First - check out this post to see a list of great WW-friendly "coupon foods". I'm working on a second post right now, as there are so many foods that I left out!
While this is perhaps not the most exciting menu, it does show you that you can eat healthy and cheaply! Additionally - I tend to go heavier on breakfast than lunch, because I am NOT a "morning eater"....or at least I don't typically eat breakfast until 10:00am and then I eat a light lunch and a regular dinner.
Oh - and I lost 5.2 lbs last week on this menu!
Breakfasts:
Fiber One Raisin Clusters with ⅔ c milk (Fiber One Cereal can be had for less than $1/box or $.15/serving; milk at state minimums), coffee with ⅓ c. milk (5 points)
Lt English Muffin (find them BOGO all the time); egg + 3 egg whites, scrambled (eggs are CHEAP); 1 T reduced-sugar jam, Black coffee w/Splenda. (5 points).
Pumpkin Muffin (a very inexpensive recipe when you get the ingredients on sale), Fiber One Yogurt, Coffee with ½ cup milk (5 points)
Lunches:
Fresh Express Salads (very generous with coupons and the non-deluxe versions can be had for $.50/bag when on sale when combined with a coupon), topped with Tuna Salad made with fat-free mayo (add some dijon mustard or chopped onion - or both - to the tuna salad to give it a "kick") and drizzled with fat-free Catalina dressing (dressing can be had for $.50/bottle when on sale with a coupon...or free when it is a Catalina deal!). (4-5 points)
Fresh Express Salads (very generous with coupons and the non-deluxe versions can be had for $.50/bag when on sale when combined with a coupon), topped with Egg Salad made with fat-free mayo (add some chopped up dill pickes to the egg salad to give it a "kick") and drizzled with fat-free Catalina dressing. (4-5 points)
Peanut Butter & Jelly and Progresso Zero-point soups: make the PB&J on either a light english muffin, or 2 slices of reduced calorie bread. 1 tablespoon peanut butter and 1 tablespoon jam (use reduced sugar jam to get a bigger portion). There are tons of coupon out there for Skippy, Jif & Peter Pan peanut butterwhich, when combined with regular sales can get you peanut butter for under $1/jar, after doubling. Progresso soups go on sale all the time and coupons can be found everywhere) (4-6 points, depending on what bread you use)
Dinners
Whole Wheat Pasta tossed with canned Diced tomatoes, 4 oz (weight before cooking) chicken, broccoli (use Green Giant Valley Steamers - they've been free after coupon almost everywhere for the last few months) with a little drizzle of olive oil (7-8 points)
Salsa Chicken: saute 5oz (uncooked) chicken in non-stick spray, add salsa (Chi-Chi's has the most coupons) to pan and allow to heat. If you have the points, add some frozen corn (Green Giant Valley Steamers - free). Serve over 3-points of brown rice, polenta, cous-cous or pasta. Salad (full of zero-point veggies) with a few spritzes of Ken's Salad Spritzers (7-9 points, depending on if you add corn).
Broccoli & Cheese Baked Potato: this is my favorite "my husband is working late" dinner: 1 large potato (3-point/7 oz cooked) (about $.25 when you can get a 5lb bag of potatoes on a half-price or BOGO sale), topped with an entire package of Green Giant Valley Steamers Broccoli & Cheese sauce (3 points). In the rare instances that I am still hungry, I either also have a salad or Progresso zero-point soups!
Snacks:
Microwave popcorn: 3 points for the entire bag! Jolly Time, Pop Secret and (occasionally) Orville Redenbacher are very generous with both the coupons and the store-sponsored Catalina deals.
Baby Carrots (usually available to $1.50/1lb bag) with Salsa: these are saved for the days when I use up my snack points with important things....like Hershey's Kisses
Fiber One yogurts: very generous with the coupons, only 1 point and count towards dairy requirement!
Boiled Egg: only 2 points and you would be shocked at how far that little "shot" of protein can go towards fighting hunger
Stacey
I meant to e-mail you about the Pumpkin Muffins. I made them a few weeks ago and Joshua LOVES them. Mine were gooey or something and I cooked them about 5 minutes longer. Does that mean I need to cook them even longer?
Tosha
Wow! 5 lbs in one week is awesome:) I really need to start a diet and exercise plan, but I just can't seem to step away from the computer long enough. Every minute I am not at the computer seems to get consumed by other household needs. Maybe when it warms up I can incorporate daily walks with the kids, that way I am getting exercise and spending time hanging out with my two favorite people. Keep up the great work Mindi. Your success is inspiring!
Manisha
Mindi, another thing that is very cheap and can make for healthy inexpensive meals is any kind of grains. If you pair it with a legume or a dairy, then you have a complete protein.
One of the cheapest things I can make is beans (even cheaper if they were dry instead of canned) over brown rice, ww couscous, barley, or bulgar wheat.
A box of grains/brown rice at Trader Joes is never more than 2 bucks. Throw some rf cheese on it, and you're all set. There isn't always a lot of coupons for that kind of stuff, but it's seriously cheap, and really filling. And, it's probably my favorite thing ever.
Nessa
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Happy Holidays!
Nessas last blog post..Christmas Walmart Rant