Some people spend a significant portion of their income on food. Moreover, their diet is not healthy or easy. Many people believe that if you skimp on food, you can ruin your health. However, this is a misconception. You can eat tasty and healthy, and at the same time inexpensively!
The ideal option is to switch to cereals, legumes and vegetables. But, unfortunately, not all people like this diet, although it is very healthy. Therefore, you have to figure out how to save on products such as fish and meat and prepare inexpensive, tasty dishes from small quantities of them.
Inexpensive and healthy products: list
- Legumes are an excellent source of vegetable protein. They are very nutritious and filling. There are many dishes that can be prepared from them. Unfortunately, modern people rarely eat beans, beans, chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, etc. The only disadvantage of legumes is that they need to be cooked for a long time. But this problem is easily solved. It is enough to soak the product overnight, and the next day it will take half as much time to cook.
- If you want to save on food, your diet should consist of 70-80% vegetables. Not only are they much cheaper than meat and eggs, but they are also healthier. Scientists have long proven that frequent consumption of animal protein is harmful to health. It is optimal to eat meat 2-3 times a week.
- Without potatoes, you will hardly be able to save on food. But you shouldn’t overuse potato dishes. This vegetable is healthy in moderation, and it is better to eat it not fried, but boiled or baked.
- Eggs are a healthy and valuable product. Using eggs, you can significantly reduce the amount of meat or sausage you consume if you are used to eating these foods all the time. However, eating large quantities of eggs is not recommended. The best option is 1 piece. in a day.
- You can prepare many good dishes from cereals and pasta. But in large quantities they are more harmful than beneficial. It is better to eat them 1-2 times a week. But cereals can be eaten at least every day.
- Canned fish, such as tuna, saury, sardines, pink salmon and mackerel, are tasty and healthy. In addition, they are relatively inexpensive. You can prepare many dishes from them, both first and second.
- Inexpensive, fatty, fresh fish (such as sardines or herring) are an extremely healthy product. It is recommended to eat fish 1-2 times a week.
- Meat on the bone is cheaper than fillet. You just need to learn how to cook it deliciously.
- Offal (liver and kidneys) is cheaper than meat, but many people love dishes made from them. The by-products make delicious salads and pie fillings.
Instead of buying cookies and other desserts at the store, which in most cases contain a lot of chemicals, bake them yourself! You can also bake apples and pumpkin in the oven with sugar or honey.
Don't forget about dairy products. Consume milk, cottage cheese, cheeses, kefir and sour cream. It is better to avoid mayonnaise, yoghurts with fillings, glazed cheeses and curds. In most cases, they contain a lot of chemical additives and are not cheap.
Delicious and simple budget recipes
Budget-friendly recipes for inexpensive dishes will help you last until payday in style.
- Inexpensive flounder dishes - 3 budget recipes: We like the sea fish flounder not only for its vitamin D reserves, but also for its favorable price. Bake it with lemon, boil it in milk or steam it with mint vegetables.
- Pies from nothing - budget food recipes: we prepare a full three-course meal with a completely empty refrigerator. Processed cheese soup, buckwheat cutlets and a cake made from flour and condensed milk alone will brighten up the most joyless days before payday.
- Sushi crackers - how to make homemade crackers in the oven: budget recipes for classic crackers, croutons for soup and an inexpensive analogue of kirieski, read in this material.
- Budget-friendly cookie recipes from scratch: when you're feeling crazy at home and your soul is asking for something sweet, it's time to bake inexpensive cookies. We offer you a choice of budget-friendly recipes for raspberry cookies, salted garlic crackers, and coffee-oatmeal cookies.
- Inexpensive dishes in batter - deep-fried balls: dip any food from the refrigerator in the dough and fry in oil. Nourishing, tasty and very affordable.
Open pie with canned pink salmon and sour cream
Compound:
- Canned pink salmon - 1 jar
- Kefir - 1 tbsp.
- Wheat flour - 1 tbsp.
