmart groceries are cheap, but we don't have one near us so I can't comment about that and I have no idea how Aldi compares to Walmart), though there isn't as much variety. That's ok though, because I usually build my meals off of whatever produce Aldi had that week.

My best ideas for cheap meals are:
Find recipes that you can substitute frozen fruits and veggies--frozen fruit and veggies are usually cheaper (at least where I live) and there's no risk involved with them--when you buy fresh there's a reasonable chance that some part of your purchase will be inedible

Carbs are cheap and filling and will stretch your meal dollars (I don't recommend eating this way all the time, but it's gotten us through some tight spots)

Cheap proteins--eggs, canned fish, dry beans, cheese (buy cheese when it's on sale or buy it at Aldi)

Prepare all your meals from scratch. I love Allrecipes.com, that's where I get most of my recipes. I also like the Fix It and Forget It cookbooks for crock pot cooking. You can find recipes on pinterest and cookbooks at your local library. Also, maybe see if your local library has a coupon exchange? I used to use that a lot, before I started cooking from scratch. You take the coupons that you won't use and trade them for coupons for products that you will use.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I should add: we eat a lot of beans because we eat mostly vegetarian. My favorite trick is to rehydrate a whole bag of dry beans at once, then portion the beans into roughly 2-cup portions (about what is in 1 can of beans) and then freeze them. When I need them for a meal I rip open the bag and place the frozen beans into boiling water, it only takes a few minutes to thaw them and then they are ready for use in my recipe. There's a couple extra steps involved, but this makes beans much cheaper, like less than $.25 per portion. Plus, there's much less contamination from BPA--most brands of canned beans are sold in cans lined with BPA.

Beans are so versatile, in any given week we probably have beans or lentils with almost every dinner. I use lentils to stretch things--I'll toss a cup of lentils into almost any rice dish, lentils in the meatloaf or burgers, you can use lentils and black beans to make awesome veggie patties--1 cup of lentils, 1 cup of black beans, 1 egg (or egg whites equivalent to 1 egg), then a couple cups of veggies of your choice, plus seasoning of your choice. Mix it all up in a food processor and form them into patties, and "fry" in olive oil in a skillet until the outside is crispy.

One of our favorite frugal meals is Greek Pasta salad. It's served hot, cold pasta grosses me out. Cook a box of pasta ($.99), add chickpeas or navy beans ($.25), chopped cucumber ($.89), a large handful of shredded fresh spinach, and some parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top. Then you toss all of that with a lemon/olive oil mixture--1 part lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil, seasoned with oregano and mrs. dash garlic and herb seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. that recipe will feed generous portions to 8 people at a cost of less than 3 dollars.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Kale with Butternut squash and a little bacon (cause everything is better with bacon). Take your bacon and cut it into small pcs. and cook it. Add butternut squash after you have cubed it and let it cook a few minutes then just add your kale and get it wilted down.

 

[HopperFan]

DD came home from her year as a DCP and slowly started converting some of our food. We felt we were eating too much pasta to save money and for time so she bought a veggetti. LOVE IT!. We spiral cut zucchini etc and it makes the best voodles as she calls them. Saute with small amount of olive oil and cloves of garlic. We added some ground turkey we had browned with spices. Made enough for two nights and better second night after flavors had soaked in. Instead of tasteless pasta we had these yummy voodles. So many different variations and ideas. She moved last weekend taking it with her so I'm off to buy my own.


http://www.buyveggetti.com/ but we got at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20% off coupon.

 

[manning]

ALDI
i

I did't know the smiley was so big

Here's a secret.

Many of their store brand items are actually name brand items

 

[KJMAX1]

Pioneer Womans Chicken Florentine Pasta dish is delicious! It even gets my kids to eat spinach!!

 

[kimb96]

Meal planning makes the biggest difference in our grocery budget. It helps me to ensure that we use what I buy and nothing goes to waste. I recently started getting into freezer cooking. I try to double or triple a recipe once a week to have something to put back in the freezer. Having meals in the freezer is a god send for me on busy days. I'm not tempted to ask my husband to pick up something for dinner on his way home from work when I have something in the freezer I just need to throw in the oven or crockpot. Monday I made a chicken and broccoli casserole from scratch. I tripled it amd put two portions in the freezer. Last week I made and froze around 100 meatballs. Meatballs can be used in so many ways. Last night I made meatball subs for dinner with caeser salad. Super quick since all I had to do was throw the meatballs in the oven and open a jar of marinara sauce. I have two freezer cookbooks. One is called don't panic, dinner is in the freezer and the other is called fix freeze fast.

