diet friendly meals on a budget...?

[ithappened]

Can anyone recommend some good diet friendly meal and snack options? I am looking specifically for good breakfast, post-workout snacks and dinner options

I live in a place where meat and eggs are very expensive BUT- breads, cheese and some veggies- those in season only- are cheap.

When I google budget options, I get a lot of pasta dishes and when I google diet options I get a lot of lean meats and eggs so it feels hard to find anything I can afford to eat and still attempt to lose weight

[lapis]

hey there! i know you, how you been?

we are also doing the "tight budget in Austria" thing (100 euros a week max) and I've managed to wrangle us into a pretty good and affordable groove here.

we make variations of these meals:

salad: volgerl salat is the best (btw do you know what it is called in english?)... mostly with just cucumbers and tomatoes but we add red peppers too. adding beans can make it more of a meal OR i make a MOSTLY bean salad, which is also delicious! raisins are also a good addition if you like that sort of thing.

rice and veggies; occasionally w/ meat. we mix up the spices and sometimes use coconut milk. sometimes i just make a bunch of rice and add it cold to the "just bean" salad.

basic veggie soup, often with lentils. and if i can find squash, that totally makes my day!

frittatas; we usually do potatoes mixed with other veggies, but if you want to keep the carbs lower you can either really limit the potatoes or exclude them completely. also great as leftovers.

basically like stuff that can be eaten as leftovers or turned into other things. we have a mini fridge so we can't actually keep a lot but just making sure i have beans for a few days or rice for tomorrow helps me eat meals even when i don't really feel like cooking. i guess for me its taking some time every week to prep a little bit.

we shop at:

the turkish markets for most of our fruits, veggies and eggs (like 10-20 cents per eir) and that saves us a lot of money. they also carry lots of dried fruits, beans and some awesome not-quite-so-dense feta like cheeses for cheap. we also go to a local old-school austrian market to get our folgerl salat, bread (i'm allergic to gluten so only dh eats it which probably both cuts down on cost as well as weight gain for moi) dried beetle beans and some veggies that they don't carry at the turkish markets; like sun chokes or sweet potatoes...I mean we do have to mix the flavors up sometimes or we'd get too bored.

and the SPAR also totally treats me right. i mean its not like going to integral yoga foods or whole foods but I get a bag of potatoes and onions every week. they are great for adding to other more expensive veggies. I also often get a bag of carrots to much on as snacks or put in soups, which are also super cheap and usually really sweet (although last weeks bag was gross). they have a spar/budget brand fresh mozzarella for 50 cents that is just as good as the other brands, I did a taste test, and i eat quite a lot of it in salads or just as a snack. we get the big cheap tub of plain yogurt and the spar brand honey. we don't really drink milk but get a small thing of the organic spar brand whole milk for our coffee in the morning. oh yeah, and we even get our coffee at the spar (and that's saying a lot from a girl from seattle!)

we do make room in the budget for a few luxury items... which really aren't that luxurious but are just more expensive like jam or maple syrup.

we cook with olive oil (i even got the spar's budget brand and its pretty good), butter or coconut oil (sold in the area where the butter is)... and sometimes i cook with chicken fat aka smultz which is also located in the "butter" area and is good for savory stuff.

and we don't eat out very much. maybe twice a month and usually we spend around 25-30 euros for each meal.

i used to be a big grocery store snob. like i ONLY shopped at the health food store and spent a fortune on food that quite honestly wasn't really any better than what we get here. i mean the packaging is not as nice, that's for sure but i feel good, my belly is full and my wallet is quite a bit heavier!

anyhow, that was a novel but i hope you are well and find yourself with some good new food ideas.... i'll be watching this thread too : )

[lil_earthmomma]

Originally Posted by ithappened

Can anyone recommend some good diet friendly meal and snack options? I am looking specifically for good breakfast, post-workout snacks and dinner options

I live in a place where meat and eggs are very expensive BUT- breads, cheese and some veggies- those in season only- are cheap.

When I google budget options, I get a lot of pasta dishes and when I google diet options I get a lot of lean meats and eggs so it feels hard to find anything I can afford to eat and still attempt to lose weight

That is hard!

I would be definitely going for as much in season veg as possible.

That and some frozen fruit which I would assume is much cheaper then fresh, other than seasonal fruit?

As for cheese, well cheese has protein and makes life happier, so I would be using cheese in lots of dishes to give them life.

Eggs are expensive? How expensive? So expensive that you don't ever buy them, or so expensive that you can't go through a carton a day?


Ok, I think more info is neccessary but here's my first stab at what I would do:

Breakfasts:

green smoothies (add protein powder if you like)
cottage cheese and fruit
veggie scramble, heavy on the veg light on the egg, and add some cream cheese or grated cheese.

something I love is soup for breakfast, with eggs poached in. You could skip the eggs if they are too expensive.

