Healthy Recipes for Poor People/Students

stephieleee
stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
edited March 2018 in Food and Nutrition
Hey all,

So I'm about to return to university next week. This means a couple of things for me;
1. I'm going to be working and studying leaving me with very little time during the week
2. I will work less hours so therefore be paid less and not be able to afford the foods I'm currently eating (fresh fruits/vegetables/quinoa/high quality meat etc)

So far I've lost 16kg and I want to continue losing weight. I don't want to let myself revert back to a poor diet just because I'm a little poorer on both time and money.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap, healthy meals that can easily be prepped for the week ahead? I've googled some but any suggestions from you lovely people would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a fussy eater so I'll eat most foods, and I have no specific macro goals, I mostly just focus on low-ish calories (400-550 calories per meal). Also looking for suggestions for meals that don't require reheating :)

Thanks!

Replies

  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    Fresh vegetables are still up there with the cheapest ways to feed yourself. I basically live on potatoes, broccolli, a bag of carrots, some onions and mushrooms every week with some frozen peas and sweetcorn from the freezer. I also buy a large whole chicken and roast it in the slow cooker on a Monday for almost a whole weeks worth of protein for £4.50, or about £8 if you go free range which is still cheap enough.

    A tomato based curry is a very cheap way to eat and if you maximise vegetables and minimise the rice/ bread you eat with it it can be v easily done under 500kcal. Red lentils are also p cheap and high protein and a bag lasts forever so you could try looking up some dahl recipes? The best tip I can give you is the slow cooker tbh, prep the night before, turn it on in the morning and dinner is done when you get home!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    So many great ideas here. I suggest getting a pack of ziplock freezer bags, sandwich size. Set aside some time for prepping once a week and fill up the bags. Grab and go.

    You can roast up a family pack size of boneless chicken thighs (cheaper than breasts and moister) all at once, shred the meat and season it variously for different meals through the week. Put it in a wrap then the ziplock. Include some sliced up carrot sticks that you have peeled and cut yourself.

    Simple seasonings:
    Chicken and Salsa
    Chicken and ranch dressing
    Chicken and spaghetti sauce
    Butter chicken
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    For variety on your protein this week you might get the chicken on sale. Next week it might be a beef roast or a pork loin. Take advantage when you find it on sale. Cook it, prep a portion, cut up in to meal size portions then freeze. In a few months you have a wide variety to choose from.
  • OldHobo
    OldHobo Posts: 647 Member
    edited March 2018
    Much could be said. Here are four suggestions.
    Watch for sales on:
    1. Canned tomatoes. Diced is a good option and Hunts is a good brand that will go on sale but store brands are good too. A can of tomatoes, ¼ diced onion, 1 garlic clove, ¼ grated carrot, ½ tsp. dried herbs (thyme, marjoram, or oregano for instance) and one or two tsp. oil will quickly make a very nice tomato sauce for pasta, chili, pizza topping, or whatever. When a brand you know you like is on sale at a good price buy cases.
    2. Whole pork loin. Will really be a ½ loin in a heavy plastic vacuum packed bag, about 4 or 5" across and maybe a foot long. Not tenderloin. These are the same as boneless pork chops. Slice ¼" thick and freeze individually in plastic wrap. This will give you 15 or 20 roughly 4 oz servings of protein that thaw and cook quickly and are exceedingly versatile.
    3. Herbs and spices. Resist the impulse to keep them all on hand. Buy only the very few you like and use often, maybe from ethnic markets and maybe packaged in plastic bags hanging on an aisle end cap. It might look like this.d93z97txy0gr.jpg
    4. Rice & Beans. I think you could eat rice & beans every night for a year without ever having the same thing twice. Every culture has several rice and bean dishes that are inexpensive, nutritious, easy to make, and featured on hoity-toity restaurant menus for $50 a plate. Buy dried beans. Make the ones you like ahead and freeze. All rice is not the same. Learn which ones you like. Remember to store whole grains in freezer or refrigerator if they won't be used up quickly.
  • Angieve1
    Angieve1 Posts: 65 Member
    I love sweet potato and I can eat them not warmed up as well as for the fish I cook at home and is as tasty cold then warmed up. Even room temperature it's as good as out of the oven. Depending where you live try coupons for the dry items you can find them online. Coupons for items like pasta and rice. Canned tuna instead of fresh with an apple diced with 1 tbs of mayo makes for a great lunch :) and you can totally eat that one as cold as possible. Hope thishelp with a couple of idea :)
  • julie_broadhead
    julie_broadhead Posts: 347 Member
    Someone posted this a while back:
    https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf There are some great ideas in here.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Get a crock pot. Make big batches of beans, soups, chili in it. You get lots of nutritious food that freezes well and is cheap. Crock pots are the easiest way to cook dried beans, which are super cheap. You can often find secondhand crock pots, or small inexpensive versions.

