End of the month money-food woe

jlscherme
jlscherme Posts: 157 Member
in Food and Nutrition
That time of the month again. The $$ has run out and just staples in the pantry and fridge. No meat to be had in the house.

Do any of you have meal ideas?

I have canned tomatoes, shrooms, chickpeas, beef consume, cream of mushroom, lentils, quinoa + other assorted pantry stuff. And in the fridge fago yogurt, carrots, red and sweet potatoes, 1 onion, capers, milk. Freezer an assortment of frozen veggies.

I’m just at a loss of what to cook in this weather and no meat! Have gas grill outside and microwave.

Vegetarians help!?! I know there are some meals in my array of foods available but I am not the type to just whip something up. I need recipes and ideas.

Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    A random concoction of vegies with chickpeas/lentils and canned tomatoes? Flavoured with herbs and spices (from the pantry?)
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,127 Member
    Homemade soup; Chickpea Stew; Mushroom & chickpea burgers with homemade fries; Veggie Curry/Pasta
  • Mithridites
    Mithridites Posts: 600 Member
    Sweet potato lentil curry https://detoxinista.com/vegan-lentil-sweet-potato-curry/ will use your carrots, sweet potato, lentils and broth. I’ve made it many times and it’s delicious and filling.
  • PHOTOCHAP
    PHOTOCHAP Posts: 104 Member
    Cheapest hearty soup ever.. Lentils simmered in Vegetable OXO cube (x3) My whole family is hooked on it :)
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    If you really don't want to turn on the stove you could cook the potatoes in the microwave or on the grill and top them with the cream of mushroom soup (also heated in the microwave), the yogurt, and/or the canned tomatoes heated with the onions and any spices in the Tex-Mex vein (cumin, chili powder, cayenne, etc.) that you have on hand. (If the lentils are canned, that's another topping option, but I always buy dried.)

    You could have a salad on the side (or as a separate course if you prefer) from the chickpeas, mushrooms, carrots, onions if they're the kind of onions you'd put on a salad -- I was thinking they were mature onions when I suggested combining them with the tomatoes -- and capers, if you like capers in your salads. Hopefully you have oil and vinegar, or bottled salad dressing. If not, you can thin some of the yogurt with a little milk, add a generous amount of salt and pepper, and any dried basil, thyme, parsley, etc. you have in your pantry, to create your own fresh take on ranch.

    If your pantry includes any no-cook grains like bulgur or cellophane noodles (just microwave water and soak) or any grains that you're comfortable cooking in the microwave (it's not something I've tried), you could put a grain base to your salad. Or combine the consomme, cream of mushroom soup, and some yogurt for a quick take on beef stroganoff. Sweat the mushrooms with a little water in a covered bowl in the microwave or (my preference) in a foil pack on the grill. Combine them with the faux stroganoff sauce and whatever grain you're using. Add the chickpeas and lentils if you want to boost the protein, although the mushrooms alone are a better match for this dish in terms of flavor and texture. If you have any Worcestershire sauce, you could add that.
  • Lila3701
    Lila3701 Posts: 10 Member
    I made a carrot and red lentil soup the other day. It was pretty tasty, but even better with a little feta and cilantro. Check the website BudgetBytes too. I always find good ideas there and it’s geared toward inexpensive ingredients.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    You can put a few ingredients into the Ingredient Search feature of https://www.allrecipes.com and see what you come up with.

    I like to sprout lentils this time of year and add them to salads. If I soak them in water overnight, they are edible without any cooking required. (After a few more days of rinsing and draining they will have sprouts but I usually don't wait that long.)

    So you could do a lentil salad with capers and veggies, salt & pepper, oil & vinegar.

    What spices do you have? "Too many to count" or "all the spices" is a valid answer :)
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I really like this chickpea burger: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    I really like this chickpea burger: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863

    Looks good! This is a fun tip:

    "Keep opened chickpea can to cut round shapes in bread slices. Toast each slice in toaster or in frying pan."
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    You can search for food ideas for your ingredients on pinterests as well as recipe sites.

