Dieting on a Budget

MistyNoble1987

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a thread here for healthy foods for those who are on a budget. Any and all suggestions will help out, thanks in advance!

MistyNoble1987

One thing I do is I buy in bulk. I buy value packs of pouch tuna - 5 packs for $5, versus $1.25 each. I'll buy protein bars in bulk too - saves a lot of money!

MistyNoble1987

When buying tea, but the bags instead of the K Cups. Even if you have a Keruig or cup making device, put the tea bag in the cup, then brew just water then steep the bag in the water instead of buying K cups. Saves money and by the time your cup is done filling up and you go to the bathroom, you'll have the perfect balance of flavor!

AsaThorsWoman

Hello! This is my first time posting in the new forum. I like to buy chicken breasts in bulk at Sam's Club. They are usually $1.99/lb. I but about 6 lb at a time and split it up into three different dinner size packages. I also love Aldi's frozen steamed veggies. They're $0.99 a bag and they are quick and easy, no ingredients but the veggies inside. I also got bacon for $2 a pound the other day! Lowest price I've ever seen. I bought 8 of them twice, because the limit was four. Happy shopping!

thiswillhappen

First of all, severely limit how much you dine out and do take out/fast food. This immediately cuts a huge amount of your expenditures, as well as your calories. Try to make almost everything at home ahead of time, with exceptions for special events. Bulk Barn and Costco (Canada) are key places to go. I buy raw nuts in bulk, as well as rolled oats, which makes for cheap oatmeal for breakfast, and brown rice and quinoa. I also make a lot of homemade vegetable puree soup with squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.. I change the ingredients and spices up a bit but if you make a huge pot of vegetable puree, you can eat that for lots of meals during the week and it really costs peanuts. Adding Chili pepper flakes to soup, or any recipe really, will make it nice and spicy, which will fill you up faster. This has two benefits: 1) you eat less and 2) there is more food for later, i.e. cheaper! Tofu is pretty cheap, and it's a filling protein-boost, even if you're not vegetarian. I also buy fruits and bananas when they're overripe, some grocery stores sell overripe fruits at a discount, and then I clean, chop and freeze them. This makes for a really cheap way to make healthy fruit smoothies in the morning, so that you don't have to pay $6 + tax at all those fancy smoothie cafes that are so trendy these days. Also - whenever you get cravings for junk food, remind yourself that buying a bag of candy, chocolate or chips is basically like throwing money down the drain, because you're spending $3-6 for pretty much no benefit to your body, just empty calories. On the other hand, spending the same $3 on a bunch of organic bananas or some Greek yogurt gives your body so much healthy fuel, so you realize that living well on a budget doesn't just mean spending less, it means making wise choices. Keeping my budget constraints in mind has really helped beat my cravings for buying late night junk food, in a way that pure weight-loss goals have not.

Ultimately the further ahead you go along, the further you will realize that weight loss and budgets actually go really well together. I've been losing weight slowly and spending less money than ever before, mostly by cooking at home. Feel free to friend me if you want to share tips/recipes/support. Good luck! I salute you!

RaspberryTickleChicken

thiswillhappen wrote: »

First of all, severely limit how much you dine out and do take out/fast food. This immediately cuts a huge amount of your expenditures, as well as your calories. Try to make almost everything at home ahead of time, with exceptions for special events. Bulk Barn and Costco (Canada) are key places to go. I buy raw nuts in bulk, as well as rolled oats, which makes for cheap oatmeal for breakfast, and brown rice and quinoa. I also make a lot of homemade vegetable puree soup with squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.. I change the ingredients and spices up a bit but if you make a huge pot of vegetable puree, you can eat that for lots of meals during the week and it really costs peanuts. Adding Chili pepper flakes to soup, or any recipe really, will make it nice and spicy, which will fill you up faster. This has two benefits: 1) you eat less and 2) there is more food for later, i.e. cheaper! Tofu is pretty cheap, and it's a filling protein-boost, even if you're not vegetarian. I also buy fruits and bananas when they're overripe, some grocery stores sell overripe fruits at a discount, and then I clean, chop and freeze them. This makes for a really cheap way to make healthy fruit smoothies in the morning, so that you don't have to pay $6 + tax at all those fancy smoothie cafes that are so trendy these days. Also - whenever you get cravings for junk food, remind yourself that buying a bag of candy, chocolate or chips is basically like throwing money down the drain, because you're spending $3-6 for pretty much no benefit to your body, just empty calories. On the other hand, spending the same $3 on a bunch of organic bananas or some Greek yogurt gives your body so much healthy fuel, so you realize that living well on a budget doesn't just mean spending less, it means making wise choices. Keeping my budget constraints in mind has really helped beat my cravings for buying late night junk food, in a way that pure weight-loss goals have not.

