Eating Healthy On A Budget. Share your Ideas!
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lmhbuss
Posts: 282 Member
Something Yummy Mummy posted inspired me to start this thread. It's a topic I'm passionate about. I love food, I love to cook....and I do NOT have a lot of money to spend. How to you stretch your grocery dollar these days when the cost of everything seems to be climbing so much faster than the average persons income?
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The most budget friendly meal my mother ever taught me to cook is beans with ham hock in the slow cooker. Rinse and soak a pack of dried pinto beans the night before. Chuck them in the slow cooker with some water and a ham hock bone or some other hunk of flavorful and cheap pork. Add garlic, salt, pepper, onion and turn your slow cooker on. Makes a huge pot of beans that can be eaten solo or over rice and leaves lots of leftovers for side dishes for the week. Total cost maybe $4 for a huge crock full of flavorful food.0
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Super cheap meal I discovered on my own. Pasta in herbed butter. Cook a pack of pasta. Drain and return the pasta still hot to the pot. Then chuck in compound butter flavored with garlic, basil, oregano, etc. Toss till butter melts and thinly coats your pasta. Maybe 4 tbs for a whole pack of pasta. Sprinkle with a little salt and enjoy. You have to make the butter in advance a few days but it keeps well in the fridge and is sooo tasty on pasta or to saute chicken breasts in a skillet with. The pasta meal costs maybe $2.50 for 8 servings (less if you grow your own herbs).0
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I am all about eggs and oatmeal. They both fill me up and are pretty inexpensive. Plus you can add things like fruit or peanut butter to oatmeal and veggies to eggs to make them even better. My 2 year old loves oatmeal.
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I am all about eggs and oatmeal. They both fill me up and are pretty inexpensive. Plus you can add things like fruit or peanut butter to oatmeal and veggies to eggs to make them even better. My 2 year old loves oatmeal.
I have to agree with the eggs. Breakfast for dinner is a go to meal for me. Veggie omelets are yummy, filling, easy and cheap. Add some protein and a starch and the whole family is happy.
And don't forget homemade soups. So easy and can be made from leftovers. I like to throw left over pot roast with a mixed bag of frozen veggies (or left overs) and a bullion cube and let it simmer.0 -
Please keep adding ideas for this thread...My biggest hang up over the years for not buying healthier foods was that I coudl not afford it being a single mom. I work graveyard so any slow cooker recipes are a goldmine for me since it can cook while I sleep during the day and the family has dinner ready when they get hoem form work/school. I happen to be gluten sensitive so am tryign to reduce wheat adn such from my diet but that has been a total struggle, I'm a pasta girl all the way, so any suggestion for gluten free or reduced woudl be greatly appreciated as well.0
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Please keep adding ideas for this thread...My biggest hang up over the years for not buying healthier foods was that I coudl not afford it being a single mom. I work graveyard so any slow cooker recipes are a goldmine for me since it can cook while I sleep during the day and the family has dinner ready when they get hoem form work/school. I happen to be gluten sensitive so am tryign to reduce wheat adn such from my diet but that has been a total struggle, I'm a pasta girl all the way, so any suggestion for gluten free or reduced woudl be greatly appreciated as well.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
You have got to check out this site. She made a different thing in the crockpot for 365 days. Her daughter cannot eat gluten so she will tell you what gluten free things to use. Not all the items are healthy but it will give you some new ideas.0 -
Chili is pretty inexpensive and can be made in the crock pot.0
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Another thing I like to do is buy 1 whole chicken. Throw that sucker in the crockpot and let it cook allll day. Then strip it down and chuck the bones back into the pot for a few more hours. You get loads of yummy chicken for healthy recipe ideas AND the tastiest low sodium chicken stock which can be kept in the freezer or fridge. That one chicken will typically yield 3-4 meals for my small family plus those meals are large enough that I can take leftovers to work for lunch. The first night we just have the "roasted" chicken with sides. Then, afterwards, I use the chicken and the stock to make chicken and noodles, chicken and dumplings, chicken chedder broccoli rice casserole, & most importantly chicken pot pie. Obviously, not all these dishes get made every time, but you get the idea...there are loads of possibilities. Have a serving of chicken and dumplings with a big salad and you leave the table warm and satisfied...for cheap. 0
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http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
You have got to check out this site. She made a different thing in the crockpot for 365 days. Her daughter cannot eat gluten so she will tell you what gluten free things to use. Not all the items are healthy but it will give you some new ideas.
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Thank you so much for this link, its a God send for me!!!0 -
Another thing I like to do is buy 1 whole chicken. Throw that sucker in the crockpot and let it cook allll day. Then strip it down and chuck the bones back into the pot for a few more hours. You get loads of yummy chicken for healthy recipe ideas AND the tastiest low sodium chicken stock which can be kept in the freezer or fridge. That one chicken will typically yield 3-4 meals for my small family plus those meals are large enough that I can take leftovers to work for lunch. The first night we just have the "roasted" chicken with sides. Then, afterwards, I use the chicken and the stock to make chicken and noodles, chicken and dumplings, chicken chedder broccoli rice casserole, & most importantly chicken pot pie. Obviously, not all these dishes get made every time, but you get the idea...there are loads of possibilities. Have a serving of chicken and dumplings with a big salad and you leave the table warm and satisfied...for cheap.
What a wonderful idea, that will be where I start next Sunday for cooking for the week!!0
