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Affordable and healthy family meals?
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Author:  LadyKate [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 1:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Affordable and healthy family meals?
Its amazing how things have changed in 25 years as far as feeding a family goes....when I was a small child, fast food and junk food were a luxury, not a staple.
Once upon a time it was cheaper to feed your family with fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch...now its the opposite. It's just too expensive to cook meals like my mother did.

I'm sick of ground beef...but I think the family still tolerates it with things like tacos and spaghetti.
I cannot stand chicken right now unfortunately, and while I love seafood, no one else does.
In the past year we have worn ourselves out on chili-mac, pot-roast, sandwiches and homemade chili.

Any ideas?

Preferably healthy foods...not overly fatty, salty, or starchy and affordable. Like, I don't mind buying a pound of sirloin as long as its part of a recipe that will feed the whole family but we're not having steak and baked potatoes on the menu.
Author:  Müs [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 1:36 pm ]
Post subject: 
Chinese food ;)

Stuff like fried rice, you can put in whatever protein you want (shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, etc). Citrus chicken, mongolian beef, beef and broccoli, etc. You can make a couple of different dishes, and have a buffet style sort of meal. Some of this, some of that, and then leftovers for a few days :)

Other things like beef stroganoff, anything where the meat is slow cooked or marinated would be good. You can utilize less tender cuts of meat.

Your restriction on chicken saps me of ideas though. I <3 chicken, and use a lot of it in my cooking. Chicken curry casserole, chicken verde enchiladas (AKA Moose's No Poop Till Brooklyn Cheesey Chicken Enchiladas)... fried chicken breast tenders, chicken this, chicken that, you get the idea. ;)

You could maybe also make a lasagna, or go big italian cooking sort of stuff. There's more to life than spaghetti ;)

Also, there's nothing wrong with cooking fish for you and something else for the people. Have a grill night say like a friday or something, you have fish, fox sirloin, the kids chicken or pork chops or something. Have one side like a salad or potatoes or something, to go with the bbq stuff. Make it a family thing, let the kids pick what sort of meat they want on a monday or something before you go to the store, and cook it on friday :)
Author:  Müs [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 1:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
And, as an after thought. (I'm gonna get a little ranty, so skip it if you want.)

Healthy is in the preparation. Fats, starches, salt and other things like that are fine *in moderation*.

A baked potato with a pat of butter and a tablespoon of sour cream, shake of salt and pepper is ok. 5 baked potatoes loaded with cheese, bacon, huge dollop of cream and a stick of butter... not so much.

Another thing is portion size. Generally speaking, over the past 30 years our portion sizes have grown and grown and grown until we feel that we can't be sated unless we've had a 20 oz porterhouse, one pound potato loaded, huge dinner salad, and a 6 inch slice of chocolate cake.

That's not really the case. Eat slower, take your time and enjoy your food. You'll find you eat less, and enjoy it more. Bolting your food in front of the TV or whatever is the best way to overeat and take in more fats and carbs and whatnot than are strictly "healthy".

But, back to preparation. If you use quality, fresh ingredients, and only add other, quality, fresh ingredients to them, you have a quality, fresh meal. Sure, there's some talent in the preparation, but that's all in the doing, in the learning. Don't be afraid to try something new. Make sure you taste everything you cook. Have the people you're cooking for taste as you go too. Involve the people in the process if you can. Plan menus for the week, ask the people what they might like to eat. Maybe look online for some recipes, and say "Hey guys, I can make one of these, which would you like to try?"
If I recall, its you, Fox, his kid, and your kid.
Say each person gets one Monday or Saturday a month to select their favorite meal. Make it fun, ya know :)

I'm a foodie. I <3 cooking, and I <3 food. I have my favorite things to make, (The aforementioned chicken enchiladas, and chicken curry casserole), and I've made a few things that I haven't liked at all (A particularly disastrous zucchini thing that was just terrible comes to mind.)

