Quick easy recipies on a budget

Kagemori

Hey all, im looking for some recipies that i can cook at home. I eat a lot of fast food, and when i say i alot i mean almost everyday.
I dont have alot of time to cook at home because of the hours i work. Usually as soon as im up im gone and by the time i get home its too late and im too tired to cook.

what im looking for are soe recipies that are easy and quick to cook, for any meal, breakfast, lunch, w/e. and meals that can be cooked on a Min. wage budget.

I dont have alot of experince cooking real meals. Most of the meals i have cooked at home come in a box, so please keep that in mind when offering suggestions.

and preferbly something that can be stored for a few days is good to, cause thats something i put in the fridge for later so even if i dont have time to cook i will atleast have something better than fast food to eat at home.

thanks a bunch!

mrykyldy2

This is pretty simple thing in a crock pot and can be stored for a few days or frozen in portions.

4small boneless chicken breasts
16 oz. salsa of your choice
16 oz. non fat sour cream ( I like the one that is in the white and black container, reminds me of a cow. I don't know the name of it)
2 tsp. garlic
salt and pepper to taste
cook till chicken is cooked thoroughly. You should be able to shred chicken with two forks. Serve over whole wheat pasta.

Kagemori

cool thanks, i'll try that one day

jenkidney

Typically, I will go through my list of recipes/ideas on Sunday and pick one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner. Then I prepare the entire week's worth of food Sunday night so that all I have to do each day is reheat components to meals and throw them together. It's not the most spontaneous way, but I find if I do it this way, then I'm less likely to say "Screw it!" and make nachos. It's much easier for me. Skinnytaste.com has lots of great recipes, and I've found a lot on Pinterest as well.

LeeshaNichole

If you have a bbq or a geroge foreman (or some kind of inside grill) You could grill up a few boneless chicken breasts and have meals for through out the week. You can slice one up and put it in a green salad. Make chicken tacos (whole wheat tortilla, low fat cheese, tomatoes, avocados, low fat sour cream-whatever you want really), Slice up some sweet potatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic and cut the chicken in chunks throw in a fry pan with some olive oil-cook until taters are tender. So many possibilities with chicken breasts.

LeeshaNichole

Typically, I will go through my list of recipes/ideas on Sunday and pick one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner. Then I prepare the entire week's worth of food Sunday night so that all I have to do each day is reheat components to meals and throw them together. It's not the most spontaneous way, but I find if I do it this way, then I'm less likely to say "Screw it!" and make nachos. It's much easier for me. Skinnytaste.com has lots of great recipes, and I've found a lot on Pinterest as well.

Thank you for the website-always look for new recipes!

lstnlondry

I always have beans, rice & stewed chicken in my fridge. You could roll them into a burrito, taco or toss onto a salad. Also I have in the past made sandwiches & wraps for my boys wrapped in saran wp so you can grab & go.

tansygreen

At least once per week I make a big pot of soup. If it's some kind of bean/lentil based, or minestrone or something, it works out really cheap and the best thing is you can put it in the fridge and just have some with a pitta bread or something whenever you have not much time. I get most of my recipes from the internet, like skinnytaste, bbc good food, things like that.
Another thing that is so cheap and can be done ahead is baked potatoes, baked, then cooled and put them in the fridge and heat up when you want them, add something like tuna, or chicken and salad and it's super quick, and cheap.
Also you can cook a big pan of rice, cool, and freeze in portions, then they can be microwaved fom frozen in about 1 or 2 minutes, to make up a rice salad or put with a stew or something.
For breakfast, maybe overnight oatmeal? (Don't like oatmeal myself but so many people swear by it)!

flutternfly

I am a former fast food junkie. I pick up groceries on my way to work or buy them at night and take them with me to work. I do salads and have bagged lettuce, some protein (chicken breasts, tuna, salmon, etc) with veggie (cucumbers, tomato, broccoli, whatever I feel like) and a yummy low-cal dressing (my favorite is Trader Joe's Champagne Pear). I keep snacks at my desk, including almonds, hazelnuts, Luna bars (Chocolate Peppermint and Chocolate Covered Coconut are my favorites--think Thin Mints and Samosa girl scout cookied). I keep celery and almond butter in the fridge for a healthy fast snack. Some of my coworkers ask to eat my healthier snacks. I also keep Fage Greek Yogurt and berries in the fridge.

I know these weren't exactly recipes, but this helped me break the fast food cycle.

I have been known to bring my crockpot into work and share healthy lunch with coworkers. I've done chicken, brisket, soups. There are so many crockpot recipes online. Have you checked out pinterest? Tons of pins of healthy quick meals.

htimpaired

I got this one from my Cooking Light magazine. You can mix it up by changing the veggie etc.

Two sauage links pulled out of the casing and browned. Chicken sausage works great!
Then throw a bag of baby spinach in the saute pan and let it cook down.
While that's going, heat a bag of 90 second brown rice (like Uncle Ben's) in the microwave.
Mix that in with the spinach/sausage combo.
Ta da!

KatFierce

I think the biggest thing is start out with small changes. So say every morning you get a coffee and a bagel at the drive thru, well tommorrow wake up make yourself an egg (you can even just microwave in a mug to cook it, throw it on a 100 cal sandwich thin or bread of your choice with some lunch meat or cheese maybe tomato or some spinach whatever you like, wrap it in tin foil and bring it, go get coffee and eat that on the way to work.
Repeat all week,
Lets say you always get a soda, chips and pizza for lunch well tommorrow get the salad, water and pizza. Or skip the pizza and get a grilled chicken salad. Then work your way till your bringing it from home.

Buy a big package of boneless chicken breast, salt pepper and garlic to taste then bake, freeze the already cooked chicken, cut some up in the fridge. Use for sandwiches, salads, burritos, whatever you like all week. Even if you cant bring 100% home mae stuff just packing the chicken for work and then putting it on a drivethru garden salad will save you about 3$per day and be healthier.

Also cooking large batches of things in a crockpot makes my life much much easier. I use the stephanie o'dea site where she crockpots every day for a year, she has a healthy section..i always just google it anytime i want to go to her blog site/

Best of luck! ( fellow drive thru addict in recovery)

Kagemori

Thanks guys! Alot of these ideas were very helpful and iwill checkout the suggested sites as well