Marcus Reeves is an experienced writer, publisher, and fact-checker. He began his writing career reporting for The Source magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, among other publications.

His book Somebody Scream: Rap Music's Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power was nominated for a Zora Neale Hurston Award. He is an adjunct instructor at New York University, where he teaches writing and communications.

Marcus received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. If you're looking for cheap, healthy meals, these ideas are guaranteed to satisfy any of your cravings. With more than a month's worth of nutritious meals on a budget , you'll soon learn how to use inexpensive but flavor-packed ingredients to bring well-balanced meals to your table.

Choose your own adventure with this North African-inspired feast. The chicken, chickpea, and veggie stew can be made on your stove top in a Dutch oven, or you can hit fast-forward with a pressure cooker or go low and slow with a slow cooker.

Using either of these methods will treat you to a healthy meal on a budget that's low in calories, high in protein, and nicely spiced with cumin, ginger, cinnamon, and cayenne. This traditional Southern comfort dish is said to bring good luck if you eat it on New Year's Day.

But we're so obsessed with this cheap, healthy meal, we eat it all year. Instead of calling for bacon or ham, our vegetarian variation of this rice and black-eyed peas dish features several spices and heaps of veggies, including bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and frozen corn.

The spice—and the price—are right for this Indian-inspired cheap, healthy meal. Serve the turmeric- and ginger-infused grilled chicken on a bed of basmati rice included in the price estimate to round out the meal.

Save leftover sliced meat to tuck inside warm pita bread or a tortilla for a lunch wrap the next day. Meatloaf secures a top spot on the list of easy, cheap, healthy meals when you use lean ground beef and boost the filling factor with inexpensive spuds.

And don't you love how sheet-pan dinners like this one require so little cleanup time? Cooking everything on one foil-lined pan speeds it up. You'd be hard-pressed to find a delivery pizza as affordable as this homemade healthy dinner recipe. Start with store-bought dough to make the Mediterranean meal a practical choice, even on a weeknight.

Look for the dough in the refrigerated section of your supermarket or ask your local pizza shop if you can purchase an extra pound of their secret recipe! Noodle dishes are known to be easy on the wallet.

Not so much. Fortunately, a small handful of heart-healthy nuts can go a long way to add a rich flavor to cheap, healthy meals like this one. Whole wheat noodles help too. Low in fat 6 grams per portion yet high in protein a strong 28 grams , this five-ingredient slow cooker pork recipe checks all the boxes.

Only 10 minutes of prep required. Indeed—it's one of the lowest-cost options in this collection of cheap, healthy meals. Here's a cheap, healthy vegetarian meal you'll want to make again and again. With 24 grams of protein and a nice portion of hunger-taming broth and noodles, this soup will fill you up for hours.

Meat-like portobello mushrooms , tofu , and a poached egg join fresh veggies in this cozy, crowd-pleasing Asian noodle soup. Breaded with whole wheat panko and baked instead of fried, this eggplant Parmesan is calories less than some classic recipes. Keep your nutrition streak going by grabbing a couple of zucchini at the store to spiralize , toss with the rest of the marinara , and serve under the baked eggplant.

Voilà—a budget dinner recipe for four that tastes up to par with its restaurant competition. A few decades ago, "stretch the meat" was the mantra for cutting costs at dinnertime. It's still a great strategy for making cheap, healthy meals even more affordable.

Here wide egg noodles , mushrooms, and a bit of cheese extend 8 ounces of ground beef to provide five hearty servings. One bite will be all the proof you need that you can absolutely make satisfying suppers without making meat the main event.

Instead of refried beans, this flavorful Mexican entrée —ready in 30 minutes—features a creamy cauliflower puree. If you're hungry and have leftover chicken or shrimp , toss them in too.

the serving size can be cut in half for an easy, healthy dinner recipe for two on a budget. To maximize your cheap, healthy dinner recipes, never let any ingredients go to waste.

Instead, use any leftover pesto in these quick and easy pesto recipes. Turn budget-friendly shaved cooked ham into a delicacy by serving it on mashed sweet potatoes and topping it with cranberry sauce. This healthy dinner recipe on a budget offers a taste of Thanksgiving any time of year.

Not into ham or craving more holiday spirit? This vegetarian spaghetti squash lasagna, with 18 grams of satisfying protein and 7 g of filling fiber , is a great budget recipe you'll turn to time and time again.

Pictured Recipe: Easy Chicken Fried Rice. Budget Tip: Fried rice with plenty of vegetables and a little meat is an obvious choice when you want to make a quick and healthy dinner that's easy on your wallet. Feel free to throw in whatever veggie odds and ends you have in your fridge. Being versatile and using what you have on hand helps you save money and minimize food waste.

