The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

rachbc

Drea wrote: »

Hmm might need to invest in a deep fat fryer... quite looking forward to this new healthy eating thing

I convinced myslef on the basis that food cooked at the right temperature actually absorbs very little fat (thats my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Drea

rachbc wrote: »

I convinced myslef on the basis that food cooked at the right temperature actually absorbs very little fat (thats my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Well, there's an Argos value one for £13.87... my cheap Argos slow cooker has been fine so I imagine that would be okay. Although I find the slow cooker too much of a faff!

anna-marie

Hi, rhubarb crumble is really simple to make. You need rhubarb (or any fruit), sugar, flour and butter.

Cut the fruit into chunks and put into a saucepan with a tablespoonful of sugar and enough water to cover.
Heat up and simmer for 15 minutes while you make the crumble topping.
Put 6 tablespoonfuls of flour into a mixing bowl with about 3oz of butter.
Rub it in with your fingertips until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs.
Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Transfer the fruit into an ovenproof dish and pile the crumble on top.
Bake in a hot oven until golden on top (about 30 minutes).
Dish it up with cream/ice-cream or custard or just on its own hot or cold.

If you buy the cheapest supermarket value versions of the ingredients (and have free fruit!) this works out at about 35p and gives about 6 servings.

Drea

anna-marie wrote: »

Hi, rhubarb crumble is really simple to make. You need rhubarb (or any fruit), sugar, flour and butter.

Cut the fruit into chunks and put into a saucepan with a tablespoonful of sugar and enough water to cover.
Heat up and simmer for 15 minutes while you make the crumble topping.
Put 6 tablespoonfuls of flour into a mixing bowl with about 3oz of butter.
Rub it in with your fingertips until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs.
Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Transfer the fruit into an ovenproof dish and pile the crumble on top.
Bake in a hot oven until golden on top (about 30 minutes).
Dish it up with cream/ice-cream or custard or just on its own hot or cold.

If you buy the cheapest supermarket value versions of the ingredients (and have free fruit!) this works out at about 35p and gives about 6 servings.

Oh that sounds far simpler than I thought it would be! And all I'd have to buy is flour will definitely be making it over the weekend, just need to find a big dish to put it in, I only have mini single size ones. Thanks :T

ETA: Daft question, do I drain the fruit afterwards?

redlady_1

I made my rhubarb crumble in small dishes so I could freeze 4 of the 5. you dont need a big dish to make it.

floss2

Drea wrote: »

...Will try eating breakfast but I tend to feel quite sick if I eat early.

Why not have breakfast at work - aim to get in a few minutes early to have a quick bowl of cornflakes?

anna-marie

Drea wrote: »

ETA: Daft question, do I drain the fruit afterwards?

No need to drain the fruit, it makes a sweet syrup with the sugar...:T

winkle1

If you're trying to lose weight i wouldnt buy a deep fat fryer!

you can oven bake coated chicken.

Im with the others on batch cooking. last weekend i made:

- a Hungarian goulash – got 3 portions out of it, boyf and I ate 2 portions on Monday with a small side of rice and one portion is in the freezer – the beef was £2.77 and was organic
- chickpea curry – 3 portions in freezer out of one tin of chickpeas (around 50p)
- packet of extra lean beef mince made into quarter pounders with chopped onion, garlic, herbs from the garden. we ate 2 while watching England game and froze 2. mince cost £2.99
- packet of lean lamb mince mixed with onion, red chilli and garlic. makes 8 lamb koftas – we ate 4 the other day with rice and naan and salad and froze 4. mince cost £2.99
- chicken breasts coated with flour, toasted breadcrumbs, chilli and parsley. in freezer and will have them tomorrow. the chciken was expensive cause we brought free range, but i believe it tastes better.

honestly all this took me a couple of hours on Saturday – less. then when i come home from work i just grill or put in the oven till cooked. with the chickpea curry i will chuck in the microwave to heat up.

alanbluecat

Hi, it is possible to eat healthily, cheaply and conveniently. I know because that's what I do. Since doing this I have lost almost 3 stones yet rarely feel hungry and know that I am putting lots of good things into my body rather than loads of processed foods.

