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BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes
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BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes |
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Subject: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: LilyFestre Date: 23 Feb 11 - 12:13 PM Like many people across the United States, we are doing our best to make ends meet. I'd like to trim the grocery bill down as much as possible. We have an enormous garden each year and do a lot of canning, so that helps. I am interested in any recipes you might have that are relatively healthy and help stretch your grocery budget. :) Many thanks! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: VirginiaTam Date: 23 Feb 11 - 12:57 PM Dried pulses and bulgar wheat can bulk up soups and stews, using less meat and getting benefit of high fibre, high protein and low cholesterol. Tuscan bean minestrone various pulses soaked and cooked until tender fresh tomatoes for sauce mince beef, lamb or turkey sauteed with onions and loads of garlic some brown sugar to cut the acidity of toms stock macaroni Italian seasonings to taste shaved parmesan when you serve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 24 Feb 11 - 12:32 AM "Relatively healthy"? I think you should cut the quality of your food as the last thing. What else can you cut first? And the whole family should be involved, not just you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: GUEST,mg Date: 24 Feb 11 - 06:07 PM Go through at the end of each week and make two things: a minestrone soup such as mentioned above (I make mine with tomato sauce and it is vegetarian), throwing in leftover vegetables that might be getting wilted, and for another meal, a nice omellete with all sorts of other meats, cheeses, vegetables, that will go bad if not eaten right away. Have a clean out the fridge dinner every week with the little samples of stuff you have in little containers. Maybe that is the night you also serve a nice apple pie or something healthy for dessert. mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Joe_F Date: 24 Feb 11 - 06:28 PM Probably not healthy, but cheap: half a can of Hormel's chunky chili, zapped with chopped onion, garnished with little cubes of cheddar cheese, and washed down with beer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: gnu Date: 24 Feb 11 - 06:33 PM Yup... soup... that's what I do. And I buy the cheapest meat cuts for soup, even the ones with too much fat and I make soup. And eggs; you can do a lot with eggs and they are one of the best foods there is. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: GUEST,Patsy Date: 25 Feb 11 - 05:31 AM Sometimes I think it is easier to make food stretch through the Winter months rather than Summer months with the stew or casserole based dishes. Ideally I would like salads all the time but salad vegetables can be pretty expensive in the supermarkets. It would probably be more economical to buy fruit and veg from a greengrocer and probably the same for meat from a proper butcher rather than packaged cuts of meat. These days the old grocer and butcher shops are hard to find locally so really it's just putting up with what we have got. When I do go into a supermarket I try to keep to my list and only buy what I and whoever is with me can manage to carry, so I have to make sure that I don't buy anything out of the ordinary. Eggs are very versatile and I found an oven baked omelette recipe with onion, herbs and about a cup or so of frozen mixed veg which can be handy to throw in especially if the amount left in the freezer is not quite enough to serve as a portion of vegetables for each person. It doesn't mess up the top of the oven and wedges of omelette can be cut and served with salad or anything you like. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Bettynh Date: 25 Feb 11 - 10:42 AM This is the season for sprouts. Wheat berries, alfalfa, all sorts of whole beans can be had for a reasonable price. Just be sure they're food grade, and not for lawns or gardens (those might be treated with fungicide). Put a layer of seed in a jar, cover the top with a screen (can be cloth), and rinse it with water twice a day. You can eat them in a few days. When I'm green-hungry a sprout sandwich (bread, mayonnaise, and sprouts) is what I want. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 25 Feb 11 - 11:56 PM "buy the cheapest meat cuts for soup, even the ones with too much fat and I make soup" Then save the fat and be really thrifty. When heated with Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda) it will make soap. You can use wood fire ashes too. When rendered properly the fat can be placed in containers, tin cans, old glass jars, a wick added, and used as lights. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: DebC Date: 26 Feb 11 - 09:47 AM We have gone vegan for the most part, mainly due to the sorry quality of meat in our local food stores. We buy a lot of dried beans and grains and we make a lot of soups. I do buy vegetables that can be expensive (broccoli, cauliflower, celery, etc) and the bits I don't use like the celery hearts, broc and cauliflower stems go into veggie broth. I have about 8 containers of broth in my freezer. We are also very fortunate to have three Asian and E. Indian markets in our neighborhood and the produce there is not only inexpensive but very high quality. I would also echo Betty's post above about sprouts. We bought a 2 LB bag of dried mung beans and I make sprouts once a week. Deb |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Bonzo3legs Date: 26 Feb 11 - 09:59 AM I've eaten a lot of fish during the last couple of weeks, both in the south of Spain and at home. I can tell you that it's made no difference to the places that ache on my body! Looking forward to a good steak this evening. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Sooz Date: 26 Feb 11 - 03:22 PM D'oh! I thought you were eating a Brussell Sprout sandwich! