We all want to save money these days, especially in our retirement, and saving on meals you cook at home is an area filled with possibilities. Three methods come to mind when I think about saving money on groceries: preparing filling meals using whole grains, choosing less expensive sources of protein, and eating more fruits and vegetables. Cooking from scratch is an important part of all of these areas. This article talks about eating more fruits and vegetables—vegetarian meals.
If you are serious about stretching your grocery budget in your thrifty retirement, you have to be serious about preparing more vegetarian meals. This does not have to be an ominous prospect. It just means you need to fix a main dish that doesn’t contain meat. If you have been a meat-and-potatoes cook (or meat-and potatoes eater) all your life, it might mean a bigger adjustment for you. But most of us stopped eating like that years ago.
A 16-ounce T-bone steak for dinner simply makes no sense anymore. Red meat is expensive—really expensive. Few of us can afford the cost of beef on a regular basis, and even fewer of us need the fat, calories, and cholesterol of that much meat. These days, people are not out there chopping down trees for log cabins or plowing fields with horses. Because we are retired, many of us don’t even mow our own lawns anymore, or we use a riding mower if we do. We have no need for the quantity of calories, fat, and protein previous generations required. With well over half of Americans overweight or obese, cutting back on calories and cost at the same time is a notion well overdue.
Ramp up nutrition and reduce fat as you save your grocery budget by cooking and serving more vegetables. Have a vegetarian dinner at least once or twice a week. Before you turn up your nose, keep in mind the center of the plate can be a hefty baked potato, still one of the cheapest vegetables around. Try topping it with a little cottage cheese and black pepper. You’d be amazed how delicious it is! Round out the meal with green beans and bright orange carrots, and you have a dinner for two that is around $4.
You probably already serve many meatless meals you don’t even think about. Spaghetti without meatballs, mac and cheese, pancakes or French toast, and summer salads are all examples. Do you fix stir-fries? No law says they have to include chicken or other meat. Consider onions, bean sprouts, peppers, pineapple chunks, water chestnuts, and mushrooms. Serve this over brown rice for a filling, substantial meal.
Salads are a clear no-meat option. The world of salads has moved far beyond iceberg lettuce and tomato wedges with a glop of ranch dressing. Salads today are creative, interesting, and delicious. Have you tried a pear and gorgonzola salad with walnut halves? How about romaine with chopped apple, chopped orange, dried cranberries, and pecans? With an interesting roll on the side, these can be a meal.
One of my current favorite salads is fajita salad. I start with a base of mixed greens, diced celery, shredded carrot, and diced green pepper. I toss that with a little vinaigrette and put it on a plate. Then I sauté sliced onions, mushrooms, and strips of red and green peppers with some cumin and a dash of chili powder until they are tender. This mixture gets piled on top of the bed of greens and then topped with shredded cheddar cheese, which melts nicely on the hot veggies. I serve it with salsa and tortilla chips for a delicious and satisfying meal. Other favorite salads include creamy cauliflower salad, summer pea salad with sweet dressing, orange-carrot slaw, mandarin orange salad, and the endless list of pasta salads—chock full of vegetables, of course.
Other thrifty and delicious vegetarian options include root vegetables and winter squash. If you’ve never roasted vegetables for dinner, you have to try it. Cut butternut or any winter squash into 1” pieces and add chunks of carrot or turnip, onion, apple, potato, and green pepper. Toss them together with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Cheap, easy, and delicious!
For inspiration, read the titles of recipes. I have Moroccan vegetable stew, portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach and goat cheese, curried brown rice and black beans, and spring asparagus and potato salad. Any of these is a filling meal that is low in calories as well as low in cost.
Don’t forget soups! Rich, delicious vegetable soups with noodles or rice can be served with a hearty whole grain bread or roll for a quick meal, and long-simmering bean soup makes your mouth water as you smell it cooking. Or potato and leek soup—mmmmm! Meatless chili is a great alternative. Add two or three kinds of beans and you’ll never miss the meat. Also hearty lentil soup, skinny cheese soup loaded with vegetables, autumn harvest squash soup with apples and carrots, and lowfat corn chowder. The list is endless.
Even sandwiches can be meatless. Good old PB & J is everybody’s favorite, followed by grilled cheese. A summer sandwich idea is a PLT: pickle, lettuce, and tomato. I was looking for a substitute for bacon that would still have tang and crunch when I spied the jar of bread-and-butter pickles in the fridge. Ah-ha! A PLT cuts calories and fats tremendously, and saves your food dollars besides.
Summer fruits offer surprising options for meatless meals. Think of making an entire meal with strawberry shortcake as the main dish. You can finally have as much as you want, because it’s not dessert—it’s the main course! Filled with vitamins and antioxidants, strawberries are a powerhouse of nutrition. Piled on a whole wheat biscuit, they make a sinfully luscious meal.
OK, not many fruits can serve as a main course, but they still belong in your budget-saving strategies. Not only are fruits the perfect snack when you retire on the cheap, but they are also the perfect dessert. Rid your budget and grocery list of expensive store-bought cookies and snack cakes and have fruit for dessert. Losing a few pounds is so much easier without a high-calorie finish to your meal. You can combine any fruits into a yummy fruit cocktail. We mix strawberries with just about anything else all summer long. They are great with peaches, with mangoes, with pears, or with blueberries. Mix melon with raspberries or blackberries, or with other melons. Kiwi is great with bananas, as are oranges. For a special treat, you can drizzle a tablespoon of Chambord or Grand Marnier over the fruits and serve them in a martini glass. You’ll feel like you’re out on the town.
Reducing the amount of meat you buy and serve can produce serious savings in your grocery budget. You won’t have to feel deprived as you check out new recipes and find filling and delicious meatless meals. Trying vegetarian recipes from around the world can open a new era of taste for you and spur you to try new foods, as well. Other cultures have known how to prepare simple, meatless meals for hundreds of years, and you can join them while you stretch your grocery dollar. Give it a try!
We hope you picked up some useful tips about eating more fruits and vegetables. Make sure you read our companion articles about choosing less expensive sources of protein and preparing filling meals using whole grains. Stretch your retirement budget with cheap and healthy foods.
