One of the key elements to meal planning and saving money is choosing recipes with common ingredients. You may think that if you have ten to fifteen ingredients you will always be eating the same or similar food, and I am here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way! Here are seven of my favorite recipes that share eleven common (very inexpensive) ingredients that are actually delicious!
I understand that these recipes don’t work for every diet, but I hope you can use this as a base model for planning recipes and grouping them together to save money and eat well!
1.Chicken and Rice with Veggies
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1.5 cups brown rice
- Chopped up veggies (whatever you like) We most often use celery, carrots, and mushrooms
-Put your veggies in a separate pan with water, enough water to cover the base of the pan and turn the burner on low, they will be perfectly steamed when everything else is done! For us two carrots, a stalk of celery, and a few mushrooms are plenty.
-Over medium high heat- pour 4 cups of water in a pot and add a cup and a half of brown rice. I don’t care what the instructions say, I can’t get my rice soft and fluffy any other way.
-Season the chicken to taste and cook it in oil (not butter, butter is full of trans fat and is pricey). I use black pepper and cook the chicken over onions.
2.Black Bean Burgers & Oven Fries
- 1 can of Black beans
- 2/3 cups of oats
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Just a few small mushrooms
- Potatos
-first, start the potatoes. Slice them up into french fry slivers and then put them in a pot of water on high heat. Pre-heat the oven to 450.
-mash up the black beans, then mix in oats, egg, diced up mushrooms, garlic, and black pepper
-once the burger mixture is prepared, strain the potatoes and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and salt over the potatoes and put them in the oven.
-separate the mixture into fourths and put them in a pan with oil on medium high heat, cook each side for 8-9 minutes, keep the pan oiled.
-when the burgers are done, the potatoes should be too. Serve and enjoy!
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- 1 box of chicken broth (if you know you are both going to want seconds, add 1 cup of veggie stock)
- 1 Chicken breast
- Rice vinegar
- Sriracha sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ¼ red onion (any onion works, I like red)
- Black pepper
- 1 tbs chopped cilantro (optional)
- 2 carrot sticks
- 3 stalks of celery
- A few sliced mushrooms
- 2 cups of egg noodles
-start the broth, add the stock(s) and chicken first, on high heat. While it’s heating up add a drizzle of rice vinegar and 1-4 drops of sriracha, depending on how much spice you like. Then add some shakes of black pepper, the quarter of the onion, and the cilantro.
-while the chicken is cooking in the broth, slice the veggies.
-when the chicken is finished (usually takes about 10 minutes) take it out of the broth and chop it up. Then add it back into the broth with the veggies.
-when the veggies have cooked down (softened) add the egg noodles
-when the noodles are soft the soup is ready!
- Spaghetti
- 6 oz of ground turkey
- Spaghetti noodles (or if you want to skip buying extra noodles the sauce is amazing over egg noodles)
- 1 can Tomato sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- ¼ chopped onions
- A few sliced mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic
-start boiling the noodles
-in a pot or saucepan, dump the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Add seasonings if you like, we like basil and oregano. Let it simmer while you cook the meat.
-cook the ground turkey and add to the sauce.
-serve the sauce over noodles
- Stir Fry
- 1.5 cups of brown rice
- 1 chicken breast
- 3 carrot sticks
- 3 celery sticks
- ½ red onion (any onions work, I just like red)
- Several mushrooms
- 3 eggs
- 2 cloves garlic
- Rice vinegar
- Sriracha
- Cilantro (optional)
-In a pot on medium heat, add 4 cups of water and 1.5 cups of brown rice
-cook the chicken in a pan with oil, keep the seasoning simple, we just use black pepper and a clove of garlic
-in another pan, add some water to cover the bottom and add all of the vegetables chopped. Cover with a lid and keep on a medium heat setting
-prepare the sauce you will fry the rice in, ¼ cup of liquid aminos or soy sauce, 2 tbs of rice vinegar, a clove of garlic, and a tsp of sriracha
-when the chicken is done, remove it from the pan, dice it up and add it to the veggies, keep the pan with the oil and seasoning in it
-when the rice is done, move it to the pan and stir it up with the sauce you made, spread over the pan surface and let it sit on a medium heat
– scramble the eggs in the pan you made the chicken in and add to the chicken and veggies
-add the veggies, chicken, and eggs into the rice and serve
- Chilli
- 2 cans of tomato sauce
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 can of black beans
- ½ a chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 10 oz Ground turkey
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tbs oregano
- 1 tbs sage
-dump everything except the ground turkey into a pot and let it simmer on a medium heat
-cook the ground turkey
-add turkey to the chilli base and serve
- Turkey Burgers & Vegan Mashed Potatoes
- 6 oz ground turkey
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 egg
- A few finely chopped mushrooms
- ¼ sliced onion
- 2-3 russet potatoes
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 tbs coconut oil
-slice up the potatoes and boil them until they are soft
-while the potatoes are boiling; mix the ground turkey, garlic, egg, and chopped mushrooms in a bowl. Divide the mixture in half, roll up two patties and cook them in a pan with oil on medium high heat.
-strain the water out of the potatoes and add the stock and coconut oil. Whip until it’s the texture you like and salt if you wish
-when the burgers are done, top them with sliced onions, serve the potatoes on the side, and enjoy!
A Wife Life 