I am a single man and I spend around £7 or £8 per week on food shopping.

I have some recipes which I tend to rotate - bolognese, chilli, curry, ratatouille, casserole..that type of thing.

As others have said, it is best to freeze. I never make a single portion of anything, instead I normally make 3 or 4 portions in the one pot and freeze the individual portions that are extra ready to be reheated when needed.

Since most of the things I buy are fresh ingredients I tend to buy 'value' where possible since I don't see the difference between a 'value' carrot and a 'finest' carrot for example (except for the shape sometimes). They both taste the same.

You don't need to be as extreme as me - I use powdered milk for example as I was throwing too much away, but you will still be able to eat relatively cheaply.

I'll give you an example of a typical day with costings and will use a chilli as this has been used earlier.
One thing to note is that I am a vegetarian so my main meal will have vege mince here and is costed on that, so substitute the real stuff if you want.

This whole day comes to £1.91 so if you multiply that out by 7 it comes to £13.37 per week or £53.48 per month (about what you are paying now, but in my opinion healthier than ready meals).

As I said I normally spend £7 or £8 per week. Some of my meals cost different amounts, some days I will have soup for lunch and find it so tasty I will have it again at dinnertime and be so full I don't have a main meal as such. I have also been generous with the portion size. I have assumed the chilli makes 3 portions but it could easily make 4, or even more with a few more of the cheaper ingredients bulking it out.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the chilli contains several tins - most of my meals don't contain so many, so cutting down on cost and containing a higher proportion of fresh ingredients to tinned.
Also I have been generous with the soup. It could easily serve 6 or more but I like 2 bowls at a time as it's so good!

These above things obviously can bring the cost down a fair bit.

It just varies and so does the shopping depending on what is left in the cupboards.

Anyway here is a 'typical' day -

Breakfast - £0.19

Porridge - 'value' oats (oats are oats so no need to pay more) - £0.04 per serving
Milk - powdered, skimmed £0.19 per 1/2 pint

Lunch - £0.40

Homemade Soup

Ingredients -

2 onions - £0.18
4 carrots - £0.23
lentils - 1/4 pack- £0.25
oats - handful- £0.04
mushrooms - 250g- £0.53
tin chopped tomatoes - £0.33
stock cube - £0.06

(Total cost £1.62, makes at least 4 generous servings, £0.40 per serving or cheaper depending on number of servings)

Dinner - £1.16

Chilli

2 x tin chopped tomatoes - £0.66
1 x tin kidney beans - £0.19
1 x baked beans - £0.37
1 tsp chilli powder - ? not much
2 onions - £0.18
187g mushrooms - £0.40
1 green pepper - £0.78
1/3 pack veggie mince - £0.66

Total - £3.24 - at least 3 servings, so £1.08 per serving.

rice, 60g serving - £0.08

Snack - apple - £0.16

Total = £1.91


I hope the above is useful and gives you some ideas of what can be done cooking simple, healthy meals at relatively low cost.

KSB235

One thing that I've found invaluable in trying to eat healthily but cheaply is a George Forman grill. I know they can be a bit pricy but if you look out in the sales for one (and if its just you you can get away with a small one) I've found they help because you can buy fattier cuts of meat, that are generally cheaper, and drain the fat off. It also cooks things like veg and fish and cooks things twice as quickly because it cooks them from both sides so its great if you are in a hurry. I'm using mine at the moment to cook some frozen burgers (for bf not me - i'm vege) and it takes minutes. I don't work for them or anything! But if you can look at other ways of cooking food you might be able to be more healthy and cook it quicker (grilling instead of frying, chosing a lower calorie oil spray or buying decent non-stick cookware so you don't need any fat). I use my steamer a lot too and can cook a whole meal in there (level 1 meat/fish, level 2 potatoes, level 3 veg) and just forget about it until it pings, on the money saving side using small appliances means using less electricity than heating up the whole oven to cook one thing.