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Pack a covered roasting pan full of cut-up potatoes, carrots and onions, and lay a half pound of pork roast on top. Lots of black pepper, some garlic, a pinch of salt. Leave it in a medium oven a couple of hours.
Adding an egg to the sandwich and a banana is a good and cheap. I cook minced meat with vegetable and rice. It's healthy but not very filling, if you need to lose weight it's a good option. Another easy one is oatmeal, butter and raisins.
Since I live by myself, I like to cook things in batches and freeze small portions so that the days I'm at my volunteer work until 6 p.m., I can just pop them in the microwave and have a healthy meal when I get home.
One of my go-to concoctions is embarrassingly simple. It almost all comes out of cans or jars and is about the only time I use canned goods (I tend to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients). I make a black bean stew with black beans, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, corn, green chiles, diced roasted red peppers, and diced fresh carrots. I sprinkle it liberally with some chili powder. I use more black beans than tomatoes, and more tomatoes than corn. But you can vary the proportions however you want. Sometimes I warm up a taco- or fajita-size tortilla with it.
You could make this less expensive by starting with dried black beans and making your own roasted red peppers, but I opt for the time savings. If you grow tomatoes, use those.
Since I live by myself, I like to cook things in batches and freeze small portions so that the days I'm at my volunteer work until 6 p.m., I can just pop them in the microwave and have a healthy meal when I get home.
One of my go-to concoctions is embarrassingly simple. It almost all comes out of cans or jars and is about the only time I use canned goods (I tend to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients). I make a black bean stew with black beans, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, corn, green chiles, diced roasted red peppers, and diced fresh carrots. I sprinkle it liberally with some chili powder. I use more black beans than tomatoes, and more tomatoes than corn. But you can vary the proportions however you want. Sometimes I warm up a taco- or fajita-size tortilla with it.
You could make this less expensive by starting with dried black beans and making your own roasted red peppers, but I opt for the time savings. If you grow tomatoes, use those.
Great minds think alike, I do something very similar! Except I usually add a single adobo chile instead of green chilis to it and I usually have home-cooked beans in the freezer. Tasty, very cheap and really easy.
Of late I have been eating healthy, organic and free via foraging in the neighborhood. There is a lot of citrus in the public right of way in my area, just get a juicer and have at it. Also tons of pecan trees in my area which wind up as pecan pies. Now I am growing my own citrus (kumquat, satsuma and grapefruit) along with olive and persimmon. Might add pomegranate and fig later on. Every area of the country is different, but something will grow where you live.....
I firmly believe that eating healthy is going to save you so much in the future that it's foolish to do otherwise. Therefore, I'm not trying to be frugal if it gets in the way of eating healthy.
so what kinds of foods are you spending that additional expense on to eat healthy?
One of my main frugal/healthy/go to meals is a salad with hummus...
Even if you buy organic (which I do) carrots, celery, tomatoes, etc. are dirt cheap and healthy. Triple washed organic greens a little more pricey, but if you add the other ingredients, a large tub should last a week. One brand or another of hummus is always on sale.
I usually wind up paying the most for salad dressing, although I use it sparingly. When you have salads almost every day you get real fast at chopping/slicing/dicing/peeling vegetables, and after awhile, it takes no time at all.
Last edited by ShouldIMoveOrStayPut...?; 11-19-2018 at 06:16 PM..
Reason: Typo
I'm almost down to take suggestions from fellow frugalers. It's hard to try being frugal and eat healthy. I eat alot of sandwiches on wheat bread, like tuna with lettuce tomatos etc.
What do you guys eat? Only the healthy eaters.
I agree that it's harder to be frugal, when you're a healthy eater. So although I'm frugal, it would be cheaper not eating healthy. Still, long term...you save on medical bills eating healthy, so it works out, I figure.
I eat:
Canned green beans and other healthy veggies in cans, on sale or the store brand. Canned veggies contain as many nutrients, if not more, than fresh. I prefer low sodium, but can eat the ones w/sodium since I eat a low sodium diet, anyway.
Sandwiches on whole grain, lower calorie, breads (like you). Filler can be any number of things: boiled eggs, cheese, cooked chicken breast, salmon salad. I pay for the $2.89 - $3.00 bread, but also buy the plain whole wheat WalMart brand for $1.88 sometimes. And I can find my $2.89 bread for $1.00 at Dollar Tree occasionally.
I buy the sandwich filler things at Sam's Club (multiple cans of salmon sold together, eggs, big packs of cheese, frozen chicken breasts). If not there, I look for sales or coupons.
Fruit. I buy big bags of frozen fruit at Sam's Club. I also buy apples and oranges & grapefruit at reasonable, or sale, prices at WalMart or Sam's or grocery stores...I buy the bags, since they're a better deal, unless the individual ones are a good deal & look better. I buy bananas, peel them, and freeze them in bags to add to cereal. Fruit is one of my biggest food expenses!
Veggies. I buy bags of frozen veggies. Any brand. I keep on hand to add to things or steam & eat plain.
Soup. I make a huge pot of turkey soup after cooking turkey. I add veggies, broth or water, the turkey bones, whatever. I also make black bean soup (bagged black beans) occasionally. Can use toppings like onions or cheese. Yum. Inexpensive and it freezes well. I buy cans of Progresso lentil and other healthy soups...on sale or w/coupons. Most of the canned soup bargains are the unhealthy varieties, so I just keep a lookout for the healthy ones on sale or w/coupons or at Sam's Club. I buy quantities of chicken broth at Sam's, to make my own soups.
Eggs. Eggs are a lot of protein bang for the buck. I make sandwiches w/boiled eggs, or fry w/o oil or make an omelette. But boiled eggs are my favorite. I boiled a number of them and keep covered in the fridge, ready to eat.
Beans. I make red beans and rice (whole grain) occasionally, using bagged dry red beans. I also eat canned beans. Cooking dry beans is the frugalist way to go.
Chicken. I cook skinless chicken breasts on the stovetop. A foolproof method. I make chicken sandwiches, or cut up for salad, or eat a breast w/healthy side dishes. I cook turkeys at holidays, getting them when on a good sale. I get a lot of meals out of it.
Breakfast foods. I buy those big bags of Quaker oatmeal at Sam's. Lasts me a long time. And it's healthy for my dog, too! I also eat cereal. I get Shredded Wheat, which is pretty pricey and almost never on sale. So I'll buy the store brand, if there is one. Very healthy but very high carb. I also will eat Cheerios I get at a great price at Sam's. Cheerios has a bit of added sugar, so I only eat the Cheerios occasionally.
Stir Fry. Sometimes I stir fry, using whatever I have on hand or left over.
That's about it. I don't make casseroles or bake or cook anything fancy.
I agree that it's harder to be frugal, when you're a healthy eater. So although I'm frugal, it would be cheaper not eating healthy. Still, long term...you save on medical bills eating healthy, so it works out, I figure.
i find it interesting that people believe this. its only the case if you believe that you need to buy organic or some other fad like gluten free to be healthy. which has absolutely no evidence to show that it is healthier than the non-organic alternative.
generally, eating healthy is less expensive than eating unhealthy.
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