Looking Forward to Lunch: Frugal Brown Bag Recipes

Guest post from Kate Sorenson of Coupon Cravings

Looking Forward to Lunch: Frugal Brown Bag Recipes

Brown bagging it for lunch, instead of getting take-out or eating at a restaurant, is one of the easiest ways to save thousands of dollars per year. Packing your own lunch means getting to control the price of your meals. You can watch out for sales at the grocery stores and pay attention to coupons for different ingredients. If there’s a special on ham, you can save money by planning to bring ham sandwiches for lunch that week.

Zen Habits calculates that bringing your own lunch from home costs only $1.00-$3.00 per meal, while eating at a restaurant can cost $10-$15 per meal. This adds up to over $3,000 a year of unnecessary spending!

Here are many of the other benefits of brown bagging:

• Homemade lunches are healthier than high-calorie, over-processed restaurant meals.
• Homemade lunches can often be tastier than those from restaurants.
• By staying in and working through lunch, you may get to leave early at the end of the day.

For some great inspiration for making brown bag lunches more exciting, easy, and low-cost consider some of the following ideas:

Freeze Your Food

An interesting and timesaving idea is to freeze sandwiches in large batches that will keep for 1-3 months in the freezer. The benefits of freezing sandwiches include: saving money, saving time by making large batches at once, using leftovers, and ensuring healthy food by controlling the ingredients. Just be sure when freezing sandwiches to keep in mind the types of ingredients that freeze well:

·   Peanut butter

·   Tuna fish or salmon

·   Most meats such as roast beef, chicken and turkey

·   Hard and semi-hard cheeses, such as Swiss or Cheddar

Lunch Ideas

Try some of these meal ideas time you’re packing your lunch:

·   Burritos – use simple ingredients such canned beans, cooked chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, salsa, onions and/or peppers. Then roll them into whole wheat tortillas.

·   Subs - use sub rolls or pita and fill them with tuna, hummus, peanut butter, or sandwich meats. Try adding interesting crunchy ingredients like celery, shredded carrots, cucumber, or lettuce.

·   Pizza – use pre-made crust, sauce and cheese. To make it a little healthier, don’t forget to add veggies.

·   Remember to bring your own beverages from home for extra savings.

Harness Your Leftovers

For super easy and frugal lunches, Food and Fitness suggests using leftovers from dinner for your lunch. Some suggestions for using leftovers wisely include:

·   Using leftover chili to top a baked potato or put in a “sloppy Joe” sandwich.

·   Adding leftover vegetables to make a salad, soup or even omelet.

·   Cook a whole chicken and freeze leftovers in single portion sizes.

·   Use cereal crumbs as a yogurt or oatmeal topping or in place of flour in muffins and cookies.

Using these frugal and tasty tips for brown bag lunches will make overspending during your lunch hour a thing of the past.

This is a guest post from Kate Sorenson of Coupon Cravings, a site with 30k+ Facebook Fans and over 12,000 Twitter followers. Thanks, Kate Sorenson and Elizabeth Baker for contributing this article to my blog. visit www.couponcravings.com

Avocado Shake

Hi Guys! Since it is summer here I thought that I will share a nutritious stomach filling and yummy 'Shake' with you.... I was not a big fan of Avocado but this 'shake' shaked my attitude towards it. Now I try different varieties of avocado dishes. 

Avocado's nutritional value is numerous. It helps to raise the "good" cholesterol level in the blood. It also helps in the treatment of Hypertension and diabetics.Avocado is rich in Vitamins B, K and E and are a good source of monounsaturated fat. 

Total Time - 5 min    To serve- 2 glass

Ingredients:

Avocado - 1

Vanilla Ice- cream - 2 scoop

Cold Milk- 1 cup

Sugar- 2-3 Tbsp

Vanilla essence- 1-2 drops

Method:

• Peel off the skin and remove the seed of Avocado.
• Take a Blender/ Mixie and blend all the ingredients.
• Add vanilla essence and Serve IMMEDIATELY .

