Five Healthy Dinner Ideas on a Budget
Healthy eating is difficult today. With the rising costs of food products, decreasing personal incomes, the addition of preservatives and chemicals to almost every item sold in the food section, as well as the inability to work and farm the land, it is definitely a chore to find healthy foods.
Further, many foods, both bought at restaurants and grocery stores, are processed, meaning they contain high quantities of salt, sugar and fat. While these substances are fine in moderation, in fact, needed as part of a person's daily intake, processed foods are excessively laden, and as a result, lead to a whole host of long-term health problems. Lastly, significantly more people suffer now from food allergies and digestive illnesses that make daily healthy eating an obstacle course. And, the sad part is that good foods like fresh vegetables and fruits, grain breads, whole wheat pastas, salt-free sauces, gluten-free products, and sugar reduced items are all more expensive than the processed foods that stores generally promote in weekly flyers enticing customers to buy.
Then, you have a huge problem with the terms themselves. For example, "sugar reduced" and what that means exactly. Often, manufacturers have substituted a chemical for the sugar. Typically, they put a spin on the advertising, making it appear as though the chemical is beneficial and derived from natural means, but in reality, that chemical is not something listed on the required daily food groups. So, are you really better off?
If you find yourself caught in the maze of reading labels and wondering what to eat yourself, and feed your family for supper, I have created for you Five Healthy Dinner Ideas on a Budget.
Dinner #1 – Casseroles and Cooking Double
Not all recipes can easily be doubled, but casseroles are something that you can make a lot of at once. The beauty of making more than one tray of lasagna, for instance, is that you only use the oven once and save on electricity or gas, plus you have a meal for another time without having to expend the energy on preparation.
To stay on your budget, buy the hamburger when on sale, then you can reduce your costs to make more than one tray. Likewise, several times throughout the year, grocery stores put the bags of pasta on sale, many times at half price. Watch for these sales and stock up. And usually, once per month, the stores put canned tomatoes in their weekly flyers. Try to buy the "no salt added" if possible and stock up your pantry.
Finally, to make any casserole more healthy, buy large bags of carrots to have on hand and grate a couple carrots to add to the sauce. If green or red peppers are on sale, buy a few and cut them up to add to your recipe. Remember that casserole recipes are rather flexible. You can add most other items without ruining the finished product. But, at the same time, you get your daily required amount of vegetables.
You should also be aware that in the fall, many vegetables are much cheaper than other times of the year. Examples of this are red and yellow peppers, cabbages, squashes and potatoes. Be sure to take advantage of these vegetables by making large trays of roasted vegetables, which can be frozen for future use, or make several roasting pans full of cabbage rolls. The large bags of rice usually go on sale during Caribbean and Asian festival times, and often at half price.
Dinner #2 – Eggs with Baked Bread and Vegetables
Eggs have always been considered breakfast foods by many, but in reality, they make great supper time meals. There are so many combinations you can create to make healthy dinners and stay on budget. For example, take any leftover chicken and vegetables and make a quiche. You can serve it with a salad and some fresh baked bread. The best way to do this, if you are not a baker, is to buy the bags of four bread dough logs (in the freezer section of the store) and quickly bake one in the oven. You can keep the other three in the freezer until you need them.
Another way to use eggs is to scramble, poach, or omelet them. If you have bought big bags of potatoes cheap when in season, boil them and pan fry to add a vegetable to your meal. Even a can of peas, corn or green beans will add variety and nutrition to this meal. Toast up some bread and if you want, add a little meat to the plate. Now you have a healthy and fulfilling meal. In fact, eggs are so versatile, that the egg promoters have all kinds of recipes on their websites.
Dinner #3 – Adding Vegetables to Any Meal
While produce can be expensive, it does go on sale. You just have to watch the flyers and then plan your meals accordingly. But, one point that should be helpful to you is that regardless of what you make for dinner, be sure to add something in the way of vegetables. For instance, sautéed mushrooms are quite tasty and can be used as a side dish for most meals. Add some onions, peppers and zucchini and you have a nice variation to put on top of hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, perogies, tacos, meatloaf and pizza. It can be both inexpensive and healthy eating vegetables if you pay attention to store flyers and the seasons of the year.
Also, although beans are not vegetables, per se, buying cans of beans such as kidney beans, navy beans, chick peas, and black beans can really add some taste to any meal. Warm them up and serve as a side dish, keep them cooled and serve over lettuce, or add them to any spaghetti sauce. Again, if you shop at the right times, canned beans and bags of dry beans go on sale often and you can even find "no salt added" cans.
Dinner #4 – Buy Large Cuts of Meat or Poultry for Several Meals
The smaller the piece of meat you buy, the more expensive it will be. Of course, when you consider paying twenty-five dollars for a full bird against five dollars for two pork chops, you automatically think you better just get the pork chops. But if you can arrange your finances so that you can buy a whole turkey, for example, you will get several meals and actually reduce your total costs. Turkey has so many options such as a large holiday-type meal, soup for those colder days, sandwiches which can be served with cucumbers, carrot sticks, or potato salad, and meatballs for spaghetti.
Beef is another example, and you don't have to buy the expensive cuts. Big bags of stewing beef pieces will make a nice stir fry, beef and barley soup, beef on a bun with homemade fries or mashed potatoes, chili, or beef and vegetable stew.
Instead of peameal bacon slices, buy a large roast of pork loin covered in cornmeal and bake in the oven. It will be much cheaper than the sliced cuts. If you want to use the slices to serve with eggs, freeze the roast and then let thaw slightly, and cut your slices. This will prevent you cutting slices that are too thick. The roast will go farther.
Dinner #5 – Slow Cookers and Pot Pies
If you don't think you have enough of each food item separately to make a meal for everyone, try mixing all the ingredients together in the slow cooker or a crust-lined pan. By making a pie or stew, you can use less of each ingredient, but more odds and ends to make the finished stew or pie. The sauce and crust are filling, plus if you add some warm bread, you can make a nice meal. Even muffins or croissants can add some variety to the meal.
Hopefully, you now have some ideas to help with healthy eating. Despite all the negatives surrounding food products, you still should be able to offer your family exciting dinners on a budget. It just takes some thought and planning.