A lot of times I hear that it is too expensive to eat healthy and that cheap and healthy dinners to lose weight are just not possible. Even when I was watching Food, Inc. by Michael Pollan, this topic was discussed. The family couldn’t afford the fruits and vegetables on their budget so they went to the fast food drive-thru instead.

Cheap and healthy dinners are definitely possible and I know you can even SAVE money when you make the right choices. Also, remember portion control is important here too! When you start to keep track of what a serving really is, there is plenty to go around.

The main focus is buying what is on sale. I got red, orange, and yellow peppers on sale at Kroger this week 10 for $10. I can make so many different dinners from just those, a can of black beans and some rice. Oh and use your freezer! Chop them up and freeze them so you can use them later. I used to get frustrated because I was buying too much produce and it would go bad before I got to it. Now, everything gets frozen. One banana on the counter gets cut up and frozen for a smoothie. Grapes, strawberries, onions, sweet corn…try so hard not to waste anything.

Other great buys right now are squash and zucchini. I got about 4 zucchini for a little more than a dollar, and the same with the squash. Onions, whichever salad green is on sale, small peppers that are cheap but have a lot of flavor like jalapeno. Just try to spend most of your shopping time in the produce department, then get a few meats, and the staples of rice and beans and you can easily make a week’s worth of dinners.

Here are a few cheap and healthy dinners I have had recently:

• Sausage and peppers – Jennie O Lean Turkey sausage ($3.99 for 4 or 5 links), cut up into one inch pieces, and peppers on brown rice.

• Hot turkey sandwiches – on whole wheat bread, or pita bread, with tomato and onion or peppers, grill with a touch of olive oil. I spread one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese ($2 for 8 of them) on the bread too. Then for the side, frozen organic potatoes ($2.99) for the whole bag…can get 4 servings from one bag or sweet corn which at Publix right now is 10 for $3 I think. Cheap!

• Veggies and noodles – Zucchini, squash, cut into long thin strips, cherry tomatoes, tossed with whole wheat angel hair or spaghetti. Seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, basil, dash of olive oil. Perfect.

• BLT salads – Turkey bacon, lots of greens, tomatoes, onions, and for the dressing, whatever mayo or mayo substitute you use thinned out with skim milk. Season with fresh ground pepper. Soo good.

• Chicken drummies a la easy – chicken drumsticks in the crock pot with barbecue sauce or Worcestershire sauce. Cook all day long, meat will almost fall of the bone. Side of broccoli or boiled cabbage on brown rice.

• Fiesta – Ice berg lettuce wraps with a stuffing of fajita seasoned lean ground beef (1/2 pound), black beans, rice and vegetables.  SHORTCUT—- ground beef, cook it up and mix with two weight watchers Sante Fe rice and beans dinners (can get for like $1.50 each and even less with a coupon) and use this as the filling for your lettuce wraps. That would be enough for about 2 adults and 2 kids.

• Hamburger wraps — With the other half of the cooked hamburger, mix with ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions, maybe some leftover turkey bacon…wrap in lettuce wraps with tomatoes. Remainder of frozen organic potatoes as the side.

Try to always put a bowl of fruit on the table too. Those few grapes no one is eating, an orange you sliced up, a couple of watermelon slices. Then if no one eats the fruit, time to freeze for smoothies which are great “dessert” offerings!

Cheap and healthy dinners are very doable, but it takes planning and timing. This planning is an investment in you and your family! Finding what is on sale, in season and what you might be able to use for more than one dish are the keys to cheap and healthy dinners to lose weight.