Eat Cheap and Healthy

We recently made a pot of chickpeas mixed with BBQ sauce and threw in some chopped bell peppers. We lined some pita with spinach then stuffed the chickpea mixture in it. It was surprisingly delicious. We crave it now! It would probably be better in a wrap but we used what we had. (Also I added some ranch in mine because I’m obsessed but my husband said it didn’t need the ranch)

Twina801

Purchase and download the FitMenCook app. There’s a wealth of recipes and Kevin adds to the cookbook regularly.

CubriksRube

Check out r/Slowcooking 🙂

Astro_nauts_mum

Here are a few new recipes for me. Someone gave me 5 zucchinis. I cut one into rounds and broiled them with a little oil and Parmesan cheese and italian herbs. The next one I quartered and grilled with some chicken (with obligatory oil and italian herbs). Today I used my cheese shredder to shred one zucchini into strips. From the garden I grabbed some parsley, chives, and 20 cherry tomatoes which I halved, then added some roasted pine nuts and feta cheese and homemade vinaigrette. It made two good sized and very yummy salads. I wish I had a little spinach to add to it. I have 2 left. Suggestions for more savory zuke recipes (no bread pls)?

I know you asked for something more like a meal so here’s my next planned meal for the instant pot: Chicken and Andouille sausage gumbo. 1) Cut boneless chicken thighs into 1″ cubes. 2) In the Instant pot, saute 1/4c oil with 1/4c flour to make the roux – about 7 minutes. It should turn brown. 3) add the following diced to the roux: onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and add 1/4t cayenne pepper. Saute for 4 minutes until onion is soft. 4) Pour in 2c chicken broth. Add chicken. Add fully cooked andouille sausage (cut into 1/4″ pieces). Add 2 bay leaves. 5) Secure the lid, set pressure to Sealing. Press the cancel button to cancel the Saute, then select the Cook setting for 20 min at high pressure. 6) When pot reaches end of program, let pressure release naturally for 10 min, then move the release valve to Venting. Discard bay leaves. 7) Stir well and serve over rice. Top with chopped green onions and hot sauce, if desired. Amounts listed on the recipe: 1.5lbs chicken, 12 oz sausage, medium yellow onion, medium green bell pepper, 1 celery stalk, 2 cloves garlic, 4.5c white rice. One thing I’m not sure about is the recipe talks about making the roux with the chicken thigh skins, then an alternative note on the recipe says if you’re not using skins, just use oil. I hope that works. It also says if you don’t use the chicken skins, you’ll probably want to add some salt.

mentalbackflip

A bottle of Trader Joe’s yellow curry

Rice

A big ass bag of frozen vegetables.

There is a delicious and easy dinner that we do once a week, usually with chicken. 17 minutes to cook.

One that my wife and daughter love: arugula salad, with hard boiled eggs and salmon. I make a super quick lemon dill vinaigrette and they LOVE it.
Not really veg or vegan though.

Rearviewmirror

When I was growing up my parents had date nights at home regularly. Chased my sister and I upstairs – the only time we could eat in our rooms and they lugged a TV up. Dates are about attitude, not location.

SVAuspicious

What about homemade pizza or pasta! They are both inexpensive and fun to do together:) if you Make the pizza at the end of the week just throw on left over veggies on top – I mean peppers, onions, mushrooms, even left over meats can be great toppings and then you cut back on food waste. Once a week I make 1 or 2 rustic loafs,.. if I make 1 loaf the rest of the dough is used to make pizza.

And cost wise…
10 lb bag flour ~ $4 = 8 loaves (50c/loaf), 1 loaf sized ball of dough = 2-3 pizzas (16-25c per pizza)
4 oz yeast ~$5 = 60 loaves (8c/loaf)
Salt… I mean it’s salt
Water – free

So you can make 1 loaf for 60c and 3 pizzas for 60c in one weekend – plus toppings.

Glad you guys got a date night 🙂

efox02

Great post. To challenge your mindset a bit, why not a weekly thing for cooking a date night? Why once a month? Unless you guys are earning a very high income, going to dine out is probably the most wasteful expenditure. Instead, dine out should be done once a month max.

