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taco salad

3 Healthy Budget Friendly Recipes

Course: Breakfast, dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American, asian, Mexican
Keyword: budget, eggs, food stamps, fried rice, frittata, low carb, taco salad
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Author: Bobby Parrish

These healthy recipes come in at roughly $1.40 per meal, which is all you have on a food stamp budget. I wanted to challenge myself to see if i could make a breakfast, lunch, and dinner on using finds from food stamps.

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Ingredients

Cheeseburger Frittata

  • 5 ounces grass-fed ground beef
  • 8 conventional eggs
  • 3 slices of cheddar cheese
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt & fresh pepper

Taco Salad

  • 1 cup onions finely diced
  • 11 ounces grass-fed ground beef
  • 1.5 tablespoons taco/chili seasoning mix
  • ½ cup water
  • 5.6 ounces spinach
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1.25 ounces organic tortilla chips
  • 1 slice of organic cheddar cheese
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt & fresh pepper

Chicken Fried Rice

  • 4 boneless & skinless chicken thighs
  • 1.5 cups white rice
  • Low sodium soy sauce
  • 3 eggs
  • 6 ounces broccoli chopped
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt & fresh pepper

Instructions

  1. For the fritatta, pre-heat oven to 400F and pre-heat an 8 inch pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan, allow oil to get heat, and add the ground beef, breaking it up into pieces. Immediately add ¼ teaspoon of salt and a couple cracks of pepper. Cook until the ground beef is just cooked through.
  2. Meanwhile, thoroughly whisk the eggs in a large bowl for 60 seconds. The more air you beat in, the fluffier the eggs will be. Add ½ teaspoon salt and a few cracks of pepper, whisk well. Take the pan off the heat for 30 seconds and turn the flame down to medium-low. Add the eggs and put the pan back over the flame. Continuously mix with a spatula, and keep doing so until the eggs are somewhat set, but still wet. It’s important to mix well, so you break up the eggs and keep the curds small. Take the pan off the heat, add the slices of cheese, and bake in the oven for 8 minutes.
  3. Remove from oven and use a spatula to transfer frittata to a plate. Serve and enjoy!
  4. For the taco salad, make the taco meat by pre-heating a non-stick pan just above medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the onions, ¼ teaspoon salt couple cracks of pepper, and cook for 8 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the beef to the pan along with ½ teaspoon of salt, few cracks of pepper, and break the beef up into small pieces. Cook until almost all the way cooked through, about 4-5 minutes, then add the taco/chili seasoning mix and cook until the beef is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Add the water, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook until the sauce has thickened up, about 5-7 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
  5. Meanwhile, heat the chips in a 425F oven for 2 minutes and then remove and sprinkle over some of the taco/chili season mix, mix well.
  6. Make the salad by roughly chopping the spinach and adding it to a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise, vinegar, 1 teaspoon olive oil, ¼ teaspoon of salt, couple cracks of pepper, and mix well. Plate the greens in a bowl, add some chips around the edge, and pour some beef over the top of the green. Finely slice ½ the cheese and garish on the salad. Enjoy!
  7. For the fried rice, cook the rice in 2 ¼ cups of water for 20 minutes. Fluff rice, spread on a sheet tray, and once cooled, move to the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Dry rice makes the best fried rice.
  8. Pre-heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Season the chicken thighs with a generous pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper on each side. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, wait for it to get hot, then add the chicken. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until deep golden brown, flip, and cook another 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
  9. Add another shot of oil to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and add the broccoli. Pinch over ¼ teaspoon salt, a couple cracks of pepper, and cook for 8 minutes. Add the rice to the pan and cook for 3 minutes. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and add to the center of the pan. Mix well until the eggs have formed a soft scramble, then mix the eggs and rice well. Add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, mix well, and allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. This will allow the rice to get a bit crunchy. Check for seasoning, you may need more soy sauce. Remove from heat.
  10. Serve some rice on a plate and place sliced chicken over the top. Enjoy!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Macros per serving of frittata, makes 3 servings:

406 calories

1.4 grams of total & net carbs

31.5 grams of fat

29.4 grams of protein

0 fiber

 

Macros per serving of taco salad, recipe makes 2 servings:

772 calories

19.2 grams of total carbs(11.2 if you omit the chips)

15.5 grams of net carbs(8.5 if you omit the chips)

60 grams of fat

35 grams of protein

3.9 gram of fiber

 

Macros per serving of fried rice, recipe makes 4 servings:

546 calories

63.6 grams of total carbs

61.2 grams of net carbs

16.5 grams of fat

30.7 grams of protein

1.5 grams of fiber