healthy eating on a budget.

The best way to eat healthy on a budget? Meal planning. Dream up two or three dinners you want to make the upcoming week, write down the ingredients, and then buy only those. You can break your grocery shopping down into a couple of trips, do mini-shops every week, then once a month maybe buy in bulk at Costco etc. Look for produce that won’t perish, like apples, and try to score some great deals on frozen veggie burgers and peanut and almond butter. You can also stock up on frozen veggies as well.

Here are a few recipes that are tasty, but won't do a lot of damage on the wallet.

~Spinach Turkey Burgers
Combine ground turkey with 1 egg, sea salt, and pepper, and mix well. Add defrosted frozen spinach and form mixture into four evenly sized patties. Cook each patty for about 6–7 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Serve on whole-wheat buns or hoagie rolls with lettuce, ketchup, and mustard.

~Shrimp Scampi Pasta
Thaw bag of frozen shrimp. Peel and de-vein. Set a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil on medium high. Add 3 garlic cloves, minced, and sauté for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Add 1/4 cup dry white wine and the juice of 1 lemon and bring to a simmer for about 4 minutes. Add shrimp and toss well. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until shrimp are cooked through. Watch out—they cook quickly! Meanwhile, cook the whole-wheat angel hair in the boiling water and drain. Add the hot, cooked pasta to the shrimp mixture and toss. Season with sea salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese.

~Mediterranean Stuffed Bell Peppers
Gently cut the tops off of four large red bell peppers. Set aside. In a medium-size pot, bring 1 cup quinoa, a pinch of sea salt, and 3 cups water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and let cook for about 12–13 minutes or until the quinoa has soaked up all the water and is light and fluffy. Remove from heat. Add 1 can drained diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles, 1/4 cup chiffonaded (or roughly chopped) fresh basil to the quinoa and gently stir. Stuff each bell pepper with quinoa mixture and serve with a large salad and warmed whole-wheat pitas.

Let's start cooking!

image/ref found - health.com