Pictured Recipe: Roasted Buffalo Chickpea Wraps. Budget Tip: Canned beans are an affordable, healthy and convenient ingredient that add satisfying protein and fiber to your meals. Here, canned chickpeas replace the more-expensive chicken but still deliver that satisfying Buffalo flavor.

Stock up when beans go on sale and use in wraps, salads, soups, stews and more for a healthy, inexpensive plant protein. Budget Tip: Canned black beans, precooked rice and whatever veggies you have on hand are all it takes to whip up this fast and flavorful bean and veggie taco bowl.

Use whatever pantry staples you have on hand to create this low-cost meal and skip an extra trip to the grocery store. Budget Tip: Chicken often goes on sale, so when it does, stock up and keep it in your freezer.

This one-pot pasta uses less-expensive flavorful chicken thighs combined with veggies, dried herbs and cheese for a delicious and creamy one-dish dinner. Pictured Recipe: Slow-Cooker Beef Stew. Budget Tip: Tougher cuts of meat, like the beef chuck used in this easy beef stew recipe, are affordable options that simply need more cooking time to become tender and juicy—which makes them perfect for the slow cooker.

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Turkey Sandwich with 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2 oz. turkey, 1 tomato slice, 3 lettuce leaves, 2 tsp. Engligh Muffin Turkey Burgers with 1 English muffin and 2 oz. margarine 1 cup lowfat milk. margarine 1 slice whole wheat bread with 2 tsp.

Sandwiches:Turkey or ham sandwich Burgers:Classic cheeseburger 10 Budget Busters on Everyday Restaurant Menus · Soft Drinks · 9: Salads · 8: Wine · 7: Seafood · 6: Specials · 5: Breakfast Foods · 4: Side Dishes and Appetizers

Low-cost menu options - Pizza:Margherita pizza Sandwiches:Turkey or ham sandwich Burgers:Classic cheeseburger 10 Budget Busters on Everyday Restaurant Menus · Soft Drinks · 9: Salads · 8: Wine · 7: Seafood · 6: Specials · 5: Breakfast Foods · 4: Side Dishes and Appetizers

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Showing items 1 to 24 of Stir-fried beef with ginger. Turkey pasta bake. Speedy lentil coconut curry. Roasted red pepper soup with crispy croutons.

Slow-cooker pumpkin soup. Expand your horizons. Try deciphering what osso bucco means. The translation of osso bucco means "pierced bone", and of course traditionally osso bucco is veal, but many chefs, like myself take the libery of using the word to describe other meat prepared the same way.

I have done lamb and pork this way and both were fantastic. Flat Iron steaks, Pork Shoulder, Pork Belly and Lamb Shoulder are some current ones. Great winter fare as well.

Apart from the flat iron steaks and including previous posts in this thread it seems that braisable economy cuts although veal osso buco can be pricey are the way to go. This thread could get alot more interesting in the spring and summer when customers are less likely to enjoy a steaming plate of braised meat.

At the establishment I work at, we have our dry pasta made by a local company, so it's not relatively cheap. I would have also considered vegetables like parsnips, rutabaga, beets, radishes, cabbage.

If cooked with care they can be glorious garnishes. Anytime you can take something that you are otherwise going to throw away or not use, or something that you could get for dirt cheap, you are looking at a winner.

Finding a way to utilize trim from butering like turning the chain of a tenderloin into tartare, or salmon belly into smoked salmon rilletes, etc. Things like offal are usually great for making money, especially if you are good at dressing them up.

At my restaurant now we're doing an adapted Michael Mina recipe -- potato crusted blue cod, braised red cabbage, horseradish mash and a mustard sauce. The potato chips are the most expensive part of the dish.. each dish has a foodocst of like, 2 bucks. Cabbage is great. I love a classic red wine cabbage--red wine, RW vinegar, touch of sugar, salt, onion, and finish with some grated green apple.

Really good stuff--great with pork and duck especially. I like the flavorful cuts of beef that you don't always see hanger, flank, even beef heart has alot of flavor. Braised anything is nice--we do duck legs, short ribs, and veal shank--as it imparts taste and great texture.

Our chef usually saves scraps from our filet chains and turns them into ravioli when he's got enough. Money, baby.

I love hangar steak, one of my favs, but it's starting to be trendy and come up in price a bit. A shame because it used to be DIRT cheap. In addition to the ones already mentioned here, anyone have more ideas for low-cost meats?

