Healthy and Cheap Family Meals for Tight Budgets

Roast Chicken Dinner

1/17/2017

I don’t think anything says Sunday dinner to me like a roast of some type does. It was the tradition every week in our house growing up, and I will forever associate it with family gathered around the table for the big midday meal after attending church and spending a leisurely morning reading the Sunday paper - the comics in particular.

And there are few things easier and quicker to put together than a roast dinner. All it takes is a bit of prep before everything goes into the oven for a couple of hours of cooking time, time which you can enjoy as you please.

The appeal of that free time while the meal cooks is a major reason I like to use squash for this meal. You can, of course, substitute any vegetable you'd like. But I like that squash can go into the oven along with everything else. I also love the color it adds to the meal. And, of course, I love how delicious this powerhouse vegetable is.

Once everything is in the oven, the only remaining task to take care of before the roast and accompanying sides are ready to serve is making a nice, colorful, tossed salad. That only takes minutes, so for very little effort, you’ve got a wonderful, satisfying, and balanced meal your family will love.

As if that weren't enough, there’s even more to like about roasts.

Chick Pea and Vegetable Curry

12/30/2016

I never had curry growing up. Mom exposed us to a lot of different types of wholesome foods, but it was generally pretty simple, plain cooking in our home, with very few ethnic options in the mix.

Indian cuisine was not among them. I expect that Dad’s preference for less spicy fare played a role.

It was also a very different time. Hard as it is to believe these days with the variety of ethnic and regional foods so readily available in markets, that was far from the case in my childhood.

Even with Mom’s cosmopolitan background, there was little opportunity to explore foreign foods in those days – and even less so in the rural areas where we lived.

It really is too bad, considering the healthy options Indian cuisine offers, to say nothing of its wonderful simplicity, low cost, and rich flavor. It would have fit right into Mom’s practical, no-nonsense approach to meals.

Quiche with Spinach or Broccoli

12/3/2016

I first learned about quiche from my beloved aunt, MJ. She was Mom’s only sister, older by 7 years, a cosmopolitan world traveler who also happened to have a mind as sharp as anybody’s I’ve ever known. That prodigious intellect earned her admission to Stanford University back in the day when they first began accepting women.

Mom always maintained that her own admission to Stanford some years later was on MJ’s coattails. I have serious doubts about that since Mom was far from the dumb blonde that she felt people often perceived her to be; they seemed to be deceived by her extraordinary beauty.

But the fact is that she was definitely no slouch in the brains department, possessing an insatiable intellectual curiosity that endured until the time of her death in her 90’s. She and MJ shared that passion for learning, a familial trait.

But MJ’s lifestyle could not have been more different from ours. Unlike Mom, she never married and never had children, so she showered love, attention, and life lessons upon me and my 8 siblings.

Among other things, she often treated us to fancy restaurants and plays on Broadway, and exposed us to a style of gracious and luxurious living that was the polar opposite of our own far simpler, much less sophisticated way of life.

She fostered further the seeds planted by Mom that encouraged in us an appreciation for music and the other arts, as well as for the richness other cultures and countries have to offer.

To that end, she funded international trips of exploration and discovery for each of us upon graduation from high school and during college. She was a major influence in my own decision to study languages and live overseas after high school and beyond.

Even the town MJ lived in, an artsy, affluent community within commuting distance of New York, was worlds apart from my small, middle class town. While our main street was lined with the comfortingly familiar Woolworth's, Grant’s store, pizzerias and sandwich shops, her main street was lined with boutiques, shops and restaurants that featured products and food from all over the world.

And among those was a small French restaurant run by a lady named Dolly (that's my recollection of her name anyway), who also ran a catering business. She was the precursor to Martha Stewart, who, some years later, would get her own start in this very same town.

It was there at Dolly's that I had quiche for the very first time. I have no recollection of what kind of I ate at that restaurant, but I loved it.

Besides being very tasty, quiche is actually a very easy dish to put together.

How to Wash Salad Greens and Make a Side Salad (That Everyone Will Love)

11/25/2016

Salad greens freshly harvested from our small, urban garden.

I got a call from one of my sons today, asking me how I wash my salad greens so that they are not gritty. I had actually meant to post a blog about this quite some time ago, but somehow never got around to it. So here I am, remedying that situation now.

As regular readers of my blog know, I recommend including a tossed green salad with every main meal as an easy and sure way to help guarantee that you are getting your daily servings of fruits and vegetables and the vitamins and minerals necessary for health.