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: GUEST,Dani Date: 26 Feb 11 - 03:36 PM One word (or is it2?): CROCKPOT! Dried pintos cooked with some onion, garlic, dried chiles turn into yummy magic. Cheapest cuts of meat tenderize beyond words. We never get tired of breakfast... Cooking things from scratch makes almost any kind of eating affordable. Befriend local farmers and barter for great fresh vegs! Dani |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 26 Feb 11 - 07:00 PM This takes a lot of cans: I cook dried beans (about 3 cups of your choice) in a slow cooker, do the other ingredients in a large frying pan and add to cooker. Seasoning it overnight in the crockpot melds the flavour nicely. A little hot chili (ancho) augments flavour if one likes hot; maybe a teaspoon of hot, depending on taste buds! Raw tomatoes in place of canned also works. And, of course, fresh corn, in season, would be nice. I did too much hot in the last batch; it was edible but caused perspiration and definite clearing of sinus! And the longer it sits, the hotter it gets, even in the freezer!! So, this week I made a new batch and mixed the two to lighten up the hot stuff. Freezes well. Vegetarian Chili Ingredients 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup chopped carrots 1 cup chopped green bell pepper 1 cup chopped red bell pepper 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, undrained 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, undrained 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained 1 tablespoon cumin 1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano 1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil . 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder Directions . Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the garlic, onion, and carrots in the pot until tender. Mix in the green bell pepper and red bell pepper. Season with chili powder. Continue cooking 5 minutes, or until peppers are tender. . Mix the mushrooms into the pot. Stir in the tomatoes with liquid, black beans with liquid, kidney beans with liquid, pinto beans with liquid, and corn. Season with cumin, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Bobert Date: 26 Feb 11 - 07:23 PM The main thing comes down tho proteins and the proper combination of amino acids... It takes anywhere from 8 to 16 pounds of them in a vegetable form to create 1 pound of meat... In other words, meat ain't cheap to produce, however, if ya' like it there are meat proteins which tend to be cheap, like turkey wings and legs... People don't eat them because they don't like them but they are cheap and if fixed properly are tasty, as well... There is a reason why Mexican restaurants are relatively inexpensive... It's because the serve relatively inexpensive ingredients... But when you mix the amino acids in bean with those found in rice you have a complete protein... You really don't need meat or a lot of meat to maintain good nutrition in the protein department... Now, if you have a veggie garden, like we do and Michelle does, then if yer looking to eat cheap??? Beans + rice + green veggies and you'll have the bases covered... That's a cheap as it gets but it will keep ya' healthy... Throw in some fruit, too, but whatever is cheap... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Bert Date: 26 Feb 11 - 07:38 PM Learn how to choose meat that is tender. Our local Safeway often has 7bone pot roast on sale cheaper than ground beef. Choose a piece that has parts that look tender (compare how it looks against expensive steak) Cut out the tender parts and cook for steak. For parts that are not quite so tender, chop into quarter inch cubes, form into patties and fry like hamburger. They will taste more like steak. Make stew with the bone and what is left. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 26 Feb 11 - 09:22 PM Beans, rice and cabbage - about as cheap as it gets. I lived on that and porridge through cold Ontario winters - and not much else. Easy too: Rice in large enough pan when almost cooked, the beans and cabbage go on top. One pan, one dish or who needs a dish? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Bettynh Date: 27 Feb 11 - 03:22 PM More on sprouts: if you have access to Indian or probably any other ethnic market, look at the spice aisle. You can sprout whole mustard, fenugreek, coriander, and many other whole seeds to spice up the mix. Our Indian markets sell them by the pound, while supermarkets tend to sell by the half-ounce in fancy glass bottles. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Healthy Budget Meals and Recipes From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Feb 11 - 06:51 PM Bobert has it right on the money. I am "shopping" my freezer and pantry these days, looking for recipes that will use the ingredients I have frozen or canned. And last summer I prepared many of the things I froze as I would need them for specific dishes. Suddenly it was a lot easier to prepare the eggplant to freeze - slice and bread and fry, slice and fry, or quarter and fry, they are different recipes. If you don't have a plan, it gets old in the fridge waiting to be stored. Okra, peppers, tomatoes, more peppers, and I buy meat on sale and package it for single portions before freezing. I've found several things I can stir fry okra in, beyond the scrumptious breaded and fried version. This was a vegetable new to me last year. I eat meat, certainly, but when I grind a pound of pot roast to use for taco meat or burrito filling, I add a couple of cups of cooked beans (black, kidney, pinto, whatever is handy) and cook with it. Like he says, have some rice on the side and this is a healthy mix. You do get essential nutrients from meat, but you can mix it up with a lot of other stuff (as much as I occasionally like a seasoned, unembellished steak every so often). I picked up a large port tenderloin ($1.99 a pound at my local discount grocery, and it isn't full of the added saline injection) that I'll use some of it with my tomatoes and onions and eggplant in a casserole this week (a Middle Eastern recipe). SRS |
