Hello everyone! Happy Monday everyone! Another new week that calls for healthy, delicious and affordable main dishes to nourish the whole family. If you are new to our website, well we give every week a  list of ulam ideas amounting to not more than Php200.00 per dish, good for a family of 4 to 5 adults.

So without further ado, here’s a fresh list of low budget ulam recipe ideas for you to consider:

Super low budget ulam recipes to try

1. Chicken Asado – Less than a kilo of chicken and pineapple juice and you are all set! Try this super delicious and affordable recipe. Get an idea from this recipe 

2. Crispy fried galunggong and munggo guisado – This Friday staple can be eaten any time of the week! Just find fresh medium sized galunggong and fry it crunchy!

3. Minced pork with lettuce – it may be a common dish in chinese restaurants but it is a wonderfully delicious and affordable meal option for budget conscious families. If you do not have a lot of Chinese seasonings in your pantry and you only have yhe basic oyster sauce this easy recipe will work 

5. Ginataang Tilapia – The coconut milk sauce is so delicious it can really make you eat more rice than you have originally planned to. Check out this easy to follow recipe!

4. Chicken Korean Bulgogi Rice Toppings — Yes you can have Korean dishes even on a budget! For this recipe you can use 1/4 kilo breast and 1/4 kilo thigh fillet — grind it yourself for a more delicious texture. And while some of the seasoning ingredients may be costly, the fraction that will be used for this dish will still adhere to our 200 budget! So if you have some extra budget to invest for seasoning ingredients, then go ahead, you will even increase your repertoire of affordable Korean recipes for your family. Here is a good recipe to try. 

6. Grilled porkchop – Yes, you can get a decent-sized porkchop for family member. You can grill it over charcoal or just pan-grill or fry it if char grilling is not an option for you. If you have an extra budget then prep some stir fried cabbage and carrots as a side dish. If you do not have a go-to recipe yet, try this.

7. Chicken binakol – It sounds like a complicated recipe but it is not. In fact it will make it to our budget cut! Check out this recipe.

So that’s it for the week! Hope you get to enjoy serving these recipes for your family!

Food for the soul

At this  point allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible passages, this time from the Gospel of St. John:

“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come to give you life and live it abundantly”

John 10:10

Thank you for stopping by and till next post! 

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

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Hello everyone! I am here again to give you ideas for budget ulam recipes for the week. In this series which we started last month (Check out past posts here), we aim to provide nutritious yet affordable recipes that could hopefully ease your burden of planning for meals, thinking about the ulam for the day, market and grocery shopping, and ensuring that the budget is followed.

As mothers we are blessed to have been given the responsibility to choose and prepare nourishing meals for our families. In provers 31:27-28 it says “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her…” So to aid us in planning budget-friendly and nourishing meals, allow me to offer you our suggested recipes for the week:

Cooking nutritious yet affordable meals for the family

Like the past week, the recipes in this list can all be cooked for a budget of Php150.00 to 200.00 and could produce about four-adult portioned sizes. These ulam ideas are also easy to prepare. SOme may require two steps but nothing really complicated.

If ever there will be other ingredients like seasonings, most are pantry staples. If ever they are not in your pantry then consider buying a pack as an investment. Anyway, if you divide your use into the next couple of days or weeks, then the amount shall redound to our target of more or less Php200.00 per main dish. So without further ado, here is our list of budget ulam recipes.