I learned about incorporating salads into menus from my Mom, who was truly ahead of her time in promoting nutritious eating for her family.

Related Articles: Finding Local Produce Bargains
Your Health, Your Budget, and Portion Sizes
Organic Food as a Necessity?
Mom's Multivitamin

Many people don’t eat salad because they find the prep very tedious. But it really doesn’t have to be. I think the method I use here is pretty simple and quick. It can be used for salad greens, or any kind of greens you might use in your recipes, such as Swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, kale, etc.

Here’s how to make sure your greens are always free of any garden residue:

20-Minute One-Pot Pasta with Olives and Zucchini

10/24/2016

This is a variation of one of my oldest recipes – one that I included in that oft-mentioned recipe book I gave as Christmas gifts to my family members so many decades ago when we were poor, struggling students.

But for some reason, I had quite forgotten about it until something jogged my memory and I had a sudden yen to taste it again. I went in search of it to see if my memory served me right, and voilà, there it was.

Given that it’s about the simplest and quickest meal you can prepare, and my husband raved about it when he ate it and remembered, I had to wonder why I ever stopped making it.

One-Pot Broccoli Tuna Pasta

10/16/2016

This is yet another one of those recipes I’ve had since I was a young married woman. It’s been one of my go-to recipes since forever because it’s a delicious, very easy, one-pot meal that can be ready in less than 30 minutes.

On those crazy weekday nights when you get home late, or the kids are dashing off to a game or practice, a dinner like this can be a lifesaver.

And my boys absolutely loved it. It was definitely one of their favorites.

It’s also about as cheap as any fish-based meal can be - if you do as I do.

Salmon Burgers with Spicy Yogurt Topping

10/10/2016

NOTE: This is an updated version of this recipe that includes a technique for making the burgers without eggs for those with food allergies.

When most people think of a salmon meal, they are imagining fresh salmon steak or filet. And for special meals, that’s exactly what I’ll order in the fish department at the grocery store.

My husband will then cook it to perfection on the grill or under the broiler, and we’ll have a very special entree to celebrate whatever the occasion happens to be.

But it’s an expensive dish, so it’s not one I include in my regular weekly menus.

It’s funny to think that fish used to be considered a cheap meal, one that people ate when they could not afford meat.

That’s where the Lenten practice of having fish on Friday came from. It was supposed to be a kind of sacrifice to forgo meat and eat seafood instead.

Growing up, we did typically eat fish at least once a week. Swordfish, cod, and sole were mainstays. And they were economical. But that was in the days before mercury toxins made eating swordfish a health hazard, and serious overfishing depleted ocean fish populations so dramatically that fishing quotas were put in place.

Now it would never be considered an economy or every day meal that most families could afford, priced as it is at $5 per pound on sale -- and up to many multiples of that when it’s not. And it’s hardly a sacrifice to eat it.

So, fish is definitely now a luxury for most families.

But there are more economical ways to buy salmon and include its terrific nutritional benefits in your diet without blowing your budget. Here’s how I do it:

Minestrone Soup (Super Hearty)

10/4/2016

Mom made minestrone soup for us growing up, but I cannot say that this particular recipe is the same as hers, since I acquired it from a different source when my children were young.

The one thing it definitely has in common with her version is how thick and hearty it is – so much so that a spoon will practically stand up in it - and what a family favorite it is.

I actually got the original recipe for this particular soup from a dear college friend when she served it to us for lunch on a playdate some 2 decades ago, and my kids and I loved it.

It made me wonder why I hadn’t tried to replicate Mom’s beloved version many years earlier. My friend gave me the detailed recipe, and as far as I can recall, I’ve kept it pretty much the same ever since.

This recipe makes a big pot of delicious, nutrition-loaded soup that will have your family practically licking their bowls.

Spaghetti Bolognese (Classic Spaghetti With Meat Sauce)

9/25/2016

This recipe is probably the very first one I ever learned growing up. It’s a very simple, basic one, yet it invariably produces very satisfying results for even the most novice of cooks, so it’s a logical one for Mom to have started us out on. Besides, it’s one that can easily feed a crowd, and that was always a key factor in our large family.

Of course, in the days of my childhood, we used beef to make this sauce. But as we all know, beef is generally astronomical in price, and red meat is also something we should generally minimize in our diets.

