Author: Kayla

So last week I set myself a challenge. To feed my family of 5, healthy, gluten and dairy free breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for $150! And I bet you are wondering … did I do it? How did it go? Was it hard? The short answer is yes, we did it. It wasn’t anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be. And with the food I have left over at the end of the week, I would say our food bill has actually come in at under $150!

Everyone was fed well all week and I didn’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen. Can you do it too? well that might depend, on the age of your kids, where you have available to shop, whats in season and how much time you have to put towards meal prep. The more time you have, the more money you will save!

Here are our particular circumstances –

• We are a family of 5 – two adults and three children 8 and under. It’s the middle of winter and none of us are living a particularly active lifestyle right now, so we are not requiring a huge amount of extra energy from our food. I still feel like we eat a lot of food, compared to others, especially at dinner, so my servings sizes are quite liberal.
• I shopped online at our local Countdown so I could see exactly how much I was spending. We don’t have a Pack n Save or a fruit and veggie shop here, so countdown is our most cost effective option. Choose your most cost effective options to maximise the amount you can save.
• This shop didn’t include toiletries, nappies, or coffee (gasp!) however, given the food we have leftover I think these could be included easily and still keep close to budget. I will write another post for tips on how to save money on these items and general strategies on how to save money on your food bill, especially when you are dealing with food allergies.

If you are interested in trying this out here’s what I did with the money this week. If you would like general tips on how to keep your grocery bill as low as possible I will include general tips on how to achieve this in another post (which I will link here as soon as its done!) – in the mean time, this post here has some tips you might find helpful, I wrote this a few years ago, so not all of it is relevant to our situation right now.

Healthy Gluten and Dairy free Breakfasts

We got our bread from Venerdi on-line, it was only $3.99 a loaf! I went in with the friend and we shared the shipping. I brought 3 loaves so that will last us 3 weeks.

How do we make 1 loaf of gluten free bread last 3 kids for a week!? I offered them one piece of toast with breakfast and added other things (preferably fats and proteins) to make it go further. This week they had peanut butter on their toast and scrambled eggs. Other times with their toast, they have baked beans, avocado or a smoothie loaded with healthy fats. They don’t have toast every morning.

Two mornings I made them hash browns in the waffle iron instead. I made double batch and reheated them in the oven or toaster the next morning, and served them with poached eggs. They also had pancakes for breakfast in the weekend. I didn’t end up making the muesli, I used the nuts and seeds I brought, in their smoothies instead. On a budget and being gluten and dairy free, sandwiches are just not a cost effective option so we include other filling lunch options instead.

I reached out to a bunch of fellow gluten and dairy free foodies on Facebook to share their go – to gluten and dairy free breakfast ideas, I have picked out their budget friendly options to share here:

• rice flakes from the gluten free cereal section – make them like porridge and add some protein and fats like peanut butter, seeds and coconut milk + seasonal fruit.
• banana pancakes – basically a mashed banana and 2 eggs – have a recipe for this here, use the variations to suit your budget.
• rice pudding – pre cooked rice simmered in milk of your choice until warm, you can add fruit or nuts and seeds.
• Eggs with roast veggies, or rice instead of toast
• homemade baked beans using tinned beans of choice, tinned tomatoes, salt pepper and a dash of something sweet. Heat together then add whatever else to jazz it up – chopped spinach, chorizo or sausage, onions or mushrooms.
• potato hash – basically leftover veggies fried with whatever else you can find. My kids love this and I find a single rasher of bacon or sausage can go a long way adding flavour.
• If you can tolerate oats (my kids can) then this is great cost effective option – we make honey cinnamon porridge by cooking the oats with a teaspoon cinnamon, honey, coconut oil (for healthy fats). Top with dairy free milk, banana and peanut butter or nuts and seeds.

Smoothies:

In my smoothies I usually included banana, coconut cream (I froze a can of coconut cream in an ice cube tray to use throughout the week instead of using expensive tetra pack dairy free milks), water, peanut butter, seeds like pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. The coconut cream provides fats which help to keep us feeling full and satisfied after a meal. The peanut butter provides fats and protein, which also helps to keep us full. And is a great source of energy for active kids. The seeds do this also, as well as provide lots of vitamins. The banana helps the texture and sweetness of the smoothie and offers a great energy source for active kids too.

I would never give my kids a smoothie for part of a meal without adding healthy fats or protein, or they will just be hungry again soon after. You can also add oats if they tolerate these.

Typical smoothie to serve 3 kids:

• 1/4 cup coconut cream (frozen into ice cubes)
• 1 cup water
• 1 large banana (also frozen)
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/4 cup nuts or seeds

Lunches and Snacks

Lunches – these were mostly lunchboxes. On days that the kids didn’t require lunchboxes I gave them an assortment of what was on the list pictured above, or eggs or roast veggies from my own plate.

You can find my muffin recipe, bliss balls recipe and hummus recipe on my blog. The mini quiche recipe is from my lunchbox planner ebook.

Hubby and I had leftovers from dinner, or eggs and roast veggies.

Here is what the food looks like in a lunchbox or served as snacks.

