HELP! cheep but healthy meal ideas needed

c2h5m8h6
c2h5m8h6 Posts: 84 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Struggling with the whole healthy shop just latley I always seem to come home with bags full of processed food :(
I have a budget of £50 a week to feed 3 does anybody have any cheep meal ideas that are also healthy that they would like to share?? PLEASE :smile:
I like to cook and have worked in several different kitchens so weather its simple or hard to make i dont mind eitherway
but just as a heads up were not keen on seafood (apart from cod and haddock and the odd salmon) and our daughter is a toddler.
thank you in advance :D
please feel free to add me

Replies

  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,469 Member
    It's something I struggle with too sometimes, and all the things that used to be cheap years ago are no longer cheap!

    One thing that I keep meaning to use more of is red lentils. They are fairly cheap and healthy and you can use them to make a nice dhal/curry, or use in hearty soups, in place of meat in spaghetti bolognaise, shepherd's pie, etc. They do seem to need a lot of extra flavouring as they are bland, so things like onions, salt, stock, etc. are handy.

    Cabbage and kale are sometimes cheap and they are nice with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil (the sesame oil isn't cheap but you don't use much).

    Strongly flavoured cheese seems to go further so it's worth the money for mature cheddar rather than mild cheddar.

    Cheap minced beef isn't worth it, in my opinion as it has so much fat and tastes bad. I'd rather pay a bit more for better stuff. A packet of frozen diced vegetables can be cheap and you can add some in when you're cooking minced beef to bulk it out and add some nutrients. When my son was younger I often used to put finely chopped vegetables into things like bolognaise sauce.

    Some people swear by buying a whole chicken and making it do several meals, although I don't have the space for it.

    I think the main difficulty with cooking nice cheap, healthy meals is that we'd usually bulk them out with things like pasta, rice and potatoes, but you don't want to do too much of that if you're trying to lose weight!

    I don't know what shops you have nearby. I find Aldi and Lidl can be quite cheap for basic fruit and veg and some other things. I prefer Aldi to Lidl.
  • c2h5m8h6
    c2h5m8h6 Posts: 84 Member
    It's something I struggle with too sometimes, and all the things that used to be cheap years ago are no longer cheap!

    One thing that I keep meaning to use more of is red lentils. They are fairly cheap and healthy and you can use them to make a nice dhal/curry, or use in hearty soups, in place of meat in spaghetti bolognaise, shepherd's pie, etc. They do seem to need a lot of extra flavouring as they are bland, so things like onions, salt, stock, etc. are handy.

    Cabbage and kale are sometimes cheap and they are nice with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil (the sesame oil isn't cheap but you don't use much).

    Strongly flavoured cheese seems to go further so it's worth the money for mature cheddar rather than mild cheddar.

    Cheap minced beef isn't worth it, in my opinion as it has so much fat and tastes bad. I'd rather pay a bit more for better stuff. A packet of frozen diced vegetables can be cheap and you can add some in when you're cooking minced beef to bulk it out and add some nutrients. When my son was younger I often used to put finely chopped vegetables into things like bolognaise sauce.

    Some people swear by buying a whole chicken and making it do several meals, although I don't have the space for it.

    I think the main difficulty with cooking nice cheap, healthy meals is that we'd usually bulk them out with things like pasta, rice and potatoes, but you don't want to do too much of that if you're trying to lose weight!

    I don't know what shops you have nearby. I find Aldi and Lidl can be quite cheap for basic fruit and veg and some other things. I prefer Aldi to Lidl.

    Thank hun this is a big help Ive never tried lentils instead of mince i will give it a go and ive never thought of putting soy sauce and sesame oil with cabbage and kale and we normally have sasame oil in thats a brilliant idea I shall try that tonight
    I try not to use alot of cheese but will give this a try for my fella and daughter
    I dont like cheep mince either i normally pick a pack up every other week :D
    I was thinking of getting a whole chicken doing a roast wraps curry and maybe soup
    Ive got a aldi and lidl nearby but normally find that i need to go somewere else as well as for some bits aldi and lidl dont sell ive got a localish morrisons asda and tesco but there just too expencive I find iceland to be cheep but its all processed and you still have to go to lidl or aldi
    thank you very much for your help hun youve given me a few ideas :d
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,469 Member
    You're welcome! Hopefully some more people will post with ideas. I agree about Iceland. Farmfoods and Fultons are the same, but you can sometimes get some bargains there.

