I loved the Chicken casserole, but to make it even more affordable used regular chicken rather than just breast meat. I boiled the bones and used the liquid for stock the second time I made it. And you don’t even have to use broccoli, I made it the second time with eggplant, carrots and cauliflower. Things that were lying in the fridge. Just as delicious.

What gets me though is the instant oats post. Living in a third world country, even the quick oats is quite expensive, so I tried blitzing up some regular oats in the blender. It tastes like cardboard flavoured with wallpaper paste and raisins. I still eat it though :p

To those who say these recipes aren’t healthy enough: Change them to suit your needs or find other recipes elsewhere.

I’ve also used many recipes from the 30 Day Gourmet and find them easy to use, along with the planning worksheets provided if you’re serious about cooking in huge batches.

Thanks again!

QuickER Chicken Casserole a la Mer

3 pounds raw boneless skinless chicken breasts, *snipped into chunks*
3 pounds raw broccoli florets
*2.5 cups uncooked rice*
* 3 cups flavorful liquid (veg stock or chicken stock)*
*1 cup chopped onion*
*16 ounces canned mushrooms*
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
*salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder*
*small foil trays, no bigger than 6 cups*.

Mix all ingredients together except the cheese, portion into foil trays, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and freeze.

When you’re ready, remove the plastic wrap, replace the foil, and place in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 10 minutes, pull it out of the oven and let it sit for a minute, and enjoy!

Anyway… even if you cut the amount of sausage in half to compensate for their database inadequacies – brings the serving size down to 160-ish g (about 40% bigger than McD’s, of course) the golden arches are still slightly ahead, unless the difference in size is enough that the average person would eat one of your burritos, but two of McD’s. Smaller servings are often a good thing, especially if it’s a Tube o’ Cholesterol.

My point remains, promoting this as a healthy alternative to anything is really misguided. The recipe as you posted it is ridiculously high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and even if it is cheaper to make, it is not cheaper to clean out of your arteries. Especially if people are eating stuff like this on a regular basis.

And given that this is supposed to be about finance – how much would you say one serving works out to? I figure one of my breakfast smoothies rings in at about a dollar. And that’s using soymilk that costs $4 for 1.89 litres. eek!

These recipes are intended to be frameworks – they’re simple enough that you can modify them like crazy. My actual breakfast burritos have WAY more onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato, homemade salsa, etc. and not as much sausage or egg but most people’s stomach would turn eating them.

Trent’s breakfast burrito. Serving size = 1 burrito, ~187g.
456 calories, 212 from fat.
Total fat 24g (37% DV)
Saturated fat 11 g (53%)
Cholesterol 151 mg (50%)
Sodium 1003 mg (42%)
Carbs 40g (13%)
Fiber 3g (11%)
Sugar 3g
Protein 20g
Vitamin A 11%
Vitamin C 14%
Calcium 30%
Iron 20%

McDonald’s Sausage Breakfast Burrito Serving size – 1 burrito, 113 g.
Calories 290, 150 from fat
Total fat 16g (25%)
Saturated 6g (30%)
Cholesterol 170g (57%)
Sodium 680 mg (28%)
Carbs 24g (8%)
Fiber 2g (8%)
Sugar 2g
Protein 2g
Vitamin A 10%
Vitamin C 20%
Calcium 15%
Iron 15%

My usual breakfast – smoothie made with a banana, 2 T peanut butter, 3 dates, 1 cup soymilk. Plus a piece of whole wheat toast.
Serving size ~ 509 g.

Calories 719, 196 from fat.
Total fat 23g (35%)
Saturated fat 4g (18%)
Cholesterol 0 mg (0%)
Sodium 263 mg (11%)
Carbs 123 g (41%)
Fiber 16g (63%)
Sugars 68 g (from the dates; they can be left out)
Protein 19g
Vitamin A 26%
Vitamin C 17%
Calcium 45%
Iron 25%

If you think something is healthier than fast food just because you made it at home, you’re fooling yourself. It’s always better to check, as you can see here McD’s beats Trent pretty much across the board.

Of course I’m aware that my breakfast has many more calories. However, it is twice as big (assuming you only eat ONE breakfast burrito) and I burn off a good number of those calories biking to work. I’m well aware of my caloric needs here :)

Links to full nutritional analyses:
Trent
McDonalds
me

Jose is right – when you see a recipe, tweak it and make it your own.

Kay has a good Muesli recipe. I like to make my own flavored oatmeal packets. Check out this link: http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/frugal/breakfast.htm

Any other good recipes to share for convenience food?

For example, with the chicken dish, I would use low sodium chicken broth for the rice and broccoli rather than boullion. If desired, you could use reduced fat cheese (I think no fat cheese also has no flavor!)

The chicken strips could be made with eggbeaters, which, though slightly more expensive than eggs (if not purchased on sale), would allay concerns about cholesterol and fat.

On the burritos, I would swap the sausage out in favor of beans (black would be my pick) – you get protein without the fat or additives of sausage.

My breakfasts this week: oatmeal with some skim milk and fresh berries (on which I got an awesome deal at the grocery.) By mistake, when I made my first pot of oatmeal on Monday, I made way too much. I ended up putting the leftovers in the fridge and nuking them the following days. The taste was almost exactly the same – I will now make a week’s worth of oatmeal deliberately!

In all, though, I agree that anytime you eat/prepare at home, you are likely better off.

Check out the classic Swiss Muesli Bircher recipe — raw oatmeal/rolled oats soaked over night in water, skim milk, or soy milk. Next morning, add a freshly grated apple, maybe a little yogurt, raisins, cut grapes, sliced almonds OR cut banana. Way cheap, high-fiber, creamy-tasting, quick, heart healthy, and delicious. One minute to measure out the oats and the liquid. Takes 30 seconds to grate an apple. Another 30 seconds to toss in the other optional ingredients. Voila!

You could substitute boneless/skinless thighs for the breast meat in the final recipe. We find those cheaper and we like that they are not as dry.

Brad