Healthy and Cheap Family Meals for Tight Budgets

Warm Lentil and Vegetable Wild Rice Salad

3/23/2018

The recipe for this meal came to me again via Pinterest. It was labeled as a salad recipe with warm vegetables, and looked delicious, so I decided to try it.

Of course, I made some changes. I wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t.

First of all the recipe is originally from one of those home delivery meal ingredient programs.

I'm just going to say right here - that trend in food preparation boggles my mind a bit, and has this frugal, self-sufficient old soul shaking her head in puzzlement and wonder at its very existence.

Honestly, I just cannot wrap my head around the idea that people need recipe ingredients delivered to their door.

I mean, it’s just really, really not that hard for able-bodied people to go to the grocery store, pick out their own ingredients, and bring them home themselves.

Really.

Vast majorities of people have been doing it for generations with no problem.

And I can only imagine the hit to the bottom line that such a practice takes.

So here’s my strong advice to people:

Just do your own shopping already. You’ll save bundles, and you’ll learn and employ some basic life skills along the way.

Just do it already. Seriously.

Okay, rant over.

Back to the recipe in question.

Lentils-Mediterranean Style

5/28/2016

It really doesn’t get any simpler or cheaper than this meal. It’s also delicious and one of my Greek-Cypriot husband’s favorites from his childhood on the beautiful island of Cyprus.

While many people associate lots of meat with a Greek meal, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the actual day-to-day meals that most households in the Mediterranean eat. That daily menu is far more likely to contain beans, lentils, salad, and maybe some sardines than it is to contain lamb or any other meat.

Meat is only an occasional part of the menu, typically no more than 1--3x a week in most households I know. The impression to the contrary undoubtedly stems from the wonderful hospitality of that region of the world that has any host or hostess wanting to show their guests their Sunday best rather than the more mundane meals that they eat every day.

To give you an example, on our annual family visits to Cyprus, my dear mother-in-law, Aphrodite, would ask me each day what she should cook.

Lentils - Spicy and Sweet Jamaican Style

3/8/2016

I love the way this recipe combines tangy spices with the added sweetness of citrus to create a delicious blend. I got the original for this recipe from the Mom of a college friend, who served it when I stayed at their home over spring break years and years ago. I've adapted and changed it a bit over time, so I don’t know if it actually has any resemblance to authentic Jamaican cuisine anymore. But it's tasty all the same.

It is my understanding that Jamaican food can be very hot. This dish is somewhat spicy, but there’s plenty of room for more heat, if that’s to your taste. My sons always add more pepper when I serve this. Or, if you prefer your food mild, you can reduce or even eliminate the peppers.

Hearty Lentil Soup

1/23/2016

Hard as it may be to believe in this day and age of so much food diversity, the first time I ate lentil soup was during my gap year living and working in England after I graduated from high school.

I think it may well have been one of my very first experiences with legumes of any type. While we ate plenty of vegetables growing up, meat was the focal point of our main meals, and U.S. diets and grocery stores were not as cosmopolitan as they are today.

But the year I turned 18, I did what's now called a gap year overseas and shared a house on a farm near London, England with 9 other young people from all over the world. It was an intense, challenging time of personal growth where I learned more than a thing or two about long, hard hours of physical labor, getting along with people, and food.

We had a housemother named Tess who was responsible for preparing meals and keeping the household running smoothly. She was all of 17 years old, a tiny little thing with a lovely, thick Yorkshire lilt and a huge personality, who had taken care of her younger siblings for years after her mother died.

Dirty Rice with Brown Rice and Collard Greens

1/11/2016

I love the convenience and ease of one-pot meals, and this so-called Dirty Rice meal is even easier than most. However, this particular recipe calls for sausage in place of the traditional chicken parts or ground pork, and we all know that sausage is neither the cheapest protein source – even on sale - nor the healthiest one.

Of course, you can always use use diced, cooked ham leftover from a Baked Ham Dinner as an option, if you happen to have some on hand that you bought on sale and used in a previous recipe earlier. Or you can use leftover chicken from a roast chicken dinner.

But that's not always the case. So when I wanted to double the original recipe to accommodate my teenage boys’ appetites, I added a cheaper protein option by using lentils to augment the sausage and keep the meal within my budget and health parameters.

Vegetarian Lentil and Barley "Meatloaf" with Mushroom Gravy

11/8/2015

Meatloaf was one of the very first main dishes I learned to prepare growing up, and it was a family favorite. Of course, we used ground beef in the recipes when I was young, which was very cheap in those days. Things have changed quite a lot since then, and meat is now a very expensive form of protein.

So it’s been my mission for a while to create an affordable recipe for meatloaf that fully captures the flavor and consistency I so loved growing up. I think I’ve succeeded with this one.

Warm Lentil and Vegetable Wild Rice Salad

Lentils-Mediterranean Style

Lentils - Spicy and Sweet Jamaican Style

Hearty Lentil Soup

Dirty Rice with Brown Rice and Collard Greens

Vegetarian Lentil and Barley "Meatloaf" with Mushroom Gravy

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