Your favorite Cheap healthy recipe?

[isthisused]

Here is mine, and its so simple.
Start with a big pot ,dice up enough potatoes skin on to fill 2/3 the pot, dice one onion throw it in, cut up one kielbasa sausage through that in . If fresh green beans are in season cut them up and fill the rest of the pot. If out of season use canned but only dump the water into the pot fill pot with water and bring to a light boil and season with garlic powder salt and fresh ground pepper. When potatoes begin to get soft add the beans. My family loves it and its so cheap.

So what is your favorite cheap healthy meal?
My son in law makes a huge pot of red beans and rice, talk about a lot of healthy food for pennies but I don’t have the recipe.

[whitestripe]

i do the red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, onion & carrot, with mexican spices& rice too. very cheap.
my favourite recipe to make thats cheap and tastes good is lentil dal.
two cups of lentils boiled in a saucepan with four cups of water. in another pan saute potatoes, onions, pumpkin & any other vegetables with cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin powder, paprika, cracked pepper, salt, garlic and turmeric and then add a can of tinned tomatoes. once the lentils are soft tip them, along with the water, into the pot with the rest of the veges and simmer until all veges are soft. serve with a spoon of plain yoghurt to make it a complete protein.

[rob62521]

I buy a whole chicken and put it in the Crockpot with some water, seasonings (I use pepper, oregano, rosemary) and whatever root vegetable I have on hand and a clove of garlic. I cook it on low for about 8 hours. After it is done, I pull out the chicken and and strain the broth. I usually make two different meals from the chicken (we buy ours at Aldi for around $4.50-$4.75). One meal is to cut up some celery, put with some stuffing of your choice in a baking dish, shred the chicken, and then use the broth to moisten the dressing. Bake at 400 for about 30-40 minutes and add a vegetable and you have a meal. Another meal I make is to take the chicken and broth and cook some vegetables and add either tomato sauce or tomato paste -- depending on how much broth you use and the thickness you desire -- and have chicken stew. I have used leftover roasted vegetables for the stew and it is delightful. Of course another use for the chicken is to put with some cooked vegetables like celery, carrots, potatoes, peas into a baking dish, add a can of low fat cream of chicken soup and use a baking mix like Bisquick to make a topping and you have a chicken pot pie!

[snafu]

Soup is cheap and healthy using up left overs, barley and root vegetables. If you don't like the cooked veggies, twirl them in blender or smoosh with a potato masher to puree consistency and use as a thickener. This is delicious with home baked bread. BTW, bread is sinfully easy to make with only a few ingredients and variations are nearly endless.

[richie007]

oatmeal! steel-cut, the one that doesn't have any pre-added sugar or cinnamon..it's a cheap and healthy breakfast option

[GREENBACK]

venison/vegetable soup.
I use the bones to make the stock. Very low in fat and with vegetables out of the garden is super cheap and full of nutrients. I sometimes use lean beef if the venison supply gets low. great meal with bread in the winter time or anytime.

[GrimJack]

Smoked pork necks, lentils, split peas, chopped/sauteed onions/garlic/ginger, carrots, and a crock pot. Fire it up in the morning, correct seasoning when you get home and add frozen peas about half an hour before you eat.
(it is working right now - will eat it for tomorrows meal).

[Bluestreak]

I actually live off of this kinda meal on a daily basis. I only cook about once every two weeks, and I do it in quantity. I buy it all in quantity from Sam's club. I cook the pinto beans, whole grain rice, virtually fat free chicken and various veggies. I season them all up differently every time but tend to emphasize cayenne, cajun, montreal steak, and mesquite seasonings for the chicken. I put them all together for an excellent burrito. What I love about it is how little fat there is in the entire meal. The only significant fat in the meal is in the tortilla which is still only a few grams. The meal provides all the nutrients I need and I never seem to get sick of it so long as I change it up. I have taken my gut off doing this. That really was not the intention, I had just done to conserve cash. I never though it would continue for so long so it's been a win-win.

[sandyandry]

Boiled egg(or omelet) and glass of milk...i think it's a cheap and healthy breakfast

[swaymonae]

Bean & cheese burritos
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Tuna Helper
Steamed rice w/ salsa on top
Pasta roni (alfred) w/ breaded shrimp on top
Mexican pizza - corn tortillas, bean, cheese, hot sauce, fry in pan, flip, add, flip, cut & serve.
Egg sandwich - I do mine over medium, just add cheese!