But I'm just blathering at the moment. So, I'll stop :) If you has questions, just holla :)
Author:  Jasmy [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Affordable and healthy family meals?
Okay, first things first Mus...I want your recipe for No Poop Til Brooklyn Cheesey Chicken Enchilada recipe!! Post it here or PM me! Please! :)

LK, Mus is wise! Ask your family what they like and try different things! It is never too expensive to cook from scratch using fresh, wholesome ingredients! Especially when your and your family's health depend on it!! You like seafood, your family doesn't, so do a surf and turf one night! Shish kabob the meats, seafood, and vegies on seperate skewers and serve with a salad and brown rice. Use up leftover meats in a stirfry or fried rice dinner. Let your imagination run wild and if you can't find what you are looking for, just ask!

I understand how frustrating it can be to try to prepare healthy delicious meals that everyone loves! My husband suffers from gout, which means he has to limit his intake of meats, poultry, fish, and certain vegies such as mushrooms, spinach, and asparagus. I happen to love all of those things so when I am cooking I will actually make a seperate dish for myself for the vegies and/or the meat, fowl, seafood, whatever I'm cooking than what I prepare for him. It's just a sacrifice we do for the ones we love. It doesn't really take that much longer to prepare either.

Of course I am just cooking for two right now. When our sons were still at home they ate what I cooked, but I would always take their tastes into consideration, too. I prepared quite a few meals that they wanted, instead of what hubby and I might have wanted.
Author:  Micheal [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:55 am ]
Post subject: 
Rice and beans - cheap and a hundred thousand different ways to make them.

Start with the standard 25 pound bag of rice, get a rice cooker if you don't already have one. Make up a big pot of your favorite way to cook beans, start the rice about half an hour before the beans are ready.

Now get some tortillas, maybe a little meat and cheese, a little hot sauce, put your favorites in here, then have a burrito night.

Next time use a different bean and make soup with some leftovers.

Time after that some cheap fish (anybody like to fish there?) and use rice and beans as side dishes.

Rice and beans are the great stretchers to make meals less expensive. Lots of different kinds of beans, several different types of rice, mix and match find the ones you like together.

Have fun. and make fun of it when something does not work.

Also have an occasional no rice and beans night, you kids haven't been good (or bad) enough to get rice and beans.

Sometime for breakfast, get some of last night's rice, some butter, maybe a little bacon, and make the family a breakfast bowl of rich yummy buttered rice. Trust me, it tastes better than it sounds.
Author:  darksiege [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 6:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
The Müs enchiladas and curry chicken dish are just efffing awesometasticynessiosity.
Author:  Micheal [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Müs wrote:
Also, there's nothing wrong with cooking fish for you and something else for the people. Have a grill night say like a friday or something, you have fish, fox sirloin, the kids chicken or pork chops or something. Have one side like a salad or potatoes or something, to go with the bbq stuff. Make it a family thing, let the kids pick what sort of meat they want on a monday or something before you go to the store, and cook it on friday :)


I had no idea you could get a good sirloin off a fox, wow.
Author:  Müs [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Micheal wrote:
Müs wrote:
Also, there's nothing wrong with cooking fish for you and something else for the people. Have a grill night say like a friday or something, you have fish, fox sirloin, the kids chicken or pork chops or something. Have one side like a salad or potatoes or something, to go with the bbq stuff. Make it a family thing, let the kids pick what sort of meat they want on a monday or something before you go to the store, and cook it on friday :)


I had no idea you could get a good sirloin off a fox, wow.


If its cooked right, I'm sure you'd lose a finger trying to get it off him.
Author:  Rafael [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
I like one central dish, prepared such as a marinated and broiled chicken complimented with low preparation whole or raw foods. A little fresh fruit, a salad and some brown rice. It's fairly cheap. I eat lunch, dinner and breakfast on about a $50 a week budget. Sometimes, it does get boring, but there's enough variety and when I actually have time to prepare something, you can always splurge a little more.