Healthy Gluten and dairy free Dinner

I based our dinner list on what was on special at the supermarket this week. (Bit of a chicken overload ha ha) but could easily sub the chicken for chickpeas in the curry to save even more money. My family are not a fan of legumes unless they are very well hidden in mince, baking or hummus! Chicken wings / drums or nibbles as well as whole roast chicken are super budget friendly choices. Pork leg is usually a really good price too, if I didn’t get a whole chicken, I would have got a pork leg and slow cooked it to make pulled pork instead.

All these dinners are of course healthy, gluten and dairy free. Also most are egg free apart from the frittata, when we were egg free, I would replace that with a slow cooked curry using a cheap cut of beef.

The roast chicken was definitely the most cost effective as I used the chicken carcass to make a broth, and then used leftover chicken and the broth in a chicken soup. The soup fed us all for dinner, and then hubby and I for 4 lunches (2 days each). So all up the roast chicken fed us for 6 meals! It was a size 23 chicken and it only cost $9.

Print Recipe

Roast Chicken and Vegetables with Real Homemade Gravy

This easy to prepare roast chicken and vegetables, with real homemade gravy is so easy to prepare. An allergy friendly, family favourite meal. Use the leftover chicken bones to make a nourishing broth to use afterwards.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time2 hrs

Course: dinner

Cuisine: Gluten free

Keyword: chicken, coconut free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, gravy, homemade gravy, main, main meal, paleo, roast, roast chicken

Servings: 6 People

Ingredients

• 4 carrots
• 8 potatoes
• 1/3 pumpkin
• 4 mushrooms
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 head broccoli (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 head cauliflower (about 2 cups)
• 1 size 18 – 24 chicken (size 18 feeds my family of 5 with leftovers – size 20+ does us for at least 2 meals)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200°c fan bake.
• Peel and dice the potatoes, carrot and pumpkin into similar sized chunks. Cut the mushrooms into ¼'s. Place them all with the garlic into a large roasting dish. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.
• Rub the skin of the chicken with salt and pepper. You can cook in the slow cooker then finish in the oven to crisp, or just in the oven. Follow the instructions for each option below.

Chicken: Slow cook and finish in oven:

• I slow cook ours 6 hours on high from frozen – if it’s thawed slow cook for 6-8 hours on low. These time may depend on your individual slow cooker and the size of your chicken. We have a special little rack in our cooker so the chicken doesn’t boil in the liquid at the bottom and steams instead. I don’t add any water. Just the seasoned chicken.
• Once the chicken is cooked through I take it out to rest, save the cooking water for your gravy! Turn the oven up to high (220°c). Then place the chicken on a tray and into the oven to crisp it up for about 10-15 minutes, or until it’s browned all over. Save any juice that drips out for your gravy.
• Once browned, take the chicken out to rest for 15 minutes.

Chicken: Oven bake:

• Place your chicken on a roasting tray, and place into the middle of the oven for 1 hour and 40 minutes for a size 18 chicken. (Add an extra 20 minutes per 500 grams if your chicken is bigger). To check the chicken is cooked, poke a squewer into the thigh, the juices should run clear.

The vegetables

• Allow one hour for your roast veggies and gravy to be ready for the table. If oven baking the chicken, after the chicken has been in the oven for 1 hour, place prepped veggies in the rack below the chicken to roast for 30 minutes. Or, if your chicken is cooking elsewhere, place in the oven in the middle.
• After 30 minutes, take the vegetables out, scrape them with a spatula and toss them around. If you give them a good shove around and break them up a little, you will get yummy little roast crispy bits. Place back in the oven for another 15 minutes then check and toss again. Remove them when everything is cooked through, browned and crisp around the edges. This could take anywhere from 45 mins to 1 hour all up, depending on your oven.
• While the vegetables are cooking, cut the broccoli and cauli into florets, and set aside. Either steam or boil them in water until they are just tender. (Usually about 4-minutes once the water is rolling) when I boil them I never cover with water, only fill the pot up 1/4 and cook with the lid on.
• Take your veggies out of the oven and place into an oven proof serving dish. Put the dish back into the oven to keep warm while the chicken browns.
• Pour all the chicken cooking juices into the tray that the roast veggies were in and set on your elements on the stovetop (usually I need to turn on two elements). You want about 1.5 cups liquid, if the chicken cooking juices aren’t enough, add some cooking water from the broccoli to top it up. Let the liquid come to a boil. Squeeze out a roast garlic clove from its skin into the gravy. Add salt a pinch at a time, and taste after each addition until it’s the salty ness you like. Mix 1 Tablespoon of cornflour, tapioca or gluten free flour with 1 Tablespoon water, then add to the gravy. Mix well (you may need a whisk) and it will start to thicken as it continues to bubble. Once thickened, pour into a gravy boat to serve.
• Your broccoli and cauliflower, should be done now and your chicken and veggies warm in the oven. Serve all together while hot!
• Use the leftover chicken, gravy and vegetables in a chicken and veggie soup. Don’t forget to use the whole bird and make a broth with the bones.