Source: Lekhachechi

Puttu (Steamed Cake)

Puttu (Steamed Cake)- A South Indian Main Breakfast dish with steamed ground rice layered with grated coconut. It is served with any one of the following- Chickpea Curry (Kadala Curry), Banana, Beef Ullathiyathu, Meen peera pattichathu (Fish in grated coconut and kukum).... etc

Total Time taken: 15 mins           Serve- 1-2 persons

Ingredients:
Puttu powder/ Puttu Podi (Rice powder) - 1 cup
Water - approximately or below 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - approxi 1/2 cup
Salt- to taste

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, take puttu powder/ podi. Add one handful of grated coconut. Add salt. Mix well with hands. Add water little by little till the puttu podi is wet. Mix well with hands. Make a disc/ ball ( see the step by step pic below) with hands. If the disc/ ball didn't break and holds by itself then that means puttu podi is wet enough.
• Keep it aside for 5-10 min. ( I usually skip this step)
• Take some water in Puttu Maker's bottom part (Puttu Kudam). And let it boil. Fix Puttu Kutti (the Cylinderical Pipe) over that.
• When the boiling sound comes, take the Puttu Kutti (the cylinderical Pipe). Check whether the lower lid is secured properly. 
• Add 2 tbsp of grated coconut. Add puttu podi on the top of it. When it reaches about the middle of Puttu Kutti , add 2 tbsp of grated coconut again. Add puttu podi till it reaches the top of Puttu Kutti. Add 2 tbsp of grated coconut. Close with top lid.
• Steam it in Puttu Maker for 5-7 minutes. Take the 'Puttu Kutti' out from' puttu kudam'.
• Take a long stick or handle of long spoon and take out the puttu by pressing it slowly on the lower lid.

Almond Milk Pudding - Easy & Yummy !

When I made this pudding for the first time, it was hard as a rock. I was at my husband's place and we were having some guest. Any way the other two dishes that I made that day (Duck roast, Pressure cooked sardine) came out well. So the embarrassment caused by this pudding was somewhat balanced.  I got this recipe from a magazine. In that magazine they were asking to add 100 gm of china grass. I thought it was too much and added 20 gm. Even 20 gm was too much. So this time I made with approximately  5gm- 10gm (see the 2nd pic). I just took little bit 'china grass' in my hand and soaked it in water. The Almond Milk pudding came out perfectly well this time. I made it for my son's play-date. His friends' mothers as well as my kids loved it.So here goes a super easy pudding recipe. And it is Yummy, Yummy, Yummy ! Excellent blend of richness of condensed milk and almonds... 

Total Time Taken- 30 min + Chilling Time

Serve - 16 squares

Ingredients:
1)Grind Almond - 1/4-1/2 Cup
2) China grass / Agar Agar - Approx 5-10 gm
3) Milk - 1 litre
4) Condensed Milk (Milkmaid) - 1 tin (14 0z)
4) Sugar - 5 tbsp
5) Saffron- 1 pinch

Method:

• Soak china grass in water for 10 min.
• Meanwhile boil the milk. When the milk comes to boil, add the drained china grass. Stir it occasionally. When the china grass melts completely add milkmaid, almond and sugar. Stir it occasionally until it is thick.
• Add saffron at the end. Stir for 1 minute and switch off the flame.
• Pour it into a glass dish and when it cools down, refrigerate.
• When it is set, decorate with almonds. Cut it into squares and serve.

Adapted from a recipe published in Vanitha Magazine.

Papaya Milk Shake

Summer Time ! This shake is something my mother used to make it for us when we had plenty of Papaya.When we come home after the school, this Papaya Shake is really filling . Last week I found papaya in Costco and brought it having this recipe in mind. Here goes the recipe.

Serve: 4-5

Time  Taken- Less than 10 minutes

Ingredients:


1)Papaya - 1
2)Cold Milk - 1- 1 1/2 cup
3)Sugar - 4 tbsp or according to taste
4)Cashew nuts & Raisins - 8-10
5)Vanilla essence- 2 drops

Method:

• Take off the skin and seeds of the papaya and cut into pieces.
• In a mixie/ blender, add Papaya, Cold Milk, Sugar and blend.
• Add cashew nuts, raisins and vanilla essence. Mix. Serve or Refrigerate.

Note: This shake tastes better if you finish it off the same day itself.

Recipe Source: My mother

VazhaChundu / Banana Flower Cutlet

Vazhachundu / Vazhapoo / Banana flower cutlet is a very simple and healthy recipe. In this recipe I didn't use too much ingredients. I just used the basic ingredients needed for making the cutlet.When you want a change in your daily menu try this. I tried to make it healthy as possible. Even the frying part. I used "grape seed oil" for frying. It is the most healthiest oil ideal for frying and has light taste. Cutlet can be served with rice or can be eaten at snack time.

