Hello everyone! Time flies, it is a Monday once again, and Mondays mean that we will have a fresh list of budget ulam ideas that are both affordable and nutritious. If this is your first time to check out our series, I invite you to check out the earlier entries so that you will get to have more budget ulam recipe ideas in your arsenal. Here’s a link to the recipe lists.
For our list today, I included non-meat ideas that are filling and yummy at the same time. Again the main dishes can serve 4-5 adult portions for a range Php150-200.00 per cooking. One of the keys also to serving nutritious yet cheap and cheerful meals is to be on the lookout for discounted items that are of course not suspiciously discounted.
Ways to lower food expenses
Apart from cooking budget ulam recipes. there are other ways to lower food expenses without sacrificing the taste and nutritional value of the main dishes that you prepare. These include looking out for discounted items, stocking on pantry staples, making double batch of food items that can be easily reheated like dumpling, spring rolls, native longganiza, adobo etc. By doing the aforementioned things, we homemakers can further lower the food costs in our home.
So without further ado here is this week’s list of budget ulam recipe ideas:
Budget ulam recipe ideas for the week
1. Almondigas with Patola. Take advantage of the rainy days and let your family enjoy piping hot misua soup with beef balls and patola. It is a complete meal in itself, but as Filipinos, we can still pair this with rice. 300 grams of ground pork is enough to make this dish meaty and yummy, making our budget cut for this week’s cheap and cheerful meals. Here is a good recipe that I have tried before.
2. Crispy Galunggong and Upo Guisado. Deep fry some galunggong fish and make it extra crispy so that the kids will enjoy. Make a side dish of semi-soupy upo gisado and serve with a smile! If you are feeling generous you can serve a side dish of red egg and tomatoes with this dish.
3. Chicken Basil. Yes it sounds like a Thai restaurant main dish but really, this is a very affordable ulam to serve to your family. Just buy some basil leaves and then your favorite chicken chop up to 3/4 kilograms! Surely, this new dish will tickle the tastebuds of your family. At least we can serve something that is out of our usual menu or kitchen repertoire. Try this recipe.
4. Tinolang Clams or Mussels. Whatever is available in the palengke or grocery, grab any of this two shellfish and cook this comforting native soup recipe! I remember having this every weekend when my Mom goes to Farmer’s Market in Cubao. I think it is really her happy place because she just shares the joy to all of us through the yummy food she asks Manang to prepare the whole week! So whether it is Tinolang Halaan or Tinolang Tahong, just make sure that it has a lot of ginger so it will be really soothing and yummy at the same time! You can also up the nutritional value by adding some malunggay and sayote. Here is a happy recipe to try.
5. Gyoza plus sweet and crispy dilis side dish. Gyoza may seem like a foreign dish that is expensive but do you know that you can prepare this for your family on a normal weekday? All you need is half a kilogram of pork, chives, cabbage, and gyoza wrapper and you are all set. Almost all other ingredients are pantry staples so you do not have to worry about staying within our P200.00 budget. Cooking is also easy, imagine all you need to do is fry and steam for less than 15 minutes? The good thing here is you can make extra batches for easy freezing, and cooking for when you need to have food ready right away! Try this recipe.
6. Liver steak. They say that eating internal organs like liver can be healthy from time to time. So why not take advantage of the fact that pork liver is relatively cheaper compared to other cuts of pork, and is considerably healthy if eaten occasionally. As a child, I liked eating liver seak too so why not try serving this to your family? Check out this recipe.
7. Tofu and Fish Fillet with Tausi. Relax, I know you think that the recipe is over and above the P200.00 budget but let me propose this to you — You need not use up the whole bag of fish fillet for this recipe. Use the other half for another recipe for later, and then use tokwa. You also need not use up the whole pouch of Tausi or black beans. You can just refrigerate it and use it for other dishes like clams with black bean sauce, pata humba, and other dishes. Follow this fun restaurant-style recipe.
So there you have it. I hope you get to try the recipes that I have suggested for this week.
Food for the soul
At this point, I hope you can allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible verses, this time from the Book of Lamentations:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23
Thank you for stopping by and till next post!
A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!
https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/07/19/how-busy-moms-can-start-reading-the-bible/