You’ll easily save a couple hundred bucks a month, that’s like giving yourself a big raise 🙂

leanfireboy

I prefer for most date nights to be cooking for the significant other. Going out is romantic and all but sometimes a home cooked meal and a candle on your dining room table is all you need to set the mood!

TheWabiSabiMan

You splurged $2.98 unsubscribe from the sub immediately here

honkytownquiggy

That onion must be pumpkin sized because there is no way an onion any smaller would last me or anyone I know THREE WEEKS????

…but yeah onions are cool, go with most everything and are a very cheap vegetable.

monsieurcannibale

I too save my veggie scraps and finally got around to making some homemade broth. I was blown away by how easy and delicious it was. I did mine in the Crock-Pot. Just filled it up most of the way with a good variety from the freezer bag, added a tiny bit of oil, any seasonings that sound good (if you have whole spices, this is a great time to use them), and set it to high for several hours. After that you just strain it (make sure to mash all the veggies a bit with your spoon to release that veggie goodness) and you’ve got yourself some amazing homemade veggie broth that cost you virtually nothing!

dukesofhordor

Yes, onions are great, but how much are you using at one time? Pretty much everything I cook starts with anywhere from one half of a large onion to a couple medium onions sauteeing before I do anything else. I can’t imagine an onion lasting more than two, three meals tops!

VytautastheWife

One onion? I don’t leave market wihout a bag of onions. How can you get by wihout it?

Eireika

r/atetheonion

iseiscool

Milled flax seed is cheap (aldi has it for 2.29/lb), and I’ve found it gives a notable boost in heartiness/satiety to whatever it’s mixed in because of all the fiber, plus a bit of a nutty flavor.
I like yogurt for breakfasts, I’ll usually stir it up with some whole rolled oats and milled flax, plus some fruits or jam or trail mix or what-have-you for flavor. Tastes luxurious, keeps me full til lunchtime no-doubt, cheap and very stretchable ingredients.
Can also be used in baking to add some substance to what might otherwise be a lot of sugar-and-other-simple-carbohydrates.

BeTomHamilton

Water. It took me a while to learn that the feeling I thought was hunger was actually thirst. I like carbonated water even better. My real favourite is coffee, and caffeine also helps supress my appetite a little bit.

iaintnoporcupine

Potatoes. Calorie for calorie, it’s been shown that they make people feel fuller than any other food. Not the healthiest food in the world, but you get a lot of minerals and whatnot. Baked potato, some kind of protein, plain Greek yogurt (tastes like sour cream but with a ton of protein) and roasted whatever-vegetable-is-on-sale, and you’re set!

AmandaCalzone

Beans are very good at suppressing hunger, they have some chemical in them that makes you less hungry, and they’re one of the cheapest foods. Their major downside, of course, is well-known. You can use generic Beano tablets to deal with the gas, but even the generics are fairly expensive, and make them much more costly per serving. (it should still be *much* cheaper than protein sources of the same calories, however.)

Beans cost far less if you buy them dry, but then you either have to soak or pressure cook them…. so you need to provide either forethought, or extra money on cooking gear. If you can do either one, dry beans are one of the cheapest sources of healthy calories. Combined with rice, another very cheap calorie source, they give you the basic proteins you need to live.

Malor

Oatmeal is my go-to. Just not quick-cooking ones; those cook up like paste.

hobbyhooblog

Whenever my bottle of dijon is near empty, I just throw in some olive oil, balsalmic, garlic, honey, salt and pepper, give it a good shake, and that’s my dressing

Primrose_Greybear

Another way to go is to mix in some Greek yogurt instead. Makes for a creamy dressing and gives it a punch of protein. Can really make a salad more filling, making it a more viable for some of us.

hamburgular70

Known as an emulsifier in the trade.

Often added to aioli and the like.

Misterlift

Two parts oil, one part acid (vinegar or lemon juice), a big teaspoon / dollop of mustar (dijon, wholegrain, even yellow mustard in a pinch) a teaspoon of sweetness (honey, maple syrup, or sugar) and salt and pepper to taste is like, the default salad dressing imo

Tom0laSFW

Or a bit of mayonnaise. Gets the benefits of egg yolks without actually having to use egg yolks.

aeb1022

Wtf is that price of cauliflower. Can get it for like 70p in the UK

riverY90

I like mixing some sour cream and avocado for a creamy veggie dip! Or homemade hummus 😋

SvenskGumma

Healthy low-fat blue cheese dressing recipe – mix together in a food processor until creamy: 1 c. Low fat cottage cheese, 1/2 c. plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons bleu cheese, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste).