Number of cutlets- 8-10

Ingredients:
Chundu/ Banana flower/ Banana Blossom -1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Gram Masala - 1/2-3/4 tsp
Onion- 1
Green Chilly -3
Ginger - 1 piece
Curry leaves
Potato - 1
Egg -1
Bread crumbs- 1/2 cup
Oil

Method:

• Peel off the outer layers of the chundu / Banana flower and chop the inner layer nicely. 
• Put it in starch water of rice ( kanji velam ) or diluted buttermilk and rinse well. (When I don't have buttermilk or kanji velam I just rinse it in water.)
• Cook the potato in a sauce pan with enough water. Peel off the skin.
• Chop onion, green chilly, ginger and curry leaves in a chopper or by hand.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the onion, green chilly, ginger and curry leaves. 
• When the onion becomes transparent, add the chopped and drained chundu / banana flower, gram masala, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it. Cover and cook. Switch off the flame when it is cooked well.
• Add the mashed potato into it. Mix well. 
• Shape it into cutlet. 
• Beat one egg. Dip the cutlet into egg and then roll it in bread crumbs. Shape it.
• Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry the cutlet on both sides.

Source: My mother

Kadala Curry- Kerala Style ( Chick peas/ Chana in coconut milk and with sliced coconut

Puttu and Kadala Curry is one of the favorite and common traditional breakfast combination of a malayalee (Keralite). Kadala Curry is also a good combination with chappathi, appam, idiyappam. When I make it I make little extra so that it will go with one night dinner ( With Chappathi ) and next day's breakfast ( With Puttu). There is a proverb in Malayalam "ഒരു വെടിക് രണ്ടു പക്ഷി" - " Killing two birds with one bullet". Similarly with one dish I serve both breakfast and dinner.
Well, In this recipe you can see that I used two cups of Kadala and it serves 8-10 persons. What happened is that I made little more extra so that I can give it to my neighbor and one of my husband's colleague. Me and my neighbor "S.." have a habit of exchanging food. It all started when I became pregnant with my second kid. She used to feel sympathetic to me, seeing me struggling with my 2 year old naughty and restless son and doing cooking and other household chores. And I used to feel guilty to take it from her. She is a working lady works 5 days and cook on week-ends. And I being a house wife sitting at home. So I used to return her food containers with some dishes  when ever I can. And this episode still continues.

Well, "S.." and her husband gave me a "good" feed back about this dish. And told me that I should definitely put this in my blog. And she asked me for the recipe with exact measurement. Now a days since I started a blog I usually use measuring spoons and measuring cups so that I can post exact measurements. Earlier it was just pouring it from my 'spice containers' tuck.... tuck... tuck.... Sometimes spices/ masala will be little bit more or little bit less. Here, goes exact measurement. I am little bit confused about 'Perumjeerakam powder' I added. Whether it was 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp. Rest measurements are fine.

Serves - 8-10

Ingredients:

1) Chana / Kadala / Chick peas - 2 cup

2) Sliced Big Onion - 1-1 1/2

3) Chopped Garlic- 1 pod

4) Chopped Ginger - 1 piece

5) Green Chilly -3

6) Sliced Coconut - 1/2 cup

7) Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tsp

8) Chilly Powder - 1 tsp

9) Coriander Powder - 2 tbsp

10) Gram Masala - 1- 1 1/4 tsp

11) Perumjeerakam powder (Ground fennel seeds) - 1/2- 3/4 tsp

12) Coconut Milk - 1 tin

13) Mustard seeds

14) Oil

15) Curry leaves

16) Salt

Method:

• Soak the chana in water overnight or 6-8 hrs.
• Heat oil in pressure cooker. When the oil is hot, splutter the mustard seeds.
• Add Sliced onion, ginger, garlic, green chilly and curry leaves. Saute occasionally.
• When the onion turns brown, add chilly powder, coriander powder, perumjeerakam,  Gram masala, turmeric powder. Saute continuously. When the roasted masala aroma comes add chick peas/ Chana/ Kadala, Salt and sliced coconut. Pour water enough to cover the chana. Stir.
• Close the pressure cooker and when the steam comes out put on the weight. Remove from the flame after 3-4 whistle. Wait for the pressure to get over. Or put the pressure cooker under running cold water. When the pressure is over, open the pressure cooker.
• Add coconut milk to it. Stir. Bring the dish to boil and turn off the flame.