List of budget meal ulam ideas for the week 2023

1. Chicken binagoongan. This is a very easy and affordable recipe to prepare. Just pre-fry two medium sized eggplants. Saute onion, tomato and garlic. Add the bagoong and a teaspoon of sugar. You may also add sliced siling pansigang at this point if you want it a bit spicy. Add the chicken pieces and ensure that the chicken is cooked through. Add 1/4 cup of water and simmer unti;l the bagoong or shrimp paste gets a bit oily. You can then add the cooked eggplants and adjust seasoning to taste.
2. Ginataang Tilapia. This one is easy and nutritious! Fry two to three pieces of sliced tilapia. You may slice the fish into three or half, depending on your preference. Set aside. In the same pan, saute onion, garlic and ginger. Add 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cracked pepper, plus one piece of chicken cube. Once boiling add the fried tilapia pieces and bring to a boil. Simmer for about five minutes and then adjust seasoning to taste. Patis is a good choice when it comes to seasoning coconut milk based dishes. You can also add in siling pansigang at this point. Serve with a smile!
3. Chicken Arroz Caldo. Arroz Caldo can be eaten in our house as a whole day meal! It can be eaten as lunch, the left over as merienda, and then the next day, it can be eaten as breakfast. Even your babies who are beyond 6 months can eat this (more baby and toddler food ideas can be found here)! Extra money saved for its budget can be used to buy Tokwa for a soy-tofu side dish mala “tokwang walang baboy” Here is an easy recipe I previously posted.
4. Tuna spaghetti. Let us take a break from rice and use our favorite pasta in making this super easy dish: Tuna Spaghetti. Just sauté your favorite can of tuna in onion and garlic. If you are feeling generous you can add all purpose cream to make the dish creamy but if not then the oil from the pasta should be enough. Season with salt and pepper, and if you have Basil at home then add some shakes of it.
5. Bangus a la Pobre. This is another budget friendly yet nutritious recipe that could feed a family of four or five. Even kids will be happy to eat this especially when the Bangus is boneless. Here is an easy recipe to follow.
6. Pork Sinigang using sinigang cut. Sinigang cut of pork is less expensive compared to the liempo cut, so one can easily go ahead and make use of it as a dinner or lunch ulam. Just make sure to add kangkong, labanos and gabi to fill up the recipe. Of course encourage the kids to eat up their veggies too!
7. Chicken Liver and Gizzard Adobo. This is an easy and super yummy recipe that will ensure that you will reach out for more rice. It may take a bit more time to cook, but the effort is worth it. Plus left-overs can be easily frozen! Here is a good recipe that I have tried.

So there goes our list for the week. I hope you come back again next week for our fresh list of suggested ulam ideas.

Food for the soul

At this point, I hope you can allow me to share one of my favorite bible verses, this time from the Gospel of St. Matthew:

“But he answered, “It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

Thank you for stopping by and till next post!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

The post Seven Budget Ulam Ideas for this week 2023 appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Hello Mommies! It is a Monday once again, and it means a brand new entry for our Budget Ulam Recipe Ideas Series for 2023! If you’ve missed the past two entries, You can start with the first one here.

Anyway, like what I mentioned, the ulam or main dish ideas here are mostly Filipino dishes, or dishes that we Filipinos have adapted to our palate. It feeds a family of 4-5 with adult-portion sizes. The dishes usually cost between P150.00 to P200.00 which is of course much much less expensive compared to ordering delivery food, grabbing take out, or dining in a restaurant (or even in a fastfood).

Of course, nothing compares to the nutritional value of home cooked food, and so, this takes into consideration the labor of love of us moms for our respective families.

This week’s budget ulam recipe ideas

This week’s entries are again easy to cook. Most of the basic ingredients and seasonings are also pantry staples so you would not have to rush to the grocery or the market to buy them. And since this list helps map out seven meals, it will help in your meal planning and grocery shopping making it more cost efficient.

By the way, if you are on the look out for meal plans, affordable breakfast meal ideas, and even kids’ ulam ideas then please do check out our website’s recipe section and baby and toddler meals.

Cheap but delicious ulam ideas 2023

So without further ado here is our list of cheap yet delicious and easy to prepare ulam recipes:

1. Bangus Steak — Instead of high-purine beef, use Bangus and make a Bangus Steak recipe. Of course, use red onions as white onions are still relatively expensive nowadays. Marinate for at least 15 minutes sliced bangus in a mixture of 1/4 cup soy sauce, and about 4-6 pieces calamansi, plus pepper.

In a pan, caramelize some onions and then set aside. Fry the Bangus in the same infused oil. When the fish is fully cooked, add the remaining marinade and the caramelized onions. Add a bit more onion rings and bring to a boil. Simmer for about five minutes and adjust seasoning to taste.