So I made the switch to turkey meat years and years ago in this sauce. I know many Italian purists out there cringe at the thought, but my kids don’t know any other way to eat this, and it is definitely one of their favorite meals of all time. And it’s just so much better for you. The only thing better from a health and budget perspective is a meatless sauce.

And, of course, as always, I am going to advise that you buy your meat ONLY when it's on sale. Otherwise, it's just a major budget buster.

3-Bean Spinach, Tomato and Lime Pasta Salad

9/19/2016

This colorful, delicious recipe had its beginnings long ago in my desire to somehow turn leftover pasta I had sitting in the fridge into a quick and easy meal and avoid cooking over a hot stove in the middle of a heat wave.

That first meal was a haphazard affair, with a bit of this and that thrown in, but it was good enough to keep in my repertoire.

I have used it as a basic starting point for many a meal over the years, and it has seen a few different incarnations.

This particular version is a huge favorite with my husband. He just raves about it. I think it’s the combination of lime and fresh garden tomatoes that appeals to him so much. He is a real tomato lover.

And I like that, too, but what I really like is that it’s so darned easy to put together and involves no cooking at all if you have some extra cooked pasta on hand from an earlier meal.

And I love that I have lunch to take to work for a few days during the week.

Layered Potato, Vegetable, Cheese and Herb Casserole

9/11/2016

This is a brand new recipe for me. I encountered it just a few weeks ago when I visited an old homeschool friend in Maine. Upon entering their lovely lake cottage after a very long drive, the first thing I saw was a casserole dish with the most luscious garden tomatoes layered all over the top. It was gorgeous to look at, and just as delicious to eat, a creation of my friend’s husband.

And all of the produce had come from a local Amish farm market, I was told. Yes, there are several Amish enclaves in northern Maine, which may surprise you as much as it did me!

Of course, I asked for the recipe, to no avail, since the cook, like so many of us, simply put a little of this and a little of that into the pot, and never knew exact quantities to tell people. He gave me a list of the basic ingredients and seasonings, and I was on my own from there.

So, when I came home, I spent the next couple of days trying out a couple of different versions of the meal until I came up with the recipe I have here. It was a huge hit with hubby, and with a small gathering of friends I hosted on my patio, and two of my visiting sons also liked it very much, as did their girl friends.

For that reason alone, it would be a keeper, but it also has even more advantages.

Easy Slow Cooker Whole Wheat Bread

9/6/2016

There are few things more mouthwatering than the aroma of bread baking in the oven, or more delicious than the taste of it, still warm, served as an accompaniment to a meal. Truly sublime. And it’s really so much easier to make your own than people realize.

We began making our own bread on a regular basis quite by accident.

It came about when my husband got a scare about his blood sugar at a yearly physical and decided he was going to do whatever he could to avoid getting Type 2 diabetes, a disease that has struck every other male in his family for 3 generations.

So he set out to cut his sugar intake dramatically.

In the process, we began reading ingredient labels more carefully and discovered that added sugar is present in so many more foods than we’d ever even realized before. And one of the major culprits, for sure, was bread.

Chicken with Spinach (Spanaki me to kreas)

8/29/2016

Chicken with Spinach (Spanaki me to kreas)

This is a traditional Cypriot dish that you’ll find in many old cookbooks. Mama cooked it a few times when we visited on holiday in the summer, sometimes with lamb, and sometimes with chicken.

But spinach is a cool weather crop, so this is more of a winter meal in the hot climate of Cyprus. One way around that problem, even here in cooler New England is to use frozen spinach, which is often cheaper than fresh and also saves some prep time.

Of course, this is only a true budget meal if you buy the meat on sale. And, as I repeat over and over again in my blogs, that’s the ONLY way you should ever buy meat, except maybe for special occasions. And even then, with just a little bit of planning, you can usually find deals in your local market.

I typically won’t pay more than 99¢a pound for chicken parts or whole chicken. And sometimes I can get legs or backs for quite a bit less. I don’t buy wings because they are too boney, and you’re paying for that in the per pound price.

Also, if I can get boneless chicken breast for $1.49 or so, I will stock up on that.

Gazpacho-Style Tomato Soup with Arugula, Quinoa & Garlic

8/15/2016

We are having unexpectedly warm, humid weather right now in September, so it's too darned hot to cook. Which put me in mind of this old recipe.

It's a perfect dish for when you want an easy meal that doesn’t require standing over a hot stove. And it's also super quick and ready in about 20 minutes.

