I am looking for ideas for cheap, healthy meals & snacks...

[PineFarmMom]

I believe, at this point, my children are spoiled to eating what they enjoy rather than what is economically wise, kwim? I don't feed them unhealthy foods (well, sometimes, but not the majority), it's just that I haven't been as careful as I'd like, requiring them to just eat what we have, planning wisely, etc.

 

We learned some huge lessons a few years ago about financial wisdom, through a crisis and prayer. I don't want to think it didn't stick, so I've decided to make a change, whether they like it or not. ;)

 

So what are some good, healthy, inexpensive breakfast, lunch, dinner & snack ideas. We are particularly having problems with lunch and snacks. Breakfast is usually cereal of some type, a bagel, frozen waffles & fruit, oatmeal & fruit, or some eggy thing. I could probably use some breakfast wisdom, but it's not quite as bad as our other two meals. I've just gotten lazy in my planning & spending. Ideas??

 

Teresa

[abbeyej]

Well, for snacks, it's hard to beat popcorn for economy. Even buying organic popping corn (in bulk from a local healthfood store), and making with a little oil and a pinch of salt, a big bowl for the kids costs just a few cents. It took me a little practice to make good popcorn on my stovetop, but even with a few wasted attempts, it's pretty cheap. ;)

 

Apples too, are cheap snacks -- especially if you buy the bags of apples rather than individually.

[Scarlett]

And cereal is generally pretty expensive....unless you stick to things like oatmeal and raisin bran...maybe raisin bran, I think it might be high too.

 

I make ds8 eggs and cheese tortilla wraps. Sometimes add ham if I have it. Or leftover taco meat...shredded beef.

 

For lunch he eats lots of PB and honey.

 

Snacks are a problem at our house too...I need to work on this, so I look forward to the other responses. Healthy oatmeal cookies can be a good snack.

[Pata]

Here's how we save money at meals....

For breakfast, I make a batch of waffles on Sunday for breakfast. We eat what we want and then I freeze the rest for the week, then pop them into the toaster when she wants them (you can do this with pancakes, too). For lunch, we do hot dogs, grilled cheese or PBJ. Every once in a while I make a batch of cheese chicken nuggets and freeze them for special days. For snacks, generic cheese crackers or generic granola bars. Also when a fruit go on sale, for instance grapes were $1/lb this week, I will buy that to snack on as well. Hope that helps!