Best Cheap, Healthy Dinners

[mom31257]

Would you all be willing to share your best tasting cheap, but healthy meals, including recipes? I really need to cut our budget back this year to save for some things we want to do, and we need to eat healthier, too.

 

I would like some vegan meals because I have a dairy allergy, but will fix myself something else to give the rest of the family dairy for some suppers. We do eat meat, but when we do we tend to use a little and add a lot of stuff to it.

 

Thank you for sharing! Oh, things that would reheat well for dh's lunch the next day are great, too, because he takes leftovers to school.

[By Grace]

We started using this recipe book a couple of months ago:

 

http://www.amazon.com/100-day-Pantry-Quick-Gourmet-Meals/dp/088290969X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324833165&sr=8-2

 

It's designed to help you build up a sizable supply of pantry meals, which means most of the ingredients are canned. Maybe not the healthiest option, but it includes a lot of veggies, and canned foods are cheap. Our grocery bill has gone *down*, despite the fact we're buying extra pantry meals each week to stock up. The meals are pretty tasty, and the recipes often provide "everyday meals" options, like using a fresh onion instead of dried onion, etc.

 

The idea is to have one or two of these a week to try them out, then if you like them, buy double or triple of that meal the next week just to set aside, AND buy another new meal or two to try out. Then as you build a stash, rotate through the meals you have so it all stays fresh in your pantry. Like I said, even with buying the extra meals each week, our grocery bill has gone down, and I'm pretty sure we're eating more veggies now than we did before.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Use ground turkey instead of ground beef for burgers, tacos, meat loaf, etc.

 

Drop biscuits and sausage gravy, and applesauce or cantaloupe on the side. Can buy breakfast sausage or use spices with ground turkey to make your own sausage.

 

Tuna noodle casserole. Use tuna, box of mac and cheese (without the cheese) (or other pasta), peas or broccoli. Can make a white gravy with soymilk or just use creamed corn.

 

Pasta salad is easy and cheap. Extra nice with ham chunks in it. Use homemade dressing. Pasta, can of corn, can of peas. Or any fresh veggies you have. Ranch dressing or italian is nice.

 

Corned beef hash sandwiches. Yum!

 

Black bean quesadillas. Black beans, salsa, mashed up together. Put inside tortillas. Add cheese for those who can have it. Pop in toaster oven or oven to get crispy.

 

If you keep good tasting dairy-free cheese on hand (my dd likes Tofutti Mozzarella, but I must say it's an acquired taste), grilled cheese is easy and cheap. Tomato soup on the side.

 

Baked bean chili. Baked beans and any other beans you have, leftover pot roast or other meat (leftover taco meat is good), can of diced tomatoes and/or spaghetti sauce or plain tomato sauce. 1 tablespoon of cumin.

 

Taco kits (Taco Bell one is dairy free). Use ground turkey.

 

Meals with tuna tend to be cheap. Creamed tuna on toast is good, but requires sour cream. Dairy-free sour cream tastes good, but ups the cost. Regular sour cream is cheap.

 

Spaghetti. Use ground turkey in the sauce.

[KungFuPanda]

Hummus Recipe

 

2 cups dried chickpeas (I cook the whole bag)

6 cups water

3 ½ teaspoons salt (divided)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup tahini

1-2 tablespoons ground cumin

pinch of cayenne (optional)

 

Wash the chickpeas, soak overnight, and cook in the water until tender (about 90 minutes)

 

Add 3 teaspoons of salt and cook 20-30 minutes more. *When they are VERY soft, drain and reserve the cooking water. *Let chickpeas cool.

 

In a food processor, blender, or with a potato masher, combined cooled chickpeas with a cup of the cooking water, remaining salt, and remaining ingredients. *Blend or mash until smooth. *Adjust seasonings to taste.

 

 

 

That’s the base recipe. *I usually end up adding a bit more cumin and tahini (and salt, and cayenne . . . .) *I also reserve some of the chickpeas and mix them in at the end because I like the texture. *A blender will give you the smoothest hummus, but plan to add a bit more water.

 

If you want to do smaller recipes, cut the recipe in half or thirds and freeze the remaining chickpeas . . . or freeze the hummus.

[chickenpatty]

I make these beans at least once a week. Everyone in my family loves them and you can serve them many ways. (soup, burritos, nachos, etc...).

[LaxMom]

If you go to myrecipes.com and look at Cooking Light recipes, you can exclude dairy, narrow by cost per serving, etc.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Hummus Recipe

 

2 cups dried chickpeas (I cook the whole bag)

6 cups water

3 ½ teaspoons salt (divided)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup tahini

1-2 tablespoons ground cumin

pinch of cayenne (optional)

 

Wash the chickpeas, soak overnight, and cook in the water until tender (about 90 minutes)

 

Add 3 teaspoons of salt and cook 20-30 minutes more. *When they are VERY soft, drain and reserve the cooking water. *Let chickpeas cool.

 

In a food processor, blender, or with a potato masher, combined cooled chickpeas with a cup of the cooking water, remaining salt, and remaining ingredients. *Blend or mash until smooth. *Adjust seasonings to taste.

 

 

 

That’s the base recipe. *I usually end up adding a bit more cumin and tahini (and salt, and cayenne . . . .) *I also reserve some of the chickpeas and mix them in at the end because I like the texture. *A blender will give you the smoothest hummus, but plan to add a bit more water.

 

If you want to do smaller recipes, cut the recipe in half or thirds and freeze the remaining chickpeas . . . or freeze the hummus.

Thanks for the recipe. I made humus once and would like to make more.

[mom31257]

Thanks for the ideas. Keep them coming!:001_smile:

[Denisemomof4]

Stir fry recipes served over (brown) rice. You can make many different ones with different meats and veggies.

 

Home made pizza. You could use pesto sauce and veggies. I have not found a good dairy free cheese alternative.

 

Have you done a search for budget meals or penny pinching meals?

 

Roasted chicken when on sale, throw in carrots and potatoes. Chicken legs are cheap.

 

Lentil stew is a favorite here.

 

Minestrone soup.

 

Vegetarian burritos.

 

Sorry.... No recipes. There are so many sites out there!

[Poke Salad Annie]

A big dish of oven roasted veggies and a pot of rice. Sweet potatoes have been running ~28c a pound around here. I grab produce on the markdown cart when I see it. Pick up a rosemary plant on markdown after Christmas and plant it for many years of yummy seasoning!

[athena1277]

Here's a favorite I'm planning to make this week.

 

Chicken and Rice Soup

 

Boil chicken (I use 1-2 breasts), then shred when cooled.

celery and carrots, chopped really fine, like nearly pureed (can use other veggies), about 1 cup each

1 cup brow rice

5-6 cups chicken broth

 

Put everything in the crockpot and let it cook all day on low. Super yummy and easy!

[sparrow]

Love this food blog!

 

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/