    I forgot to mention lentil burgers too! I don't cook them any more because I'm the only one who likes them, but they're basically cooked lentils mixed with an egg and seasoning and made into burgers then cooked in the pan. You can add onion, mushrooms, sweetcorn or whatever you like, for instance, curry flavoured ones. They're nice as burgers with or without a bun, or cold for lunch with some pickle. If you google lentil burgers you'll find lots of recipes. It all depends on whether your family will eat lentils! You can also make a dip/pate with lentils.
  • monikalama
    monikalama Posts: 75 Member
    It's something I struggle with too sometimes, and all the things that used to be cheap years ago are no longer cheap!

    One thing that I keep meaning to use more of is red lentils. They are fairly cheap and healthy and you can use them to make a nice dhal/curry, or use in hearty soups, in place of meat in spaghetti bolognaise, shepherd's pie, etc. They do seem to need a lot of extra flavouring as they are bland, so things like onions, salt, stock, etc. are handy.

    Cabbage and kale are sometimes cheap and they are nice with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil (the sesame oil isn't cheap but you don't use much).

    Strongly flavoured cheese seems to go further so it's worth the money for mature cheddar rather than mild cheddar.

    Cheap minced beef isn't worth it, in my opinion as it has so much fat and tastes bad. I'd rather pay a bit more for better stuff. A packet of frozen diced vegetables can be cheap and you can add some in when you're cooking minced beef to bulk it out and add some nutrients. When my son was younger I often used to put finely chopped vegetables into things like bolognaise sauce.

    Some people swear by buying a whole chicken and making it do several meals, although I don't have the space for it.

    I think the main difficulty with cooking nice cheap, healthy meals is that we'd usually bulk them out with things like pasta, rice and potatoes, but you don't want to do too much of that if you're trying to lose weight!

    I don't know what shops you have nearby. I find Aldi and Lidl can be quite cheap for basic fruit and veg and some other things. I prefer Aldi to Lidl.

    Thank hun this is a big help Ive never tried lentils instead of mince i will give it a go and ive never thought of putting soy sauce and sesame oil with cabbage and kale and we normally have sasame oil in thats a brilliant idea I shall try that tonight
    I try not to use alot of cheese but will give this a try for my fella and daughter
    I dont like cheep mince either i normally pick a pack up every other week :D
    I was thinking of getting a whole chicken doing a roast wraps curry and maybe soup
    Ive got a aldi and lidl nearby but normally find that i need to go somewere else as well as for some bits aldi and lidl dont sell ive got a localish morrisons asda and tesco but there just too expencive I find iceland to be cheep but its all processed and you still have to go to lidl or aldi
    thank you very much for your help hun youve given me a few ideas :d

    STAY AWAY FROM ICELAND.. MOST UNHEALTHY FOOD.. I shop in morrison and asda and i find them CHEAP COMPARE TO TESCO.. is aldi cheap ??? shame i don't have them nearby where i live.. :/
  • c2h5m8h6
    c2h5m8h6 Posts: 84 Member
    yeah i thought they were we just shopped there cos there cheep we go to morrisons the most but lidl and aldi are cheeper x
  • violinkeri
    violinkeri Posts: 212
    Go to Allrecipes.com They have great sections on healthy meals, and 5 minute meals. I've been going crazy with crock pot chili lately--just a couple cans of beans and tomato, with some ground meat (ive used beef and pork, may try chicken next!) and its lo calorie even with cheese and sour cream. Plus, I make it on Sunday and it makes 8 portions so since its just me it lasts all week! But for a family it should last for 2 meals.

    Another one I like is BBQ bacon chicken--cook the bacon a little, wrap it around the chicken breasts, and bake it 30 minutes. slather on some bbq sauce, then bake it 15 minutes more. you can grill it too, but my propane is empty and its cold out :)

    Both of those have very short prep time and lower calories. Lots of protein. not too many ingredients, so not too expensive.
  • c2h5m8h6
    c2h5m8h6 Posts: 84 Member
    ohh thanks i aint got a crock pot tho but could do chilli in the slow cooker :D

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