What are your favourite inexpensive but still healthy dinner meals?

[Razp_Sorbet]

With food prices not coming down any time soon I need some ideas for dinners that are inexpensive, healthy ish, but still delicious.

Updates

+1 y

Tonights health ish inexpensive meal was crispy roast chicken thigh with stir fried vegetables in a honey, soy, garlic and ginger sauce. About $8.50 for 2 people.

[ohshee]

Okay grocery store you can buy to cook chickens for $10 black olives green corn tortilla taco shells and Kroger's Spanish rice two packages
So green onion bell pepper olives white onion Red Onion it doesn't really matter add some cayenne pepper to your taste that you boil is a Spanish rice add everything to it so it Cooks at the same time cut up to breast off one of your chickens mix it all together and you have something really really good I forgot the tortilla shells you can put on the bottom of a 9 by 13 glass dish fry them up first put all your rice and stuff did on top of it you got it you can even have tacos so this is all just probably about $30 worth of food we could have dinner at all week

Okay so you have the rest of the chicken I personally would use the other chickens breast and some rotini noodles water chestnuts green onion and mayonnaise it is good that's another dinner.

The carcass of the chicken boil it up add onion bell pepper garlic I had carrots I had rice Kroger's chicken rice evening $2 and I'm making chicken soup


You still have chicken left you can get rolls and some jack cheese or something and take some of that chicken that cheese and make a chicken cheese Hot sandwich but anyway just thought those little things you can get 4 dinners or more out of it

[RealMarek]

The time-honored strategy during inflation is to reduce beef intake and increase pork/sausage and/or eggs instead. If times get very bad, and they might given that the West is cutting itself off from 25% of global grain exports and half the fertilizer supply, hunting comes in handy but everyone will do that and game will get difficult to find. Raising chickens and rabbits, gardening, and learning to fish can help. A lot of people might end up eating spam. Not the healthiest, but not as unhealthy as going bankrupt.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yeah beef is actually cheaper than sausages and pork here lol. Having my own animals and garden is unfortunately not an option

[RealMarek]

Yeah, not everyone has the space to garden or stockpile. The problem is this. New Zealand is on Russia’s list of “unfriendly countries” because they imposed sanctions on Russia. The US agricultural sector was already short on fertilizer this year and will be even worse off now. The West thinks that only Africans and people in the Middle East will go without, but there is a possibility that around Septemeber we’ll see food shortages, not just high prices, in the West. So if you can stockpile some canned foods and non-perishable staples, even if your only storage place is under your bed, it’s probably a good idea.

[jennifer_bloom]

I like to eat Chinese deep fried shredded potatoes seasoned in black vinegar and white pepper - it’s just potatoes and seasoning but tastes better than fries. The white pepper flakes has an extremely strong flavour so you should taste the pepper before adding more pepper, it’s not like salt which you can carelessly use without consequence, since it’s a low risk food ingredient.

[Gigi2019]

Learn to fish. Free protein and great exercise.

Visit farmer's markets oftetn and avail yourself of the yummy, fresh produce and the other fresh foods there.

Cut down on sugar, carbs, and gluten.

Drink lots of spring water.

Tons of healthy recipes online and cooking videos.

[Gigi2019]

*often

[HighlyVolatile]

One of my favorites is homemade chile con carne: lean minced meat, canned tomatoes, beans and/or lentils, onions, garlic, jalapeños, seasoned to your preference (I like to add cumin, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, and salt). Then you can serve it in a bowl with shredded cheese melted on top.

[HighlyVolatile]

The minced beef tends to be the most expensive part of that dish for me. Sometimes I substitute with minced pork or even chicken breast I chop up finely. It's a forgiving recipe that's easy to tweak and make substitutions. I also often use pickled jalapeños instead of fresh ones if fresh jalapeños are expensive or out of season.

[HighlyVolatile]

I'd estimate that I can generally make a fairly large batch (enough to feed 3 or 4 people for dinner) at under $10 USD with most of the cost coming from the beans/lentils and meat. I can get the onions and garlic for dirt cheap here along with canned tomatoes. The spices and seasoning are also cheap and last for many, many meals.

[Bourbon_]

I love eating chili with cheese too. healthy, cheap, easy...

[HighlyVolatile]

@Bourbon_ I love the Texan variation as well without the tomatoes and beans, although it tends to be a bit more expensive for me with the larger chunks of meat. One other that popped into my head that's fairly cheap to make although tedious due to the Béchamel Sauce which requires making roux is white stew as we call it here in Japan:
japan.recipetineats.com/white-stew-cream-stew/
It tends to be quite cheap since the veggies tend to be cheap (potatoes, carrots, onions, and optionally peas) along with chicken breast for the protein. It does require some time and patience though to make from scratch without instant roux but the ingredients tend to be cheap. If the butter is expensive, it can be substituted for any other type of fat.