Dinner:

Buy your meat with stretching it in mind.

Soups
Stews
stirfries
chilis

All of these can be mostly veg and meat as the flavor and garnish.

Also, we love salad as a meal here.

Chicken cesear salad
salmon asparagus salad
steak ginger salad
chef salad with ham, hard boiled egg and tons of veggies
thai chicken salad

tonight I'm going to make a salad with chunks of chicken and a creamy dressing with jalapenos chopped in. Mmmmmmmmm!

I can use half the meat I would if I was serving it on the plate as is.

Post workout snacks:

Green smoothie! (greens, frozen fruit, yogurt and water till it's the right consistancy)
nuts?
veggies and homemade dip (hummus, baba ganoush?)
celery spread with cream cheese or soft goat cheese
lettuce wraps with leftovers

Ok, that's my first go at it. I don't eat grains (I'm celiac and follow a primal/paleo diet) so you could add those in with moderation. I would be careful to use veggies more than grains though, as I see lots of my friends who are on a budget eating WAY too much pasta, bread, rice etc because it's cheap.

[1jooj]

Beans!

I cook meals that include dry beans at least twice most weeks. Sometimes more. Lentil soup. Split pea soup (keep it simple--splits, garlic and salt, add EVOO, cumin and hot pepper on top). Refried pintos or black beans. Cooked chickpeas on salad.

You typically eat with some type of whole grain (rice, corn, wheat).

Good source of B vitamins, protein and fiber. Great base for adding vegetables and making meats/dairy go farther. Easy to change flavors with different spices. Sustained energy. I love beans.

[ithappened]

lapis- HEY!!! the vogel salat in english is called mache salad and I do love the budget SPAR brand myself! I will have to look for some frittatas recipes. Do you have any favorites? I find since moving here I eat a lot of bread (which I actually wish I didn't) and oats.. or whatever is in the 1EUR bin at the M-pries (which usually has awesome deals on whatever veggies are in season)

lil_earthmomma- eggs are about 6 US dollars for 12 here. Meat is just as expensive as is, of all things, cottage cheese. A half liter of milk is about 2 US dollars. Sadly we eat a ton of pasta because its super cheap and we can buy in bulk so it last forever (10 lbs for example is 2-3 US dollars). I hate it, I wish I could be grain free but Im lacking in creative alternatives. We did buy a ton of beans but I find they upset my stomach to no end.

[lapis]

wow, eggs ARE really expensive where you are!

the ny times just posted a bunch of yummy looking frittata recipes http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0...nt-a-frittata/, but we usually just do potato, zucchini and onion... scramble six eggs and sometimes add cheese. i saute the veggies until they are cooked through, then pour the egg/cheese mixture on top. pop in the oven on around 200 degrees c and cook for like 30 mins. i cook it in a pan that can go from stove top to oven and has a lid. its actually tastier the next day (my favorite breakfast because i never feel like cooking in the morning... except for boiling water for coffee) rather than right out of the oven.

here are some other things i just thought of:

-polenta (polenta pizza is awesome and again, good as leftovers). i make polenta w/ water instead of milk, salt to taste. pour in a flat pan, let set for 20 mins, add tomato sauce and sauteed veggies and/or cheese on top. then i stick it in the oven for a bit to warm or melt the cheese.

-baked Süßkartoffel. they aren't super cheap but easy to make and i find them way more filling and satisfying than a regular potato. I literally just stab it with a fork a couple of times (that part is fun), put on a baking sheet for an hour + and they are delicious and also good the next day.

-i think the oatmeal is good to keep in your diet, cheap and good for keeping milk supply up too

-and yeah, beans, i totally second that one!! dried beans are really cheap and easy to make (soak overnight in water with a table spoon vinegar. rinse in the morning. add new cooking water and simmer for a few hours/until soft) add them to salads, rice, or on their own with olive oil and salt.

: )

[425lisamarie]

DO you like fish? I eat a lot of sardines, canned tuna and salmon (I get it at trader joe's) in salads alot.

I make TONS of bean or lentil patties. I buy alot of veg's at costco, and I am not an all organic person. I just can't do it. Some good EVOO and vinegar are good condiments and stretch.

I think sweet potatoes are a good side dish and you can just roast them, top wtih a little sea salt/pepper and whatever simple thing.

Beans/lentils are cheap and good.

I eat mostly veg, and CHEAP. I cook non veg for the fam, but I am happy and healthy not eating much animal so I don't.

I'm not sure what kind of diet you are on, as in what you are avoiding/eating/not eating. Just get whatever fruit is cheap, veg on special etc. bananas, apples are cheap. Get quinoa, oats, nuts and seeds in bulk.

[ithappened]

oh I forgot, I do love tuna but the 'good' kind is expensive here also.. and since I am BFing I have to be careful about mercury levels.. or so I was told.

I just got 5kg of lentils so I'm excited to start trying a ton of recipes. .