I need super cheap but healthy meal ideas?

Lentils. High protein, filling, incredibly cheap, and don't require presoaking the way dried beans do.

Lentil Stew
Lentil Soup

Depending upon how open-minded your family is, you can also use lentils in place of ground meat, like in spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes. Or if that wouldn't go over well, you can cook lentils and use them to stretch your meat dishes, bulking them up for pennies instead of dollars.

MeganReid1991 wrote: »

So we are going though some financial struggles we have lots of children and I am desperately trying to lose weight. So I need some super cheap dinner ideas that can feed a whole bunch of people.
I like casseroles cause I can spread it out to last.
Also chilli but I need more ideas!

If your family doesn't mind chickpeas (garbanzo), making falafel balls, patties, fritters, burgers, loaves which you may freeze and add to any soups, stews or salads, will help ease the struggle a little. When on an excursion as a family, consider garbanzo baked/roasted snacks.

Do you have a crock pot? Or can you buy a cheap/secondhand crock pot? If so, then you can use it to cook dried beans with almost no effort on your part. Spices can be expensive, but having a basic set of spices will give your beans some variety. Cooked beans also freeze nicely, so you can let your crock pot cook a big batch and then freeze whatever you won't eat right away. You can eat your beans with rice, put them in casseroles, bean soup, burritos, black bean burgers, falafel, hummus, put them on salads...

Whoops. Hit reply accidentally. Blogger used to eat at fancy restaurants but but was on benefits for a while following mental health issues. Good recipes and tips on how to shop if you are broke.

Chicken cacciatore is a cheap meal and can make bunches. Onions peppers. Mushrooms. Boneless chicken of choice I changed it up a big to be more healthy friendly by adding 1 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce. Uses less sauce that way and adds great flavor. One pan cooking also.

Go meatless occasionally - make your own salad ( have your kids choose their own toppings) and make your own grilled cheeses ( each make your own creation).

Here are some casseroles that are on my "proven" list.

https://www.pinterest.ca/janetkarasz/proven-mains/casseroles/

I freely skip green onion garnish, and replace shallots with regular onion.

Frozen veggies tend to be on the cheaper side of the spectrum, won't spoil very quickly and are quite easy to prepare/season. Potatoes and rice are great cheap carb sources (especially if you cook/prepare them yourself). Pasta cna be used in moderation. For the protein, any cut of meat that's on sale will go well. extra lean ground pork has a pretty amazing nutritional value, and typically goes for half what beef does (and is delicious). Pork loins. Chicken thighs are extremely cheap, you can cook a whole bunch of 'em at once, then spend some time removing the skin from the bones and splitting it out into different meals. Frozen fish is also a decent idea as it tends to be cheaper than fresh (although also a bit more bland, but seasoning is key). Get 1 big thing of montreal steak seasoning and put that stuff on everything.

Buying in bulk, in general, will also save you lots of money. Cheese for example: buy a big 1kg brick when it's on sale, shred it and put into a big ziploc freezer bag, and if you have the space, try to make little compartments of it while it's freezing to make it easier to break up (or split into smaller portions into smaller baggies in the big baggie). Meat cooked in bulk can be portioned out and frozen to keep longer. Get the vegetables that are in season, if you can from a farmer's market as it tends to run cheaper and the stuff if fresher, thus will keep longer.

Along with all the other posters above who have great ideas, I find that when I focus on NOT wasting stuff, I can get a lot more food from things.

For example, if my vegetables are starting to turn, I either freeze them or make vegetable soup. I also eat everything I buy and try not to throw any of it away.

This means that I usually go to the grocery store every day and buy whatever protein is marked down and whatever I may need to complete a meal.

Most grocery stores cut the price on their meat when the date is about to expire. It's amazing how much the markdown is on things and people are scared to buy it because they think it's going to go bad. As long as you freeze it or eat is straight away, it is no different than the other stuff. I then use then chicken bones (from thighs, breasts and whole chickens) for my own stock (I freeze them if I don't have time).

If you ask your fish monger in the store for shrimp shells or heads, they usually just give them to you. You can make stock with them, throw in some vegetables and potatoes, and you have a nice soup.

I also make my own staples like yogurt and bread. Although I don't eat many carbs, I make my own dutch oven bread when I feel the need.

I also frequent asian markets for produce as they always have the best deals.

Also, most groceries now allow you to load coupons on your loyalty cards from home. No cutting required. If they double coupons you can get some pretty great deals. For example, last week I wanted to carb load and since I didn't have any pasta at home, I went to the store. I found a 1 lb of whole wheat pasta on sale. There was a jar of a new product (sugar free, organic) pasta sauce with a coupon attached. The store doubled the coupon, and I ended up paying $1.25 for both. That fed me for the night, and I only used 1/4 of the pasta, and froze the rest of the tomato sauce.

Note, I am blessed not to need to cut corners on groceries, but I was spending way too much money on food. I started with the simple idea of trying not to throw anything away, and I have been able to eat like a royal for very little.

grow your own herbs and vegetables, being italian I think pasta and risotto work out quite cheap . Pasta with pesto, pasta with tomato sauce and chilli, spaghetti with oil/chilli/garlic and fresh parsley and tuna. Risotto, mushroom risotto is one of my favourite