[nawtee_me]

What season are you in there? If winter I cook lots of soups and stews. Soups are usually inexpensive unless I use seafood. A chicken and sausage Gumbo (I am from Louisiana) is a traditional type of soup here. A vegetable soup is inexpensive too. I use short ribs (a pack of four is about eight dollars here) they pack a lot of flavor and the vegetables is what makes the soup so hardy. Plus soups go good with a sandwich.

It is spring time here now so a light salad with some type of casserole. (One dish meal) You can always do breakfast for dinner... I sometimes fix grits and eggs with bacon or sausage for dinner... It is a comfort food for me. lol

what about you?

[Razp_Sorbet]

It's just come into autumn so a little too warm for soups still

[nawtee_me]

So you should be planting your autumn gardens?
For me that would be greens and turnips and maybe tomatos

[Razp_Sorbet]

I live in a second floor apartment with no outdoor space

[nawtee_me]

Do you have a patio? I grow potato's is a 5gl. bucket. I just drill a few holes around the bottom of the bucket so water can drain out. I also plant Tomato's the same way.

[Razp_Sorbet]

No outdoor space

[nawtee_me]

When mine are ready I will send you some.

[sunflower00]

I use Pinterest to look for healthy, cheap recipes. Chicken, broccoli and rice (but with a sauce for some flavour), baked sweet potato with beans and salad, soups, pasta with tomato sauce and veg, there’s a lot you can do with some cheap ingredients but I’d recommend googling it to find recipes you like!

[CuriousGuy08]

Yes. Pinterest has nice stuff

[loveslongnails]

Veggie stir fries are one of the least expensive great meals you can have. Carrots, onions, greens, bell peppers, etc. Make whatever sauce you like, serve it over rice or quinoa, and you're in business.

[Jaximus-Lion]

Anything that is homemade and i am a chef so basically 99% of our food home is made from scratch even bread.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Unfortunately with the cost of ingredients homemade is getting expensive. I always cook from scratch grocery bill for a week use to just hit over $100 on an expensive shop and now we're hitting $150-$180 average.

[Jaximus-Lion]

Understandable. There is few things got crazy expensive specially seasonal fruits and veggies. That's where my chef skills comes in in economy where i can delicious foods of cheap groceries or what ever that has an offer on. So far! Sweden is that effected by economy (3% inflation) but still a lot of local veggies and fruit pretty affordable and cheap

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yeah unfortunately not the case here.. not keen on living on carrots and potatoes 🤣

[sage2021]

@Jaximus-Lion do you ever watch the food tv show "Chopped"? I am watching it right now. You can learn some new things by watching it. Are you ever going to be a Chef?

[Razp_Sorbet]

@sage2021 he is a chef

[Razp_Sorbet]

As am I

[Jaximus-Lion]

@sage2021 i am already a chef. I don't watch TV and i don't even have any channels so i never heard of the show. What's it about?

[sage2021]

Chopped is a competition between four chefs. There are three dishes they must put together in 20 minutes using the games 4 ingredients that the chefs get out of the basket when they are told to open their baskets, that starts the competition. Three dishes will made by the chefs: appetizer, then The main dish, then a dessert. Ingredients are usually things that don't go together, so there is another challenge. After 20 minutes, the first four chefs stand in front of the judges. Each judge gets a plate from each chef. The one who doesn't have a good enough dish gets chopped, which leaves 3 chefs, then 2, then 1. The winning chef gets $10,000. The can go to get $50,000 eventually if they are selected to be in that competition.
🌽🥦🥬🍆🥕🧅🥔🍗🥩🥓🍳🥞🧇🍞🥐🥑🍄🍠🥜🧀

[Jaximus-Lion]

@sage2021 nice concept to be cteative at cooking. It's just i don't like cooking shows like these, too much uneeded drama just to make the show look "good". My tip for qll people that cooks! Never stress the food, take all the time you need to prep and make the meal.

[Bourbon_]

Lately I've gotten into the habit of sometimes eating cereal for dinner. I don't know why it's weirdly satisfying sometimes.

[Bourbon_]

I throw in some nuts and chocolate too.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Cereal isn't even cheap 🤣🤣

[Bourbon_]

oh wow I don't have a good sense of money then sorry.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Yeah the cheaper the cereal the higher the sugar usually too

[Andres77]

Roasted cauliflower!
Spread crumbled up cauliflower in the heated pan with a little melted butter and garlic salt. When its browned a little add two scrambled eggs. Deeelicicious

[Razp_Sorbet]

Cauliflower is $8 to $15 😬😬😬

[Andres77]

Wow... grow a garden.
Otherwise you're screwed.
I'm sorry but that's crazy.
You're gonna have to make some adjustments.

