Let's Do Lunch Community

LDL has been so good for our family (health and pocketbook).  Here are some of our favorites:

(All beans in these recipes are the dried kind...I can purchase all of these varieties for less than $1/lb at my local H-E-B)

1
Curried Chickpea Soup- $2
(the following recipe doubled and with dried beans instead of canned and my homemade chicken-vegetable broth made from soaking leftover vegee parts in fridge and boiling then skimming fat of chicken...also make my own salsa from large cans of whole tomatoes and jalapenos from Costco and buy onions and curry powder in bulk....my crew loves this and the curried chickpeas not made into soup...this is a bit more cost effective...both are good!)
http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index ... pic=4516.0

Popcorn- $.50 Popped in air popper, spritzed w/olive oil and sprinked w/sea salt

Apple Slices/ other fruit (purchased at $1 or less/lb)- $2.50

Feeds my family of eight w/a bit left-over for me to send w/cut up chicken breast for dh's lunch the next day.

2
Three Bean Chili-$3 (We double the following recipe for our family of eight)
http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index ... pic=4823.0

Cornthins-$1.00

SF Jello-$1.00 (This is an occasional treat as we don't do many sweeteners)

Chili eaten like "Frito Pie" w/Cornthins scrumbled on top instead of fritos. 

3
The Most Filling Tomato Soup Ever-$2.00 (This cost is based on 1/3 of the recipe we make)
(We cook about three batches at once and we use Mary's recipe as follows except that we use a full lb of soaked and prepared dried beans and one of the industrial sized crushed tomatoes from Costco, 3 onions, 6 garlic cloves...also bought in bulk and basil from my window plant...requires a LARGE pot..Mmmmm, very good and freezes well)
http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index ... pic=1320.0

Fruit or Salad or Cornthin with slice of FF cheese- $3.00

Sometimes we go super inexpensive and just eat popcorn w/this for a super meal that is about $2.50 for a family of eight:-)

4
Lentils and Tomatoes- $1.50 (1lb bag of lentils $.69 cooked...don't have to soak and mixed w/a can of tomatos and green chilis, which I usually purchase from Cosco and a few spices...cayenne pepper, sea salt, etc)

Salad -$3.00 (Greens, carrots, tomato, celery....w/a bit of dressing on side...some of us eat more popcorn than salad...sigh!)

Popcorn-$.50

5
Vegetable and Potato Pie- $2.50 (We use one of the following recipes without the beef or fish and use frozen vegetables...we make the sauce using homemade vege-chicken broth for the fish/white sauce version if I need liquid and boullion cube and water for the beef version....we don't use the margarin in either recipe...and, again, dried instead of canned beans...I keep a cleaned out can for measuring)
http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index.php?topic=689.0
http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index ... pic=4691.0

Watermelon (1/2 will usually feed us well)/Other Fruit - $2.50

Blessings,
Julie

Roger Troy Wilson wrote:Little Julie, all I can say is "you are the greatest!"...and that goes for all of you who have contributed of your own free will to help our Father in Heaven bless others with Let's Do Lunch!

God bless you all, and keep you, and give you His Peace,

Roger Troy

AMEN from me, too, Julie.  You are the greatest and your comments are always generous and kind.

Signed,

LovinJulie (aka Gwennaford) 

Being a newbie without a book yet! Love all the recipes last SAT. cook 5 of them just looking for more and boy hit the jack pot again will be printing and spending this weekend love two cook many meals @ a time.

I do have a question how do I get the weight tracker to the board? I know were not to weigh but once a month buts that's going to take some time for me..I down to weighing  just 5 times a day.. that's  real good for me.Down about 13  Pd's after just seven day but I saw just .2 from yesterday to this morning. On all diets I been on I have lost 25Pd's in 3 weeks and everyone was soo.... Happy...You know the poster diet girl...Oh  ya..

That's when I stay on that weight for six months or more with everyone going crazy along with me. So I have a long road to trust  a diet.. A life change..AND the monster (Scale)  every morning.....I just can't give it up yet, maybe after I read the book.. It's a goal not a promise..

this is wonderful - thank you so much!

Thank you so much! I've been scared to try Lentils, but I'm so going to give them a try! These are all great examples of how to eat the LDL way while on a budget!

Dumb question (first post)

So, these "five favorites" are used as your "lunch time" meals, correct?

No, we use these for our dinner meals.  I have a family of eight and we sit down for dinner together...these feed my crew well.

For our lunch meals I am usually able to feed them for less than $10, providing a light meat protein (boneless skinless chicken breast, tilapia, or lean steak).  We do lots of soups, salads and casseroles with just a little lean meat protein.  I've been meaning to post those meal ideas...will try to get to that soon.

Blessings,
Julie

Thanks, Julie
Definitely an encouragement to families on budgets!

hopefull wrote:Thanks, Julie
Definitely an encouragement to families on budgets!

+1, thanks

I don't know how you do it.  I spent a fortune at the store this weekend buying beans, fruit, and vegetable.  Of course the ground turkey and extra lean ground sirloin weren't cheap either.
How do you cook for your family?
There is just my husband and I but we don't eat lunch together.  It's tough cooking him supper and me having fruit or salad.
But I'll do whatever it takes to succeed.
He had some irritable bowel and I don't know if he could take all the beans.
He doesn't need to loose any weight either.
Thanks for your input.

