Hello Dear Reader,
If you expected to see a whole heap of pasta, then think again! This is my low calorie and low carb supper. I crammed as many vegetables onto my plate as possible, with savoy cabbage instead of pasta and leeks in the tomato sauce. I swapped my suppers around and I moved the meatballs forward a night. I hope this is liked by my frugal faithful as this is another low cost frugal supper.
To make this for 2 you will need: (Calories stated are for each portion)
1/2 savoy cabbage shredded and steamed.28 calories
To make the tomato sauce
1 onion finely diced - 11p - 23 calories
4 garlic cloves finely diced - 4p
4 sprays of frylight - or use any oil if you are not watching calories
1 leek - finely diced - 22p - 25 calories
2 tins of chopped tomatoes - 90p - 76 calories
Total cost of sauce per person - 64p - 124 calories
1. Finely chop the onions, garlic and leek and saute
2. Add two tins of chopped tomatoes
3. Simmer for 30 minutes.
To make the meat balls you will need:
300g of minced beef - £1 - wholesale butchers price - 186 calories
1 finely chopped onion - 11p - 23 calories
1 slice of bread - (gluten free in my case) 15p - 38 calories
1 egg - 17p
1 tbsp parsley - measured after being finely chopped - 25p
Sprinkle of garlic salt and ground black pepper
Total calories 247
This made 14 meatballs and we had 7 each - Total cost £1.68 - 84p per person.
To make the meatballs.
Mix all of the ingredient together and form into balls in your hands. Fry with no oil at all in a non-stick pan. Keep turning until evenly cooked all over.
Steam the cabbage and ladle the tomato sauce on top. Arrange the meat balls on top of that and sprinkle each dinner with 10g of freshly grated Parmegiano cheese which adds another 15p and 39 calories per person.
Here is my review of this recipe. It was really delicious and filling without being heavy or leaving us feeling sluggish. We could eat gluten free pasta but it's so expensive that a pile of greens is a cheaper and healthier option. The whole meal cost £1.63 and had 399 calories. You can make this much more cheaply by adding more bread and by omitting the leeks or cheese. I'm trying to eat as healthily as I can with as few calories and as much nutrition. I think I succeeded here! My secret to cheap and healthy eating is to pile my plate with simple veggies and eat less meat.
Over to you Dear Reader. Who is sticking to their resolution of losing weight, or eating healthily, or not drinking, or giving up caffeine? Whose resolve is wavering? Who needs to write down and remind themselves of their personal goals and desires to live a better life? If you are sticking to your resolve then keep going as you will thank yourself in the end. If you have fallen off the wagon then just get back up on it and remind yourself that every new tomorrow is a fresh start!
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
That's the same recipe I use to make burgers! They are delicious. I've bought ready made meatballs when they've been half price and I find them very very salty and fatty, so prefer to make our own meatballs/burgers. When I make tomato sauce, I use a stick blender to whizz up the garlic, onion and chopped broccoli stalk (seems a waste to chuck it out when I've paid for it and it's extra vitamins). It freezes well too. I'm sticking to my resolution to eat more fruit and vegetables (it was cheaper to fill up on value biscuits than fruit while clearing debt and I wasn't feeling very healthy). Someone gave us a box of 'exotic' fruit at Christmas as a thank you. I've eaten pomegranate, lots of delicious mango and discovered persimmon x
ReplyDeleteYum! It looks so fresh and homey and comforting and not-sluggish all at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI'm still tracking well against resolutions. Weight is down, debt is less, but finding nights filled with more activities than planned - my next step is to get better at saying no, even to lovely invitations. That's always a hard one.
In my slow cooker are Roma tomatoes & grated zucchini for the freezer! This looks ideal for when we stop eating salads, so thank you Froogs for the recipe it looks delicious. I always try to have homemade meatballs in the freezer that I just add to a sauce.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to lose weight and get fit. Weather and a sore knee have prevented much exercise in the last few weeks, but I have lost 3.8 lbs. in two weeks on Weight Watchers Online. BTW, I save so much money on food by eating less, cooking from scratch and eating at home that it MORE than pays the monthly WW fee (which is pretty cheap--$53 US).
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteJust love cabbage!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sticking to my goal of writing down every spending, to learn where my pennies really go. What I'm still not so Good at is sticking to a cleaning routine, and finding a new job :(
ReplyDeleteBut if I have learned something from you, it's that when I fall off I just can stand up and get back on track, learn from it and try harder.
Oh I might give this a bash. Mr Tot isn't a fan of pasta and I'm trying to compile a list of meals which the whole family will eat (I'm getting tired of being a restaurant!) A blended sauce to hide the veg will be the key to my success I think!
ReplyDeleteSara, some kids just don't like 'lumps' or 'bits' especially in sauce. I know one mum who had children who wouldn't eat vegetables and she used to blend all sorts of vegetables to hide in sauces. They ate it! You can also blend vegetables to use as a base for bolognaise, chilli, pizza sauce, and to make soup. We used to whizz up tinned tomatoes to make it smooth before I discovered tomato passata (value range from Tesco is fine as is Aldi and Lidl around 30p a carton), And of course, many children just love dishes with grated cheese (they often prefer cheddar to stronger cheeses like Parmesan) sprinkled on top. Raw carrot sticks, cucumber sticks etc are sometimes preferred to cooked vegetables too, and giving them breadsticks to eat with a main dish (fun to dip) can make children more adventurous with different food. Hope this helps.
Deletethis looks yummy
ReplyDeletealso your recipe for beef burgers is an absolute winner!!
Even when not dieting (yeuch!) I often prefer the shredded cabbage to pasta - oh the virtuous feel of it - even with the added butter which is a MUST in our house hold with cabbage. You can do it with any cabbage or spring greens.And your meatball recipe is a real winner - I do like the adding of a few bread crumbs, it gives a much lighter meatball doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynne - when the kids were young and I had to make money go a very long way, it would be half meat and half home made bread crumbs
DeleteThis sounds wonderful but I think I will try it over a bed of sautéed zucchini ribbons or maybe spaghetti squash. Thanks Froogs!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog and found it to be very inspiring. My goal this year is to get rid of credit card debt. Also to stop dring alcohol for my health and budget. I went off the wagon this weekend but will get back on.
ReplyDeleteTash from Australia
I have been reading your blog for a few weeks now. My new years resolution is to pay off our credit card and also stop drinking alcohol. Thanks for your encouraging post. I have already allen off the wagon once.
ReplyDeleteTash from australia