Hello everyone! It is a Monday once again and it means that I shall be sharing with you a list of budget ulam recipes for the whole week. Like our past affordable ulam ideas, our list this week will again feature viands or main dishes that are reasonably easy to cook, with a budget of P150.00 to P200.00 per dish for 4-5 adult portions.
Making nutritious meals on a daily basis is not just a budgeting challenge, it could also be a planning challenge. Apart from thinking about what to cook, we moms have to make sure we have ingredients at hand. Moreover, we have to make sure that the ingredients are ready to be cooked — meaning thawed the night before. Without a meal plan, it will be harder to have nutritious meals on time, making us rely on processed or ready to cook food, or spend more money on delivery service of meals that are not as healthy as we would have wanted for our families.
Planning healthy meals through budget ulam recipes
Our budget ulam recipes are not just affordable, they are also healthy and balanced. While we moms cannot always readily prepare healthy meals either because of time, budget, or skills constraints, it is a must try to provide nutritious meals whenever possible.
Apart from providing nourishment, striving to cook healthy meals is like investing in your child’s health for the long term. It is like making them get used to eating full balanced meals so that they would prefer healthy home cooked food over processed meals and fast food items.
So without further ado, here is our list of budget ulam ideas for the week:
Weekly healthy budget ulam ideas list 2023
1. Twice-cooked Chicken Adobo with steamed tomatoes and chilled cucumber salad. One of the ways we enjoy plain chicken adobo at home is to cook it twice and prepare simple and budget-friendly side dishes like steamed ripe tomatoes and chilled cucumber salad. Before cooking the adobo, make a salad dressing by combining 1/2 cup of cane vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, and 1 tbsp granulated sugar. Mix until dissolved and then add in cucumber slices. Refrigerate. Now it is time to prepare the main dish, just cook your adobo as you normally would and then refry it in oil. The steamed tomatoes on the other hand can be cooked alongside the steamed white rice. Serve everything with steamed rice and a huge smile 🙂
2. Laing. Laing can be a bit intimidating to cook but it really is not, and the best thing about it is it is affordable and yummy! Just saute onion, garlic and ginger. Add in 1/4 kilogram of pork or chicken. Once the meat is cooked, add 1 tbsp or more of ginisang bagoong and then 2 cups of coconut milk. At this point you may add in either bird’s eye chilis or siling labuyo or siling pansigang if you want it spicy. Add one tbsp of granulated sugar, mix and then bring to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning at this point. Add the dried Taro leaves about 2 fist-fulls (tip: SM sells dried taro leaves, so you can use about half of a P50.00 bag). Bring to a boil and let it simmer uncovered. Stop cooking until desired consistency is met — some like it a bit soupy, some like it just right (about 20-minute cooking time), while others like it nagmamantika which takes a lot longer. Either way the good thing about this recipe is you can freeze leftovers for whenever you crave 🙂
3. Crispy chicken neck and pechay guisado. Chicken neck is relatively cheap and you can get about 3/4 kilo to a kilo for less than 150.00. Just season the neck with patis and kalamansi, dredge in cornstarch-flour mixture and deep fry. Your remaining budget could be used to buy 100 grams of ground pork and bunches of pechay. Just saute onion, garlic, ground pork and wait till the meat is cooked. Add oyster sauce and 1/4 chicken cube and 1/2 cup of water. Add the chopped pechay and cook for about three minutes. Serve with a smile!
4. Asado chicken quarters. Sear chicken quarters, set aside. Add 1 cup of pineapple juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 pc of star anise, 1 pc of laurel leaves, and a pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil. Add in the seared chicken quarters and braise for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is super tender. Once the chicken is cooked remove it and make a slurry of 1 tbsp of cornstarch to 2 tbsps of water. Add to the braising liquid and bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning to taste, and pour the sauce into the cooked chicken. You’ve got a yummy dinner!
5. Fiesta pancit canton. Who says fiesta noodles are only meant for special occasions? You can cook a happy noodle dish for P200.00. Buy 1/4 cup of chicken breast (chop in bite sized pieces minus the bones of course), the smallest pack of squidballs split in half, and some chicken liver. Add carrots, cabbage and baguio beans. If you are feeling extra generous, throw in a chinese sausage (but that is if you have a left over in the ref because chinese sausage is out of budget already haha). You can then follow this fun recipe 🙂
6. Sweet and sour fish fillet. Sweet and sour fish fillet is so homey, and whatever fish you can buy with budget will always be yummy! Best affordable options include Pangasius Fillet or Tilapia 🙂 Here is a good sweet and sour recipe that I have tried.
7. Ginataang Sigarilyas with a side of crunchy tawilis. Sigarilyas (winged bean) in coconut milk is one of the happiest coconut milk based dishes that I loved as a kid, and so I tried offering it to my kids as well. And as predicted, they liked it! Try this fun, fun recipe here,
So that’s it, those are our seven tipid ulam recipes for this week. I hope you check out our website again next week for our weekly budget ulam list.
Food for the soul
At this point I hope you could allow me to share one of my favorite bible passages. This time, it is from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
Thank you for stopping by and till next post!
A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!
https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/07/12/how-moms-can-carve-a-consistent-prayer-routine/