CLARA's weight loss diets are based on real food and do not include "magic" foods or products of any kind, so they are usually inexpensive. But it is true that you can always save more. So we have put the batteries to get the cheapest weight loss diet yet, very healthy and with ideas that will make you enjoy food, so you do not get bored and leave it before you get the weight you want.
THE TRICK TO MAKE YOUR DIET ECONOMIC: BE FLEXIBLE
Don't stick to a predetermined idea when going to. The idea is not on Monday I will make broccoli with sundried tomato vinaigrette and steamed hake with vegetables. The idea is that on Monday you are going to eat vegetables and fish, so when you go to the market you can see which vegetables and fish are better priced and thus get a cheaper menu.
MORE KEYS TO MAKE YOUR MENUS CHEAP AND HEALTHY
- Planning the weekly menu, with breakfasts, lunches and dinners because it prevents you from improvising and ending up throwing out precooked items - much more expensive and much less healthy - and because you avoid having food scraps that you will end up throwing away after going around the fridge.
- Go to the market and several supermarkets and choose the brands that have the best value for money in the latter.
- Cooking at home is basic, but this doesn't mean you have to chain yourself to pots and pans. You can make easy and inexpensive recipes that fit perfectly into your diet to lose weight. What's more, you can have bases made or a batch cooking type planning to cook almost everything for the week in one morning.
- It incorporates cheap foods that have a bad reputation but that do not make you fat, contrary to what the myths say, such as legumes or potatoes, for example.
- Opt for seasonal vegetables and fruits, which in addition to being more sustainable are cheaper.
LEGUMES, THE "MEAT" OF THE POOR OR OF THE READY?
You can lose weight and eat legumes instead of meat or fish. What's more, a diet in which legumes play a leading role is healthier than one that only relies on eating meat twice a day. But, in addition, there are legumes, such as soybeans, that you can take as tofu or tempeh, which gives more versatility to its consumption.
- How to take them on a slimming diet? Substitute boiled legumes for meat or fish (60 g raw or 130 g cooked). You can take it alone in a salad, sautéed in the wok along with vegetables or together with cereals in such well-known dishes as rice - better whole wheat - with lentils, in soups, in creams … Always accompany it with vegetables and a piece of fruit and a yogurt and you will have a full meal.
- Other alternatives. You can also take them in the form of tofu or tempeh in light recipes with vegetables. If you buy tofu burgers, look at the ingredients, because as with sweet ham, there are many that have little tofu and a lot of other ingredients that are not nutritionally interesting and provide more calories than necessary, just as there are hams that have only 60 % meat and 40% starch and other ingredients that should not have.
- On the price … Legumes are cheaper than healthy processed such as tofu or tempeh, but these tend to have a fairly stable price and cheap when compared to what cuts of meat or according to what fish.
ECONOMIC AND LIGHT MEAT
The lightest meats are those with the least fat, such as poultry, rabbit and depending on what cuts of veal, pork and horse. Duck or lamb are the fattest and it is better not to include them in diets to lose weight.
In the case of chicken or turkey , the fat is usually under the skin and in visible areas, so it is easy to remove. And on the cuts, the breast is lighter than the thigh, but the difference is not very significant.
On red meat, sirloin and tenderloin have the least fat, but they are also usually the most expensive. But among the cuts considered third of the veal, for example, are the cheeks, the skirt or vacuum or the morrillo, cuts also light and ideal for chup chup stews.
ECONOMIC FISH AND SEAFOOD
Besides olive oil, fish and shellfish are what make any menu expensive. But it doesn't have to be this way if we know which fish to choose. Nor are we going to lose quality by exchanging a monkfish or bonito for a brótola or horse mackerel.
What is certain is that many of the fish on this list of the cheapest ones you will not find in the supermarket, but you will have to go to the market.
- Brótola
- Canana (known as the squid of the poor)
- Mackerel
- Vogue
- White bream
- Mackerel
- Starling
- Anchovies
- Bighead octopus
- Squid
- Mussels
- Maira
- Sardine
- Butternut
On the other hand, frozen fish can also be a good option for your menus. Also, in supermarkets and frozen food stores you can find good deals.
VEGETABLES AND FRUIT ARE LIKE PORK: EVERYTHING IS TAKEN ADVANTAGE
Do you throw away the green part of the leek, the skins of the carrot or tomato, the tips of the onion …? It is true that vegetables are cheap, but throwing away parts of the one we buy makes us spend more. In restaurants, these remains of which we have spoken are used to make broths (funds). At home we don't have that much volume, but if you keep these clean leftovers in a bag in the freezer, after a while you will have enough to toast them in the oven with chicken carcasses, bones to have or fish heads to get a bottom that it will make your stews have a lot of flavor.
