Cheap, quick, and healthy recipes...am I kidding myself?

I don't really have much in the way of recipes but I do have suggestions. The fastest and yummiest cooking for me and my bf is usually the stuff we plan last minute w the ingredients we already have in the house. We generally have some sort of meat either cooked or ready to go on the BBQ. Salads with meat and hard boiled eggs are a fast, easy meal. Also another is brown rice and stir fried veggies just cooked quickly in olive oil and add a little protien in.

As for desserts you can reduce cal intake by sharing that's how we do it!

I would say stir fry, it's always quick and I have a big family, and if you make enough you can freeze and re heat, soup is always a win, and what about grilled cheese and soup, you also could chop up some veggies and meat and skewer it, that is fast as well, epecially if you both put forth effort!

Stir fry is healthy, cheap and quick. Choose a protein (chicken, pork, beef, shrimp) and use the frozen bagged stir fry veggies. You can use fresh veggies but it takes longer and is more costly. I usually supplement the frozen by adding any fresh veggies I have left over, though. Use oil while cooking the protein, add in the veggies then add soy sauce, granulated garlic, ginger and whatever other seasonings you like. Serve with or without rice or noodles.

Easy ways to reduce calories are using skim milk rather than 2% or splenda instead of sugar or spray oil instead of real oil (it's been a BIG help for me),veggies and fruit (frozen or fresh), light butter instead of regular butter. These little changes help.

Spaghetti Squash is awesome and easy.
One large spaghetti squash
1 jar of reduced fat spaghetti sauce
a ton of sauteed veggies you like in a spray of oil (I put eggplant, zucchini, squash, onions, mushrooms, and red & green peppers)
cheap, quick, healthy and low calories

I think your best bet is to make a list of the 2-3 things that you both like and make sure that your pantry is stocked with the ingredients needed to put those dishes together. Make the preparation of the food part of your celebration of being together. Preparing food together can be very sensuous if you let it be.

And if you start that process now then when you're married it becomes just part of the family routine and it makes food fun for you and for your kids when/if you have them (minus the sensuous part):ohwell: .

You can precook chicken breasts or thighs and freeze them. Then slice them, chop them whatever you need to throw into a salad or a pasta dish. There are quite a few cookbooks out there that have "quick and easy weekday meals on a budget". A lot of them have meals that you can prepare in under 20 mins or that you can prepare and then freeze to serve later.

Stir fry is healthy, cheap and quick. Choose a protein (chicken, pork, beef, shrimp) and use the frozen bagged stir fry veggies. You can use fresh veggies but it takes longer and is more costly.

This is a great point and I have to second it: so long as there is no added sodium, flash-frozen vegetables are as nutritious -- or in some cases, more nutritious -- than vegetables off the shelf, and the preparation time is much lower. If you don't mind the cost, they can be huge time savers.

My fastest and lowest calorie item is to use the bagel thins or the bread thins.

For Breakfast I use the everything bagel and cook 100% egg whites then add two slices of ham and one slice of cheese. This is just over 200 calories and fills me up.

For Lunch, I use one of the bread (I love the Sara Lee Honey Wheat bread thins) and add the meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. Fast and good and low cal!

Also, any of the healthy request soups are good and hearty and low cal!

Do you have a grill? I love it when we grill as much of dinner as we can, because there is way less clean up. Grill a steak, chicken or boneless pork chop. Wrap a potato or sweet potato in foil & bake it on the grill. Veggie skewers w/ zucchini, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. You can grill corn on the cob and asparagus. You can do your whole meal on the grill really & then you will only have the plates, forks & cups you use to wash up when it is over.

Hi,

Well here's something I found useful as of yesterday.. check out this site also..

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/sampmenu.htm

The vegetable is your friend!!! It can be a date.....going through the farmers market together and planning your meals is fun!!! Try new veggies, or old, maybe scary veggies cooked a new way. I like to roast beets like baked potatoes, they carmelize and are yummy....braised cabbage, slice very thin, in olive oil with a garlic clove, cook til it is carmelized is amazing, my kids fight over it. Egg plant is great too.......cut a whole eggplant in half long wise. Spray a baking dish with pam. Bake at 350 for 1 nour. Scoop out all of the mushy stuff, never mind what it looks like...miix eggplant, 1 can crushed tomatos, 1 tsp, garlic powder, 1tbsp basil in a bowl. Add 12 oz. Part skim ricotta. Mix well....put in a casserole disn, spray with pam first. Sprinkle with low fat mozzerella cheesd, bake til bubbly and cheese is all melted.....my kids love this....you can add other veggies to the roasting pan with the eggplant, such as onion, zuccini, peppers, etc. Best of luck!

I have to plan all my meals, because I'm not there yet with coming up with quick healthy meals at the last minute, and if I dive in hungry I know I'll make the wrong choices.

Each night, after dinner I sit down and log on MFP my food for the next day. I make a plan so I know exactly what I'm going to eat and how much.

To keep my sodium down I cook as much as I can from scratch in big batches, package them in serving size ziplocs and freeze them until needed. This is a tremendous time saver. If you're making rice, for example, make a whole bunch extra and freeze it. It doesn't take any extra time to do that.

Like a lot of people have said making batches one day and freezing them saves me a lot of time. My fella and i love chilli so always make a lot and stick it in takeaway boxes that we saved. When it comes to cooking whoevers home first bungs it in the slow cooker (Crock pot) where it defrosts and cooks with no bother. I also make dishes of lasange a couple of meat ones for when were both in (some of which gets put aside for pack up or dinner the next day) and a large veggie one that i slice up and again put in containers to freeze. I either microwave or oven cook a portion when i'm home alone and have with salad from a bag. The same with mousaka, shepherds pie etc.

Another time saving tip for you is to chop and freeze onions and peppers, put them in portion sized sandwich bags ready for when you need them. I also find pastes of garlic, chilli and ginger are great and can be stored in the fridge. I found that the local Asian shop did the garlic paste in a larger jar than i normally get from the supermarket and it was cheaper! I was quite impressed with a lot of the stuff in there and was a bit miffed that i'd gone on the bike so couldn't carry much home!!!