Cheap, healthy meals!

Hey

We have just started making healthy 'one-pot' dishes which are easy to do and fairly cheap. Trick is to buy the spices once then they go a long way. I use BBC goodfood website which seems to be good. Today I have made two dishes to spread out over 4 days hopefully (especially as we're more conscious of portions!). I made a chicken and chorizo jambalaya which tastes amazing and chicken, butternut squash and cous cous one pot. My idea is to have at least one meal per week that is meat free (if he'll eat it!) and make something with beans as these are so cheap compared to any meat/fish/poultry, and very nutritious and low in fat and calories. Have a look at the 'healthy' sections on the websites for inspiration

Amanda

Soup! Very filling, just chop up veg, season to taste, boil it for a bit then blend! Cheap, quick, easy and yummy

Definitely second the soup and the BBC Goodfood website. I have gotten into eating cous cous. Homemade and its a one pot dish and much, much better than the cold slimy crap you get at the supermarket.

Chicken is always good as well and don't forget to do some exercise. It just helps burn it off quicker.

The best thing to do is get a slow cooker! We make all sorts of healthy and cheap things in ours. The beauty is it can be left on low for 8 hours for all day or for four hours on high.

Gona sound ODD but - CAULIFLOWER MASH - its lovely - trust me & much lighter than potatoes - just boil up the cauliflower & then mash with salt/pepper & a little low fat butter - great subsitute for mash & very low fat! Ive lost over 1 stone with weight watchers & this was one of their zero point fav's & cant get much cheaper than cauliflower! Also butternut squash wedges done in the oven with low fat cooking spray are lovely instead of chips. Pasta is very cheap & if you get the canned tomatoes you can make your own sauce instead of buyin the jars - I just add some garlic & chopped chilli to a can of chopped tomatoes & then put on top of pasta - its lovely fresh & low fat! Good luck

I found sweet potatoes, courgettes, peppers, aubergines red onions or any veg you can get your hands on marinaded in lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil and roasted served wth lean meat or fish was a really filling meal and healthy too. I give it to my OH most nights now as it's quick and easy.

Soup works a treat! And I always get frozen fruit and make smoothies out of them to replace lunch. Tasty, sorts out my sweet cravings and its really good for you Tip - if you make a smoothie and it tastes too sour or tart, pop half a banana in there to sweeten it up.