2. Chicken Sotanghon Soup and Crunchy Fried Galunggong – In these days of thunderstorms it is fun to eat noodle soups like our traditional chicken sotanghon soup. You do not need much for this recipe except for a few pieces of chicken breast or whatever chicken cut you prefer. Vermicelli noodles and then spring onions then you are good to go. Pair this is up with crunchy fried galunggong for the win

3. Pandan chicken – You may find Pandan Chicken in the menu of restaurants but it is surprisingly cheap to make. All you need is Pandan leaves, some seasoning and deboned chicken cuts and you’ve got your family an interesting dish that will surely make them ask for more. Here is an easy recipe to follow.

4. Steamed Tilapia with Soy Ginger Sauce. This is a nutritious and very delicious steamed fish recipe. You can use this recipe for steamed Pompano, just sub the fish. With Tilapia you can buy at least 3 medium sized pieces for less than 200.00.

5. Kare-Kareng Gulay. This is another good recipe to make and will surely help the kids enjoy vegetables specifically eggplant, string beans, and pechay. Well if you have kids who could not eat straight up Kare Kareng Gulay, you may add some 2-3 Pork Pata slices so that they could have some meat with their veggies. Here is a good recipe to use.

6. Crunchy fish fillet with thousand island dressing. Yes you can make this party staple as an ordinary-day main dish as it is both affordable and easy to make. Just use your favorite breading on Pangasius fillet and make a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise as dipping sauce. The breadings that work for us include the usual flour-egg-flour / cornstarch mixture, or the flour-egg-panko breading mix.

7. Chicken Afritada. Who says caldereta is only for special occasions? It is a legit everyday meal since you can buy chicken pieces, tomato sauce, carrots and potatoes for about P200.00 Here is a recipe that you can follow.

So that is our list for this week, hope you visit our website once again next week for new entries to our list of budget ulams for the week.

Food for the soul

At this point, I hope you could allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible passages, this time from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians:

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32

Thank you for stopping by and till next post!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/06/29/super-easy-soy-veggie-fried-rice-two-ways/

The post Budget ulam recipe ideas for the week of July 2023 appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Hello Mommies! I will be posting once again, yet another set of week-long budget ulam recipes to help you in planning out affordable meals for your family.

Like the previous post in this budget ulam series, the main dishes featured this week range from P150.00 to Php200.00 for a family of 4-5 members (with kids eating adult-portion sizes).

Before we go over the list for this week, I hope you can also check out our meal plans and recipes section here that could help you map out the dishes you will prepare for up to one month. Having such plan can also guide you on what to buy in the grocery or wet market, making your food budget more cost-efficient. More budget ulam ideas can also be found here.

Seven budget ulam ideas for Filipino families

So without further ado, here’s our list for the week:

1. Sinigang na Bangus — Sinigang na Bangus will always be comforting no matter what pang-asim you decide to use. Some use just overripe tomatoes, other use the usual tamarind, others Kamias, but my mom chooses to use Guava or Bayabas. Either way, it is a good and nutritious soup based ulam that will fill hungry tummies.

2. Tortang Giniling with Patatas — This is one budget friendly recipe that will surely make the kids happy especially when partnered with Banana Ketchup. You will only need 1/3 Kilo of ground pork, about two pieces of potatoes and about 2-4 pieces of large eggs. You can increase the nutritional value of this meal by adding malunggay leaves. Here’s a Tortang giniling recipe we posted before.

3. Chicken Sisig and Cucumber Salad — This is a fun and refreshing food for the family. Leftovers (if there will be any can make for a perfect sandwich filling!) Just use chicken breast for this, some mayonnaise and a bit of oyster sauce and kalamansi, plus onions then you are good to go. Here is a simple Chicken Sisig recipe we posted before. As for the cucumber salad, just thinly slice cucumbers (either round or matchstick size, then prepare a sugar-vinegar-salt-and-pepper dressing. Cheap and cheerful, indeed!

4. Braised eggplant with ground pork. Just the sauce of this recipe will surely make even your kids eat more rice than usual. You will only need about 2-3 pieces of eggplant, 1/4 kilograms of ground pork, and the rest is pantry ingredients already! Fry the eggplants and set aside. in the same pan, saute onion, garlic, and ginger. Add the ground pork and cook throughly. Add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 beef cube, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Add a cornstarch slurry made of 1 tsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp water. Wait for the sauce to thicken and adjust seasoning. Add the eggplant and carefully mix. Drizzle with sesame oil if you do have some in your pantry and serve with a smile!