But cooking for one is all about making boring into interesting, otherwise you'll be spending tons of money.
Author:  Katas [ Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Affordable and healthy family meals?
Most affordable and filling meals are carb based.

There are ways to make pasta healthier, there are ways to make tacos healthier, etc.

Even Rachel Ray's crazy Mexican Lasagna recipe (it's not a bad idea, but spinach flour tortillas != affordable) are a good basis for you to start from and change.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rach ... index.html
Author:  Crimsonsun [ Sun Aug 15, 2010 9:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
darksiege wrote:
The Müs enchiladas and curry chicken dish are just efffing awesometasticynessiosity.


I'm interested and would like to hear more about this...
Author:  Taamar [ Mon Aug 16, 2010 2:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Affordable and healthy family meals?
Image

This is the best budget cookbook I've ever seen because it presents a list of options and strategies and suggests that you splurge on things that are important to you. It's also not full of 800 ways to make tuna casserole, it has some wonderful ethnic recipes, and the food turns out yummy.
Author:  Uinan [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'd also love the recipe for the No Poop Till Brooklyn Cheesey Chicken Enchiladas.
Author:  Vladimirr [ Thu Aug 19, 2010 2:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
Pasta + just about anything is healthy and cheap. To paraphrase my grandparents, "Italian restaurants try to make it expensive and high class, but pasta is poor people's food."

I grew up in an extremely frugal family and we had pasta just about every night.

viewtopic.php?p=58599#p58599

My wife has an awesome homemade mac and cheese recipe, that's pretty cheap too.
Author:  Amanar [ Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Affordable and healthy family meals?
Have you ever tried making moussaka? That's pretty cheap and easy, and might be something different for your family.

Other suggestions to think about: stir fry, homemade pizza, potato and leek soup, clam linguine, pulled pork barbecue.

I don't profess to be an expert in any of these dishes, but I can give you my recipes if you want. Here, I'll tempt you with a pic of the moussaka I made recently.

Attachments:
moussaka.jpg
moussaka.jpg [ 87.55 KiB | Viewed 5654 times ]
Author:  LadyKate [ Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:57 am ]
Post subject: 
Amanar, what is a moussaka?
Was reading over this thread before I hit the grocery store.....my son looked at this picture and goes: "Bleeeeccchh!!! Mom! That cheesecake looks TERRIBLE!!" :D
Author:  Hopwin [ Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:26 am ]
Post subject: 
Do Hot Dogs count as a recipe?
Author:  Vindicarre [ Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:08 am ]
Post subject: 
The only moussaka I've had was Greek; it's eggplant, ground lamb, onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, and the top layer is bechamel sauce.
Author:  Jeryn [ Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Affordable and healthy family meals?
Stuff I've been making lately:

Pork-themed: Throw a pound or so of boneless pork chops on the foreman grill for 9 minutes. When done, cut it up in cubes and throw it in a bunch of brown and/or wild rice. Mix in a little can of black olives (like 3 or 4 ozs? can't remember), a small can of crushed pineapple (8 ozs-ish), and flavor with a sweet and tangy barbeque sauce (brown sugar and molasses or something like that). Wrap it up in a flour tortilla and go.

Veggie:
* leafy greens - I've been using a 50/50 mix of baby spinach and romaine
* sliced up cucumber
* halved baby tomatoes
* black olives (i'm on an olive kick lately)
* bag of dried cranberries
* feta
* bag of shredded swiss
* bottle of ginger-pear dressing
* extra-firm tofu for protein, sauteed up with a freezer bag of 3-pepper (red, green, yellow bell peppers) and onion mix
Throw it all together and eat.

Low-country-ish:
Bake some whitefish (tilapia is cheap and always at my grocery in a big bag in the frozen section). Serve it over a bed of rice that has white shoepeg corn and some olives (yeah yeah) mixed in, on top of the rice also have a bed of grits with some cheddar melted into it. Also, it sounds kinda weird (in like a "this seems incongruous" sense) but I tried slicing up a banana and searing it in a saucepan for just a little bit and it was really good as an accent flavor.
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