Cheap, easy and Healthy? Recipes please!

Brown rice and dried beans are the cheapest healthy foods I've found and you can make dozens of dishes from them.

Add 2 C cooked kidney beans (drained if using canned), 1 C uncooked brown rice, 2 C water or broth, and a bag of frozen chopped vegetables (or chopped fresh) and seasonings (low/no salt cajun or bayou is yummy) to a large deep skillet and cook until the rice is done. You can use instant brown rice for a quick meal.

Bean soups are delicious and cheap - lentil soup, black bean soup, whatever. Just do a quick internet search to find one that sounds good.

Stir fry with brown rice is cheap and quick and a great way to stretch servings of meat. Just use whatever vegetables are on sale and stir fry with a protein (chicken breast, small steak, tofu, etc.)

In season root vegetables are usually inexpensive and keep for a long time. They are also packed with nutritents and very filling. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and dried herbs and roast until they start to brown.

Just a thought, some of the chain grocery stores near me pre slice their lunch meats. Whatever is left at the end of the day they bag and mark half price. I usually go 15 min before deli closes to get good prices.

Find a Walmart..they have a huge variety of dry beans and peas to make many different things. Example ..use them for chili soup, split pea soup, black bean dip...You just have to plan ahead as it takes a lot longer to cook them but definitely less expensive than buying canned beans and soups..just make your own.

Buy a whole chicken, roast it and then remove most of the meat. That's one meal. Then take all the bones and put it in a pot and boil it in chicken broth, (Trader Joes chicken broth $1.99 for a big thing of it). If you can do two cartons of chicken broth, great, but one is ok, and then two cups or so of water. Lightly boil for an hour then strain the broth, keeping the bones and now the meat from the bones in a bowl. Let the meat and bones cool and then take the rest of the meat off the bones. Then add chopped veggies, fresh carrots and celery, onion, always cheap, and cook/boil it in the broth for 15 - 20 minutes. You can add squash, or make frozen corn and peas on the side and add the broth mixture to it., add the boned meat back in and you've got soup and a healthy meal! You can make rice, or potatoes on the side, or even healthy high fiber pasta. So that's two meals out of one chicken. Keep your starch, corn and peas separate from the broth. Put that in the bowl then pour the soup on top. Your soup will spoil quicker and get a bit goopie from the starches, and it allows you to change it up.

See if the butcher or meat cutter in your supermarket has any soup bones. Big beef knuckle bones. Again, get a carton of beef broth, and water, and boil the bone in a broth and bone mixture. Could be 50/50 if you want. Again boil the bone for a good hour or two. Add veggies and whatever else you want and cook it in the broth. You could do beans instead of meat or use ground turkey or beef, or whatever is on sale, you can make small meatballs, (bake at 400 degrees for 22 minutes) and add to the soup once the veggies are cooked.

With a can of chickpeas you can make hummus. Drain a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, put it in a food processor. Add 4 tablespoons of oil, (Olive oil if you can. Or get the big canola oil jug, it's cheaper to buy in bulk when you can). 4 tablespoons of lemon juice, and it doesn't have to be fresh lemon, you can buy the bottle. And two to three cloves of garlic to taste. Pulverize in a food processor and you've got a great healthy snack you can eat again with celery, carrots, toasted bread, on salads, etc.

Falafel mixes aren't that expensive, and that's a great alternative protein with the chickpeas.

I bite the bullet and get the 20# bag of rice, because it lasts forever and it's usually on sale, and it's cheaper to buy it in bulk. If you can buy one big bulk staple a week you're doing great! But even every other week is good too.

Believe me, fresh in season vegetables, not the imported ones, are the best and cheapest way to go. Same with fruit. Get whatever is on sale for the week, and be creative. I buy the big family packs with the meat, and freeze half because it's always cheaper per pound.

I used to work in a grocery store, and I've had years of practice when I didn't have a lot of money for food.

A big pot of spaghetti sauce and chili is also good for a couple of meals. You can make it and freeze half and bring have it the following week. Spaghetti sauce is so easy to cook. My mom had 6 kids and knew how to stretch a penny. One pound of ground beef, (but again, I buy the big package, separate it into 1 pound portions and freeze.) So add oil to a pan, add one chopped onion and stir until transparent, add a clove or two of garlic, crushed, stir for one minute, then add either ground beef or ground turkey, and brown. Then add one 15 oz can of tomato paste, and then fill that can with water and add 15 ounces of water. Stir that around until the paste gets smooth, don't let the paste burn! Add a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes, and then fill the can with water and add 28 ounces of water. Stir all together. You want to bring that all up to a simmer, and cook for an hour or so. No lid. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper to bring out the warmth of the tomatoes. If using beef, and you've got the spices, add a pinch or two of allspice and a pinch of cloves. With either beef or turkey add a tablespoon of dried parsley and dried oregano. And last of all, to make it Sicilian, add a tablespoon of sugar. If you want to be Italian, don't add the sugar. Cook as I said for an hour and a half. You can freeze half of this too for a meal the following week. Altogether, depending on the meat, this can be about $10-$15 for a huge pot of sauce. Again, have this with spaghetti one time, splurge on ravioli's the next time. Frozen ravioli's aren't bad, and if you already have the frozen sauce, then all you have to buy are the ravioli's.

Chili mixes are good. I like Carol Shelby's.

Hope some of this helps.

Do you have a Crock Pot? I just got one for Christmas and have already found several CP recipes that are cheap, easy, and healthy.

Salsa chicken:
1 cup of salsa (you could buy a large jar and use the salsa for several different recipes)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (Buy low sodium or fat free to make it healthier)
Chicken breasts (I used 4 but you could double the cream of mushroom soup & the salsa to make enough for leftovers. I also buy them frozen in the family size bag & get 5 lbs for $10 at walmart)
1/2 packet taco seasoning (again, you could save the other 1/2 packet and make tacos another night that week)
Sour cream to taste

Place the (thawed) chicken breasts in crock pot and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Stir salsa & cream of mushroom soup together in mixing bowl then pour on top of chicken breasts. Turn Crock Pot on low for 6 hours. Top with sour cream when serving. I served with brown rice and it was delicious! It was 234 calories per chicken breast w/ toppings when I made it.

And I'm making this one tomorrow night: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=205590

I use chicken a lot, and it can get expensive, but what I have started doing is buying whole chickens and boiling them (I pour off all the water when it's done cooking and let it cool) then I skin it and pick off all the meat and dice it up - I get anywhere from 4-6 cups of diced chicken for around 5 bucks (even cheaper on a good sale). Depending on the recipe I can get 3-4 family meals out of that chicken (chicken wraps, chicken quesidillas, buffalo chicken salad, buffalo chicken wraps, chicken/veggie soup...). I split it up and freeze it for use later.