Does cheap, healthy, convenient AND yummy food exist?

[bobthemole]

In a complete 180 degree turn from my last post (with its shameless consumerist bent) I want to deal with an issue that bitch-slaps me every time I try to balance my budget... how to eat on slave wages.

I've been spending $20-40 on food from on- and off- campus vendors each month, and that's money I could easily find other uses for. The logical fix is to brown bag my lunch everyday, but that hasnt been happening. For one thing, I'm lazy. For another, I crave novelty and I cannot eat peanut-butter on toast everyday. I've tried, but I end up throwing away the PB toast and buying a pizza. Other lazy options are grilled cheese, or egg or tuna sandwiches but I am sick sick SICK of them now.

So this is an open thread in which I beg everyone reading this to post about the food you eat on a daily basis. I need ideas and recipes on what to eat, and I'm also curious about what everyone else on a grad stipend/ undergrad allowance does. Do you eat breakfast? Brown bag lunch or eat out? Cook dinner from scratch or microwave a Lean Cuisine?

I'm especially interested on how much you care about these factors...

CHEAP - How much do you spend on food each month? On each meal?
HEALTHY - Are you hitting all the food groups? Do you follow a special diet? Do you care how much sodium, MSG or preservatives you eat?
CONVENIENT - How much time do you spend in the kitchen each week? Each meal? How many dishes do you end up washing?
YUMMY - YMMV, of course. Do you fuss over the taste? Do you need variety?



Post away!

Comments

[mintyq.livejournal.com]

Cost: you'd have to ask jesse, but around $125 per person per month eating in. However, I'm known to splurge to try something new or if food I like is on sale. if we wanted, we could probably get it under $60 each, but the sacrifice wouldn't be worth it to me (I'd rather cook something new than go to a new restaurant, and restaurant rib-eye is always about $20 per pound so it's cheaper to buy it at the grocery store). We brown-bag our lunches from leftovers every day. Grow veggies in my backyard (tomatoes=easiest, & since they are so $$ at the store, best value for work), and buy lots of ones are on sale that I can't grow. I cook from scratch. Per-meal cost varies, depending on what I've made. I've posted a couple of recipes so you can see more clearly where the costs go and what's cheap and what's not-so-cheap.
Healthy: I try to make it well balanced. I buy lactose-free milk, special yogurt (one of the splurgy items), and try to avoid MSG. Otherwise, no restrictions. I probably eat too much fried food, but it’s quick; we go through lots of olive oil.
Convenience: I like to cook, but weekday meals must be under 35 minutes. Jesse does dishes, and would probably say I get too many of them dirty.
Yummy: a MUST. As for variety, I'll eat the same thing about 3 days in a row, but not 2 meals in a row unless it's dessert. If I make a really big meal, we freeze leftovers as lunches we can grab when we are rushed. It's a quick way to add variety.

Stir-fry veggies w/ meat or tofu in choice of hoisin, soy, cream-pesto, tomato sauces; serve over rice, spaghetti squash, or pasta, which can also be stir-fried. $1 worth of pasta (1lb), $1 worth of broccoli (1lb), $.25 worth of shredded carrots (2 carrots), $.50 worth green onions (half bunch) and ~$0.50 worth of hoisin or bulgogi sauce makes 4-6 large supper servings, depending on how hungry, so about $0.60 per meal. Meat rapidly increases the cost, but when I find chicken here for $.49/lb, I buy a lot and freeze it. Tofu also freezes fairly well and usually I can find it for under $1/lb. Prep time: 15 mins by hand, or 5 mins w/ food processor. Cook time: 10 minutes. Sample sauce recipe: 2tbsp sugar, 2tbsp soy sauce, 2tbsp (rice) vinegar (or 1/2 tsp white vinegar), clove minced garlic or dash powdered garlic, dash powdered ginger. Mix well. If doing meat or tofu, add five minutes for marination at beginning. Uses 1 pot for pasta and 1 skillet. Frozen veggies are often cheaper than fresh, so keep that in mind.

Also, we use a crock pot alot; it takes about 5 minutes to throw everything in there and when you come home, it's done. Or we do it overnight and make our lunches up in the morning. Sample: 3 lbs beef (about $5), 4 carrots (about $.50), 6 potatoes ($1), celery if you like it (~.50), couple spoonfuls of water, and you have about 8-10 servings of pot roast, more if you have veggies or bread on the side, so that's about $0.70 per meal.

Stuffed squash--not so cheap, but cheap if you have company coming over (it looks like more work than it actually is): microwave 2 c chicken stock (1 can, $.70, or you can make it at home from leftover carcass) for 2 mins. halve 3 acorn squashes ($2). Place in covered microwave dish w/ water and cook for ten mins. In meantime, mix chicken stock, tbsp margarine, 2 chopped carrots, chopped browned onion, browned ground turkey (meat, $1.25 lb, sausage $2/lb), and stuffing mix ($2.5/large bag, or make from leftover stale bread or croutons). Add spices (sage, bay, thyme, rosemary) to taste. When squash are fork-tender, stuff w/ stuffing and serve. Makes 6-8 servings (i can usualyl only eat about 1/3 of a squash, and jesse is really full after 1/2 squash), so about $1/serving. Serve with something green.

Other cheap and easy meals include: pumpkin sausage sauce with pasta; beef stroganoff; pad thai; spaghetti; risotto; anything alfredo; anything parmesan; hummus, baba ganouj, and pita; black beans and rice; n layer nachos; falafels; sausage and potatoes; 3 bean salad; cream of mushroom soup; cheese and broccoli soup; chowder; stews; chicken curry (spicy), green bean salad; caesar salad; pink stuff; meatloaf; spinach salad; orange chicken (not like hovse food); roast chicken (easy but definitely something to make on a weekend).