Julie, you give such nice suggestions.  Thanks so much for all your ideas. Joyful Friend

Dkneram,

I think you received some great suggestions on a different thread, but I will chime in here too....

Do realize that the longer you eat the LDL way the less you will eat so the lower your groceries will be.  This has been a huge help to our budget because we multiply that decrease in appetite x 8.

Also, you'll notice in our family favorites that we eat a lot of popcorn.  When finances are tight especially, we don't buy Cornthins or make smoothies but eat popcorn and whole fruit which satisfy quicker with less cost. 

We rarely purchase canned beans (one of us is always soaking/cooking beans...we often freeze these for convenience).  We do lots of crockpot cooking (have multi-crockpots and might have three going at one time all with different types of beans).

We cut most convenience type foods out by planning ahead.  I usually keep brown bags full of popcorn and poptop cans of pinapple (w/platic forks) in the car for our day in town and we pack picnic lunches (things like lettuce wraps/thermos or crockpot of soup)

The above takes some planning, but really not much more time (and a lot less money, especially when you consider the cost of increased appetite and poorer health) than going through a McDonalds/Taco Bell.

One other thing that has helped with lean meats is buying when sirloin or boneless,skinless chicken breasts are on sale.  We purchase a lot and grind some of it (can purchase fairly inexpensive hand grinder) and pre-grill a lot then freeze.  We also live in an area populated with lots of deer and are often given/sold vennison (at low cost).

I think that brings me to my last point...we pray for creative ways to stay on plan and fit it into a single income family of eight's budget.  The Lord has answered in so many ways...we have had friends give us (free for the picking) peaches, pears, okra, eggplant, bell peppers, squash,tomatoes, etc.  We've had asparagus plants pop up in our new home right about the time Little Mary posts a yummy asparagus soup recipe....then, there are lots of sales we just happen upon that I'm certain is the Lord's answer to this prayer (I think of grapes for $.99/lb that fill a shelf in our freezer right now)...my kids developed a renewed appreciation of frozen grapes recently when their friends made a big deal of me serving them...a week later they were on sale.  Praise God for answered prayer!

Keep on keepin on...once habits are established it will get easier and easier because your appetite decreases more and more.

Blessings,
Julie

Thanks Julie,
Everything posted on LDL is such a blessing to me and like Roger said, I hope I can be an encouragement to someone else on LDL or in the world after I start to lose weight (1 week so far).  I will enjoy reading the recipes and copying them for future use.

Blessings,
Sister4Him

Julie, your faith is an inspiration to me.  I have also had so many answers to food problems answered  by friends and store specials. Even though I can afford different things, and it is now  just my hubby and me, I still look for bargains and always will.  I believe we all should be good stewarts with all  God has supplied. His blessings are bountiful.  I have enjoyed going back and reading your older posts.      Joyful Friend

Thank's Julie,

I love saving money on food. Also being a good stewart over my body.

Blessings,

Halo

LovinLDL wrote:Dkneram,

I think you received some great suggestions on a different thread, but I will chime in here too....

Do realize that the longer you eat the LDL way the less you will eat so the lower your groceries will be.  This has been a huge help to our budget because we multiply that decrease in appetite x 8.

Also, you'll notice in our family favorites that we eat a lot of popcorn.  When finances are tight especially, we don't buy Cornthins or make smoothies but eat popcorn and whole fruit which satisfy quicker with less cost. 

We rarely purchase canned beans (one of us is always soaking/cooking beans...we often freeze these for convenience).  We do lots of crockpot cooking (have multi-crockpots and might have three going at one time all with different types of beans).

We cut most convenience type foods out by planning ahead.  I usually keep brown bags full of popcorn and poptop cans of pinapple (w/platic forks) in the car for our day in town and we pack picnic lunches (things like lettuce wraps/thermos or crockpot of soup)

The above takes some planning, but really not much more time (and a lot less money, especially when you consider the cost of increased appetite and poorer health) than going through a McDonalds/Taco Bell.

One other thing that has helped with lean meats is buying when sirloin or boneless,skinless chicken breasts are on sale.  We purchase a lot and grind some of it (can purchase fairly inexpensive hand grinder) and pre-grill a lot then freeze.  We also live in an area populated with lots of deer and are often given/sold vennison (at low cost).

I think that brings me to my last point...we pray for creative ways to stay on plan and fit it into a single income family of eight's budget.  The Lord has answered in so many ways...we have had friends give us (free for the picking) peaches, pears, okra, eggplant, bell peppers, squash,tomatoes, etc.  We've had asparagus plants pop up in our new home right about the time Little Mary posts a yummy asparagus soup recipe....then, there are lots of sales we just happen upon that I'm certain is the Lord's answer to this prayer (I think of grapes for $.99/lb that fill a shelf in our freezer right now)...my kids developed a renewed appreciation of frozen grapes recently when their friends made a big deal of me serving them...a week later they were on sale.  Praise God for answered prayer!

Keep on keepin on...once habits are established it will get easier and easier because your appetite decreases more and more.

Blessings,
Julie

We have already noticed a great savings eating this way. I notice that there aren't as many..see, must have items going in the cart. I have my perimeter shopping down and maybe a trip down the frozen food isle....dry beans have been
saving a lot as well!!! I love having a 'plan' when shopping and LDL has given me the best one I have ever had so far!!!! 

Great ideas!  Thanks Julie!  I am looking forward to trying some of your ideas!

Thanks! This is so helpful!