- Hard cheese - 100 g
- Eggs - 4 pcs.
- Soda - 0.5 tsp.
- Sour cream - 1 tbsp. l.
- Dill and parsley - 1 bunch
- Pepper, salt - to taste
- Vegetable oil
Preparation:
- Pour kefir into a deep container, break 1 egg and mix until smooth.
- Add baking soda and salt, then add flour in small portions and stir constantly. You should now have a liquid dough.
- Grease a baking dish with butter or vegetable oil and pour the dough into it.
- For the filling, you need to first boil 2 eggs, then peel them and finely chop them. Remove the liquid from the canned food and mash the fish with a fork.
- Mix eggs with fish and finely chopped herbs. Spread this mixture onto the dough in an even layer.
- In a separate bowl, mix 1 raw egg with 1 tbsp. l. sour cream, add black pepper. Pour this sauce over the pie.
- Bake for about 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees. When the pie is ready, sprinkle it with grated cheese and place in the oven for another 2 minutes.
- Open pie with canned fish is good both hot and cold. You don’t have to make a filling of sour cream and eggs, but simply sprinkle the filling with cheese. But with filling, the dish turns out more juicy and tender.
The cheapest recipes in times of crisis
Dumpling dough:
- Wheat flour - 6 tbsp
- Milk or cream - 100 ml
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Butter - 10 g.
- Fresh herbs - 1/2 bunch
- Salt - 1 pinch
Juicy and tasty Pork Knuckle baked in the oven
The idea of a meat dish both for the holiday table and for every day. Delicious with beer. We cook very soft, juicy and tasty pork knuckle in the oven. This is a very simple dish that requires virtually no participation in its preparation. You will need a little time and patience. All the subtleties of cooking in the video recipe.
Products (for 2 servings):
- Pork (knuckle) – 1 kg
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Water - 4 l
- Salt - 90 g
Pumpkin baked in the oven in lemon caramel
A very simple and delicious pumpkin dessert - Pumpkin in lemon caramel, baked in the oven. Healthy sweets for the whole family. The recipe from the series couldn't be simpler.
Products (for 2 servings):
- Pumpkin – 350 g
- Sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
- Ground cinnamon - to taste (2 G)
- Lemon – 1 piece (100 g)
- Honey - to taste
Chinese cabbage salad with corn and croutons
We are preparing a very tasty and simple salad that is suitable for both every day and a holiday table. My favorite recipe.
Products (for 2 servings):
- Chinese cabbage – 120 g
- Bread (white and black) - 100 g
- Pickled cucumbers - 3 pcs.
- Canned corn - 70 g
- Garlic - 1.5 cloves
- Mayonnaise - 70 g
- Green onions - to taste
- Salt - to taste
- Pepper - to taste
- Spices - to taste
- Vegetable oil – 20 ml
Delicious Beef liver with apples and onions Berlin style
A simple and quick recipe for preparing tender, soft Berlin-style beef liver. Cook in a new way!
Products (for 4 servings)
- Beef liver – 500 g
- Milk – 100 ml
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Apple - 1 pc.
- Salt - to taste
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Spices - to taste
- Vegetable oil (for frying) - 50 ml
Chicken legs in crispy breading
Cooking juicy chicken legs with a crispy crust. A quick and easy dish.
Products (for 2 servings)
- Chicken drumsticks - 4 pcs. (500 g)
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Milk – 50 ml
- Breadcrumbs - 100 g
- Oat flakes – 100 g
- Vegetable oil - 1 l
- Salt - to taste
- Seasoning for chicken - to taste
- Black pepper - to taste
Fluffy hake balls in 10 minutes
Let's prepare delicious fish balls with cheese. A very simple and tasty dish, a quick dinner for the whole family.
Products (for 2 servings)
- Hake – 500 g (350 g fillet without skin)
- Eggs - 3 pcs.
