Meatless Meal Ideas…I need help!

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Since my goal this January is to lower our eating bill by $125.00, I’ve been thinking of some ways to do this. One way is to make my meal plan for the week and stick to it. Here’s this weeks meal plan which we have stuck to so:

Monday: Italian sausage bake, fruit

Tuesday: Pork chops,corn , applesauce, rice packet

Wednesday: homemade pizza & salad

Thursday: Blueberry muffins, eggs, fruit

Friday: Beef Stir Fry, eggrolls

Saturday:taco soup, fruit

Sunday:meatball subs, green beans, fruit

I also noticed that we eat meat for practically every dinner. That’s not good on the budget and it can’t be healthy.  Here’s a list of the meatless meals that are typically in our rotation. I would love to expand this list:

*tomato soup, grilled cheese, pickle

*broccoli, rice, cheese casserole

*homemade pizza

*pasta

*breakfast foods (pancakes, blueberry muffins, waffles)

Do you have any ideas for meatless meals? I’d love to hear from you.

25 thoughts on “Meatless Meal Ideas…I need help!”

    • Good Idea – I can do that – I think I could eat mexican food every night. I bet tostados would be a good well too.

  2. I was going to suggest beans as well! And as far as saving money, it’s much cheaper to prepare them from dried form when you can. I’m always surprised how fast black-eyed peas cook from dry beans. I usually take a bag of black-eyed peas (rinse and sort first; sometimes there’s a little rock in there), fill the pot to about an inch over the beans with water, add 4-5 strips of uncooked bacon (okay, bacon is meat, but it’s just a little!) chopped into the pot with a chopped onion, maybe 1-2 cloves chopped garlic, salt, and a chopped jalapeno, with the seeds removed to keep the spice down – it just adds a nice flavor. Then bring to a boil and simmer for about 1-1.5 hours. They get tender so fast (well, relative to other beans in their dry state). Serve with rice or just by themselves.
    We also really like sunny side eggs served over rice for dinner (if you count that as meatless!). Fry them up in a liberal amount of butter, and keep the yolks soft so that when you cut up the eggs over the rice, the butter and yolks mix with the rice and it’s so yummy! A little salt on top (and pepper if you like) and you’re good! We switched over to using brown rice a few months ago, and it tastes just as good to me as the white. Happy cooking!

    • I have never heard of eating eggs over rice – I like my eggs a little firmer but I’m willing to try. I’ve never made dry beans but I will give your recipe a try – for some reason potato soup just popped into my mind, and serving baked potatoes with toppings as the main meal – thanks for the suggestions Jess

    • I need to try the spinach quiche – I can’t wait until Derek reads about the tofu – makes me laugh just thinking about his face scrunching up – thanks Deanna!

  4. Oh I forgot to mention tofu. It’s pretty cheap and if you throw it in a spaghetti, chili or lasagna you honestly don’t taste it. I normally buy the silken tofu – and Derek if you read this quit gagging!

    • I’m not gagging for crying out loud. I actually don’t mind tofu if it’s mixed in with something else like spaghetti or lasagna.

      When I think of tofu though all that I can think about is those horrible, horrible, tofu hot dogs we had when we were kids. I’ll never forgot those.

  5. We make stuffed red peppers with beans & corn every now and then – they’re fantastic AND easy to make. Plus, you can use the leftovers (since I’m guessing the kiddos won’t have anything to do with this recipe) for burritos or a side dish another night – if you want you could add chicken for the burritos too! I found the recipe a while ago on Cheap Healthy Good blog here: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/08/like-stuffed-peppers-with-black-beans.html.

    • Oh, and I find cutting the red peppers lengthwise rather than on the tops makes them easier to stuff and eat!

  6. What about a big salad for you and Derek? Lettuce, veggies, corn, hard-boiled eggs, beans if you wanted…Soup and grilled cheese….i don’t know how to make them but cheese enchiladas….Veggie Stir fry…

    • Thanks for the enchilada ideas, will definitely try those – reminds me I know a mexican casserole that I could just take the chicken out of

  7. oh French Toast, Pancakes…all can go with fruit or eggs…brocolli, rice and cheese casserole….macaroni and cheese (i love making this bc it is cheap and last for many meals…can be combined with other stuff or alone)

  8. Crepes, mmmmmm. I love crepes. Stuffed with fruit or cinnamon and sugar. The problem is I think I’m the only one here that likes them so we usually end up going with pancakes.

  9. I had two thoughts getting hungry looking at all the ideas. First, years ago when my kids were small and I was into health-food, there was a book called, “Dinner for a small planet”, which was vegetarian….I think that was the name and it had some really great casseroles in it. The other thing is that we just came back from an Italian restaurant and had delicious eggplant parmesan with a side of pasta….meatless of course. The key to the eggplant is that it must be soft enough when you eat it…And finally, with minimal meat, Chinese nite might be fun….must have the fortune cookies–for parties would also pull out the original messages and insert my own with tweezers (sterilized of course), stir-fried rice (chicken or shrimp), some soup–won ton, hot and sizzling, etc…and even any stir-fry….a half a pound of meat can go a long way sliced very thin…

    • Hey I once made my own fortune cookies for Ryan’s father’s day gift from kids, complete with our own little fortunes.

      Was very easy and fun. I would google it. That’s how I found the recipe.

  11. Check out Six o’Clock Scramble meal planning system; great menus, customisable (up to a point) time-friendly and they build the groc. list for you. I’ve heard great things about it and am going to try it out myself this year.

    http://www.thescramble.com

    • Just watched the video on his site – I’m going to definitely try something from there and read some more later – I don’t think the boys will try the food but you never know.

  15. okay am loving this site. So loved the ladies night article….I am weeping loved the video. Promise to put this on my ipod and bring it the next time we meet. I will play it for us!

    Okay meal ideas…..you have caught me on a good night. Probably will not be back on computer like this for at least a month….I am so bad!!!

    Bean Tapatia(bean tostada)-so yummy and healthy for you too!
    Frittata
    Black bean and corn tacos-super yummy call me for recipe.
    Fried rice with egg rolls

    Good luck!! Check out thegrocerygame.com
    Amazing site..I did this for awhile and I really did save a lot of money!!

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