Print Recipe

Simple Nourishing Chicken Broth

This low histamine chicken broth recipe makes a perfect, nourishing base for soups. It can also be added into casseroles, rice dishes, gravies or anything really, it's very versatile.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time4 hrs

Course: dinner, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Gluten free

Keyword: broth, chicken broth, chicken stock, coconut free, dairy free, easy recipe, egg free, gluten free, grain free, main, main meal, nut free, paleo, soup, soy free, stock

Ingredients

• 1 chicken carcass from a leftover roast chicken or bones from chicken wings / legs / thighs etc.
• Enough water to cover the bones this will depend on the size of your chicken usually around 1L of water – filtered is best
• A couple cloves of garlic omit the garlic if you’d like to sneak the broth into things like smoothies and ice blocks 😉
• Optional: Leftover vegetable peelings, carrot or parnsip tops, celery stalks, and herbs.

Instructions

• In a large stock pot, slow cooker or pressure cooker, cover the chicken bones with water.

Slow cook:

• Set on high for 4 hours.

Pressure cook:

• Set to pressure cook following your cookers directions, for 1 hour.

Stock pot:

• Simmer on low in your stock pot for 3 – 4 hours. Keep an eye that it doesn't overflow, or reduce too much. You want the simmer to be enough to cook the bones but not so much that it's boiling.

• Once the time is up, strain the liquid from the broth through a sieve into a large bowl or container. Discard the bones and garlic and keep the liquid. Pour it into a container, i usually use a glass jar. It keeps in the fridge for up to a week, especially if it remains sealed under a layer of fat on top. Or you can freeze it. I use my silicone muffin tray to freeze in blocks which I can take our and use as needed.
• If you'd like to drink the broth as is, then add some salt, herbs, ginger, turmeric and garlic to taste, before heating and serving. Otherwsie you can use it as a soup base, to cook rice and pasta in, add to casseroles, curries, mince and stews. If you have it unflavoured you can even add it to smoothies and ice blocks!

The Beef Chow Mein was also a great budget friendly dinner that everyone loved. I split a 1kg pack of mince between this and the cottage pie.

The Thai curry was using this recipe – its really simple and only has a few ingredients, a great one to use if there’s limited time to get dinner on the table. That also made enough for leftovers the next day. The curry paste I got from the supermarket ended up containing soy which was a pain – we don’t need to avoid soy anymore – but that means obviously I cannot recommend that to you, in case you are! I’ve found the best Thai curry pastes come from an Asian store, fruit and veggie shops or Binn Inn – they usually come in large packets and have legitimately been made in Thailand. Just look our for processed vegetable oils as these are most likely soy.

The cottage pie I made, I did half cauliflower puree and half mashed potato on the top, as one of the kids and myself prefer cauliflower and the others prefer potato. Let me know if you’d like the cottage pie recipe and I can get that written up too.

The Chicken wings were easy, there was about 900g of chicken wings in the packet, I salted them and baked in the oven for about 40 minutes until they were crisp on the outside and cooked in the middle. I served with a homemade coleslaw (shredded cabbage, carrot and broccoli stalk), homemade mayo (this recipe is for egg free mayo – if you can have eggs, replace the aquafaba with one whole egg and use 1 cup oil) and rice, which I cooked double batch when I made the Thai curry, so only had to reheat it. There was enough leftovers for one extra meal.

The frittata was a simple dish using 8 eggs + 1/2 cup of water, beaten together with salt and pepper, and then adding whatever veggies I had left at the end of the week plus some greens from the garden.

So yeah, in a nutshell that is exactly how I fed my family of 5 healthy, gluten and dairy free for a week on a $150 budget! If you make any of my recipes, or use any of the tips or tricks here, or find them helpful, don’t forget to tag me on Facebook or Instagram. And if you have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to ask!

This healthy, gluten free beef chow mein recipe comes from a collection of budget friendly recipes I created when I challenged myself to spend under $150 (NZD) on healthy, gluten and dairy free food – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for my family of 5. I did it successfully and this was one of the recipes I used for our dinner that week.

There is quite a few ingredients – but all are necessary to perfect the delicate balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy that makes this beef chow mein taste incredible.

There some ingredients you will see I have included as optional – one is peanut butter. My kids love me adding the peanut butter, it gives it a delicious satay tang, plus they are huge peanut butter fans. However I realise that peanut butter or satay isn’t everyones thing, or you might have peanut or nut allergies, in which case you can easily leave this out.

Gluten free soy sauce – make sure you use gluten free soy sauce to make it gluten free, or I use tamari.

Soy free / coconut free

To make this soy free, you can replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos. To make it coconut AND soy free (yes, we have been there!) you can use fish sauce instead.

This dish becomes budget friendly because you can actually use any meat you like. So grab whats already in your freezer, or whats on special this week! Mince was a great budget friendly option for us this week. Also you can use whatever veggies are in season, buying whats in season saves a lot of money. Broccoli, carrot and cabbage are great winter options. And if the fresh produce is really breaking the bank, then you can opt for frozen veggies instead. Change them up to suit your budget, season and your preferences.

If you make any of my recipes don’t forget to tag me on Facebook or Instagram. And if you have any questions about the recipe, or anything else don’t hesitate to ask!