Healthy Meals on a budget, any ideas?

[~FlyLady~]

Does anyone have any ideas on meals I can make, for next to nothing? We are so broke and the moment its not funny!

[JnA]

IMO if you are on a budget and you want to make healthy meals, do stuff you can freeze easily.

1. buying in bulk is always less expensive
2. you will always have a meal ready for those tear-your-hair days
3. although they don't freeze, pita bread based pizzas are simple, quick and relatively healthy (depending on how much cheese you put on)


I'll be watching this thread closely for some better suggestions. :thumbsup:

[M O P]

a cheap meal we have sometimes is chicken patties

500gm of chicken thigh fillet, cut and mince in food processor- or just buy 500gm of chicken mince
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup of bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
some parsley or mixed herbs

roll in to patties and coat with breadcrumbs, fry in some oil in a pan

sometimes I put the finished patties in some canned tomatoes in a dish in the oven for a while, or the same thing with some gravy or we just have them with salad or veg

[reAllytee]

Rice & mince meals are always pretty cheap.
We also do a quick pasta sauce using tinned tomatoes which is rather cheap, healthy & yum.
I cant get my brain to work atm so will come back with our favourite recipes later.
As Tash said buying meat in bulk is a good way to make cheap meals we often try to get things in bulk but we have a tiny freezer so we have to be careful but we have often got our nightly meals down to $4 in total cause we too are on a tight budget !

[Lirael]

google healthy meals on a budget there is heaps of info tips and recipes

[Illusional]

Buy Super Food Ideas.. its only $3 and there are heaps of cheap, easy, healthy meals in there.
I used to go through and pick out the meals for the week/fornight and only buy the ingredients I needed.. it worked out alot cheaper than just going to the shops and buying a ton of stuff that I didnt need.

[cheezelkat]

I also recomment SFI . I subscribe to it because I love it! Each month I pick out my favourite recipes and note them down. This month they have a special on fritters which are cheap and can be healthy if you cook them with less oil than the recipe calls for.

[~FlyLady~]

Thank you so much for all your replies :) I now have a few recipies to try, thanks girls :)

[mum2cooper]

When we have forgotten to take meat out the freezer, or want to make something easy, we make a pasta dish with tuna. Fry onion and garlic, then add drained tuna, capers and olives. And if you like spicy foods you can always add chilli with the garlic:thumbsup: simple, cheap and yummo!

[pookiesossige]

One tip that I picked up from another thread is to use red lentils in mince meals/casseroles/stews to add bulk (and nutrients). Just this morning I split 1kg of mince up into 3 lots (so each amount was a bit smaller then the usual 500gms required for a meal) and froze it. When I cook up each portion of mince in whatever recipie it is for, I will throw in a handful of red lentils which stretches the meat out and tastes great! :chef:

[jordy&steph'smumma]

We do a quick and easy chilli pasta

Can of tuna in water
can of chilli tuna (or use chilli sauce)
cream
bbq sauce
Pasta

Cook pasta as per packet instructions
place tuna/s and sauce into pot with cream to make a sauce.
Add a little flour to thicken and mix until heated through.
Pour over pasta.

Just add as much chilli sauce/tuna to taste.

Or

Bacon
Cream
Garlic
onion
parm cheese

Place diced bacon, onion and garlic in a pan with a little oil, fry until onions cooked.
Add cream to make sauce and stir until starting to bubble.
Add some parm cheese to thicken a little.

Pour over pasta.
Yummo

Hope this helps a little.

Kylie

[Blairsmummy]

DH and I are going through the same thing at the moment as I have stretched out my leave sooooooo much (was MEANT to go back at 6 months and here we are 8.5 months and counting....). I would rather go without though, than go back fully before I'm ready! :yes:

Our cheapest meal (for those extremely lean weeks) is a slow cooker meal that makes a lentil dahl (we are vegetarians). It costs next to nothing (once you have all the spices) and is SO filling.

1.5 Tsp curry powder
1 Tsp ginger
0.25 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Cloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup uncooked rice
1.5 cups of vege stock
0.5 Tsp cumin
0.25 Tsp tumeric
1 onion
1 cup red lentils
either one bunch of spinach/silverbeet OR 2 frozen packs of spinach
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours.

* To make it go even further, I cook a cup of rice in the microwave and stir it in just before we serve it up. DH takes the left-overs for lunch the next day.

If you like curries, you'll like this recipe :yes:

As vegetarians, we had most ingredients in the cupboard. Our only real cost is the spinach, lentil and onion. So cheap........

Enjoy!

[Elfin]

This is my el cheapo meal.

1 can refried beans or mexibeans
1 small tub of sour light cream
1 chopped onion
1 chopped tomato
A small amount chopped red capsicium
A few mushrooms
A squeeze of chilli sauce
Rasher or 2 bacon (optional)

Fry up onion, red cap and mushrooms then add tomato. When tomato is soft add beans, chilli sauce and finally sour cream don't boil just stir it in at the last minute. Serve with rice, on toast or with corn chips.

[cheezelkat]

I'm glad the red lentils worked for you pookie :)

I like to make pastas using the packet pasta meals (with added milk), and mixing in canned tuna or cooked chicken and heaps of vegies.
Frittattas are cheap - eggs, dash of milk and as much vegies and protein you can put in the pan.

[Lunar]

Stir fries!!!
We have lots of them!
Our local woolies has bags of fresh stir fry veg in a pack in the fruit and veg section and they always have them reduced from $4 a bag to $1!!! So I buy what they have reduced and we have our veg for the week for like $6! I look for anything with a reduced sticker on it, I'm such a scab, but when money is tight (as it always is) you have to be a scab!

We have tuna mornay alot too.
I use the packet recipe base and all you need is some pasta, can of tuna and some corn, water and milk. Takes 12 min to cook!

[neeky]

We have a lot of spaghetti, and pasta or rice dishes.

my spaghetti sauce is this
2 tins crushed/chopped tomato (or if on a major budget get the whole ones and cut up myself)
500g mince
minced garlic (about 1tsp or so)
tomato paste (1-2 tbsp)
herbs
salt n pepper
dijon mustard (1tsp) gives it a slightly different taste

i just cook up the mince then throw in all the other ingredients and let it simmer away for a bit while the pasta is cooking. I also add vegies to bulk it up a bit.

its simple even after a long day and it can be frozen or used as left overs the next day.

we also do lasagne, it does us a couple meals.

and for an even quicker pasta, we get a tin of tuna and a bottle of pasta sauce (we like the little ones that are like $3.30 each cant remember the brand) and just cook up a bag of pasta then mix in the tuna and sauce. dinner is ready in a few minutes and its much healthier than a lot of other fast options.


i also recommend buying in bulk. and find a good butchers and compliment them LOTS then they give you little bits of extra each time!!! :D butchers are often cheaper than the supermarkets and are much better quality, plus there are a lot that do great deals for bulk buys!