What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

We are on a really tight budget this month. I've been looking for the least expensive dinner options but it seems like the ones I've been finding are not healthy at all. Can cheap and healthy and vegetarian go together? :shrug3

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

Black bean burgers - make them from dried beans (or leftover black bean soup!)

Falafel

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

Lasagna made with mashed tofu instead of ricotta.
Pasta and sauce
Salad dinners where you use up some leftovers. I like tortilla chips or fried corn tortilla strips I Make myself. Layer with salad veggies, olives and pour chili over the top. Top with cheese, vegan cheeze sauce, d
salad dressing...whatever you have.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Pantry soup...your favorite canned soup with on sale canned veggies and some kind of starch added.

Ramen soup...I buy the healthy kind when it is on sale. I make it up and add a bag of frozen stirfry veggies.
Potsticker soup...frozen potstickeerrs cooked in broth with the stirfry veggies added.
I usually serve the above with soy sauce, sesame oil, sirachi, lime, cilantro etc...because we usually have that stuff around.

Enchilada casserole
Taco soup
Mushroom stroganoff
pancakes or waffles

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

tonight's dinner from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

Split Pea & Parsnip Soup (the best split pea soup recipe. ever.)

1 large onion, diced
2 large parsnips, peeled & sliced into half moons (can sub carrots, but I've never done it.)
1 lb. split peas, rinsed
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
6 cups veg. stock (plain water is just as fabulous)
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp liquid smoke, optional

Saute onion & parsnip. Cover & cook for 5 mins or until tender. Combine rest of ingredients, except s&p & liquid smoke, in slow cooker. Cover & cook on low for 8 hours. Just before serving, remove bay leaf & add s&p & liquid smoke, if using.

It's even better the 2nd day.

If you can find this cookbook from the library, it's full of easy, super healthy recipes using ingredients you'll have on hand.

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

anything with dry beans is cheap and healthy.

Pinto beans - per lb. of dried beans (soaked overnight and drained/rinsed), put in crockpot (or cook on stove) with 1/2 cu. oil and 1/2 tsp. salt. Serve topped with things (s. cream, corn chips, etc.)...I just had them tonight with nothing but hot sauce...:yum

Black beans and rice - cook black beans like above...then add sauteed onion and garlic, vinegar. Stir in cooked rice.

As sides, sauteed kale or spinach
Roasted root veggies

falafel

Bean soups with water instead of broth (or broth if you have it)
Veggie soups

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

These are some very wonderful ideas, thank you so much! I think my biggest problem is how to make it a balanced meal but not spend a fortune on produce. I want produce, it can just be so expensive! Specialty items like kale are pretty much out right now.

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

I mentioned kale, spinach, and collards...b/c they should be starting to come out really soon (since they are early, early spring crops).

You can also go the frozen route. Obviously, not AS good as fresh, but still a great option. :yes

root veggies should be reasonable right now too (compared to obviously summer veggies)...beets, turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes.

Also...I don't think the meal itself needs to be balanced, as much as the daily intake and, moreso, the weekly intake, IYKWIM.

So, for example...we had just the beans for dinner...but we had berries, veggies, salad, etc. during the rest of the day. When you look at the daily nutrients (or more importantly, our intake over a week)...WAY balanced, even if one particular meal isn't.

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

I could eat this every day for the rest of my life & it wouldn't get old.

Yumm
In a bowl, layer:
hot, cooked brown rice
black beans
Yumm sauce (recipe follows)
salsa
shredded cheddar
tomatoes, diced
olives, sliced
avocado, sliced
cilantro
a dollop of sour cream

Yumm sauce
1/2 c canola oil
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/3 c cooked garbanzo beans
1/4 c cooked soybeans (can sub with garbanzo beans)
4 garlic cloves
1/2 c water
1/2 c lemon juice
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp ascorbic acid, optional

Combine oil, almonds, beans, and garlic in food processor and blend. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

dahl and rice
sweet potato and chickpea curry and rice
gado gado
baked potatoes
red thai curry
pad thai
vegan chilli and rice
pumpkin soup and fruit salad
green beans and tapenade
punjabi chana
saag alu

Re: What are your cheapest and healthiest recipes/dinner plans?
 

Vegetable soup:

One can stewed tomatoes
One can tomato soup
vegetable broth
diced cabbage
frozen mixed veggies
quick cook barley

Simmer together until veggies are soft. Add noodles of any kind and cook until they are done.(I use alphabet noodles) Serve.