SheelaP

Bring on the strong full fat cheese for me. Flavour and satisfaction.

Ysobel14

Bolthouse farms makes a great low calorie bleu cheese dressing! Eat your heart out!!

Ohhaybabs

Youre on the right track but not quite there. Asian, Indian, Mexican shops have the cheapest spices. I have some that have lasted over a year without running out because it comes in such a large quantity, the quality is still fantastic as well.

jalapenomunch

Sorry but I’ve been cooking 25+ years and I completely disagree. Ingredients are 90% of the job.

Shit in shit out, you need quality ingredients to cook a top quality meal – if you’re a lazy cook (as I am) time spent in sourcing the best ingredients will mean you need to do very very little to blow peoples minds.

Having shit ingredients means you’re basically trying to make something palatable out of something unpalatable – I want to taste the ingredients and the spices, not work my bollocks off to try to mask shit with glitter. Covering shitty food with good spices is not much different to pouring ketchup all over something.

I get you’re aspiring and probably haven’t been cooking all that long but you’ve gone down a bad path here.

Buy seasonal, buy quality and then just do the bare minimum to get the best from the ingredients – the best cooks understand this process.

Spices are actually one of the cheapest things to buy good quality for not a lot of money, go to the supermarket – then slap yourself and turn around, go to your local asian cash and carry type place and buy whole spices. Grind fresh as needed in a pestle and mortar (unless you’ve got a wet and dry milling machine – these aren’t cheap). Why?

1. The turnover of spices in these places is very high, subsequently they’re always freshest they’re also a very good price
2. Grinding fresh ensures you’re not buying spices heat soaked by the industrial grinding process (which weakens the strength a tremendous amount, often meaning you need more of a spice than you otherwise would for a more stale result)
3. Grinding fresh ensures you’ve not got preground spices going stale, many will last maybe a few days before losing most of their flavour then be useless after a few weeks. In the western world this is something people aren’t really aware of because they don’t know any better – unless you turn around those spices extremely fast you basically want to have primarily whole spices in your pantry.

While you’re at the cash and carry you can pick up great deals on bulk rice, flour, dried legumes and nuts.

Misterlift

Gonna tooooootally disagree. Go to the bulk section of your grocery store or go to a grocery store that has one.

There’s no need to buy a 4 dollar bottle of chili powder when you can buy 3 tablespoons of it for 84 cents. And you can get smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and smoked salt for that chili. All for a fraction of what you’d normally pay.

Spices are definitely important. But you’re doing it wrong. Especially if you’re experimenting and you spent $10 of your tight budget on 2 bottles of spices that will sit in your cupboard for years.

Buy from bulk section and get just what you need. It’s cheap.

robbietreehorn

1. Try roasting the garlic before you blend it with the butter!
2. You can easily make your own infused lemon or garlic or chili olive oil, it will just take a good long while. Try to use a good quality olive oil. It’s not a spice per say but it’ll go a long way, just be careful not to heat it very much and use it more of a garnish: high heat will negate most of the impact of good-quality olive oils.
3. Try lemon zest if you do try making lemon butter. Lemon zest in general is a fantastic ingredient because the lemon oils are all contained within the peel! Butter with lemon zest, garlic and parsley is the shit.
4. I support what others are saying about ground spices! The most cost-effective way I’ve found to go about this is to buy whole spices in bulk (they stay fresher that way), toast them in a dry pan before use and then use either a mortar and pestle or a spice/coffee grinder. You could potentially do this in batches but I prefer to do it in the quantity I need for any specific recipe. Just be aware that you’ll need to measure spices AFTER they’ve been ground as whole spices will take up much more space.
5. I also second what others have said about local foreign supermarkets, but I personally find it pretty intimidating and also not everyone has access to these. But if you can, I also recommend picking up other flavoring agents like miso paste, gochujang, chili bean paste, fish sauce, black vinegar, etc. Asian markets also tend to (in my experience) offer a different (usually wider) selection of meats, specifically uncommon cuts of beef/pork and a wider selection of fish.

