Hey guys! I've been living the sharehouse life since I was 19, but the arrangement has always been that everyone takes care of their own meals. I'm about to move in with friends, and we've decided that everyone will take turns cooking meals.

So, I need your help! I'm looking for meals that:
* Are gealthy- preferably meals that contain loads of vegetables, or can be served with a side salad.
* Don't require a bunch of exotic/un-versatile ingredients. One of the problems I'm finding with the "fast meals" cook books I have is that a bunch of the recipes require ingredients I'll have to spend a decent amount of money on and purchase more than is required for the recipe, but won't be able to use in any other meals. (ie lasagnes that ask for riccotta cheese,dishes that require half-a-dozen differents herbs and spices)
* Provide good value for money. My grocery budget for the week sits somewhere around $70.
* Are relatively easy to prepare. I currently work full-time and am also in grad school, so anything involving more than about 30 minutes prep time is unfortunately out!

Both individual recipes and links to useful websites are appreciated. Thanks guys!!

Fish

Salmon crusted with oats.

Salmon fillets, spread with a little bit of mustard (Dijon's better, English is cheaper) and coated with porridge oats. - Fry them (dry's fine) to get a crispy coating, you can finish off in oven if you like. Makes it easier to not burn them.

Serve with whatever vegetables you like, maybe roast some peppers, courgette, sweet potato, etc.?

Make a standard white sauce (butter, flour, milk - The trick is to boil it them simmer it for half an hour, I was taught to never boil and it only takes 5 minutes. Not true, that makes lumpy sauce) and add a bit of mustard to it. Pour this over baby boiled potatoes and leave the rest in a jug.

Any white fish, wrapped in bacon

Straightforward and simple, slices of bacon, wrapped around cod/haddock/pollock/etc and baked in the oven. Throw some baby tomatoes into the foil you cook them in, the fish gets a delicate flavour of the tomatoes, and they go lovely and sweet and warm.

I'd serve with cous cous, but look up a recipe for something tasty to add to it... I've made a spicy chunky tomato salsa before to serve over both cous cous and fish.

(I love wrapping stuff in bacon... so good!)

Chicken

Crunchy garlic chicken.

www.jamieoliver.com . . . - Really tasty!

Or you could just make a stir fry with plenty of veg, cashews, chicken, noodles, a bit of soy sauce, or thai sweet chilli sauce.... Yum!

Another great one with thai sweet chilli sauce is a tub of creme fraiche, and mix it with chilli sauce, then serve with pasta and chicken and plenty of veg, all mixed together. Amazing!

Another cheap, healthy meal idea.


Whole Wheat wraps
Salsa
Black beans
and Cheese

You can bake this or Microwave it until the cheese is melted) et Viola!

A side of chip and salsa (or fresh avocado to make guacamole!)

You could dress it up more with say Sour Cream but that depends on your budget.



Y

I always have certain things in my house...Mrs. Dash, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper, black pepper, and a few other taste-specific spices. They can all be mixed and matched on whatever I'm making.

Besides the spices, we tend to have rice, noodles of some sort, frozen chicken tenderloins or cutlets, frozen vegetables, maybe some sort of meat that was on sale that week, beans, and produce. Oh, and various soups, like cream of mushroom and whatnot.

It doesn't all add up to TOO much money and it's all stuff that I can throw together in various ways to make meals. I love making pasta with chicken and mushrooms, soup with whatever vegetables are around, rice with beans, etc. This week I have a bunch of bell peppers of various colors, as they were on sale...I'm excited for that, heh.

I do a lot of whole chickens and get pork tenderloin while it's on sale and cook that in large batches. I can stuff/spice it how I want and have baked chicken one night, then use the left overs to make chicken pasta or Mexican food with chicken or something. A lot of soups are pretty easy. Invest in a crockpot cookbook because the prep is fairly short and then you only have to worry about the side dish when you get home from school which can be as simple as a steamed veggie.

Check out fitnessmagazine.com and shape.com. They often have budgeted meal plans and ones where you make something one night and then use the leftovers the next night for something different.

By the way, but I'd be really careful with this arrangement. It's one of those things that normally SEEMS like a great idea, but doesn't work out that well. Like you'll you do some nice meal and the next person will do grilled cheese or complain about it because they don't like XYZ. We would occasionally do combined meals, but it wasn't the norm.