In particular, I'm looking for a nice cut of pork that would take well to a few days of Zuni-style cure, but all inexpensive meat ideas are interesting to me. I like the idea of low-cost ingredients prepared in a loving, relatively labor intensive fashion. If you are not trapped by a menu you can save a great deal of money on veggies, fruit and sides by only buying what is on sale.

Even the meat market goes up and down--braised meats are more expensive in the winter--opposite for tender cuts. I do a butter poached chicken breast which is quite cheap. Although I garnish the dish with shaved truffles. Day 2: Tuesday. Day 3: Wednesday.

Day 4: Thursday. Day 5: Friday. Day 6: Saturday. Day 7: Sunday. Tags Simple Meal Plans. Apply Request Information Give. tuna, 1 Tbsp.

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Low-cost menu options - Pizza:Margherita pizza Sandwiches:Turkey or ham sandwich Burgers:Classic cheeseburger 10 Budget Busters on Everyday Restaurant Menus · Soft Drinks · 9: Salads · 8: Wine · 7: Seafood · 6: Specials · 5: Breakfast Foods · 4: Side Dishes and Appetizers

If you're looking for the coziest weeknight dinner , this has gotta be next on your list. Get the Chicken Tamale Pie recipe. Bell peppers are strong enough to hold their shape in the oven, and the flavor is subtle enough to go well with just about anything. This is our favorite recipe, but the customization options are endless —check out all our stuffed pepper recipes here too.

Get the Classic Stuffed Peppers recipe. From the realms of cheesy pizza and bubbling baked pasta comes a new family favorite: pizza casserole. Loaded with sausage, veggies, and plenty of cheese, this easy weeknight dinner has all of the cheesy, tomato-filled goodness of our favorite take-out pizza, neatly packaged in a 13"-by-9" pan.

Get the Pizza Casserole recipe. Craving homemade enchiladas and being in a hurry aren't really compatible since the classic Mexican dish requires many steps and a fair amount of time.

Enter these chicken enchiladas , a quick take on the dish that comes together in one skillet. Get the Green Chile Chicken Skillet Enchiladas recipe.

A classic nostalgic comfort dish , goulash is the hearty weeknight dinner we'll always crave. The best thing about it?

Everything cooks together in one pot —even the pasta! Get the Goulash recipe. Focusing on only 3 key ingredients, our chicken fajita recipe requires minimal prep and cook time, meaning dinner on the table FAST. Follow our classic recipe for our best-ever version or use it as a jumping-off point to experiment with your favorite proteins, veggies, and toppings.

Get the Chicken Fajitas recipe. This sheet pan dinner works with whatever veggies you already have and requires basically zero effort. Most of the time spent is waiting while the sheet pan is in the oven, and there are minimal dishes to clean when it's all said and done. What more could you need?

Craving BBQ pulled chicken? Good news—this slow-cooker recipe makes it easier than ever to create delicious, tender, and extra-flavorful pulled chicken right at home with minimal effort.

Get the Brown Sugar BBQ Chicken recipe. Get the Mexican Chicken Casserole recipe. We've all been there: You're craving homemade pizza , but you want it fast —no time to deal with rolling out finicky pizza dough. The solution? Grab a loaf of French bread , and get ready for the pizza hack of a lifetime.

Get the French Bread Pizza recipe. This is probably THE simplest recipe The chicken falls apart and becomes immensely tender, flavored with the familiar flavors of chunky salsa and taco seasoning , and brightened up with bursts of lime juice.

Serve this over rice, in lettuce cups, as tacos Get the Crockpot Salsa Chicken recipe. Tostadas might just be the perfect meal—these crunchy corn tortillas are easy to buy or make!

AND they can act as a vehicle for whatever toppings you like. Here, that means creamy refried beans and a chile-spiked shredded chicken topping, but feel free to get creative. Get the Chicken Tostadas recipe. Use your favorite jarred or homemade salsa verde to make this extremely easy and flavorful dish.

Everything cooks in the same pot for a mess-free and, most importantly, quick weeknight dinner. It's about to be one of your new favorites. Juicy pork tenderloin seriously deserves its own spotlight.

We keep the seasoning simple here: chili powder, cumin, garlic powder. If you want another flavor profile, the world is your oyster: oregano and Italian seasoning, ranch seasoning, taco seasoning , or even just salt and black pepper will do.

Use our My Personal Plate to record your amounts. Home Low Cost Menu Planner. Low Cost Menu Planner. How Much Food Should I Eat? Day 1: Monday. Day 2: Tuesday. Day 3: Wednesday. Day 4: Thursday. Day 5: Friday. Day 6: Saturday. Day 7: Sunday. Tags Simple Meal Plans.

Apply Request Information Give. tuna, 1 Tbsp.