Some call them poverty meals. Others call them struggle meals. The meals people eat while paying off a debt are not usually luxurious in nature, but with the aid of these five tips, you can at least call them “delicious, cheap, and nutritious” instead.
1. Find a Financial Institution that Can Help You Meet Your Goals
Consulting a debt relief expert can help take some of the financial burden off your plate by consolidating debts into bite-sized chunks and helping you formulate a plan towards financial freedom both in and out of the kitchen.
2. Learn to Cook
This first tip is the foundation for every other tip on this list, because learning to cook gives you control over the cost, nutritional content, and taste of every meal you eat.
Meals don’t have to be complicated affairs either. There are plenty of low-effort “dump and go” recipes that can be made in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, or a sheet pan, on both time and budget constraints.
If you already know the basics of pan frying, knife usage, and how to pick your vegetables at the grocery store, you can confidently move on to step number two. If you’re not as comfortable around a kitchen, continue to step two anyway. There are plenty of free resources online that will help you learn.
3. Learn a Few Staple Ingredients
When it comes to filling your belly as cheaply as possible, it’s hard to beat the humble potato. A 10 lb bag will last most families at least a couple of weeks, and provides enough meal time variety to stave off boredom as well as hunger. Mashed, fried, roasted, baked, or used as ingredients in casseroles, potato salad, or shepherd’s pies – potatoes are as versatile as they are cheap.
In general, foods that are starchy or contain moderate to high levels of protein and fiber tend to be the most filling. Other examples include beans, eggs, pasta, oats, and canned fish.
4. Pad Your Meals
Adding ½ to 1 cup of rice to nearly any recipe can help bulk it up without losing flavor. This is a great trick for filling your belly without breaking the bank. Grating some healthy vegetables that are rich in water and fiber and filling your stomach, like carrots or zucchini, are also excellent ways to bulk up a meal. Especially when added to sauces or meat dishes, a single carrot or zucchini will barely influence the flavor and texture of a dish while adding a healthy dose of vitamins and fullness.
5. Learn to Eat Intuitively
This may sound counterintuitive at first, but the occasional treat can help keep your mental wellness in check. Consider the occasional treat as a moral boost, or as a way to appease an especially strong craving – sometimes ignoring what your body and mind want leads to further problems down the road.
Over-eating or buying treats and snacks that you don’t need tends to have the opposite effect, especially for those on tight budgets. Learning to eat intuitively can help you overcome these struggles from both ends of the spectrum.