I came by it originally way back in my grad student days when I was studying to be a translator, and lived for several months in the south of Spain.

For part of that time, I rented a room in the home of an elderly Spanish woman who also provided lunch and dinner for her boarders. These meals were simple, everyday affairs – nothing lavish or grand about them - but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

One of my favorite dinners was the Señora’s gazpacho, a delicious tangy medley of tomato, garlic and hot pepper that she served with a generous portion of bread and some salad.

This chilled soup was an entirely new culinary experience for me, and it tasted sublime in the heat of a late August Andalusian day. I loved it.

Eggplant Parmigiana (or Zucchini Parmigiana)

8/1/2016

NOTE: This recipe can be used for either eggplant or zucchini. The procedure is exactly the same for either vegetable, and the results are equally delicious. Just substitute a few large zucchini for the eggplant and follow the rest of the steps as outlined.

This recipe is always a huge hit and one of my own personal favorites.

I cannot remember the first time I had it, but I know it was after I left home for college because eggplant was one of the few dishes my father simply would not eat, so Mom never cooked it.

However, I think if he’d had this version, he would have changed his mind.

It’s that delicious.

"Baked" Bean Casserole, Stove Top and Slow Cooker Method

7/27/2016

Growing up, we typically ate baked beans a couple of times a month. Baked beans, homemade coleslaw, with hot dogs and rolls, or old-fashioned canned brown bread – was a regular meal in our house.

I loved it.

It turns out it was the result of a misunderstanding between my parents - namely, that while Mom thought that Dad liked baked beans from his time in the army, he actually didn't like them much at all because they reminded him of the army.

But he never said a word of complaint about it for decades. I think part of that was because he felt the household and the meals were Mom’s domain, and he did not want to interfere.

Pasta with Lemon, Vegetables, and Feta

6/26/2016

Here’s a recipe that will bring a little of the Mediterranean into your kitchen with its wonderful parsley, lemon, and feta flavorings. It makes use of the abundant summer vegetables from your own garden, if you’re lucky enough to have one, or you can use just about any produce that's in season and available in your local grocery store. The recipe requires a fair amount of chopping and preparing of that garden bounty, but it's well worth the effort.

I've never made this recipe with frozen vegetables, but I'm betting it'd still be very tasty, so that's also an option and a huge time saver. With those, this meal would be ready in about the time it takes to cook the pasta.

But whether using fresh produce or a frozen blend of vegetables, be sure to shop the sales. The same approach applies to the expensive ingredients like the fettuccine or feta cheese called for in this meal. You will never catch me paying full price for these pricey items, unless it’s a very special occasion meal.

But if I’m planning my menus for the week ahead using the store flyer (as I always am) and notice that they’re on sale, I might make a point of putting this recipe, or others that might call for them, such as my Pasta with Spinach, Tomato, and Feta, on my meal plan for the coming 7 days.

Healthy "Fast Food" Tortillas

6/20/2016

As a Mom to four now-grown sons, I am very familiar with how crazy life can get in a busy household.

I remember all too well the days when I regularly put 300+ miles a week on my car driving them all to their various activities. I also know how very easy it is to blow the budget on unhealthy, prepared or restaurant take-out meals during times like that.

But over the years, I learned some tricks to avoid that.

One of them that I’ve mentioned many times before is totake a look at the week ahead and plan your meals according to what’s scheduled. If it's going to be particularly busy, you can choose meal options that accommodate that.

Mediterranean Garlic, Green Bean and Potato Stew

6/14/2016

This super simple meal is an adaptation of one of my favorite dishes introduced to me by my late, wonderful, Greek-Cypriot mother-in-law, Aphrodite.

I've tried to keep the mouth-watering, garlicky flavor she used, but have cut down on the oil to make it lower cal for those of us who need to watch our waistlines. She would literally pour the olive oil (cold-pressed from the olive trees right on the family’s land) by the cupful into the pot. I measure out a couple of tablespoons instead. It's still delicious.

Spicy Garlic and Herb Linguini

6/12/2016

This is another one of my oldest recipes from the cookbook I made for Christmas gifts way back in my husband’s student days when we barely had two nickels to rub together and could not afford to buy any presents. I already had a solid repertoire of cheap meals, and I compiled them in a simple little booklet that I entitled “Meatless Marvels”, which I gave to everyone in my family.