Sometimes you don't even have to wait that long. With the green parts of the leeks, the well washed skins of some potatoes, the stem of a broccoli and the water to boil the vegetables of a stew and a chicken carcass you can now make a vegetable broth in which to boil a little pasta to have a first ready in a jiffy.
But we have many more ideas to take advantage of the vegetable remains:
- Peeled broccoli stalk can be a delicious carpaccio if you slice it thinly and dress it, or it can be turned into vegetable spaghetti if you shape it with a spiralizer.
- Carrot leaves, if you buy them in a bunch, can be used to make a delicious pesto. You just have to make the recipe as it is done traditionally but substituting the basil for the carrot leaves.
- In fact, the leaves of many vegetables (the outer ones of carrots, cabbages, radishes, etc.), can be added, very clean, to vegetable broths and creams to give more flavor, the same as the parts hard chard, pea pods or broad beans, etc.
Another key to making vegetables cheap is when it is in season. In another case, better to throw from canned or frozen.
THE FRUIT, ALWAYS IN SEASON AND ZERO KILOMETER
It is indisputable that a piece of fruit is a much cheaper and healthier dessert than a piece of cake or another type of dessert. The good news is that cheap, healthy and light coincide in this case and that is why weight loss diets usually recommend a piece of seasonal fruit or yogurt to finish the menu. And we once again point out that it is important that they are seasonal and better if they are zero kilometer, that is, produced near your place of residence, because they are the ones with the best price.
But since eating fruit does not have to be a boring thing, you can give it life by making natural fruit salads dipped in orange juice, skewers garnished with a thread of chocolate, etc. By the way, if you are going to make and you have fruit left over, you can turn it into compote just by cooking it with a little water and cinnamon or a date if you like more flavor.
You can also freeze fruit leftovers or pieces that are very ripe and make ice cream with them, also adding dates to give it flavor, instead of sugar, so that it is healthy and light and you can take it in your weight loss diet.
HEALTHY PROCESSED, YES OR NO?
The ultra-processed ones are highly discarded because they are not healthy although many are cheap. Point. But there are processed foods that are healthy, such as canned legumes or bagged salads. Can we turn to them on a cheap diet? Well the answer is that it depends.
- Boil legumes at home. It is not much cheaper than the boat, especially if they are white label and, on the other hand, they give a lot of work. The dried legume is recommended when you are going to make a stew with it (a soup with cod, chili, etc.) because you just have to soak it and then make the recipe normally. But just to drink it boiled or for preparations like hummus, it is not worth the work it takes.
- Bag salads. They are very comfortable, but value for money, they are not as cheap as whole lettuce. And since it does not take so much work to wash it, it is more advisable to use it without bagging.
- The essentials. Of course, there are healthy processes that we cannot give up, such as extra virgin olive oil, pasteurized or uht milk, yogurts, cheeses, spices, tofu, tempeh, textured soybeans, tea, coffee, infusions, chocolate of more than 70% …
ESPECIALLY ECONOMIC RECIPES
- Couscous Couscous is a pasta that takes up a lot of water, so with a small amount you have a dish with a lot of volume and very satiating. You can mix it with vegetables for a salad like tabouleh, which is very versatile, because it can also include some chicken, tuna or legumes and also fruit and / or nuts; Or you can use it in more elaborate recipes like turkey couscous, for example, which also has vegetables and chickpeas.
- Woks . They are another way to make delicious light dishes with vegetables and legumes or tofu, or chicken, or prawns, or calamari …
- Harvesting creams and tortillas. Other recipes in which everything fits, all the vegetables that run through the fridge: raw for the cream and cooked for the omelette.
- Spoon stews. Stewed lentils with vegetables instead of chorizo or bacon is a dish that you can take alone or with a salad and that with a piece of fruit is a complete menu. But also some chickpeas stewed with spinach and cod crumbs.
AND IN ADDITION, IT WILL ALSO CLOUD YOUR DISHES IF YOU SAVE ON ENERGY
You may have saved in the shopping cart and spoil the savings by choosing when cooking them.
- Having a kettle saves energy by heating water for boiling.
- Covering the casserole when the water is already boiling allows you to reduce the power of the fire to half and keep the temperature above 100º C so that the cooking is perfect.
- Cooking in the microwave, due to the speed of cooking, also helps to save energy.
- The oven is one of the most comfortable cooking methods, but also one of the most energy consuming. Therefore, to take advantage of it well, you must use all three trays at the same time. For example, in one put a chicken to roast, in another vegetables to roast and in another some apples to make roasts with cinnamon.
THE CHEAPER AND HEALTHIER DIET MENU TO LOSE WEIGHT
Everything we have told you can give you ideas to organize your menus. To make it easy for you, we give you this cheap, healthy and simple weekly menu to lose weight.
