Budget Bites 

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It’s that time before payday, you are helpless, lazy, and on a budget to cook something expensive or order in. The Food Crowd community has a solution for you! We would like to introduce to you our budget products and recipes that are also healthy and delicious. 

Here are our affordable ingredients you can work with: 

• Rice (AED 9) 
• Chickpeas (AED 2.25 ) 
• Lentils (AED 4) 
• Oats (AED 8.25 ) 
• Tomatoes (AED 2.25 ) 
• Onions (AED 1.40 ) 
• Milk (AED 2.90) 
• Potatoes (AED 1.50) 
• Bananas (AED 2.25) 

While rice is the most favorite carb, chickpeas and lentils are our favorite plant-based protein! What’s amazing about these two products is that both are low in calories, full of fiber, minerals and vitamins and can even help prevent heart diseases. 

Oats, breakfast’s champions with multiple benefits and therefore preferred as a morning meal. The perfect way to kick start your day, plenty of energy that last until night. Oats are very nutritious and fulfilling, rich in antioxidants which can assist controlling blood sugar. 

Talking about budget friendly items, we can surely not forget the healthiest and most pocket friendly food item; vegetables. Onions can surely make you cry ang give you a hard time to chop them, but they fight inflammations and boost your immune system more than any other vegetable. Potatoes are the source of happiness for plenty of people, despite its bad reputation created by low carb diets, but we are here to tell you Potatoes should be once again on your plate as  they contain a lot of fiber, vitamins, minerals and plus they are naturally gluten free. If tomatoes pop in your head in this section, let us correct what we’ve been taught. Tomatoes are actually fruits! They are a great source of Vitamin C and a great addition to your salads giving a blushed-up color to your greens! 

Have you heard the saying “Drink more milk to grow taller faster”, the reason behind this sentence is because milk contains calcium, protein, Vitamin A and D promoting bone growth and strengthening which can help kids grow healthier and adults prevent bone fractures and injuries. 

Last but not least, the best source of potassium, vitamin A, and natural sugars, our beloved bananas which keep us energized while also aiding our digestive systems thanks to its fiber. 

So how can we use these pocket-friendly items to create delicious meals? 

Banana-Oat Smoothie: 

Let’s get shakin’ with a banana oats shake! 

What you need is: 

–  One cup of Milk 

–  ½ Cup of rolled oats 

–  1 Banana 

Let’s go minions over this shake (Shall we)? 

–  Add the rolled oats in the blender and blend them until they are powdery 

–  Just throw in your banana and do the minion dance 

–  Pour in milk and blend them all together. 

–  Pour your smoothie into a glass and enjoy this refreshing drink. 

Our second recipe is a bit more complex, but it is definitely worth it and affordable!! 

 Lentil Stew 

Here we have a full meal soup for you. This Lentil stew is enriched with magical spices for your taste buds. 

What you need: 

–  Cup of rice 

–  Cup of water 

–  1 Tablespoon of oil 

–  1 onion diced 

–  4 potatoes cut and diced into cubes 

–  2 tablespoon of curry powder 

–  2 chopped tomatoes 

–  ½ cup of lentil 

–  1 tin of chickpea 

The instruction: 

–  Boil your rice and drain. 

–  In a pan heat the oil, sauté the onions, add the diced potatoes and role it for that 3 minutes of cooking 

–  Add the rest of the ingredients, boil them for 5 mins on high temperature then reduce the temperature and allow your mix to simmer for 20 mins. 

–  Season with salt and pepper. 

–  Serve it with the rice 

Here is how you can have delicious and nutritious bites for a couple of days until your pay day and avoid that bag of chips!