[Andres77]

Of course, that's just off the cuff. I don't know your situation but... wow.

[Razp_Sorbet]

I would if I had a yard unfortunately the house prices are also through the roof. Honestly the cheapest veg are carrots and I'm afraid I'll turn orange if I eat so many 🤣

[Andres77]

That's possible. I was juicing some years back and that started.

Someone mentioned this to me.
I'm going to get some 5 gallon buckets and fill them with soil and start growing potatoes and sweet potatoes.
On my back porch.

[Bourbon_]

You got to be able to afford food at least otherwise we can't even have this conversation. It's not like we're recommending you go eat out at restaurants or shop at Whole Foods or something. You can probably find really cheap vegetables at a Chinatown actually.

[Razp_Sorbet]

@Bourbon_ I don't live in America...

[Bourbon_]

Ok sorry for Whole Foods reference but I’m sure you have Chinatowns in New Zealand or whatever cheap market equivalent vs expensive grocery outlet. I visited New Zealand I went to Auckland, Christchurch, Denedin; and Queenstown.

[Razp_Sorbet]

@Bourbon_ no we don't. Asian supermarkets are about the same price if not more than regular supermarkets. We have farmers markets but the one one near me is on a Saturday which I work so I can't go.

[dustybiker]

Salmon. Homemade steak fries. Steamed veggies. That is a relatively quick and cheap summer fav in my family.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Ehh where do you live where salmon is cheap?

[HighValue]

Spaghettio's. they only cost $1 to $1.50. Seriously, look at all the vitamins, etc. I can't find a more healthy pre-packaged meal anywhere than Spaghettio's.

[Honesttguy]

Canned soup with added pickle, thats my fast meal, cus speed is my favorite thing. 5min to warm up rdy to eat. Cheap what is it like a dollar or so

[On_cloud_wine]

I always have potatoes and rice prepped for the week, then I just cook whatever source of protein as I go

[Agape93]

In a crock pot, cook pinto beans, barley and vegetables together in a lot of beef broth. Cook for 6-8 hours

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Tacos with salsa, without cheese

Stir fried noodles/rice, cabbage, been sprouts, and other vegetables with ginger, soy and sesame oil

Yogurt Coleslaw and kebab style spiced chicken

Sardines

Pumpkin stew

[Phoenix98]

Chicken n rice it's exactly as it sounds a chicken breast and lots of white rice.

When I'm bulking that's pretty much all I eat for dinner.

[JustiReno]

Brown rice, ground beef, red cabbage and carrots or mushrooms, but I would never try to feed this to a woman 😳

[TheMajesticKing777]

I live in America, I wouldn't be surprised if even the salad had chemicals in this country.

[Renaynay]

green beans and grilled chicken. it isn't much but its food and i eat it a lot

[exitseven]

I have been eating a lot of chicken and rice lately.

[RebeccaBI2000]

I usually grill chicken. Use different seasoning and marinade to alter the flavor

[Shy_Steve]

You can get plenty of healthy frozen Dinners that are still reasonably Cheap.

[Razp_Sorbet]

They're definitely not cheap here, about $11 per person.

[Shy_Steve]

Oh okay, In Australia you can get them for about 4 or 5 dollars.

[Razp_Sorbet]

Can probably get a snack one for that price but definitely not enough for a dinner. They're also pretty gross and mushy lol

[Shy_Steve]

Then there is not much really, Your only other option is to try cooking something yourself.

[Razp_Sorbet]

That's what I was asking...

[driven159]

Rice with left over chicken chopped up in little bits refried beans are good to

[Mofunfour20]

You could use a salad

[Cherry234]

Lentil soup and chickpea curry

[Desconhecida]

Healthy food is not inexpensive

[Waldoe]

Jif Peanut Butter on Ritz Crackers

[pink-jilly]

Tofu with rice / chicken

[Anonymous]

Egg salad, grilled chicken.

[Abdulwahh]

Italian meals i love it

[Flower7]

Canned soup.

[Henry_-_Blakes]

Oats?

[Razp_Sorbet]

I said delicious ☹️

[Henry_-_Blakes]

Hahaha

[Smartman5]

Fish 😋

[Razp_Sorbet]

Is not inexpensive

[Smartman5]

then vegetable dishes will cost cheap.

[EaterPeter]

Half Salads 🥗

[Razp_Sorbet]

$ salad ain't cheap my man

[HeartFullOfGlue]

Soups

[Andro36]

Sardines

[rebeliouse]

rice and frozen veg

[urpapi69]

Human Cat!

[Erron_Black]

maybe chicken :)