Dieting on a budget?

jstout365

https://8e81c55f4ebf03323905b57bf395473796067508.googledrive.com/host/0B2A2SnkA9YgxaHdzbEhGSmJOZDg/good-and-cheap.pdf

This is another good resource with recipes to some meals and staples.

jeanners98

If you're okay eating things multiple times throughout a week:

-stews/soups
-casserole... like a baked pasta dish with a bunch of veggies and turkey/chicken sausage can last 3 meals for two people each
-currys and lentil dishes are cheap and can last a while
-cook a whole chicken (upfront is pricey but freeze the meat and use if for 2+ weeks)
-eggs are cheap and a good protein. just put a fried egg on roasted veggies for a cheap and healthy meal!

2bizzybee

Buy a rotisserie chicken. Take all the meat off. Boil the bones for broth.
Strain. Add mixed chopped vegetables. Add 1/4 of chicken meat = chicken vegetable soup
Use leftover extra chicken for:
chicken and veggie stir-fry (add frozen veggie mix)
chicken and egg fried rice (add egg and brown rice)
chicken, baked potato and broccoli (add potato & broccoli)

JaneECS

Even better - buy a raw chicken and cook it yourself!

ljones27uk

cous cous.. can get some really good flavours, costs about 50p a packet here (UK) (which feeds two for a light lunch), and you can throw veggies in to bulk it up.. I either have it for lunch, or as a side to chicken breast and veggies.

bulbadoof

bananas 75c/lb.
eggs $3/dozen.
tuna $1/can.
oats $3/2 lb bag.
frozen veggies vary, but they're usually pretty reasonable for the amount of servings you get out of them.
breakfast cereal is also very cost-efficient, and most of it is fortified, too, making the sugary kids' stuff a slightly better choice than your usual indulgence foods. (seriously, reese puffs have saved me from actual reese cups so many times.)

buy what's in season, buy what's on sale, and buy only as much as you expect to be able to eat before it expires.

GymAnJuice

bumping so i can come back later, loads of idea's on here

Laurochka

Hey there,
I see you're in Australia? I don't know about discount food stores down under but I live to quite a tight budget and I shop at Lidl/Aldi discount stores. I don't buy branded stuff just generic store's own brand.
I find that planning my meals for the week really helps me to budget and not spend unnecessarily.
Also buying meat or other slightly more expensive items when they're on offer or from the reduced section of the supermarket and freezing them.

I usually have yoghurt or cereal for breakfast. Sometimes a boiuled agg - eggs are super cheap from Lidl and actually last a lot longer than the "sell by date".

For lunch I will have soup - You can buy loads of veggies and a cheap cut of meat to make a big batch of soup. I might cook up 2 - 3 batched on a Sunday each one with about 4-6 servings and then freeze them. I'll take a tub out to defrost the night before work and that is my lunch sorted. If I don't want soup sometimes I'll eat dinner leftovers or in the summer I'll make salad with cheap veggies like cucumber/tomato and lettuce and maybe tinned tuna for some protein.

For dinner - again I'll often batch cook as I'm buy in the evenings and it's convenient to just be able to heat something up.
If you can find cheap-ish minced beef you can cook up batches of bolognese sauce, chilli, cottage pie etc and these all freeze pretty well. I also often cook veggie dishes - veggie stews made with loads of herbs and tinned tomatoes - add beans for some volume and these also freeze well.
If I find cheap stuff in the reduced section then I'll cook fresh.
This week for example I found some salmon fillets and spring greens in the reduced section - total £3.00 and this will do 2 meals for me. £1.50 a meal is pretty cheap!

So I guess my ultimate advice is plan! Also have loads of herbs and spices in your cupboard as they help make anything tasty!

I'd also recommend this website: http://agirlcalledjack.com/ - she's a single mum previously living on benefits and fed herself and her son really wholesome food on a very tight budget.

I hope this helps!
L

jezama77

Great ideas! I have trouble with planning, but I want to improve...thanks for the encouragement.

goober8957

One idea for money savings is to filet chicken breasts in half. I noticed that no one in my family notices it is half the chicken when they get a "whole" piece. Also when buying hamburger, it really is worth it to get the lower fat content , because you cook away a lot less of what you bought, therefore it goes further. On top of that, it is healthier. Another thing I have been working on is finding good ways to use leftovers. I find that a lot of people these days don't even eat leftovers.

eldamiano

You clearly dont go to the supermarket very often, or you would know these things.... surely?

charlotte66

theres me OH and 2 kids living on OHs wage so money is tight I cook everything from scratch. buy whole chickens not chicken breast it stretches out further then soup can be made with any left over meat veg and stock made out of the bones, have a google for a girl called jack she is all about budget recipes her mixed bean goulash is lovely works out at 182 calories per serving, chickpea curry is another good one of hers oh and I live off eggs for lunch or tinned tuna then buy the basic salad bits tomato lettuce and cucumber

http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/recipes-food/

^^ a girl called jacks recipe page from her blog

HealthyHappy87

Soup is your friend if on a budget! If you're in the UK Aldi does a bag of pre-chooped vegetables for £1, stick that in a pan with some stock and a sweet potato/butternut squash and you have 5 lunches worth of soup for £2.50!

Lentil and bacon soup is also cheap to make and filling!

Frozen chicken is cheaper then fresh and you can cook a big curry to last a few days.

Unfortunatly it is more expensive to eat healthily, however with a bit of preperation and frozen alternatives it can be cheaper.

HealthyHappy87

*Pre-chopped

ralph124c41

Spices make anything tasty.
That once a year when I grill a steak, it doesn't need anything to make it delicious.

