Foods that keep your family healthy and full without breaking the bank.
Everyone wants to save money on groceries, but not everyone knows how to do so without feeding their family junk foods. Things such as boxed meals and ramen noodles are cheap, but they’re full of preservatives and sodium that are unhealthy for your family. Luckily, there are more than enough cheap foods to feed your family that are not junk if you’re careful and looks for them.
Eggs
Eggs are a great option for when you need a quick, nutritious and cheap meal option! Boil them, scramble, make them over easy or poached. There are so many ways to eat eggs and they’re so cheap, it just makes sense to keep them on your cheap meal list.
Plus, eggs are rich in high-quality protein, selenium, Vitamin D, zinc and more making them a very well rounded but cheap food.
Oatmeal
Oats are also a great, nutrient-rich but budget-friendly food. You can often find them on sale for less than $0.75 per pound usually.
They’re rich in quite a few vitamins and minerals including iron, zinc, magnesium, and B vitamins. They are high in fiber and antioxidants, low on the Glycemic index, and are naturally gluten-free!
But you can’t eat oatmeal for dinner… or can you? Check out this list of Savory oatmeal dishes that make a great meal.
Beans
Beans might be musical but they are also very budget friendly and fairly nutritious. A serving of beans is high in fiber and a great source of high quality protein. They’re also rich in antioxidants and folate and can help with controlling appetite, preventing fatty liver disease and helping to manage blood sugar levels.
If you aren’t a fan of beans, they are very easy to hide in soup or Tex-Mex recipes. Chances are you’ll never even know they are there but they are fantastic way to fill bellies!
Pasta
Now we aren’t talking ramen here. Instead, grab a couple of boxes of regular spaghetti pasta and serve it up with anything from tomato sauce to italian dressing. If you’re looking for some ideas about how to turn plain spaghetti into something fantastic, myrecipes.com has a list of 100 ways to prepare spaghetti noodles!
Tuna (and other canned meats)
Tuna is fantastically healthy for you and is an inexpensive way to add protein and vitamins to your diet. Not to mention that it’s incredibly versatile and can be added to sandwiches, pastas, salads, and more.
In addition to tuna, other canned meats can be prepared in similar fashion making them a cheap way to keep important nutrients on hand.
Sandwiches
Usually, when you hear “Sandwich” you think of picnics and lunch meat. But if you’ll think outside of the box a little bit, you can turn cheap or
Usually, when you hear “Sandwich” you think of picnics and lunch meat. But if you’ll think outside of the box a little bit, you can turn cheap or leftover ingredients into delicious hearty meals.
But they can also be delicious and hearty. (Think hot ham and cheese or roast beef sandwiches). Sandwiches are healthiest when you use ingredients other than lunchmeat on them, but if you ARE going to add lunch meat, keep an eye out for sodium content.
For healthier sandwich ideas, check out this list by 100 days of real food for some more sandwich inspiration!
Ultimately, feeding your family on the cheap is about getting creative with ingredients and not reaching for that ready-made solution from the freezer section.
What are your go-to cheap meal ideas? Leave us a comment and share!
