Meals on a budget? SMALL budget, healthy meals, three mouths to feed?

sourbutsweetxx
sourbutsweetxx Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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Replies

  • canadianbugga
    canadianbugga Posts: 101 Member
    Meals made with eggs, pasta with frozen veg and minimal protein, veggie chilli, bean burritos.
  • Linzon
    Linzon Posts: 294 Member
    Lots of ideas on Budget Bytes!

    http://budgetbytes.com
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I second budget bytes.
    Oatmeal, eggs, cream of wheat, pancakes, generic/store brand cereal
    hot or cold sandwiches- meat, cheese, tuna, peanut butter
    Dry beans or lentil dishes
    Bean burritos
    Chicken, chicken thighs or whole chicken- cut up meat and put it in soups, casseroles, stir fry, on pizza, on sandwiches, salads
    Pasta or rice
    Potatoes
    Soup- my family likes tomato, minestrone, lentil, fassolatha
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    Dried beans are always good - chickpeas are really versatile. I used them to make something called socca bread (many recipes online) that is basically a flat bread made of chickpeas, salt, oil, and water. It calls for chickpea flour mixed with water to make a batter, but I just soaked dried chickpeas and blended up the soft chickpeas in water to make the batter instead. Slightly different texture, but still good. Makes a nice pizza base.

    pinto beans can be found in bulk for cheap at many mexican grocery stores (in the SW USA, Food City will work)
    corn masa - can be found in bulk in mexican grocery stores. Nutritious (better than corn meal, as it has been nixtamalized so that nutrients are more available - very old technique that is still used today). This can be used to make corn tortillas, to make tamales (just a meat, or a veggie, plus corn masa and salt/seasonings is a pretty simple recipe some folks use), and so on.

    rice can work well with beans, but is less nutritious than the corn masa - corn is pretty much the cheapest grain for the most nutrition, you know?

    potatoes are another good starch - baked potatoes offer a lot of variety depending on what you can put on them.

    Any veggie on mega sale - buy it. Stir fry it and put it over rice. Or use it to make soup - filling, if beans added has good protein too. Roast and put into a tamale or over a baked potato.

    Meat - only get WHEN on really big sales. And get whatever it is - there will be recipes for it, yeah?

    And that said, there is a good cookbook for eating on the cheap put out by this gal who was thinking of meals that could be made on a food stamp type budget. The PDF is completely free for downloading, although the print copy requires money. You can find it here, under the cookbooks tab (Good and Cheap is what it's called): http://www.leannebrown.com
  • R_is_for_Rachel
    R_is_for_Rachel Posts: 381 Member
    there's a good facebook community called Feed your family for about £20 a week
    also cooking without meat and substituting with beans or veggies-makes a huge cost saving
  • mwinslow69
    mwinslow69 Posts: 58 Member
    Yep meat is expensive. And a whole food plant based diet is best for your health.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Don't label any foods either "healthy" or "unhealthy", it's all about proportions and frequency. Look at your diet as a whole, and plan your meals. Make sure every meal is balanced, you don't have to overdo protein etc. Eating healthily usually means making more meals from scratch. You don't need fancy recipes or ingredients, but you need to master some basic techniques. Consider baking your own bread. Use some of the money you'd use for nutritionally poor foods to buy more nutritionally dense foods. Don't buy organic, high end, faddy diet foods. Stick to the basics: Potatoes, onions, carrots, rice, pasta, oatmeal, canned tomatoes, dried beans, frozen vegetables, milk, eggs, butter, oil, chicken, pork, ground beef, tuna, apples, oranges, bananas and peanut butter are versatile and usually cheap. Avoid name brand. Buy in season - that is what's cheap and abundant and looks good at the moment. Don't overbuy, plan to use everything. Buy and cook food you like - you have to eat it up, so it has to taste good. Keep track of contents in fridge, freezer and pantry. Write shopping list based on what you are going to eat minus what's on hand. Bring and follow list, and shop alone and relaxed.
  • anamibell
    anamibell Posts: 63 Member
    Supermakets where I live usually have a clearance section for over-ripened fruit and vegetables.
    If the selection seems decent, I tend to buy from there and freeze the food so that it won't ripen further :smile:
    They sometimes do that for boxed goods too, and it's nice to buy if you're going to use it soon
  • mjwarbeck
    mjwarbeck Posts: 699 Member
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