5. Munggo Guisado and Crispy-fried tawilis. Need I say moe? This is the perfect lunch or dinner on a Friday! If your kids are not into Tawilis, then just buy some Pork Chicharon and serve with love!

6. Tokwa and Fish Tausi. This is another nutritious and filling main dish that even kids will enjoy. You can use any fleshy fish, but Bangus slices are fine for this. Check out this recipe.

7. Chicken Sopas. Looking for a hearty lunch? This will surely fill hungry tummies and will leave it warm and happy on a rainy day. USe this recipe minus the hotdogs and you will get a hearty soup and some left overs for merienda for less than P200.00!

Budget ulam recipe series 2023

I hope you get to choose an ulam or two, or even all, for this week’s suggested budget ulam recipes. I hope your family will like them and I pray that I have at least helped you answer one of the hardest questions homemakers face every single day: What’s for lunch or dinner?

Food for the soul

At this point, I hope you could allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible passages. This time it is from the Gospel of St. Matthew:

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Matthew 4:4

Thank you for stopping by and till next post!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/06/24/how-jesus-comforts-brokenhearted-mothers/

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Hello mommies! As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Preparations however usually come with a challenge as it may involve less time as everyone is in a hurry every morning, and increasings costs of food could push more moms to go for quicker and easier breakfast options like cereal.

The good news is there are healthier and more affordable breakfast options out there that are available, especially if we are willing to do a bit of leg work, or make things from scratch. We all know that homemade food is definitely healthier as we know every ingredient we put in, it is fresher, and at the same time more economical.

Invest time and reap healthier and cheaper meals!

Sometimes, we may have to invest time and ingredients, but usually if we do this, we could  double, or even quadruple the number of meals that we can make with the ingredients that we buy. And the next time that we serve it, we will not spend as much time as we have spent during the time we are making the meal from scratch. Good examples are pancakes and waffles, homemade tocino, homemade longganisa, tapa and the like.

So without further ado, here are 7 affordable breakfast ideas that you can serve your family. By affordable, I mean about 100.00 to 150.00 all in all for a family of four to five people (or with kids who can eat adult-portion sizes).

Budget breakfast ideas for Filipino families

1.Champorado with fried dilis. This is easy to cook and is definitely not too expensive! It yields a lot too you can even have leftovers for merienda. And since condensed milk comes in smaller cans now (than when I was much younger), you can have a creamier bowl of champorado! Tip for the dilis is you can fry it with a sprinkling of brown sugar to make for a sweet, yummy glaze.

2. Crunchy Tortang Dulong. Even my kids eat this as long as I fry them crunchily. The secret is to use a good amount of really hot oil. You will not be deep frying it, but you cannot fry it in a non-stick pan with less oil (well, you can do that if you want a healthier version) but for crispylicious Dulong Patties, shallow-frying in really hot oil is the secret! Dulong sells in the marker (or even in SM Savemore) for about P50.00 for 250grams. That 1.4 kilogram will go a long way since you will add it in a pancake-like batter before frying, so try it. Here’s a past recipe we published.

3. Oatmeal with Tropical Fruits. Oatmeal, especially the plain ones are not as expensive. Whatever you have at home — instant, quick cooking, or rolled, just prepare some and top with your favorite tropical fruit like mangoes or bananas. One piece of mango can go a long way if you would cube it. One piece of banana for every person is enough, just slice the banana on top of each bowl, and there goes your healthy breakfast! If you still have a bit of extra budget left, why not drizzle some condensed milk on top?

4. Homemade chicken longganiza. Half a kilo of ground chicken (about P110.00) can make two meals worth’ of longganiza. The good thing about this is you don’t need any other ingredients except for pantry staples like brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, flour or cornstarch, salt and pepper, and some oyster sauce, maybe some ketchup. You will not need a wrapper since this can be a skinless longganiza that you can freeze as soon as formed so you do not need to wrap them in parchment paper. Find the time to do it as it is worth the effort and surely healthy too!