Guys, please give OP a break. If experimenting with spices is encouraging them to cook more often and enjoy it more in a way that feels sustainable for them, that’s AWESOME. It is HARD at first !!

Whatever gets you in the kitchen my dude!

smolcoconut

Personally i wouldn’t advise others get really expensive spices, probably go for middle ranged price or stuff thats high end for walmart. Dont break the bank for some little artisan herb shop that costs 3 times as much. Figure out the cheapest option you can quite happily live with. It will cut down on the foid buying guilt when youre poor

AbstractLavander_Bat

Soft pretzels – there are so many dipping sauces to go with them everyone will be happy

moondjinn

Potatoes….twice baked, cheesy potato boats, French fries, light potato salad, baked potato bar, southwest style potatoes with black beans and corn. I love potatoes.

stygOC

Mad respect for all dietary choices but that sounds like very hard mode

Meatcup

Water casserole

FFsmurphy

Side note: your boyfriend definitely has a keeper

SelektroGaming

I love hummus, avocado, spinach, grilled chicken, and tomato on mine!

huesofblackandblue

I got you on this.
Step 1: save yo bacon greeze.
Step 2: Cherry tomato’s in a pan in bacon grease garlic salt saute down to jam.
Step 3: Roast brocolli, saute brocolli grill brocolli.
Step 4: any sort of meat in the world yano pork, chicken, ham, steak anything.
Optional step 5: grate some cheeses.

Step 6: do all this on a Sunday.

Step 7: Every day use a different meat with ya tomato jam, brocolli mix some protein fuck smash some chick peas that will be good.
All this will last in some plastic containers in your fridge all week so whenever you want a quick wrap you throw them in and eat. If you want to take it the extra mile through it in one of them toastie presses for panini goodness.

Eventually you can start mixing it up, use roasted cauliflower instead of brocolli, smashed kidney beans instead of tomato’s but I love the tomato’s.

Oh and I see you like lettuce add that if you want.

Dynamic_Conqueror

Here’s one I love: whole wheat wrap, smoked salmon, thinly sliced red onion, thinly sliced cherry tomatoes, cream cheese (neutral flavor or garlic), avocado, salt and pepper.

SBD_94

you could do some sort of grilled seasoned chicken, high fiber tortilla, avocado spread, and then whatever kinda veggies you want

smallvanillafrosty

Shredded crock pot chicken, spinach, roasted red pepper, a bit of pesto, and some shredded mozz. Or spinach, feta, balsamic glaze, and diced tomatoes. Or avocado, pico, rice, black beans, tomatoes, and sour cream or cheese for a thicc boi-rrito.

SneakySnake2323

Are you staying with your dad for moral support/company or is this a situation where he needs you there?
If you’re needed there, ask a nurse for a visit with the hospital’s social worker. Some hospitals will provide cafeteria vouchers for situations where a family member is effectively living in the hospital with a patient. Ask the social worker if there are any options to offset that cost.
You may also be able to order a tray meal to the room for a low cash price, or a nurse/HUC may be able to order you trays for free. These aren’t always the height of cuisine but they’re healthy enough.

Edit: I scanned your post history – definitely talk to the social worker, your dad’s nurse, and the HUC at the nurse’s desk in your dad’s ward about caf vouchers & tray options. You’re an important part of his care team.

wrestlegirl

Rotisserie chicken will give you several meals if you have access to a fridge. It’d be hot for the first one and then you could put in on your salads cold.

I’d also recommend veggies that you like to eat raw. For me that’d be cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes (yeah yeah technically fruit), avocado. It’s a bit odd but you can just eat them without cutting them into pieces except the avocado which can be cut with regular silverware.

OnwardAnd-Upward

Yogurt, cheese, not just fruit but veggies, hummus, deli meat, peanut butter or almond butter, my not so healthy but not lethal cheat is salsa and chips.

I work at a hospital and sometimes they have a nourishment room with a fridge that you may be able to put some food in.

Or buy a cold pack and insulated lunch box

audiosyncrasy1

Cut-up vegetables and dip, cheese strings and fruit, and hard boiled eggs are all options (if your Walmart carries them). Don’t forget to hydrate!

Sending good thoughts to you and your dad.

UnicornBlaze

Packaged salads from Walmart are actually not bad.

ifonlyIhadtimetoread