- Hard cheese – 20 g
- Vegetable oil for frying - 30 g
- Spices for fish - to taste
- Salt - to taste
This recipe blew up the internet! These super easy flatbreads are to die for!
We cook delicious flatbreads in a frying pan at home. If you have leftover mashed potatoes, this is the perfect place to use it. The whole family will love this recipe! Try it!
Products (for 4 servings)
For the test:
- Warm water - 100 ml
- Dry yeast - 7 g
- Flour - 175 g
- Salt - 1/2 tsp.
- Sugar - 1 tsp.
- Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp.
For filling:
- Potatoes - 400 g
- Cheese - 100 g
- Dill greens - to taste
- Cream 15% – 30 ml
- Salt - to taste
- Vegetable oil (for frying) - 30 ml
A healthy snack for pennies - Beetroot pate - This is something incredibly tasty!
A delicious spread on bread is baked beet pate. Very tasty and healthy! Lenten, vegan dish, proper nutrition. You always have the necessary ingredients for cooking in the refrigerator. A recipe for every day and a simple appetizer for the holiday table. I'm absolutely in love with this dish and I'm sure you'll love it too. Share this super recipe with your loved ones! They will definitely be grateful to you. Ingredients:
- Beetroot - 200 g (2 small pieces)
- Carrots - 50 g (1/2 pcs.)
- Garlic - 4 cloves
- Hot chili pepper - 1/2 pcs.
- Olive oil - 1 tbsp
- Pumpkin seeds - 3 tbsp
- Boiling water – 100 ml
- Salt, pepper, smoked paprika - to taste
- Orange zest - to taste
Sheer pleasure! You've never tried a charlotte like this before! Delicious
This apple and berry pie will be swept off the table in no time! My favorite Charlotte recipe, tested over the years. 7 minutes of your time and the whole family is full. The necessary products are always in your refrigerator. Simple and very tasty!
Ingredients:
- Chicken eggs - 3 pcs.
- Sugar - 200 g (1 glass)
- Sour cream - 200 g.
- Baking powder for dough - 5 g.
- Cinnamon - 1 tsp
- Wheat flour - 200 g (1 cup)
- Apples (medium) - 3 pcs.
- Currants (or any other berry) - 1 cup
- Butter (for greasing the mold) - 1 tsp
My mother-in-law has been cooking this way for 30 years - Family recipe in 20 minutes
Just 3 ingredients and 20 minutes - and you have an amazing vegetable sauté in a creamy sauce. Family recipe, proven over the years. We cook this every summer.
Ingredients:
- New potatoes - 400 g.
- Zucchini (large) - 1 pc.
- Water – 150 ml
- Peas - 200 g.
- Dill - 1 bunch
- Cream - 100 ml
- Salt - to taste
- Wheat flour - 50 g.
- Vegetable oil and butter (for frying)
Fried pies with potatoes - Kefir dough, without yeast, very tasty
The simplest and fastest recipe for potato pies in a frying pan. Prepare a double portion at once! These pies are devoured in an instant! Ingredients (for 10 pcs.): For the dough:
- Wheat flour - 400 g.
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Sugar - 1 tbsp
- Chicken egg - 1 pc.
- Sour cream - 2 tbsp
- Kefir or fermented baked milk (at least 2.5% fat) - 250 ml
- Baking powder for dough - 5 g.
For filling:
- Potatoes (peeled) - 600 g.
- Salt - 2 pinches
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Vegetable oil - 30 ml
- Butter - 30 g.
- Fresh herbs - 1/2 bunch
- Ground black pepper - to taste
Sharing a delicious pepper shaker: https://iherb.com/pr/Simply-Organic-Get-Crackin-Pe... Apply promo code ASA3269 in your cart at checkout and get up to 15% off. Worldwide delivery. For frying:
- Vegetable oil - 60 ml
- Butter - 30 g.
Fish soup with salmon bellies
Compound:
- Salmon belly - 700 g
- Potatoes - 2 pcs.
