What are some simple, easy, healthy and low-cost meal ideas for two?

4 Comments

1. Miranda says:

   February 11, 2012 at 12:46 pm

   If you keep spices, sauces, etc stocked up in your house, you can make almost anything at anytime with the right foods. Hot wings, Greek pasta salad, Spaghetti and meatballs, Tuna salad, Lentil chili, Baked chicken with wild rice (you can use any spices on the chicken you want) and veggies, Homemade mac n cheese, and much more. There are so many healthy homemade soups and salads you can make, and you can find most of them online. Stock up on staples, such as chicken/beef broth, rice, beans, pasta, meats. You can buy fruit too, but not too much at once, or they’ll go bad before you can eat them. A good way to have your fruit is to buy it frozen and use it in smoothies, or canned and eat it for a snack or in desserts. The easiest way to eat in instead of out is to make sure you always have enough of the staples at all times, that way all you have to do is pull it out of the cupboard. Most of the things I mentioned are pretty easy to make too. If you have no experience cooking, you can look up recipes on the internet, or buy a cookbook. Good luck!
   Oh, and another good idea is to buy fresh foods at your local farmer’s market if you have one, or wait until produce and other expensive things go on sale at the grocery store. There are also ways of drying, canning, and freezing fruits and veggies at home. Then you can stock up on produce while it’s on sale without worrying about it all going bad!
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2. Lisa b says:

   February 11, 2012 at 12:53 pm

   Autumn, what I like to do is take some skinless, boneless chicken breasts and cube them and brown them in a pan, when they are almost done, I’ll add a bag of my favorite frozen veggies over the top and put the lid on till the veggies are steamed — season however you like. You can serve this over noodles, rice or just serve with a salad. You can also saute some chicken thighs, legs, breasts in a pan, throw in some onions, peppers, mushrooms and a can of stewed tomatoes and italian seasoning and put a lid on a bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Or you can saute chicken in a pan and then add a jar of Indian sauce and then bake in the oven (if you like Indian food) and serve over rice.
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3. Rli R says:

   February 11, 2012 at 1:31 pm

   Since you said you are the main cook in the family for 23 yrs and have some cookbooks, then I will comment based on that.

   I am also the main cook in the family and have cooked since age 13 and am now 63. As my brood grew and shrank over the years, where it is now down to just the two of us, I have learned to cut recipes down to serve two, changed them according to needed diets, low-fat/low-cholesterol/low-salt, low-sugar/low-carb, etc. The simplest things I’ve found is to buy frozen veggies (or fresh when in season), cut all meat you buy down to two portions per package and freeze. Meaning, buy that 5 pound chunk of ground beef but break it down into 8 oz servings, wrap in saran and place in a zip lock bag into the freezer. Haul them out as needed. Do the same with roasts – cut them down to 2-3 pounds each.

   If you cook your roasts the day before you plan on using them or on the weekend, you can slice, reheat with gravy, etc. for your meal during the week. If you save your broth from your veggies, you can make a simple consomme to go with your meals.

   You can make high-fiber bread sandwiches with mustard and thin sliced whatever the meat is you cooked – roast pork, roast beef, etc. That is healthier than deli meats because not so much salt.

   Buying in bulk is less expensive than buying smaller portions. Check your on-sale section and stock up then. Hopefully you have a large freezer so you can buy one item at a time, break it out into servings and freeze. Then every day you can have something different.

   One thing I like to do for my hubby is to take my steamer, line it with romaine leaves, place about 1 lb of cod or halibut on it, cover with another layer of romaine. Steam it for 10 minutes. Then add a layer of scallops (1 lb), and cover that with romaine and steam both for another 10 minutes. Then add a pound of raw shrimp and cover that with romaine and steam all for another 10 minutes. Check the shrimp and if still a little gray instead of pink, steam about 2 more minutes and check again. The romaine tastes like a mild spinach. We have the cod and spinach in the first meal. I refrigerate the scallops and shrimp for the next day. On day two, we have a nice Seafood Louie with half the scallops and half the shrimp along with a homemade Thousand Island Dressing. On day 3, I make a Seafood Alfredo (from scratch), using low-carb noodles, with the last of the scallops and shrimp. Works for us.

   Hope that helps.
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4. Debbie's angel says:

   February 11, 2012 at 1:47 pm

   Soup is healthy and nutritious and also pasta is good for you and easy to make, one that I made yesterday was mince, onions, capsicums, garlic all the veges were diced then throw in a can of diced tomatoes and simmer, it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and you can freeze any left overs for another time ~ yummy
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   DA