Any ideas for quick, healthy and cheap meals

Jet

I'm after some inspiration.

I've taken on new working hours and am now home every evening to cook a meal for me and my son. :j

But, it's so hot at the moment, I really don't fancy cooking for too long and to be honest, I'm enjoying the time with my boy.

So far I've thought of jacket potatoes, omelettes, had spag carbonara tonight and I always cook twice as much casserole, chilli etc. so I have a quick meal in the freezer, but I'm bored with the same old meals and need some inspiration.

I've got a slow cooker, which i don't seem to use very much, so any ideas for that would be welcome.

BTW, can you cook chilli in a slow cooker? If so, how? I'd normally brown the mince and onions and then add all the other ingredients.

What is everyone else having in this weather?

Edited to say: - just found the "food for hot weather" thread. Sorry didn't mean to start another thread on the same topic!

zombiecazz

Some ideas for you
chicken cacciatore In this recipe I'd replace the tom paste with a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of paste

SC garlic and thyme chicken This one sounds interesting

SC Baked chicken

This thread has fun Hot weather food

For mince in SC brown with spices,then add to SC with the rest of your ingredients

debbym

As a basic rule for adapting tried and trusted recipes to SC - add about half to two thirds of the liquid as you don't get the evaporation, e.g.for our chilli/spag bol on the stove I use 2 tins of tomatoes and rinse the tins out with a splash of water, for the SC I use one tin and a good squeeze of tomato puree for the flavour without the liquid. Make a note somewhere as to how much you add and then you can adjust it if necessary next time.

WLITC

My job finishes next week and I have nothing lined up yet, so I need to seriously cut back my spending on food (as beyond basic bills this is my biggest expense). I actually did quite well on a really tight food budget for about a month last year (before I resorted to my old way) and I think I spent about £14 a week for all my meals. However, this time I’m going to be dieting (as I desperately need to lose weight) so instead of just cheap meal ideas, I need some food suggestions that are low fat/low cal, but cheap! If someone can suggests a few ideas or provide links to some threads that would be great!

LydiaSophia

Jacket potato with a small tin of beans. Fills you up and very low fat and calories.

In fact potatoes are great cheap, easy to cook and the government to trying to reverse the idea some people have got into their heads that potaotes are fattening! Eat and enjoy without massive expence

newlywed

Rice onions and potatoes?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3902726#post3902726

More suggestions on that thread - though lots involve cheese - so not very low fat!

Or how about soup?

Nicki

Rosemary Conley does a great roasted veg curry. You take any veg mouldering in the bottom of your fridge and chop into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with curry powder and 2 tbsp soya sauce and roast in oven for about half an hour. Heat a carton of passata, add the veg and simmer for about 15 mins. It is delicious, and the curry on its own is only 145 cals and no added fat. Serve with rice or nan bread.

I'm not a vegetarian and nor is DH but this is as good as any Indian restaurant meal, and you really won't miss the meat. I think it is the fact that the veg are roasted first that makes it so yum.

newlywed

Nicki wrote:

Rosemary Conley does a great roasted veg curry. You take any veg mouldering in the bottom of your fridge and chop into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with curry powder and 2 tbsp soya sauce and roast in oven for about half an hour. Heat a carton of passata, add the veg and simmer for about 15 mins. It is delicious, and the curry on its own is only 145 cals and no added fat. Serve with rice or nan bread.

Thanks - was looking for a lower fat curry option. Cheers :T

Nicki

Another one, which I did tonight, is spaghetti carabonara. Not sure where recipie originally came from, or if I made it up! Anyway:

to serve 2, dry fry onion for a few minutes, then add about two rashers of bacon. Cook together for about 5 mins until bacon is well coloured. Add a few drops of white wine vinegar and allow to evaporate. When pasta is cooked, add two beaten eggs, and a small amount of grated cheese (either parmesan or mature cheddar depending on what you have) to the onion and bacon mixture, then add the pasta and stir over a warm heat for a few minutes until the egg is starting to come together, but the mixture is still quite liquidy. Total calories depend obviously on how much pasta and cheese you use, but you should be able to do a reasonable sized portion for about 350-400 cals, and the cost is miniscule given the small quantities of bacon and cheese used.

rygon

what i enjoy is chicken (or ham) mixed with fried onion, 2x boiled eggs, mushrooms, peas and rice, held together with a cheese sauce and grated cheese on top.

another simple one is sliced grilled mushrooms with mozerella on top.

french bread cut in half long ways with tomato puree spread on top with a filling on top of that (tuna and cheese, ham and cheese, mushroom and cheese etc) with some herbs put in between (oregano, basil, thyme etc)

pasta with tinned toms, baked beans mushrooms and fried onion. with meat (chicken, smoked sausage etc) and herbs (basil, rosemary thyme) topped with cheese

I dont know what sort of calories they are because i dont bother counting them...wouldnt work anyway. You know whats healthy and what isnt, and excerise is needed as well to loose weight..not just lack of food

jcr16

from the advert on tv for lion eggs they say they are 80 caloires an egg.

so how about an omelte and add onion , pepper , mushroom . i guess really most veggies would be good.a little cheese also with it maybe. but use mature then u need a smaller quantity.

how about rice with mushrooms , peppers , spring onion's , sweetcorn , peas all mixed in together , serve with a chicken breast wrapped in bacon( not sure if the bacon if low in calories but it would be done in oven so no extra fat)

sorry can't think of much at the moment