Light meals on a budget!

mummybearx

Light meals for us include stir fry, simple thai curry, or chilli and rice stuffed into a pitta pocket with salad on the side.

I make a potato style salad, boil potatoes, add in frozen broad beans, frozen peas, frozen green beans and cook for a few mins. Drain, leave to cool for a few mins and stir in some caesar salad dressing or similar. Salt and pepper, maybe a handful of spinach if I have any. I serve that with a pork chop or similar for DH, have it on it's own myself.

You could make a nice thin pizza, go for a simple tomato topping and cover with rocket leaves and some slices of beef. DH loves this during the summer

x

Fruball

Depends if you mean light as in calories or light as in simple and smallish.

Omelette and salad
chicken and roasted vegetables (delish cooked with juice of lemon, chuck squeezed lemons in too, and herbs or garlic)
quiche and salad
small jacket potato with filling and salad
pasta with butter/oil and crushed garlic/chilli flakes with a sprinkle of parmesan
rice with LO chicken bits and veg mixed thru it
soup
plate of simple mini sandwiches
crabcakes with salad
sweetcorn fritters with salad or veg
Mozzarella, fresh tomato and ripped basil with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper - my fav light supper - can serve with toasted ciabatta if wanted
ploughmans
smoked mackerel pate and melba toast (mackerel, low fat value cheese, lemon juice and black pepper - can add horseradish if you like. Toast white bread, cut off crusts then slice thru the bread so you have 2 very thin slices then pop under grill - they will curl up and go crispy! Yummy)
Grilled tomatoes on toast
Fried mushrooms on toast (add garlic if you love it!)

Heisenberg_2

heartlesshoud wrote: »

Hi All!
Last night my darling man informed me that he would like me to cook more "light meals". When i asked for some examples he said fish and salad. Unfortunately for me i can't stand fish but i managed to persuade him that chicken is a good healthy choice to. But now i'm stuck. I wouldn't call myself a good cook but i always give it a good go and my stew's, meat pies and sunday roasts always come out quite well. I also do a nice line in pasta dishes - Spag Bol, Tagliatelle, pasta bake - but i have no idea what to cook that is light. So i'm asking for help. My weekly shop comes in at around £35 and that includes cat food and other basic essentials and ideally (so i don't have to fiddle about with my budgeting plan) i'd quite like it to stay that way. So tell me what do you serve with your salad, what light but nutritious meals do u cook. I do like tuna but its not exactly the cheapest of fishies and aside from prawns / shrimps shell fish is off the menu (thats him not me).

Cans of tuna chunks in Aldi are 59p - Tuna fish pasta. Smoked mackerel salad or cous cous and salad, egg salad, Caesar salad, smoked salmon with asparagus, cream and pasta - tagliatelle or dried spaghetti, soup with a crusty roll, a jacket spud with topping, prawn salad, special fried rice / chow mein.

Come on, get real - there are millions of recipes out there on thousands of websites. And I have no problem pointing them in the right direction or using Google.

Just as long as they still manage their Ps and Qs. Not hard is it?

tuttifruiti20

Why not get him to offer some suggestions of what he means? I'm assuming he just means something that doesn't sit as heavy as a stew or casserole does, but I could be wrong. (I'm with you casseroles are tasty and easy to do).

babyshoes

Something like a small pork or lamb chop, a baked potato (you can do it in the microwave) and salad is fairly easy and light.

Stir fry is the first thing that came to mind for me. You don't need to buy sauces, just use a good splash of soy sauce and sugar water or honey. Taste and add more of either to balance the flavour. Add partly cooked value noodles (without the flavour sachet) to soak up the sauce. Yummy and easy - can be made with little or no meat, left over or pre-cooked. Yum!

Beaches

Get some boneless chicken thighs and marinade in lemon juice, honey and black pepper for an hour. Grill, turning a couple of times til crispy. Serve with salad.

Grab a bag of stir fry veggies and a couple of chicken breasts, pork steaks or some prawns... supper in 10 minutes. You could serve noodles too, but if he's looking for lighter then you may choose to increase the veggies instead. Use soy sauce, honey, sesame oil as a sauce.

Bake sweet potatoes and fill with cottage cheese, beans or sim and a mixed salad on the side... nice taste and texture and lighter than a regular spud.

Fish - this works with most meaty fish eg tuna, salmon, cod... marinade for a few mins in lime juice and seasoning; place onto a greased baking sheet; sprinkle sparingly with brown sugar (:o I know!!) and bake until just done. Serve with a mixed green salad.

Kaz2904

Not read all replies but I have to agree with your DH (to an extent). Occasionally, I crave a light meal. I find it hard to have light meals on a budget. For some reason, I find it far easier to make a more filling 'winter' meal on a budget than I do a lighter meal.
I was reading a blog the other day and the writer was showing her evening meals. She seemed to have salad every evening (even in mid winter and over Christmas) which would explain why I kept getting salad stuffs in my veg box but may also be an easier way of having a lighter evening meal.
My family won't go for salads in the winter so we won't use the stuff unless it's in sandwiches so am looking forward to re-reading this thread and getting ideas for light meals.

brightonman123

not exactly a meal, but v tasty- bacon and potato waffle sandwich..
just saying!