Ultimately the further ahead you go along, the further you will realize that weight loss and budgets actually go really well together. I've been losing weight slowly and spending less money than ever before, mostly by cooking at home. Feel free to friend me if you want to share tips/recipes/support. Good luck! I salute you!

+1

Eating at home & planning out meals helps a ton!

Stock up during sales if you have the storage space.

Look for similar items in non traditional shops. ie. Krogers now has quite a comprehensive selection of organic items at a fraction of the cost of traditional organic specialty shops.

If you can't afford fresh go frozen (especially the veggies) ... not canned though.

Hope that helps & good luck!

jessica43062

Aldi!

For some reason, I had a bad image of Aldi in my mind before a friend started taking me shopping there regularly. Now I'm angry at how much time I wasted having the entirely wrong impression - that place is awesome.

90% of their offerings are significantly cheaper than a standard grocery store, and some stuff is so much less it makes you wonder wtf you've been doing all of those years buying overpriced lemons and scandalized shredded cheese.

No bad experiences yet with anything being of lesser quality whatsoever. One caveat: we don't buy meat there because you can get it cheaper in bulk at a warehouse store, so I can't speak to the quality of their meat.

13bbird13

Buy store brands if you don't already. I never buy name brands... I can't be bothered with coupons, and I figure I probably save at least as much with no-names as I would clipping and waiting for sales.

rand486

MistyNoble1987 wrote: »

I'll buy protein bars in bulk too - saves a lot of money!

Make your own protein bars. Seriously, oats, cottage cheese, whey protein and peanut butter. I throw in pumpkin spice for flavour, and it's delicious. They come out way cheaper than the crappy store bought stuff, and usually have twice the protein with no chemicals.

MistyNoble1987 wrote: »

When buying tea, but the bags instead of the K Cups. Even if you have a Keruig or cup making device, put the tea bag in the cup, then brew just water then steep the bag in the water instead of buying K cups.

Why would you even have a Keurig machine for tea? Boiling water is not something you need a $100 machine for...

I admit, I don't even like the idea of those single-serve machines for coffee. I can make an entire pot of coffee in my grind & brew for less than the cost of one K-cup, and it tastes so much better.

Aine8046

rand486 wrote: »

MistyNoble1987 wrote: »

When buying tea, but the bags instead of the K Cups. Even if you have a Keruig or cup making device, put the tea bag in the cup, then brew just water then steep the bag in the water instead of buying K cups.

Why would you even have a Keurig machine for tea? Boiling water is not something you need a $100 machine for...

I admit, I don't even like the idea of those single-serve machines for coffee. I can make an entire pot of coffee in my grind & brew for less than the cost of one K-cup, and it tastes so much better.

Buy loose tea - it tastes much much better than tea bags and is cheaper.

Aine8046

I also buy alot of vegetables, like cabbage, bets, carrots, onion, etc. They are 30-50 cents per pound. You can get enough for few dollars to make a big pot of soup. Add chicken and you will have a dinner for four in under $5.

IILikeToMoveItMoveIt

I get a lot of organic food cheap at food salvage stores. I always check the dates though and only buy what I know I will use. Even if you don't do organic, food salvage stores can save you a lot of money!