Now, you have to understand that the whole notion of going without meat was pretty much unheard of in those days. It was even considered unhealthy by many. I remember having a discussion once with someone who advised me that I should never have children if I intended to feed them meat-free meals of any kind.

All I can say is that my four sons did just fine with my “meatless marvels”. We did not eat exclusively vegetarian, but mostly so, and their health most definitely did not suffer.

Parmesan Tortellini Salad Supreme

6/3/2016

I am not a fan of processed food much, both because it’s often prohibitively expensive, and because it usually isn’t the healthiest in terms of ingredients. There are typically lots of hidden fats, sodium, and calories in most processed food. So I generally avoid it as much as possible.

That said, I’m also well aware of just how hectic life can be, and sometimes stuff happens that prevents us from putting the planned meal on the table. We all have those days where we arrive home at 5:45pm, everyone’s starving, there's basketball practice at 7pm, and there’s just no time to cook a meal.

Many families would be inclined to reach for the take-out menu in such instances. But that’s an option that’s tough on the budget and the waistline. So I recommend having “emergency rations” on hand for just such occurrences.

That can include leftovers from the freezer that you stored after a meal you cooked, or something such as frozen ravioli or tortellini that you bought on sale and saved for just such an occasion.

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.

Black-Eyed Peas and Spicy Greens

5/19/2016

“This is really good. I didn’t think I’d like anything vegetarian, but I really do like this!” Those were my brother’s surprised words when I prepared this dish for a family gathering a while back.

He’s right, of course. This meal is very tasty -- one of my personal favorites. And just as it did him, it might surprise others who are new to the idea of meatless meals to know that vegetarian does not mean tasteless or unsatisfying. It’s perfectly possible to be nutritious, healthy and delicious all at the same time.

The spiciness of his recipe as written is probably what appealed to my brother. It's certainly one of the reasons my family likes it so much. But it can be made quite mild as well, or however the cook would like it to be.

The heat is adjustable to personal tastes, and the medley of vegetables in the recipe lends plenty of flavor of their own.

It can also be a very quick recipe to get on the table if you happen to have a batch of cooked rice on hand (because you planned and cooked extra from another meal earlier in the week that called for rice, such as Jamaican-Style Lentils).

Using frozen greens, instead of fresh, further reduces the prep and cook time.

In fact, the only thing besides the rice that takes any time is the vegetable chopping. An experienced cook can get it done in about 10 minutes, but it will take a novice a bit longer.

Pasta With Tomato, Spinach and Feta

5/12/2016

Quick Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese

This is one of the quickest recipes in my repertoire. I first started cooking it when we lived in New York City, and my long commute and work hours meant I often did not get home before 7:30 pm.

I wasn’t nearly as organized then as I am now, so I didn’t always plan ahead as well as I could and take the week’s schedule into consideration when deciding my menus, but this was one recipe I knew I could fall back on if I really ran into a time crunch. It's fast and easy, and very tasty besides.

Mediterranean Chicken (or Lamb) Stew

5/6/2016

This original recipe calls for lamb, but I know as well as anyone that lamb is hardly a budget food. Still, my husband is Greek, so we do splurge on it sometimes for special occasions.

And buying a pricey leg of lamb is actually one of the few instances where I deem it worthwhile to visit more than one grocery store in pursuit of a deal. Unlike the very small savings that such extra trips usually achieve, the price difference for a big ticket item like this can sometimes be $20-$30 or more.

That’s well worth the 2- mile drive across town for me.

The last time I bought a leg of lamb, it was for Easter, and I was able to get a boneless one for $2.50 per pound which is about as cheap as it ever gets here in my neck of the woods.

Definitely not an every-week food item for my frugal tastes, but a pretty darned good deal for a special occasion. By comparison, the other stores were charging $6-$9 per pound.

Since a leg of lamb can be as large as 10 pounds (and sometimes even more), that’s a lot of savings --- exactly the kind you can get when you use a little pre-planning and check the store flyers before you grocery shop.

I knew the roast was bigger than we would need for Easter dinner, so I cut it in half and prepared one half for the holiday, and one half for this meal. Of course, I could have also frozen the unused portion to use on a later date.

I recommend using this approach for ALL large cuts of meat: buy the big, budget size, but apportion it immediately into meal sizes, label, and date the packages, and freeze the ones you don’t need for a different meal.

But this recipe doesn’t have to be reserved just for special occasions. It can also be a regular Sunday dinner type of meal, too, by substituting more budget friendly chicken for the lamb.

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