- Wheat cereal - 100 g
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Fresh or dried dill - to taste
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Pepper, salt - to taste
- Water - 3 l
Preparation:
- Clean and rinse the bellies of the salmon. Cut them into small pieces, cover with cold water and cook the broth.
- Cut the peeled potatoes into cubes and place in boiling broth.
- Peel the onions and carrots and chop them into small strips. Add the vegetables to the pan with the fish and potatoes; no need to fry them in oil.
- Wash the millet and add to the ear. Cook everything for about 15 minutes. Then add salt and pepper, mix well and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Before removing the fish soup from the stove, add dill and 1-2 bay leaves. You can add whole dill stalks to the soup 3-5 minutes before the end of cooking, and remove them after the soup is cooked.
Yummy from leftover bread
Bread is the centerpiece for cooking from leftovers. This spontaneous part of the culinary art, which does not require much preparation, often reveals the world's most delicious food and unexpectedly successful combinations, forming the basis of many quick soups, baked goods, salads or casseroles: it is filling enough to satisfy the appetite and quite democratic, which allows you to mix it with a thousand other things.
Therefore, even if it is only a thin piece or crust, do not rush to get rid of it. One flick of the food processor will turn the crappy crust into crumbs, which you can then freeze and use to bread fishcakes or make a wonderfully savory bread sauce.
In short, bread is the head of everything, even if it is no longer as fresh as yesterday.
Fresh cabbage bigus
Compound:
- Sausages - 3 pcs.
- White cabbage - 1 fork
- Tomato - 1 pc.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Bell pepper - 1 pc.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Tomato paste - 3 tbsp. l.
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Pepper, salt, seasonings - to taste
Preparation:
- Coarsely chop the cabbage. Pour vegetable oil into a cauldron or thick-bottomed pan and heat it.
- Peel the carrots and onions. Cut the carrots into thin circles and chop the onion into long strips.
- Place carrots in hot oil and fry for 10 minutes. Then add the onion and fry until golden brown.
- Cut the sausages into slices and add to the cauldron with carrots and onions. Fry for 3-5 minutes.
- Peel the pepper from seeds, wash and chop into small slices. Cut the tomato into slices. Add to other ingredients.
- Vegetables should be stewed in their own juice. If there is not enough liquid, add some water.
- Simmer the vegetables until the peppers are ready. Then add a little salt, black pepper and seasonings of your choice.
- Add cabbage, stir. Close the lid and simmer the dish for about 20 minutes. Then add tomato sauce, and at the end of cooking - chopped garlic.
- The dish is best served with fresh parsley.
For breakfast
You need to eat in the morning, that's a fact. But how can you get by with minimal costs and quickly prepare breakfast without wasting time? There are many options, look below for step-by-step recipes with photos. Check out another very simple recipe for quick apple pie.
Croutons in egg
A very simple budget dish that will serve as a hearty breakfast with a cup of tea, milk or kefir.
Cut the bread about a centimeter thick.
Break the eggs into a deep plate. Add a little salt and beat with a fork.
Pour some oil into the frying pan (odorless, purified). Dip the bread in the egg and place it in hot oil.
Fry until golden, turn over. Fry a little more and remove. Our croutons are ready. Fast, simple and inexpensive.
Millet porridge with pumpkin on water
By the way, not only an economical, but also a healthy dish. Millet is good for the kidneys, for the stomach, blood formation, pumpkin is a storehouse of usefulness. Nourishing, tasty, quick and economical, a good start to the day.
- a piece of pumpkin;
- a glass of millet;
- 1 onion;
- frying oil;
- salt, pepper, Italian herbs.
Step-by-step preparation
Rinse the millet and add water in a cauldron. We take 3 times more water than millet. Add some salt and cook for half an hour. The grains need to be boiled.
Separately fry the onion. Boil the pumpkin separately (you can bake it in the oven with a small amount of water) and puree it.
