To round off the blogs that I have done on eating well on a budget I thought that we could look at this in real terms and so I have compiled some menu ideas that you may like to follow. Use them on days when you are feeling well, perhaps pre treatment or post treatment or during treatment when your appetite is normal. They are not set in a tablet of stone but designed to give ideas that you can perhaps mix and match to suit your day and your budget.
Menu Ideas for healthy eating.
- Sugar free muesli with fresh chopped fruit, seeds and yogurt/ milk/alt milk
- Porridge, seeds and fresh fruit chopped i.e. banana, blueberries
- Eggs poached, scrambled or a small omelette with, tomatoes, mushrooms on rye sourdough bread toasted or seed bread.
- Fresh fruit salad with live natural yogurt and cinnamon
- Dried fruit salad soaked overnight, with yogurt, seeds and nuts.
- Smoked salmon on rye toast and fresh sliced tomato.
- 2 thin slices of pumpernickel bread spread with pumpkin seed butter or cashew nut butter. Topped with either sliced tomato or half a banana.
- Fruit smoothie made with almond milk or rice milk with 1 tbsp of ground almonds whizzed in.
- Soups with vegetables/ beans/ lentils/ chicken etc with 2 oatcakes or a small granary roll. If buying a fresh soup avoid the cream based soups.
- Large imaginative salad with 2 tbsp of hummus or / boiled eggs/ tuna tinned in brine or water/ sardines/ small tin of salmon and a couple of oatcakes
- A medium Jacket potato with a small can of baked beans or/ hummus/ lentil dahl and homemade coleslaw dressed with walnut oil, not mayonnaise.
- 2 egg Omelette with lots of vegetables cooked in, mushrooms, peas, tomatoes, potatoes etc
- Pita pocket stuffed with salad and tuna or sardines or mixed beans.
- Rice and bean mixed salad, with a green salad
- Small can of baked beans on wholemeal or rye toast with sliced tomato.
- Spelt bread or whole meal bread sandwich using a scraping of butter with cold chicken and lots of salad.
- Sardines and grilled tomatoes on rye toast.
- Vegetarian or fish sushi.
- Vegetable/ qourn or lean beef chilli and brown rice (add extra vegetables to the chilli like mushrooms and peppers and courgettes. (50%)
- Vegetable or chicken curry (homemade) with rice. Again add lots of extra vegetables or serve with a side salad.
- Bolognese using lean mince or quorn with extra vegetables added with spaghetti.
- Oven roasted Vegetables and large green salad dressed with pumpkin seed oil and toasted cashew nuts on top.
- Grilled fish with small portion of brown rice or quinoa and a variety of steamed vegetables
- Roast meats with a variety of vegetables, new potatoes and lean gravy
- Oven roasted vegetables (using olive oil) with grilled chicken or a small can of lentils and rice
- Tortilla filled with vegetables, i.e. spinach and mushrooms and eaten with some cashew nuts.
- Ratatouille with grilled fish and rice or topped with a little goats cheese or polenta slices instead of fish.
- Stir fried vegetables (olive oil) and chicken, prawns or quorn with brown rice or noodles.
- Seed mix (sunflower, pumpkin, chopped dried apricots, cashew nuts). Enough to fill the palm of your hand,
- 2-3 Rice cakes with cashew nut butter on top
- Oatcakes and tahini or 1 tbsp hummus
- Mug of soup. Avoid packet/dried or tinned
- Fresh fruit and a handful of cashew nuts or almonds
- Rice cakes and hummus
- 1 slice of rye bread with honey or sugar free jam
- A fruit smoothie with 1 tbsp. of ground almonds blended in as for breakfast.
- 2 squares of dark chocolate and 6 almonds.
Remember that these are only ideas and can be mixed and matched accordingly. Food does not have to be complicated just fresh and nourishing. Protein foods fill you up and help keep hunger away.
Blog originally written by Caroline Aug 2013