    Frozen veggies are often cheaper than fresh, keep longer, and are just as nutritious.

    Rice and other grains are often cheaper than quinoa. You can buy rice in gigantic bags that keep a long time. If you cook a lot of rice, you may want an electric rice cooker. Your rice cooker can steam veggies, cook oatmeal, and do other things in addition to just cooking rice. This is another appliance that you can often get inexpensively.

    I have plenty more ideas, as I spent a long time as a student (grad school will do that to you) and am now a professor. Feel free to message me.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-10-minute-black-bean-tacos-233042
  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
    Lots of eggs, beans wild rice and chicken. Aside from tomatoes, I've found frozen veggies to be generally better and more cost efficient than canned. Fast food places often have cheaper lower calorie options than you realize, sandwich meats and eggs are often much less expensive if you order them on thier own, and much lower calorie than a full sandwich. Bake or grill alot of your foods, most larger veggies taste great grilled, most of the rest are really good baked.Get some cookie cooling trays, and use them in your baking pans to cut down on grease and make veggies crispier. Vinagar, even balsamic vinagar and oil or soy sauce are cheap, and do wonderful things to most meats and veggies.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Maaan. Wild rice is crazy expensive where I live. I would add a tablespoon of wild rice to regular or brown rice to extend the goodness at a fraction of the price.
  • stephieleee
    stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
    Awesome! Thank you all so much for the suggestions, there's a lot of options here. I actually have a crockpot sitting in my cupboard that my mum left me and I have yet to use - sounds like now will be the perfect opportunity to put it to some good use! :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    When I was broke I practically lived off of dried beans, rice, lentil curries, potatoes, and pasta in red sauce. Not sure what you mean exactly by quality meats...but I typically just watched for sales and ate a lot of whole chickens I'd roast myself and chicken pieces and ground beef. Eggs were also a staple. I generally kept to hardier veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage...lots of cabbage. I didn't eat much fruit, but it was typically apples and citrus in winter...save the berries and other stuff for summer.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    I love budgetbytes so hard. We have yet to make something that wasn't a hit.
  • stephieleee
    stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Not sure what you mean exactly by quality meats...
    I guess I just mean more expensive cuts i.e mince with less fat content, more expensive cuts of steak (because steak is my favourite lol), free range chicken/pork

    Obviously I should just buy cheaper cuts of meat but its just knowing what to do with it that I'm unsure of, hence my post! :p

    Thanks for your suggestions!
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
    edited March 2018
    You can buy fattier cuts, and just trim the fat. Buy a food thermos if you want to keep meals hot throughout the day
  • maryjennifer
    maryjennifer Posts: 124 Member
    There are tons of sites with excellent healthy recipes. My 2 favourites are:

    Change In Seconds and Skinny Taste

    https://www.changeinseconds.com/recipes/

    https://www.skinnytaste.com/

    All recipes clearly identify whether they are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, paleo etc

    This is one of my favourites.

    48jnct8u6v4o.jpg
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    Look for things that will get you more calories per portion. Instead of buying bread that is 70 cals a slice, look for a kind that is 120/slice. Use full fat options (like whole milk) instead of low fat and add water if needed to thin it out. And don't be turned off by higher fat proteins. You can usually get ground beef for less than ground turkey. Use whole eggs, not egg whites. Look for sales on canned veggies and stock up when you can.

    Go over your current receipt and figure out how much you usually spend. Find what the most expensive items on your list are and see if there is a good swap that won't cost as much.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    stephieleee wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Not sure what you mean exactly by quality meats...
    I guess I just mean more expensive cuts i.e mince with less fat content, more expensive cuts of steak (because steak is my favourite lol), free range chicken/pork

    Obviously I should just buy cheaper cuts of meat but its just knowing what to do with it that I'm unsure of, hence my post! :p

    Thanks for your suggestions!

    Generally, cheaper cuts of meat are tougher and benefit from long, slow cooking, usually in liquid (braising, stewing). Chuck roast, meet crock pot.
  • maryjennifer
    maryjennifer Posts: 124 Member
    Here are some additional recipe ideas for students: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/08/top-10-recipes-for-college-students/

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