Great Recipes on a budget!

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  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22065978 this link has a healthy diet for £15 per week plus a link to healthy budget recipes. Not all prices will translate but the principles should!:smile:
  • KyliAnne26
    KyliAnne26 Posts: 209 Member
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    My fiance and I are both in grad school and we both work - so we're on a budget but also very short on time. This led to us eating like crap on the run, until we made a decision to quit doing that.... enter the crock-pot! All of the below recipes would be even cheaper if you used dried beans instead of canned, I have certain recipes I used dried and others I use canned - it's your preference, but dried beans are amazing!! Also, I'm from Oklahoma and love spicy food, so feel free to leave out the pepper, I have a tendency to add it to everything!

    Beans & Cornbread w/ Hot Salad (~$8.00, makes 8-10 servings):
    1 bad dried pinto beans
    1 box cornbread
    1 hamhock or pork shank
    1 tomato
    1 onion
    1 jalapeno
    *Soak pinto beans over night. Then cover Pinto Beans and hamhock/shank with water in crockpot, add salt and pepper (and garlic if you have it) cook for 6-8 hours. Bake cornbread. Dice tomato, onion & salsa together. Crumble cornbread in the bottom of the bowl, cover with beans & pork, and top with hot salad and Salt and pepper!

    Crockpot Taco Soup (~$9, makes 6-8 servings):
    1 lb chicken (or ground beef/ground deer/ground turkey, whatever you have or is cheapest)
    1 can pinto beans (or chili, or kidney... also whatever you have and/or is the cheapest)
    1 can black beans
    1 can corn
    1 can diced tomatoes
    1 bell pepper (This is needed to help with the acidity of the tomatoes)
    *Put all ingredients in a crockpot, cook 6-8 hours - add cayenne pepper, chili powder, and/ or Salt and Pepper to your taste.

    Beans & Rice (~$4-5, makes 2-3 servings)
    1 box spanish rice
    1 box black beans
    1 can corn
    * cook rice, add beans and corn + salt and pepper
    *This can be eaten with tortillas or by itself

    Italian Pasta:
    1 pkg whole wheat pasta
    1 small can sliced black (or green) olives - your preference
    1 small pkg pepperoni or salami (whichever is cheaper at your market)
    cheese, mozzerela works best but parmesean is okay too
    light italian dressing
    -(optional) - bell pepper
    -(optional) - diced tomato
    *cook pasta, then add in the other things - go easy on the italian dressing at first, a little goes a long way. We like to refridgerate this and take for lunches later in the week because we dont' always have access to a microwave.

    Feel free to friend me if you think you'd enjoy these and you want more! Hope you find these helpful, they've become staples around here!
  • djcon
    djcon Posts: 216 Member
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    bump
  • Liss416
    Liss416 Posts: 209 Member
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    These recipes look delicious!
  • Mom4Liz
    Mom4Liz Posts: 55
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    I just discovered a new cheap and healthy food secret. There's a new Asian food market that opened in my neighbourhood. I just got a chance to go today. The prices were ridiculously cheap and they had fruits and vegetables I've never seen before. What a great way to get excited about eating your fruits and veggies. I want to try everything. They also had so many cheap spices, nuts, seeds, dried fruit for treats. So much seafood. This is the third or fourth market like this that has popped up in my city. If you have an Asian market in your city...what are you waiting for? Get down there.
  • CJforMe
    CJforMe Posts: 17
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    These recipes all look great! I hope people post more!
  • MissingMyOldSelf
    MissingMyOldSelf Posts: 689 Member
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    Mom4Liz, I don't have an Asian market that close, but I have a Mexican market about 5 minutes away. I went there once when I was making tamales, and the young gentleman that helped me was FANTASTIC and gave me so many tips and tricks, and I haven't forgotten him! Hopefully he's still there!!! But, I DO remember getting a can of refried beans for about $.75, so I was really happy about that! I'll have to go back and scope out the sales tomorrow morning!!

    Thanks for reminding me about those little stores!! I know the two mom-n-pop groceries close by are a RIPOFF!!! Holy COW!!! I honestly don't know how they're in business, other than the fact that people don't want to drive to the grocery for something small that they've forgotten, but really!?!?!?! $3.35 for a gallon of milk? I can get my generic milk at Walmart for $2.50!
  • laurenz2501
    laurenz2501 Posts: 839 Member
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    I am on a strict budget too so I just buy necessities like chicken, some frozen vegetables, eggs and brown rice. I never thought about food shopping at a dollar store, but I would be surprised if they had anything Light or low fat/reduced fat. I was amazed at the amount of produce I got at a Produce Junction for $8!
  • Cindy_2013
    Cindy_2013 Posts: 9 Member
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    That has to be my favourite recipe from Gina/Skinnytaste! we probably have that once a week!
  • Cindy_2013
    Cindy_2013 Posts: 9 Member
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    Two of my favorite cheap meals are chili (with or without meat) and this one from Skinnytaste:

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/pollo-in-potacchio.html

    I use chicken thighs (bone-in) a lot because they are so cheap. Good luck!

    pollo-in-potacchio is our favourite meal in my house! have it once a week! I use the thighs too. taste is so much better and they're cheaper!
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    Take this opportunity to learn about all the wonderful peasant food the world has to offer and go from there. The web is the most wonderful "free cookbook." Take, for example, fresh pasta. It's very expensive in the store. It's really just a cup of flour, an egg, and a bit of salt. All those wonderful cabbage dishes from Eastern Europe -- filling but inexpensive. Tonight, for example, we're having cabbage sauteed with tiny bit of ham and caraway seed for flavor and homemade potato pierogies. Yes, the pierogies are pretty high in calories but as long as I log them and stay under the daily total they are fine. To start learning about the frugal food traditions google "peasant food frugal" and that will get you started. I also have a cooking blog at www.heidicookssupper.com and most of what I do is pretty frugal.
  • ladyrider55
    ladyrider55 Posts: 316 Member
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    I highly recommend do all your grocery shopping at ALDI'S...they are so reasonable I can't believe more people don't shop there! Fresh fruits & vegetables are the key to make homemade foods like Veggie Soup & Veggie Lasagna! All their foods are great, best place to buy canned goods, etc. no matter what kind of budget you're on! I LOVE THAT STORE :bigsmile:
  • breeZrizi
    breeZrizi Posts: 213 Member
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    bump
  • MissingMyOldSelf
    MissingMyOldSelf Posts: 689 Member
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    Well, my weekend update goes like this:

    Saturday, hubby and I split a hot head burrito bowl for dinner, and got two bags of chips and drinks. Cost: Approx $15. (normally would have cost around $20. Saved $5ish)

    Tried to go to Aldi, but alas, they closed at 7, and I totally got caught up in my belly dance class and doing things around the house. So, next week, I'm going after class and getting our items.

    I had a budget of $100 for the grocery, so we went to Walmart (like normal) and I ended up getting $125 worth of things, so we can be less wasteful, like better food containers for lunches. (the ones I had were in dire need of going to the recycling bin) Hubby FINALLY got it through his head that this budget thing is REALLY happening, and if he didn't like it, he was going to have to go to his mom (who has told me before that no one should "settle" for generic, off brand food. I politely told her that unless she was buying our entire grocery list weekly, we're sticking to whatever I say we get). Instead of his normal lunchables that he gets at about $2.75 each, he bought a loaf of bread, a thing of Miracle Whip, lunch meat, and cheese. Spent about $10. Saved $3.75(ish).

    I didn't buy anything for myself this week, aside from apples, because I'm going to eat out of the pantry and freezer this week. I currently have two meals with brown lime rice, a beef tenderloin (thank God for whomever made crock pots!!!), and steamed broccoli that needed to be made. I also have some lentils that I found in the back of the pantry, and I will be making some curry lentils over rice for a couple of days, and the last day, (Friday), I will be doing a can of soup and salad.

    I have taken inspiration, if you will, from Sandra Lee's "Round 2 recipes", and I will be getting a bag of frozen Italian meatballs, and adding half of them to a large can of tomato soup and grilled cheeses this coming weekend. Next weekend, I will make a batch of Skinny Taste Marinara (all I need is a large can of crushed tomatoes), and I will use a baguette that's been in my freezer, and shred my own mozzarella and have meatball subs with the leftover meatballs.

    Ok, diary over for today :) Thanks so much for all your help, everyone, and I really hope we can all come together with budget ideas for each other, and help save some $$$$$!!!!
  • ShandaLeaS
    ShandaLeaS Posts: 136 Member
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    I have found that by watching sale ads and price matching at WalMart I can save A LOT...more so than shopping at Aldi's. And I'd like to say I'm jealous of your milk prices! For WalMart's generic its almost $5 a gallon here!
  • MissingMyOldSelf
    MissingMyOldSelf Posts: 689 Member
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    HOLY COW!!!! REALLY!?!?!?!

    I did point to a gallon of organic milk for $5.98 and almost soiled myself.
  • Daysednconfused
    Daysednconfused Posts: 975 Member
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    Bump for later!
  • kmamaward
    kmamaward Posts: 11 Member
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    Definitley come back later and save some of these amazing ideas.
  • PunyPete
    PunyPete Posts: 14 Member
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    Baked beans and tuna, really cheap, high in fibre/protein/good carbs. Downside low in fats.
  • Kifissia
    Kifissia Posts: 136
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    To add what other people said, some grocery stores have a reduced rack (mine does on Fridays), you can always find fruits and veggies. Buy veggies and fruits that are in season. Quinoa is very filling and versatile- check out

    http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/cooking-with-quinoa-00412000073996/

    Base your menu on what is on sale that week.

    Make your own peanut butter (it's so easy and you control how much oil you put).

    I'm from $400 a month on groceries down to $260 just from doing the above (and of course eating slightly less and not buying processed or ready-to-eat foods).

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