Got some big eaters around, such that when one plans a delicious meal with 'heaps' of leftovers, the leftovers are usually gone in no time at all.
Not unhealthy eaters, just a case of quick metabolism.
Stuck in a rut of cooking what we remember, and am after some ideas for filling, yum lunch/dinners that don't cost the earth. Any cuisine is fine.
Points for inexpensive (less than $3/big serving) and tasty, extra points for freezable, and all the points for less gluten.
Any ideas?
I like this, thanks. I tend to cook meat, two veg and a carb, with spices to tasty them up, as a standard. In the form of a curry, grill, bake or occasionally stir fry. Sometimes pasta but have been having less gluten so less-so, recently.
The cheapest food by cost per mass of protein I have found is oats. They're also high in complex carbohydrates and fibre. They're also very satiating.
But if you need to serve something actually appetising I would recommend buying whole chickens from ALDI, they're only $3.49/kg every day. Depending on how large your oven is you may be able to roast 4 at a time. For best results use an upright chicken roasting stand like this.
Season with salt, pepper and any marinade you like. One chicken takes about 50 minutes at 200 °C. Four might take an hour or longer depending on your oven.
You can throw in some cheap vegetables to roast at the same time, but they'll need removing after around 30 min. Potatoes, carrots and onions are economical. If you're really cheap you can save the schmaltz from the chicken and use it to fry potatoes or add it to rice for umami flavour.
Great tips, thanks! Haven't dome much whole chook roasting before.
Not free but might be worth it for you:
https://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Wicked-Good-5-Ingredient-Budget…
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Cheap-Eat-Well-Day-ebook/dp/B00N…
https://www.amazon.com/Meal-Prep-Budget-Healthy-Meals-ebook/…
https://www.amazon.com/Meal-Planning-Budget-Groceries-Financ…
https://www.amazon.com/AFFORDABLE-PLANT-BASED-COOKING-YOUR-I…
https://www.amazon.com/Affordable-Paleo-Cooking-Your-Instant…
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Complete-Budget-Friendly-Plann…
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Frugal-Cookbook-Collection-Time-…
Thanks, 'budget seems like a good key-search word, will try this.
Big eater here with high metabolism. My wife tends to add a can of kidney beans and black beans as fillers when meal prepping with dishes such as pasta or nachos.
Edit: just asked my wife. She said pasta dishes, soups like chicken and bacon, stews, curry like Dahl. Vegetables wise, pick them when they are in season. Peas. We average $2.50/meal when we cook in bulk
Beans are filling, and I haven't purchased them for a while, thanks. Any ideas to reduce 'wastage' at the other end?
Grocery shopping with dishes in mind really helps with reducing wastage and also don't be too afraid of adding something that is about to go off to a dish that typically does not contain that ingredient.
Easier said than done, but my wife handles all that. Hardly any food ends up in the bin.
Any ideas to reduce 'wastage' at the other end?
pretty sure beans are high in fibre… definitely assist with wastage at the other end…
Hahaha! Yes true, helpful with the solids wastage. Just unsure about the aerosols.
@Sleuth: Lol. Usually they are ok. But sometimes just too much…
Oh dear "sometimes I fear my best work is behind me" lol.
pumpkin and potato mash and/or roasted, frozen mixed veges.
Ah mash! I had forgotten that it existed! Thanks!
I just bought 4 Coles chicken and vege pies for 3.50, havent tried them yet
These are my favourites! I actually prefer them to the more expensive chicken pies. :)
The frozen ones?
Yeah, the Coles brand chicken/veg pies are the best! My husband gets the more pricey ones (Herbert Adams, etc) but I much prefer these. :)
why did you change your username hellopam?
being targeted and bullied
I just saw this
Bake with mixed berries and top with oats to create a melt in your mouth crumble. Perfect served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/565830?reg…
Just carb up all your meals with extra bread, flour, rice, pasta, etc. It will make the meal go further too.
Yeah carb-ing up seems to be key. Atm i'm doing just one of those - rice, to avoid too overdoing excessive gluten. Not coeliac, just it is a 'gateway' food category that allows all the unhealthiness to rein.
Rice and Potato or Sweet Potato for carbs without gluten
Legumes like beans to bulk out stews etc.