Look into buying meat directly from a farmer. I found a farm not far from me that sells organic, grass fed beef for super cheap and delivers. The cost to buy a quarter, half or whole cow is $3.49 a lb. They will package the meat and split it according to your directions if you are buying a share with someone else.

CSA (community supported agriculture) is a great way to get produce for a great price. I joined one last year. Every week starting the first week of June until the end of October, I got a box of produce. All organic. The cost averaged out to be $23 a week. The downside to CSA are that you have to pay for the whole season up front and you don't always get to choose what you want. The one I did gave you some choices each week. They would have a few things that everyone for in their boxes and you got to choose a few things. Like beet greens vs Swiss chart. Potatoes vs carrots.

 

[hsmamato2]

I should add: we eat a lot of beans because we eat mostly vegetarian. My favorite trick is to rehydrate a whole bag of dry beans at once, then portion the beans into roughly 2-cup portions (about what is in 1 can of beans) and then freeze them. When I need them for a meal I rip open the bag and place the frozen beans into boiling water, it only takes a few minutes to thaw them and then they are ready for use in my recipe. There's a couple extra steps involved, but this makes beans much cheaper, like less than $.25 per portion. Plus, there's much less contamination from BPA--most brands of canned beans are sold in cans lined with BPA.

Ok... do the beans taste ok after being cooked then frozen? What about the texture? I use dry beans too, but sometimes I don't b/c of the time involved....I LOVE this idea

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Ok... do the beans taste ok after being cooked then frozen? What about the texture? I use dry beans too, but sometimes I don't b/c of the time involved....I LOVE this idea

The beans taste the same, as best as I can tell the freezing doesn't effect the texture at all. I've never left them in the freezer for an extended time though. I usually rotate and use them within 2-3 months--like I said, we eat beans a lot. If I am cooking up a batch just to freeze I won't cook them as long though.

 

[austinsmommie]

I do grow herbs in pots on my deck, but I use them up faster than they can grow. I have thought about a garden. Two things have stopped me - a super shady back yard and squirrels. We live in the woods, and those darn squirrels eat everything (chair cushions, plants, rubber hoses on gas grill, pumpkins set out for Halloween, etc). They would eat up a garden too.

We have the problem with ground hogs. One got in my garden boxes which we put on legs to hopefully avoid this, I found out they can jump. It ate through 3 beds in one night. I built large cages out of chicken wire with a wood frame on the bottom to keep it out. So far it has worked. We have been eating plenty of fresh veggies. Nothing like picking fresh to make a salad! I am using the square foot garden method this year and it has been great. You don't need a ton of room to grow things. If you have time look it up, I ordered the book from ebay pretty cheap.

We also eat real food and organic as much as possible. Plus I can't eat gluten. It can get costly. I get a lot of recipes from 100 days of real food. I do whole chickens in the crock pot and make stock to freeze after. I make large batches of sauce and freeze. I buy dried bulk beans, cook them and freeze in small batches. I buy our organic meat from Costco once a month. I have a bread maker and make bread. I make tortillas instead of buying them. For snacks we eat a lot of popcorn, nuts and dried berries. We do have a lot of farmers markets and several natural food stores that I go to also. I try to spread it out and buy meat one week, dried goods another and fresh fruits and veggies as needed. I try to not shop 1 week out of the month and eat what we have (which is easier in the summer because of the garden).

 

[cheerky]

Aldi is great for staples, spices, produce, dairy and snacks. Im second Trader Joe's for wine. The two buck chuck Pinot Grigio and Shiraz is decent.
Cheap recipe: sauté onion, garlic and sliced pepperoni. Add tsp celery salt and basil. Stir in 2 cans cannelloni beans undrained, large can tomato sauce, 4 chicken bullion cubes and large can of water. Bring to boil. Lower to simmer and add a pound of cooked ditalini pasta and a 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Simmer about ten minutes and enjoy with Italian bread! Cheap and makes a ton!

 

[smokeyblue]

I make burrito bowls. 1st layer is rice w/cilantro, lime and garlic salt. 2nd layer is seasoned cubed chicken. I season with taco seasoning or just use hot sauce and garlic powder. Next layer is black beans. Then I top with cheese and microwave to melt. Then top with salsa and sour cream. Easy and good

I buy bags of frozen cooked cubed chicken from GFS. Makes this meal super easy and is good on salad and to make quick chicken tacos and whatever else you may use cubed chicken for.

 

[neatokimmo]

We buy chicken by the case from SAMs. The last batch was $1.67 pp.