Once the porridge is cooked, add onion and pumpkin, mix, taste for salt. Add spices. Let it simmer for a couple more minutes. Our pumpkin porridge is ready.
Brine cookies
If you are preparing canned food for the winter, you will love this recipe. There is no need to pour out the cucumber or tomato brine; you can use it to make delicious crumbly Lenten cookies. Prepares quickly. The products are the cheapest, and the results are excellent. Practical, filling with a cup of tea for breakfast or for a snack, quick, in a hurry.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour;
- glass of sugar;
- not a full glass of brine;
- 0.5 cups of any odorless vegetable oil;
- soda 1 tsp.
Mix all the ingredients (sift the flour!) and knead the dough. Cut into balls the size of a small fist. These balls will turn out more like buns (don’t brown them too much!), or like this: roll out the dough. Cut out circles (this is how the cookies turn out crispy and crumbly).
Place in a pan, greased with butter and sprinkled with flour, and bake.
Vegetables with egg mixture
Compound:
- Potatoes - 3 pcs.
- Eggs - 4 pcs.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Young green beans - 200 g
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Vegetable oil
- Pepper, salt - to taste
Preparation:
- Peel the vegetables, rinse and cut into strips. Pour oil into a frying pan and heat well.
- Add vegetables and fry until soft. Then add salt and pepper.
- Break the eggs into a separate container and beat them with a whisk. Mix the egg mixture with the vegetables, cover with a lid and simmer until cooked.
- Before eating, add fresh herbs to the dish. In the summer, this recipe can be supplemented with eggplants, zucchini and peppers.
As you can see, inexpensive meals for every day can be prepared from healthy ingredients. Saving on food, if you approach it wisely, will not ruin your health and figure. On the contrary, a lean and low-calorie diet will only benefit you.
Pizza Pyatiminutka
What you will need: 2 eggs (raw), 4 tbsp each of mayonnaise and sour cream, 9 tbsp flour, 60-70 g of cheese and... whatever you find in the refrigerator.
How to cook:
- Mix sour cream/mayonnaise, flour and eggs.
- Pour the dough into a frying pan or into a mold (do not forget to grease it with oil in advance).
- We put the filling on top - whatever we find. Tomatoes, leftover sausages from dinner, onions and carrots, canned mushrooms, etc.
- Pour mayonnaise over everything (if available) and add grated cheese.
- Bake.
Cabbage salads
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What can you cook when you have no money? Owners of personal plots are luckier in this regard. They can safely switch to vegetables grown in garden beds. However, city residents will also be able to purchase slightly spoiled vegetables at the market and cook them. For example, cabbage is inexpensive, but it brings enormous benefits. White cabbage is washed, the top leaves are torn off and damaged areas are removed. Next, it is shredded on a special grater or simply cut into thin slices using a knife. It is advisable to exclude carrots and green onions from the salad, which can easily be grown at home on the windowsill. If there are no green onions, then add regular onions. It is also finely cut into narrow sticks. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed, sprinkled with salt, sugar, vinegar and vegetable oil are added.
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This dish is healthy to eat throughout the year. In addition, it perfectly solves the problem: what to cook without money? Cabbage contains unique elements that prevent the occurrence of stomach ulcers. In addition, it is a valuable source of vitamin C. It is practically the only vegetable that retains vitamin C until April.
Processed cheese or saury
What to cook for Christmas if you have no money? Canned fish salads are quite simple to prepare. Inexpensive saury would be a good option. Place it on a plate and mash it with a fork, after which a small amount of mayonnaise and finely chopped onions are added. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed. The salad can be decorated with parsley leaves.
You can also make a holiday salad from two processed cheeses and four boiled eggs. To do this, the cheese curds are grated on a coarse grater, and the eggs are cut into small squares. If the cheese curds are very soft, then you can simply mash them with a fork along with the eggs. This dish also includes crushed garlic and mayonnaise. There is no need to add salt to the salad, since the cheese curds already contain a sufficient amount of salt.