A cheap tin of lentils in any dish with sauce e.g. bolognese with double the volume and fill you up more
Plus more vitamins etc
Big slow cooker meals like stew or curry served with mashed potato/sweet potato or rice taste.com.au has a lot of recipes https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/top-100-best-sl… you can double or increase by 50% most recipes depending on the capacity of your slow cooker.
Chilli con carne with lots of beans
lentil Dahl,
homemade sweet potato chips in the oven or air fryer as a side,
vermicelli salad with lots of shredded veggies
tray/s of marinated roast chicken legs (lemon, garlic, oregano or tandoori, or honey soy),
laksa or ramen using gluten free noodles,
Singapore noodles (uses rice noodles in most versions),
shepherds/cottage pie (include veg like carrot, can be topped with sweet potato or a mix with regular potato)
diy rice paper rolls (slows big eaters down)
papadums to serve with curry/rice (ones like this can be prepped in the microwave and are gluten free https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/3927/mahar…)
pad Thai/pad see ew/pad khee mao
roast potatoes or sweet potatoes with toppers
gnocchi with pesto (can mix through bbq chicken, but we often do it with just zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, Aldi has cheapish gnocchi)
tacos with various fillings inc. beans
frittata or omelette
sometimes we do ‘breakfast dinner’ (like fried/scrabbled eggs, baked bean, mushrooms, avocado, bacon, hash browns).
Thanks heaps, love this list. Haha rice paper rolls slowing the big eaters down, VERY helpful haha.
Breakfast for dinner always goes down well.
Kids or adults?
Make the adults pay if they're costing you heaps.
Otherwise, carbs.
Grownups! They are paying, it's more an efficiency factor and general cost cutting.
rice is nice
Agreed, any suggestions on cheap & effective additives?
Stock cube.
Best.
@Sleuth: Thx, frozen/tinned corn is super cheap & mostly Aussie, thx great idea. I have some garlic chives growing that could fit the spring onion bill.
+1 for adding beans into the mix
Also good old tuna & rice is always an easy one to do
Beans seems to be a go-er. Any tips for reduce 'wastage' at the other end?
If you have them all the time does that help?
I personally don't have issues with that, but maybe it's because I have them a lot (that might be the trick)
Yeah ok cool. I'll track down my only remembered source of Aussie beans at HFM when it seems safe to do so.
I used to work in SE Asia. Compared to westerners, they eat a comparatively small amount of protein and a large amount of rice (carbohydrates). Most people don't know that Thais will eat soups like Tom Yum Koong mixed with rice; also salads like Thai Beef Salad with a plateful of rice - essentially you get a plateful of rice and everything else is put on the center of the table to be shared.
Essentially what I'm trying to say is you bulk up dishes with a lot of carbs - whether that be rice, pasta, potato etc. All cheap and start reducing the protein element. Lots of veges, fruits, mushrooms, herbs and spices.
If you're trying to save money, get your fruit & veges at one of the 24 hour independent shops (they're cheaper and fresher); avoid where you can processed foods. Cook your own food. Grow it yourself if you can - at least the easy stuff like herbs and tomatoes, chilies, garlic etc.
You could try adding soup to the meal plan. If metabolism isn't the cause and it's just quick eating, you should drag out meal time to allow more time for the stomach to feel full.
So cook what you normally would, but start with perhaps soup and bread/rolls, then move onto the mains. You could even do dessert with fruit or whatever you like.
Great idea, thanks. Yeah fluids do fill up.
To eat less starchy carbs, I often bulk our meals out by swapping half the pasta/rice with chopped, roasted cauliflower. Or use half potato mash, half mashed veg like cauliflower, pumpkin or broccoli. With beef mince I do what my mum always did (and countless other mums, I'm sure!) and add grated carrot and zucchini to bulk it out. Works great for pasta sauces and cottage pie. Lasagne can be made using thin strips of zucchini instead of pasta sheets.
I always plan our meals in advance, using Coles/Woolies catalogues to see what's on special to save money. And buy in bulk when you can.
As others have said, carbs are the cheapest way to bulk out a meal.
To make it more interesting, add different spices / herbs / flavours to each meal so that it isn't always just the same.
Yeah I've gotten into a Cumin, garlic and ginger rut… Any spice/herb combo suggestions?
you can put a bit of grated onion in mash potato. or chopped parsley
The world is your oyster. Look for mixed spices for middle eastern flavours, or asian flavours, or curry powders, etc., and you can make your own to your own tastes after trying those.
