When you think about it....why should the quest to consume LESS cost MORE?

If you're like most families in this economy, you don't have any extra money to spend on extra diet stuff. Anybody else dieting on a dime?

That's why I love tortillas! $1.20 gets me a mess of corn tortillas and any little extra tidbits in the fridge get wrapped up in them the next day. I'm lucky to have a little salsa garden in the back yard and a neighbor with an avocado tree so we're just about set taco-wise!

Sometimes I make them just with the fat-free refried beans and veggies. The kids love these and they're super cheap!

And the standard size corn tortillas only have 60 calories a piece.

If you cut them in wedges, spray them with cooking spray and stick them in the oven for a few minutes, voila! Guiltless chips. Each tortilla makes 8 which means I can budget in 16 for an afternoon snack. Really good with cottage cheese & salsa!

Also love them with scrambled eggwhites & veggies in the a.m.

What's your favorite budget stretching diet food?

Dry beans and brown rice purchased in bulk. If you cook them yourself, they are much cheaper then canned beans or ready-to-eat rice.

I also try to buy veg and fruit that's in season. They are cheaper, usually.

I found that my food bill went down when we switched how we eat. Since I've been watching calories we eat a lot less of things like olive oil (which is expensive.) I used to go through a big bottle per month, now it's every few months.

Beans, lentils, brown rice, oatmeal.

Cheap and filling and good for you.

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Wow, what I wouldn't give to have an avocado tree!

I also support the dry beans/rice/grains/oats/etc suggestion. Ever since we started buying these things from bulk bins and made these the focus of our meals, our grocery bill has gone from about $90 per week to $50 per week.

Wow, I never thought about that for guilt free chips! I'll do that tomorrow, our local supermarket has tortillas on 2 for 1.

I do a lot with rice and pulses too, then freeze it. Cheap and healthy.

My tvp/ground beef mixture (it's bedtime, so I have to say there's a half dozen or more threads where I've written the recipe, so you can search or PM me, and I'll give it to you - or repeat it here tomorrow if anyone needsit).

I also have corn and flour tortilla recipes. I buy ready made a lot, but I also make homemade alot. At one time I found a cookbook with flatbread recipes and I copied some of the recipes, now I usually google. I have ones that are dough breads that you flatten and cook on a griddle like tortilla or roti/naan, and others that are more batter breads that you pour and cook like an unsweet pancake).

Hubby really LOVES the homemade - which are probably only a few cents to make since some only contain corn or wheat flour, water, salt and a tsp of oil, and they're easy... I'm just too lazy to make them all of the time (even though I've cut the recipe down to where I can make only 4 tortillas in about 10 minutes).