Eat the food. Feel the love.

Food made by our loved ones is irreplaceable, even by Michelin-starred restaurants. Yet, home-cooked meals are rare, as Singaporean families increasingly choose to eat out. This often comes at the cost of digging a hole in our pockets, or worse, our family’s health.

$150 grocery budget, 5 days a week, 3 meals a day, 2 families. The Wholesome Food Challenge sought to bust the myth that cooking at home isn’t worth the time, hassle and money. While both mummies – Lin Ying and Mabel – thought they’d blow the budget for sure, they succeeded. And so can you!

Whether you’re a mum, a dad, or a 20-something learning the ropes in the kitchen, here’re 5 tried-and-tested recipes you can start with.

1. Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups with Hash Brown

Bacon, eggs and toast make for the perfect breakfast. Put them together in a cup and that’s goodness all in one bite! This easy meal can be prepared in a jiffy and left in the oven to bake, while you enjoy a hot cuppa before everyone else gets out of bed.

Ingredients (serves 4):
Toast Cups
8 slices wholemeal bread
6 slices bacon, cooked
6 large eggs
Salt and Pepper
Hash Brown
4 large hashbrown, thawed
6 slices bacon, cooked
2 Tomatoes
Cheese topping
Pasta Sauce

Cooking Method:
Toast Cups
1. Flatten bread slices, remove sides and press into muffin cups
2. Place bacon into the cup
3. Crack an egg into the middle, season with salt and pepper
4. Bake at 190°C for 20-25 minutes
5. All done and ready to be served!
Hash Brown
1. Dice tomatoes
2. Spread pasta sauce over hashbrown
3. Sprinkle tomatoes on it and cover with cheese topping
4. Bake together with Toast cups
5. All done and ready to be served!

View the full recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Bacon Egg Toast Cup here.

2. Banana Pancake Rolls

These delightful rolls can be savoured at any time of day, and prove you don’t have to spend a bomb at a fancy cafe to have pretty food. In under $10, you can make 4 pancake rolls and still have leftover ingredients to prepare blueberry pancakes for another day!

Ingredients (for 4 pancake rolls):
1 egg
200ml water
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup plain flour
½ tablespoon sago flour
2 drops vanilla essence
2 cups Meiji strawberry yoghurt (140g per cup)
4 small bananas (about 100g each)
50g blueberries
½ punnet (225g) of strawberries

Cooking Method:
1. Whisk the egg, water, salt, plain flour, sago flour and vanilla essence together to make the batter.
2. Heat up a round flat-based frying pan.  Oil the frying pan with a bit of cooking oil or margarine or butter.
3. Pour enough batter into the frying pan to cover the base with a thin layer of batter.  Cook it until the pancake is hard enough to flip over.
4. Flip the pancake over and cook the other side.
5. When both sides of the pancake are browned, transfer the pancake to a serving plate.
6. Spread about ¼ cup of yoghurt over the pancake.  Put the banana in the middle and roll it up.
7. Slice the banana pancake roll into half and serve it with another ¼ cup of yoghurt, some blueberries and strawberries by the side.

View the full recipe here.

3. Yakiniku Ciabatta Sandwich

Yakiniku Ciabatta Sandwich was born out of chance, when Mabel had leftover meat and decided to combine them with toasted ciabatta bread instead of the usual rice. This classy dish born out of spontaneity makes a fuss-free packed lunch, and is a brilliant way of reusing leftovers!

Ingredients (serves 4):
Pork/Beef Yakiniku
1 tray of frozen sukiyaki belly (pork or beef)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp ground sesame white seeds
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
Additional Ingredients
4 Ciabatta Bread
Broccoli and mixed vegetables (according to desired amount)

Cooking Method:
1. Mix the ingredients together and marinate for at least an hour. Best to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Slice the Ciabatta bread into half and toast each pair until it’s golden brown.
3. Heat wok and add cooking oil.
4. Add the marinated meat and stir-fry till it’s done.
5. Place the meat on the bread as neatly as possible, without the gravy.
6. Using the remaining gravy left in the wok, cook the broccoli and mixed vegetables.
7. Remove cooked vegetables and serve at the side

View the full recipe adapted from Ochikeron here.

4. Stir-Fried Chicken with Xiao Bai Cai and Prawns

Meet Lin Ying’s all-time favourite ingredient – the 2kg pack of frozen chicken leg from NTUC Fairprice. Already deboned, it cooks in no time and kids love it. For a quick and nourishing dish for the family, have it stir-fried with xiao bai cai and prawns!

Ingredients:
For marinating
1 chicken thigh
1 tbsp light sauce
½ tbsp dark sauce
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Dash of ground white pepper
For add-on
Cooked frozen prawns and xiao bai cai as desired
Half-cup water

Cooking Method:
1. Mix everything under marinate ingredients together and leave to marinate for at least an hour. Overnight will be best.
2. Before cooking, thaw the frozen prawns and wash the xiao bai cai.
3. Heat wok up and add cooking oil.
4. Add the marinated meat in and stir-fry till about half-cooked. Add about half a cup water to the wok.
5. When the meat is cooked, add in the prawns and xiao bai cai. Stir to mix in. If you want more gravy, add more water.
6. Cover the wok and leave it to simmer for about 5 minutes.
7. All done and ready to be served!

View the full recipe passed down from Mabel’s grandmother here.

5. Braised Soya Sauce Chicken Noodles

Forget about standing in a long queue for your soya sauce chicken noodle fix. This dish is super simple to make – you just dump everything into one pot and put it to a boil. The sauce can also be re-used, which can be a complete lifesaver for busy home cooks.

Ingredients:
500g chicken leg meat
2 tou kwa
2 eggs (hard-boiled)
2 inch ginger
4 cloves garlic
1 honey date
2 stalks spring onion
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup light soy sauce
¼ cup dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
3 dashes pepper
100g rock sugar
4 cups water
400g Hong Kong style yellow Noodles
220g Pek Chye

Cooking Method:
1. To prepare the ginger and scallion dip, place the ginger, scallions, salt, and chicken bouillon powder into a small bowl. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok until it starts to smoke. Pour the oil into the small bowl and blend well. Set aside.
2. Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into a deep pot and bring it to boil on high heat for 15 minutes. Add chicken quarters into the pot and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let the chicken steeped in the soy sauce mixture for a few hours to soak in the flavor. Dish out the chicken quarters, chop into pieces and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. (Soy sauce chicken is usually served cold or at room temperature.)
3. Blanched Pek Chye separately with boiling water for about 1 minute.

View the full recipe with cooking method from Rasa Malaysia Soy Sauce Chicken here.

Tips for wholesome meals on a budget

Myth busted! These recipes are proof that you can whip up quick and tasty meals on a tight budget. Buy what you need, not what you want. As Mabel shared, the challenge ended up being less about keeping to the budget, but more about ensuring meals were nutritious. Turns out it doesn’t cost much more to add a side of steamed vegetables to your usual fried rice!

Source

One cost-saving tip is to stock up your kitchen with housebrand ingredients! NTUC FairPrice offers lots of fresh produce and quality food priced 10-15% lower than popular brands. You can also speedily find out what’s on sale by checking out newspaper clippings at the entrance of the supermarket.

Find out more about the challenge!

This post was brought to you by NTUC Social Enterprises.