    Soup, stew or curry, dal would probably be most economical and stretch your ingredients farthest.
    Lentil soup
    Mushroom soup
    Potato soup
    Yogurt soup
    Sweet potato fritters
    Veggie burgers with chickpeas or lentils, sweet potato, onion, etc
    Baked potato with vegetables on the side
    Roasted/grilled vegetables and quinoa
    Falafel
    Hummus?
    Do you have flour, salt, oil, baking powder, etc? You could make flour tortillas or naan.


    Low budget ideas:
    http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm
    http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/70dollarmenu.htm
    http://www.budgetbytes.com
    http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/03/35-meatless-meals.html
    http://www.meatlessmonday.com/favorite-recipes/
    http://www.lentils.org/recipes-cooking/recipes/
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    Do you have any pasta? If not, a box is usually around $1. You could get a number of meals out of a nice pasta primavera.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,741 Member
    I like this site when I have random ingredients and want to make something different: https://www.supercook.com/#/recipes

    Also, are there any farmers markets in your area? They often have food for cheap or will give you a deal rather than see their produce go to waste. Same for any neighbors who may have gardens.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    I really like this chickpea burger: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863

    Looks good! This is a fun tip:

    "Keep opened chickpea can to cut round shapes in bread slices. Toast each slice in toaster or in frying pan."

    Also, save the bean liquid when you drain them to use as an egg white substitute, and you've got the making of aquafaba meringues or aquafaba mousse for dessert.

  • jlscherme
    jlscherme Posts: 157 Member
    @RelCanonical That is the recipe i decided on for tonight!
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    i've used myfridgefood.com/
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    i've used myfridgefood.com/

    I was going to recommend this. Enter in what you have in the house, and it will give you recipes. Really enjoy this site, I haven't had any disappointing recipes from it.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I cannot vouch for this recipe, because I don't like carrots, but I know that carrot salad with yogurt dressing is popular in some cultures. https://azcookbook.com/2017/09/19/carrot-salad-with-yogurt/
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    edited August 2018
    jlscherme wrote: »
    @RelCanonical That is the recipe i decided on for tonight!

    I am ze winner. (:

    @jlscherme I've made it a few times - one thing that helped make it form better was to push the water out of the grated carrots with paper towels before added. Also, make sure it's processed really rough - I only pulse a few times with my ninja and that's enough. You can pull it out and mix by hand if it's not quite evenly incorporated. Otherwise, it was nice and easy to put together.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    side of yogurt=protein.
    For the rest: soup or stirfry over quinoa
  • PHOTOCHAP
    PHOTOCHAP Posts: 104 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    I really like this chickpea burger: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863

    Waah! When I click on this I get " this video is not available in your country " (UK) :'(
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    edited August 2018
    PHOTOCHAP wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    I really like this chickpea burger: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863

    Waah! When I click on this I get " this video is not available in your country " (UK) :'(

    Weird, I don't see any videos on the page - it's a text recipe. Is the UK part of that whole deal that happened a couple months ago where a bunch of websites had to update their privacy policies? Some sites I know just blocked Europe traffic instead.

    Does it let you access it with Wayback machine? https://web.archive.org/web/20180223041156/https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chickpea-burger-338863

    Edit: If that doesn't work, I can copy and paste the recipe and send to you in a message.
  • PHOTOCHAP
    PHOTOCHAP Posts: 104 Member
    Yay! That worked! Thanks bud, I will give that a go :)
  • jlscherme
    jlscherme Posts: 157 Member
    Well, @RelCanonical my chickpea burgers were a bust. Flavorful but too wet. I didn't read your advice until today. I also finely processed it in the food processor. A rough chop would have been better. I ended up adding biquick to the mix and baking it into sort of bar like biscuits. Turned out ok, I wouldn't recommend my take on it to anyone.

    One more day to go on pantry items alone. Am going to check out MyFridgeFood next. And raid the piggy jar for coins to buy eggs and milk.

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