5. Pandesal Bar – Want to make weekend breakfast fun for the kids? Set up a pandesal bar on a weekend morning. Buy some pandesal. Gather all the bottled spreads you have at home, and make some more yummier spreads using your remaining budget for this breakfast. Ideas include: Hardboiled egg spread, tuna sandwich spread, and tomato sardines spread. 

6. Arroz caldo. As they say, congee  goes a long way, and that is not just because of the budget factor, but also the energy that it provides. Buy 1/4 chicken breast, boil and shred it. Buy soup pack chicken, and use whatever bigas you have at home. Buy some spring onions and boil some hardboiled and you’ve got a hearty arroz caldo!

7. Tortang talong. Super yummy, high in fiber.Tortang talong is a good breakfast, and is even good for lunch! Fry some and make it extra crunchy. Try our recipe here

Hope you picked up an idea or two from our post! Will endeavor to post once again about budget breakfasts. And if you are looking for more ulam ideas, hope you can check out our recipes and meal plans section here.

Food for the soul

At this point, I hope you can allow me to share one of the bible passages that I have been asking my kids to memorize:

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”

1 Corinthians 10:31

Thank you for stopping by and till next post!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/06/16/7-budget-ulam-ideas-for-the-week-p150-00-to-200-00-per-dish/

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Hello everyone! Sharing with you one of our favorite main dishes in our family (well except for Achi who is allergic to shrimps) — Ginataang Hipon with Sitaw and Kalabasa. This is a budget stretch meal that provides not just more than enough viand for everyone, but also overflows in nutrients.

Stretching the Budget

Please note that I did not label this dish as BUDGET MEAL since it is not — Shrimps are as expensive as Beef at around 450 per kilograms. BUT If you will add squash and string beans, and lots of yummy coconut milk, then this Ulam can feed a family of five with just half a kilo (or even a bit) of shrimps!

Apart from its nutrition content, it is also very delicious! Shobe, Papi and I could eat the ulam for two straight days! Yay! Of course you should make sure to immediately refrigerate the left-overs since coconut milk spoils easily.

Easy to cook

Another advantage of cooking this meal is that it is easy to cook, and has a relatively short cooking time. What takes time is the cleaning of the shrimp. Yes, supermarket bought shrimps may have less “whiskers,” but I still remove the sharp antennae on the head, and I devein each piece.

I usually devein by using a toothpick or barbecue stick, inserting it on the fourth or third section of the shrimp’s spine, and cautiously removing the black veins until I successfully get everything off. It takes a bit of time to perfect this move, but every mom can learn right? Good thing this dish does not require peeling of shrimps or else it would have taken much longer to prepare hahaha

Ginataang hipon with sitaw and kalabasa recipe

So without further ado, here’s the recipe for the Ginataang hipon with sitaw and kalabasa (Shrimps with squash and string beans in coconut milk):

1. Saute onion, garlic, and ginger.

2. Add the kalabasa and the sitaw.

3. Add the coconut milk and half chicken cubes.

4. Simmer untll the vegetables are fork-tender.
5. Add the shrimps and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the shrimps are fully cooked.
6. Add peppers and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately!

I think you can also use alimasag for this recipe, or even mud crabs. You just need of course to chop it into quarters.

Food for the soul

At this point, I hope you can also allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible passages, this time from the First Epistle of St. John:

 “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels al fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love.” 1 John 4:18

Thank you for stopping by and till next post!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

https://happypinaymommy.com/2023/05/12/visiting-an-old-fish-pet-shop/

The post Stretch the Budget Meal: Ginataang Hipon with Sitaw and Kalabasa appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Quick and easy arroz caldo recipe can be whipped up without having to rush to the grocery. It is a dish that makes use of pantry staples.

The cooking procedure is uncomplicated so newbie cooking mamas do not get intimidated with this. This can be served to your babies too!

Cooking procedure for Arroz Caldo:

My BLW toddler, Shoti is squeezing calamansi is his bowl of Arroz Caldo. It was a happy, rainy morning for him.

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Leaving you with a video on why breakfast is the most important meal of the day:

Quick and easy Arroz Caldo recipe

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