Can I get some suggestions?? Sorry to hijack the thread but my servings are $15 +. I eat two pieces of the deli salmon and veggies or two pieces of rump and veggies. I really need some advice but I can't eat large amounts of carbs due to trying to lose weight.
Trying to be helpful here. May I suggest that you try to change your eating habits, perhaps go with smaller but more frequent intakes of food (if you can, with your lifestyle).
Some people benefit from an outside intervention (e.g. signing up for one month with Lite'N'Easy or Weightwatchers etc) just to break those habits.
I'm not suggesting that any of these are easy, but that is what habits do to us.
Do you ever get on-special meat? That could help. Or cheaper cuts and slow cook them? Meat Is just expensive in general. But understandably, we have harvested our own and it's worth it. A lot of these other answers are helping with your question too, like iridiumstem's recipe idea two down. Is that what you mean?
Mince meat is kinda fatty but I have used pork mince which is okay
Kangaroo mince? Chilli really works well since you are basically using spices to cover the smell.
Chilli con carne, make a massive pot worth with massive amount of beans, have it with rice or pasta.
I found minced meat + bunch of canned beans + cans of diced tomato + spices go long way.
When you are sick of having it, you can just add that with bit more minced meat (not necessary) and make lasagne.
Mmm I like.this thank you. Remember now I used to do this with the big bags of mission chippies when they went cheap.
I use fish fingers birds eye with deli chips, bought on special, and add tomato and cucunber. You can get 40 fish fingers for 10 dollars, 5 is enough for a meal with chips and salad. You can add beetroot too to the side salad.
I use aldi bubble and squeak, 4 pieces and add an apple snackl frozen pie from coles. Very cheap meal.
for big eater 5 fish fingers is not a meal, it is a side.
Geeze, you will have all sorts of health problems when you are older if this is your regular diet, also, much cheaper to make your own. A big eater would eat half a box of fish fingers, 5 is not a big serve.
I had forgotten that fish fingers existed! Yes true they might get demolished quickly. But this is a timely reminder that I have a fishing rod and some bait in the freezer to catch my own fingers. May have to wait until lockdown ends though.
You're better off just buying whiting fillets than birds eye.
Either that or something I like to do is buy some salmon and coat it in corn flake crumbs with melted butter and garlic. Then stick it in the oven 30 mins. Delicious.
why dont you come up with your own suggestions then? You must have some better
didnt think so
Hehe hold on! I am appreciating this thread from bargainers muchly. I find it hard to get out of routine, and usually do so when I visit someone else's home and realise what others cook at home. But there hasn't been much home visiting, and don't love googling recipes.
Just realised you were likely replying to the above, all G. Yes robbyjones, do share!
If you want me to respond then best if you answer on my post so I get a notification. But to answer your question (and Embaloo too) I found that one pot meals were the easiest and cheapest to make; spaghetti bolognese is a good one, bulked out with grated carrot and zuchini left overs can be made into nachos by adding chili and beans with home made guac (although out of season avo's this can be pricey) and sour cream. Soups, stews etc, you can slow cook which means you can buy cheaper cuts of meat and throw in iffy veg hiding in the bottom of the veg drawer in the fridge. Using protein powder to make things like biscuits and pancakes can be filling and low carb also. Snacking on nuts, especially peanuts because they are cheaper. Using chicken maryland pieces or buying large quantities of chicken drumsticks can be had for less than $5 per kg and just bung them in the oven with a bit of seasoning, great for dinner and then lunch or snacks the following day, I serve with vegetables I just cut up (any and all veg) put them in a freezer bag with oil and seasoning and shake up put in a roast pan and bung that in the oven too.
I had 4 teenage/adult boys/men, cooking in bulk became habit!
I just saw a huge cauliflower. You can make baked cauliflower cheese, delicious and cheap And there is potato bake too, made in layers
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cauliflower-cheese-0
Thanks, that's a great recipe. Especially as cauli's are per item rather than per kg. Super helpful, thanks Pam.
I also notice this, contains that recipe for dauphonise potaties (potato bake), potato salad and oven baked chips (boil then bake) Probably better than frozen
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/7-ways-potatoes
What sorts of things do you usually cook?
There are some ideas in this thread https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/555341