Slimming on a budget.

**Rachel Barratt** · 11-20-2005, 04:42 PM

Hello,

Does anybody have any frugal recipes suitable for somebody on a diet.

Rachel

**peanut** · 11-20-2005, 05:11 PM

What kind of diet? Is it a simple calorie counting one, or a specific one like South Beach?

Jean

**hollyhill** · 11-20-2005, 05:26 PM

Yes, yes I need help with this tooo.........
So I will watching the answers.....

**favesis37** · 11-20-2005, 07:10 PM

when we went on low fat, we didn't notice much change in our grocery bill, we replaced alot of the sugary stuff with fruit and veggies

**melissasue** · 11-20-2005, 08:26 PM

One of my favorites is a weight watchers recipie that I have tweaked slightly by eliminating some ingrediaents-its still yummy

4 servings

1/2 lb lean ground beef (10%) fat
1 cup cooked white rice
1/4 cup parm chs
2 tbs tomato paste
generous portions of onion powder and garlic powder and parsley
1 tsp each tyme, basil and 1/2 tsp each sage and rosemary
4 peppers w/ tops cut off and seeded
1/2 cup tomato puree or sauce
preheat oven to 350 and in a bowl combine all ingredeients except tomato puree or sauce. stuff peppers w/mixture and pour tomato puree or sauce over peppers. place peppers in casserole dish and fill DISH w/ water until it comes up 1/4 of the peppers. Cover w/ foil and bake basting occaisionally w/ juices 30 min. uncover and bake 20 min. let stand 5 min b4 serve. 284 calories per pepper and 5 grams fat

**joyofsix** · 11-21-2005, 09:10 AM

OK, this is such a boring answer but I don't think it really takes much to cut back. We have been working on this. Skim milk costs less than whole. Fresh fruits and veg (or canned, whatever) cost less than chips and other snack foods. I don't buy special "diet" foods, just eat less of our regular stuff and fill in with tons of fruits, veggies and air popped pop corn. Boring, but frugal and effective. I'm sure there are tons of sites on the net with low calorie recipes too.

**sanderson76** · 11-21-2005, 09:20 AM

I used to sink alot into special diet foods and I agree. I just eat less of the regular foods and never buy sugar snacks or junk foods..We never buy soda, ice cream, chips or anything like that.

**mfedor** · 11-21-2005, 09:57 AM

That's us as well. Also my rule of thumb is that I try not to buy anything that's been processed more then once. For instance, I buy flour, sugar, vanilla etc.... But I don't buy frozen pancakes, waffles, pre-made cookies. I do cave and buy 1 bag of cheetos for my daughters lunch but 1 bag usually lasts a whole month.

By the way, I like to eat a lot of stir fry and soup this time of year. I usually skip the rice since it generally takes to long to cook after work. Veggie stirfry with some sweet & sour or egg drop soup.

Started following the weight watchers method again and this works out well for most diets.

HTH

**hollyhill** · 11-21-2005, 01:16 PM

Yes, I do all those things and more! I certainly don't buy any "special products". But I am finding fruit and vegetables out of my "budget" right now too. Ihave been dieting for 10 days now and have lost half a pound

. I have been eating very small portions of our food (non-processed, low fat etc), but have barely lost anything. My body doesn't seem to loose weight on carbohydrate/vegetarian fare

. Which is what we can afford right now.
If I cut out eating the rice/potatoes/lentils/pasta there would be nothing left

Hey that would work! Seriously, I have been making simple soups and having that for lunch while I give higher caloric fare to my thin children and Dh.....but other than that I am dunced.

**Mojjo** · 11-21-2005, 07:45 PM

I have a couple weight watcher sites in my favorites if you would like them.

I have found that in our area fresh fruits and veggies are more expensive then the snacks they replace. But I have found canned and frozen varieties are just as good.

Example...frozen berries (your pick) defrosted and with a little sugar over angel food cake. yum and cheap and not bad for you point wise.

Also, now that I am trying to get more meals per pound of meat the family is eating more reasonable serving sizes.

Also, doing more things as a family, cleaning more (I know, yuck) and reading up on frugality kinda keeps me away from the snacking.

But I am a long way from there.

**Rachel Barratt** · 11-21-2005, 09:24 PM

I'm on the Weighwatchers diet. I love the stuff pepper recipe and will give it ago. Hollyhill Weightwatchers is designed in such a way that weight is lost slowly and safely. I loose anything from 0.5lb - 1.5lb a week. Last week I had a blip though and put on 1.5lbs. This week I have started to weigh my carbohydrates such as pasta, museli and rice. I make my servings of these to 50g. I was probably eating twice this amount. I love my food. Don't give up. Good luck. Rachel.