meal ideas - low fat and cheap

**Olive** · May 5th, 2013, 10:02 AM

Oi madam, why aren't you making your own yogurt???

You can make your own rice noodle too.

**LimeSlice** · May 5th, 2013, 10:12 AM

Oh, and soup! Gallons and gallons of glorious soup!
So cheap and easy to make and you can cram all sorts of goodness into them too.

**Frangipani Lou** · May 5th, 2013, 12:42 PM

Love homemade yoghurt. I Cheat though and use easy yo. Yummo!

Thanks for the lentil inspiration. I've got 2 pots of spiced lentil (cumin, coriander, cardamon and garam masala) and tomato soup on to cook at the mo. Here's a pic. I wish I could upload the delicious smell too! ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367721920.877099.jpg

**Danielle_NZ** · May 5th, 2013, 06:05 PM

I did the following with 4 x chicken thighs (cut then browned), did the browning of the cut veges in a pan then the rest in the slow cooker. YUM!!!! I'm not even a soup person

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 whole Chicken Cooked
2 large Onions Peeled & Diced
2 large Carrots Peeled & Diced
2 stalks Celery Diced
1 clove Garlic Finely Chopped
2 litres Chicken Stock
1 small Swede Peeled & Diced
2 large Potatoes Peeled & Diced
1 sprig Thyme
1.5 cups Pasta Macaroni, Spirals or Fettucine
2 Tbsp Parsley Chopped
Sea Salt & Ground Pepper to taste

Remove the meat off the chicken carcass and dice or tear into thick chunks. Set aside.

Heat some oil in a large stock pot and add onion, carrots, celery and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes until the vegetables soften and start to brown.

Add the chicken stock, thyme, swede and potatoes and bring to a simmer, then simmer gently for an hour. Turn the heat up and bring it to a rapid simmer. Add pasta and chicken pieces and cook for another 15 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Stir through parsley and check for seasoning.

Serve with crusty bread.

**Arimeh** · May 5th, 2013, 06:52 PM

Up the amount for veggie meals. Add protein like eggs.

Good for protein but I can't have too many eggs - fat intake has to be pretty minimal.

Oi madam, why aren't you making your own yogurt???

You can make your own rice noodle too.

I've tried making my own low fat yoghurt but it fails every time! Even with an easy yo thingy.

Soups are a good idea - must do more soups.

**Pholi** · May 5th, 2013, 08:47 PM

Curious as to how to do low-fat fried rice... Every time I try to fry rice it sucks up heaps of oil, and sticks anyway.

**Floweryfields** · May 5th, 2013, 08:50 PM

Curious as to how to do low-fat fried rice... Every time I try to fry rice it sucks up heaps of oil, and sticks anyway.

I had a recipe somewhere that used packet chicken noodle soup. You used a tiny bit of oil to coat the rice and then added in water and the soup mix and put on the lid to let the rice absorb the liquid.

**LimeSlice** · May 5th, 2013, 08:54 PM

Curious as to how to do low-fat fried rice... Every time I try to fry rice it sucks up heaps of oil, and sticks anyway.

You cook the rice before you use it, chill it and use it cold in the recipe.
My fried rice uses less than a tablespoon of oil in the wok to saute the vegetables first (And that is for a hug batch that will make about 12 serves). It you stir fry it, it won't stick and you don't need more oil than that.

**Lisa** · May 6th, 2013, 07:40 AM

My current favourite low fat meal is ratatouille. Now that its getting cold here, it's awesome.

**AnyDream** · May 6th, 2013, 10:56 AM

I worked out if I could keep my whole meal under 10g of fat, I didn't have any problems, and veggie based fats seemed to aggravate less than animal fats. For eggs, I would use 1 whole egg and then a couple of egg whites to bulk it out & boost protein intake.

I should mention that we couldn't afford a lot so often I would cook something else for the family (just make sure you put your low fat thing in the pan first or cook it desperately. I had the worst attack one time when DH chucked my dinner on the Barbie at the same time as everything else).