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I hope y’all are enjoying the long holiday weekend! I thought it would be a good opportunity to round up my Top 20 Recipes for Eating Healthy on a Budget. You see, it’s about this time every year that I start getting serious about eating healthy and working out. No, not because bikinis are rapidly approaching (okay, maybe a little), but because the sudden sunshine and warm air begin to energize and awaken me from the inside out. As soon as the sun starts to come out from behind those winter clouds, I spring to action like a little energizer bunny.
I went through my archives and pulled these 20 recipes (10 meat and 10 vegetarian) that you might find useful if you suddenly become a health monster every spring, like me. “Healthy” is obviously a very subjective term, so take the list with a grain of salt.
My criteria for healthy means: plenty of vegetables and/or fiber, low or no added sugar, and reasonable fat content (lower animal based fats). And of course, what do all of these recipes have in common? They’re satisfying and budget friendly. Enjoy! :)
This chipotle chicken chili has smoky chipotle peppers, shredded chicken, and hearty beans for a meal that will fill you up and satisfy your taste buds.
These Sweet n' Spicy Chicken Bowls assemble quickly and provide a lot of flavor, color, and texture. Low sugar, high fiber, and loaded with deliciousness!
This easy hot and sour soup is light on the stomach, but big on flavor! The spicy and tangy broth is full of colorful vegetables and tender cubes of tofu.
Want to share your favorites? Feel free to share your favorite recipes for eating healthy on a budget (from anywhere around the web!) in the comments below.
Beth MoncelI’m a food lover, number cruncher, and meticulous budgeter. I love science and art, and the way they come together when I cook. I love to create, problem solve, and learn new things. Making great food is my passion, my purpose, and my favorite thing to share with others.More About Beth
Eat More. Spend Less.
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I really love Mini black bean turkey burgers :) :) I added a few slices of tomato and made a simple avocado-sour cream sauce and I can’t believe it was really tasty awesome recipe Thanks! for sharing this waiting for some more recipes.
This is a great post – thank you! I too am overwhelmed by all the healthy eating, meal planning, etc. I work full time and have 3 young children – I also don’t have time to spend hours on Sunday coming up with new recipes and a shopping list to go with it, or cook an elaborate meal on weeknights (even though I’d love to!), so I tend to stick to basics and routine dinners – although that’s getting boring even for the kids I love all of these tips – thank you, can’t wait to try them!
Once I learned that I could make food at home that was A.) Healthier than eating out and B.) tasted better?!?! welp, it was a no brainer.
Some of my favorite recipes are one pot / one pan meals that are easy, have simple ingredients, and take no time at all :) I’ve started a list of them here: https://joshmuskin.com/category/recipes-for-eating-healthy/ and can’t wait to keep adding to it!!
Very happy to have stumbled across this page so full of good sounding recipes. I’ve made my list and can’t wait to try most of them. My menu has been planned for the week. Thank you, will definately check back for more.
My favorite “healthy and cheap” meal is fried rice. You can put a ton of vegetables into it, you can put meat in if you so desire or leave it vegetarian, it doesn’t have to involve a lot of oil if you use water to “waken up” the rice when cooking, plus you get protein from a couple eggs at the end. Usually I don’t end up paying more than $2 or so for a big pan (4 servings) of fried rice.
Glad to see the Chunky Lentil Soup on here! My wife and I have been vegetarian for about a year and a half, and I do most of the cooking. Your recipes have been a huge help. Chunky Lentil soup was such a hit, I made it once a week for like 3 weeks after introducing it. It’s gone on our personal menu.
Everybody loves good food. Thank you for sharing these recipes.
Last weekend I tried “CHICKEN AND LIME SOUP”, it was really yummy.
Cheers!!
I really love Mini black bean turkey burgers :) :) I added a few slices of tomato and made a simple avocado-sour cream sauce and I can’t believe it was really tasty awesome recipe Thanks! for sharing this waiting for some more recipes.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe, I enjoyed reading this helpful post.
This is a great post – thank you! I too am overwhelmed by all the healthy eating, meal planning, etc. I work full time and have 3 young children – I also don’t have time to spend hours on Sunday coming up with new recipes and a shopping list to go with it, or cook an elaborate meal on weeknights (even though I’d love to!), so I tend to stick to basics and routine dinners – although that’s getting boring even for the kids I love all of these tips – thank you, can’t wait to try them!
I like beans based vegan dishes they are healthy and on budget too. it was quite delighted Mexican food.
I like beans based vegan dishes they are healthy and on budget too. Also Mexican food is a total delight. Thank you for the post.
Once I learned that I could make food at home that was A.) Healthier than eating out and B.) tasted better?!?! welp, it was a no brainer.
Some of my favorite recipes are one pot / one pan meals that are easy, have simple ingredients, and take no time at all :) I’ve started a list of them here: https://joshmuskin.com/category/recipes-for-eating-healthy/ and can’t wait to keep adding to it!!
Very happy to have stumbled across this page so full of good sounding recipes. I’ve made my list and can’t wait to try most of them. My menu has been planned for the week. Thank you, will definately check back for more.
A lot of recipes thank you… I’m gonna live on this site!
thank you for these recipes !!
I’ll try it soon for more
thank you
Lots of new recipe, living in hostel alone, will try all of them this week. Thank you, Budget bytes reduced confusion for this weekend’s dinner :D
My favorite “healthy and cheap” meal is fried rice. You can put a ton of vegetables into it, you can put meat in if you so desire or leave it vegetarian, it doesn’t have to involve a lot of oil if you use water to “waken up” the rice when cooking, plus you get protein from a couple eggs at the end. Usually I don’t end up paying more than $2 or so for a big pan (4 servings) of fried rice.
It’s how I got through undergrad! :P
I like beans based vegan dishes they are healthy and on budget too. Also Mexican food is a total delight.
lots of recipes. i want to learn all. I will try to do all it soon. per item per day. you make me love cooking more
Glad to see the Chunky Lentil Soup on here! My wife and I have been vegetarian for about a year and a half, and I do most of the cooking. Your recipes have been a huge help. Chunky Lentil soup was such a hit, I made it once a week for like 3 weeks after introducing it. It’s gone on our personal menu.
Thank you for all your hard work!