When I cook meals at home, I’m not a fancy eater. I want to eat healthily, and it seems what is considered healthy is continually shifting. There are two significant factors to eating healthy I think we can all agree on.
Lay off the junk food and steer clear of prepackaged processed food. Both these are excellent advice because processed food and junk food also tend to be the most expensive.
I’m also a real big fan of Ramen, Pho, or other types of noodle dishes. You can noodle dishes in just about every Asian culture. But, my favorite is from Vietnam.
It includes a deep rich broth like soup, a ton of noodles, and then the rest of the bowl is filled with extras like meat or vegetables.
I eat these often because they are cheap, quick, and very healthy depending on what you add.
My basic method is pretty simple. Dump everything that needs to be hot in a bowl, shoot it in the microwave, and then dump everything that needs to be cold on top of that.
Sometimes I eat everything with chopsticks. Other times I opt for a fork.
So, let’s dig into these bowl things a little deeper to see how you can make them super cheap (most of the time under three dollars) and still be healthy.
Money Saving Tips; I eat tons of vegetables.
Vegetables are pretty darn cheap. I’ve found store-brand frozen to be the cheapest, but I don’t like the taste. I can go to my local bargain supermarket, spend as little as $10, and walk out with a bunch of fresh vegetables.
I go home I precut everything I’m going to use for the week and store it ready to go in the fridge.
Some vegetables like to breathe. For these, I have some special containers with vents. You can either open or close the vents depending on what vegetables are in the containers.
Here is a printable guide from the OXO website I use to determine which to vent and which to seal. I love and use their products. They are inexpensive and indestructible.
I toss a handful of different vegetables in every bowl dish I make. Sometimes they are hot; sometimes they are cold.
Either way, vegetables land at the top of my list for the cheapest way to eat healthy and quick.
Money Saving Tips; I eat less meat.
I’m not too big on meat. I’ll eat it. I’m not against it in any way. When meat is done well, it’s delicious. Other than that, I’m indifferent. By done well, I do not mean ‘well done’; huge difference.
I’ve had way too many dried-out pork chops and chicken breasts in my day.
Not eating meat works out better for me and my budget because meat is expensive. Even when it’s on sale, it’s still way pricier than vegetables by volume. This is why many of my meals skip meat.
I save a bunch on my budget by just not buying it. My wife, on the other hand, is a big meat eater. Because of her busy schedule, we don’t eat too many meals together. When we do, I like to take her out.
For my average lunch or dinner at home, I prefer something a little more simple and quick. I like meals with a bunch of vegetables.
Money Saving Tips; I love my instant pot.
If you aren’t using an instant pot, you are missing out. Yes, I’m what some people call a pothead. But not in the drug sense. An Instant Pot is an electronic pressure cooker that is programmable for different types of foods. It is as close as you can get to an easy scratch-made meal as it gets.
For something as easy as spaghetti, you dump in all your raw ingredients, set the timer and program mode, and seal the lid. Twenty minutes later or so, you’re digging into delicious mounds of spaghetti.
No need to prepare the noodles in one pot and wait to bring the water to a boil. Then cook the sauce in the other container. It all goes in at the same time, seal the lid, and it beeps when everything is done. Talk about quick and easy. If you use cheap or raw ingredients, it’s even better.
Did I mention it doubles as an excellent rice cooker? Dump in your water and rice, press the rice button, and ten minutes later, the rice is done and ready to eat. I usually make rice in large batches and refrigerate it for the week.
I put some in a bowl, add just a touch of water to help it rehydrate, throw some vegetables on top, add some seasoning or soy sauce, microwave for 2 ½ minutes, and I have a quick easy, and cheap lunch.
I couldn’t live without my Instant Pot.
Money Saving Tips; I use different spices.
I love trying different spice combinations. I think this is why I get away with being indifferent toward eating meat. I can spice up a bowl of noodles with vegetables and beans, and make them taste completely different every time.
My spice cabinet overflows with options. I’m always looking around to find some new combination. I’m also a sauce fan; especially hot sauce. Some sauces mixed in a bowl of Ramen or a good rice noodle. It’s cheap, fast, tasty, and with some vegetables, it’s healthy too.
Money Saving Tips; I try to make add-ins in bulk.
To make creating my bowls of goodness even faster, I make up many of the things I add ahead of time. I’ll make up a container of rice in my instant pot to last me a week. Same with noodles. (Except rice noodles, these don’t keep and get too mushy when reheated)
The vegetables I usually chop up and process into storage containers as soon as I get home from the grocery store. Spaghetti sauces I make in bulk and freeze. Then when I need one, I thaw and dump it in my Instant Pot for one of my one-pot meals.
One thing I have learned is how to make things from scratch. It saves a ton of dollars. Just last week I was going to a party and wanted to bring potato salad. For the quantity, I made for the party; it would have cost me around $30 at a deli. In about thirty minutes’ time, I made it from scratch for around $5.
Since I love eating out, it feels especially good if I can eat at home pretty cheaply. And since I’m not getting any younger, my health is starting to weigh on my mind. I’ve had two friends die recently because of health issues, and reality struck me pretty hard. If I don’t start taking notice of the way I eat, I’m going to join them pretty quickly.
So that is how I came up with my method of healthy eating at home cheap and fast.
Till next time, be safe,
Kevin