Make your own "cruch wrap" or "double decker":

Cruch wrap - Large flour tortillas, tostada shells, beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa - Microwave the beans a little, then throw the flour tortilla with beans spread in the middle onto a frying pan, on top of that, put a tostada shell, also with beans on it, add cheese ..fry.. as the tortilla starts to get hard, fold it over... If there's a whole in the middle at the top, add your lettuce, salsa & extra cheese there, or unfold slightly to add the ingredients, enjoy.

Double decker - medium flour tortillas, hard taco shells, beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa .. pretty self explanitory.. heat the beans, put beans on the flour tortilla, then put the hard shell taco in the middle, add beans in that & top..

Cheap & delicious

Or just go to taco bell..they're cheap.

[creditcardfree]

15oz can black beans drained
1/4c feta cheese
1/3c red onion
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
1 TBS olive oil
2 TBS balsalmic vinegar

Mix it all together. Eat plain, with tortilla chips, or on a tortilla. Yummy!! DH and I share this.

[inneedofhelp]

I buy a large can of black beans for $2.30 and about $4 of pork from a local latino market. I get an onion for around .20 cents.

I cook the beans and mix it with rice ($3.70 a package---using about 2-3 cups dry rice). This makes a meal that can feed a person with a healthy appetite at least 5 servings...which equals

$7.50 total (estimated eating $1.00 worth of the rice, probably less than that) with $1.50 spent per serving.

I like to try and make servings be under $1.00 whenever possible.

Except for when I go out to eat, then it is a moot point.

[inneedofhelp]

turkey pasta

2 1lb packages of turkey from costco==$14 for 4 pack, or $3.50 per pack.
jar of pasta sauce around $2-$3
pasta on sale $1-$2

Average large servings, 5

total price= $12.00
$12.00/5= $2.40 per serving---high, but you can also reduce the turkey amount and buy the lower priced items on the list which would equal

$6.50 /5=$1.30 per serving

[JBinKC]

Split pea soup from dried peas with 2 carrots 2 potatoes with skins and a small onion (ham/bacon optional) with thyme, garlic powder, pepper and salt for spices fired with hardwood coals in a camp style dutch oven and corn muffins as a side. The hardwood imparts a natural smokey flavor to the soup.

Cost about $2- $2.50 worth of ingredients if you buy the stuff on special and go the vegetarian route can feed an army. A dozen muffins and around 16 cups of soup.

You also can make chicken/turkey soup from 3-4 chicken carcasses/necks or one turkey carcass/neck but it is somewhat labor intensive picking the meat from the bones. That amount typically yields about 1 lb of meat. I like to add a cup of pearl barley, a 12 oz can of tomato sauce and root vegetables to my soup and salt/pepper for seasoning.

If you like popeye's beans and rice there is a recipe that IMO duplicates the flavor floating on the internet and that is also very cheap to make especially if you don't use instant rice.

[mom-from-missouri]

Mine isn't really a meal, its a bread. Matza bread.

DD4 has severe colon issues & has to have lots and lots of fiber. This bread gives it to her and we all like it. This recipe is modified from the orginal Jewish bread. It came from her Jewish doctor, in an effort to get more fiber into her. Good with a little fat free cream cheese on top, plain, or you can add diced onion to the dough when served with soups. (orginally it would have only been flour and water)

Matza bread
6 tablespoons shortening
3 and 1/2 cups hot water
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons salt
10 cups whole wheat flour

Mix well. Roll out by hand and flatten, then poke holes to prevent it from raising while baking. Makes about 25 small loaves, each about 5-6 inches in diameter. Bake it at 375 four aound 12-15 minutes.

Let it completely cool before placing in a container to prevent mold. It freezes well.

[GRITSinMS]

Has anyone seen the "Cooking with Clara" videos on youtube? She does video recipes of meals she ate during the depressions. Mostly meals with potatoes, onions, eggs maybe. Those were the items easier to come by during the depression. She talks about it all in the videos. Pretty interesting - you might want to check it out.