The rest of the year I spice.
I make a lot of curries. Curry comes in many flavors as they are made everywhere from India to Indonesia, and every region has their own multitude of flavors. At the heart of it, a curry is just a stew or a stir-fry with lots of flavor. And now that you can get low-fat or no-fat coconut milk even the sweet green curries are not hard to make, nor do they have to break your calorie count.

uhhhDoodle

bump

SchweddyGirl

I have a pretty good budget Breakfast for everyone....

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup liquid egg white
3.5 oz roasted red peppers (or any other vegetable you like, the original recipe that I adapted used mushrooms)
3.5 oz of Cheese (you pick, I used Monterrey Jack which is reflected in the stats)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Cooking Spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a standard 12 muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a bowl mix together the eggs and egg whites, season with salt and pepper if desired. Distribute the egg mixture evenly amongst 7 muffin cups (it took me about 1/2 cup per). Then put 1/2 oz of both peppers and cheese into each of the 7 cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes after removing them from oven. Muffins will shrink slightly as they cool, this is normal. Serve by themselves, or make a sandwich out of them. Store left overs in a Ziploc bag in the fridge, they should last about 5 days.

Stats:
-Calories: 124
-Carbs: 0.5g
-Fat: 5.0g
-Protein: 11.5g
-Sodium: 236.8mg
-Potassium: 169.3mg

Original recipe can be found in Matt Fitzgerald's, Racing Weight Cookbook.

exstromn

Hi, Go tos for me were eggs, potatoes, fresh veg and fruit just for the week, frozen works too and lasts longer, buy protien on sale or reduced when able and portion before freezing. Making soups, stews and cassaroles and freezing portions out with the leftovers, keeping basics on hand in your cupboard like olive oil, pasta, rice, beans, boullion, rolled oats, honey, raw sugar and unbleached flour. Portion control was key for me. Its amazing how far something can stretch when you follow reasonable portion guidelines. Oh, and price matching too if you have time to invest in researching the ads, be sure to read your store's price matching policy so you know exactly what they will accept. Good luck!

exstromn

Oh, and one more tip. next time you go shopping try just shopping the perimeter of the store. That is where the featured sales and endcaps are as well as dairy, meat and produce are located (at least they are in Walmart). You will end up buying less prepackaged and more whole foods. the endcaps are any variety of things, but are almost always on sale.

CrmpetsNTea

I'm not sure if grocery stores in SA have weekly circulars like they do here or not, so this may or may not be helpful. I get the specials at all the grocery stores I like to shop at and see what their loss leaders are for the week. Plan your meals around these items, and if you have freezer space you can buy extra for weeks when you don't have the money.

Once you have a menu, write down all the items you need on your grocery list, and only buy things that are on the list. It's shocking how much extra crap we buy and how much that adds to the food bill!!

Good luck!

Angurla

Beans are a great way to cut down costs. I make a big batch of a recipe similar to this and freeze part of it for later http://www.skinnykitchen.com/recipes/skinny-taco-chili-crock-pot-or-stove-top/. I put it in the crock pot, add a can of pintos and use stewed tomatoes instead of diced, can of mexicorn instead of frozen (it has little peppers in it) and add a can of mild diced green chilies and garlic. Sometimes i forget to add the garlic and onions. I also use a homeade taco seasoning so it doesn't have all the salt.

I started shopping once a month and doing a ton of freezer cooking. About half of my food is just prepared and frozen and the other half is cooked and frozen. I took my $900 -1,100 food bill down to $500-600 for a family of 3.

Another favorite in our house is cilantro lime pesto chicken - cube chicken and cook then marinate in pesto (cilantro, lime, garlic). Great tacos or on a salad and freezes great

erickirb

Read my earlier post... eat the same, just less and lose weight and save money

purplemystra

I've shopped around for who has the best prices for the foods I eat. I also pick and choose what I'm going to eat each week so if something is on sale that's what I'm eating that week. Also I'm not sure how prices run around the country but I have found several good things in the freezer section at Whole Foods. Their brand 365 Organic has Chicken Fried Rice, Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi and a frozen line of organic quinoa. All are just $3 or $4. Each bag feeds 3 people but my husband and I share a bag. I've also found several different frozen vegetables like edamame 1 lbs bag for $1.99. I also buy some items at Sam's like spinach, mushrooms and other produce. I buy only what I will eat for the next week or 2.

happygolucky721

Great tips. Agree and try to do most. One more thing -- avoid waste and freeze/cook any foods that will go bad before you can eat them. Before vacations, I try to chop up any fresh fruit and freeze for smoothies, any leftover veggies or meats for soups. Or make my own frozen dinners by combining the stuff I already paid for.

drabbits3

These are all great suggestions! Also-look at 100 Days of Real Food. They have a whole section on eating well on a budget. It's not a "diet" website, it's a healthy eating site. I second (third??) the crock pot suggestions. I make beans almost once a week--a bag of dry beans is super cheap and I can get many meals out of one crock pot of beans. One night beans and rice, the next night mexican eggs-scrambled eggs with beans and salsa, with or without a tortilla, another night mashed up for nachos or with quinoa for stuffed peppers or with quinoa for a cold salad for lunch. And that's just one pot of beans. I do lots of different kinds of grains--polenta, quinoa, spelt, farro, and brown rice--with various veggies for dinner or for lunches. Pancakes, frittatas, whole grain pasta with tons of veggies--frozen are totally fine--house brand or generic--all fine and cheap.
It's actually kind of fun if you look at it like a game--how cheaply can I feed myself and my family well???

mykaylis

eldamiano wrote: »

You clearly dont go to the supermarket very often, or you would know these things.... surely?

stuff like this doesn't help. it's judgment, not advice.

and prices vary widely from place to place. in my sister's town a normal sized package of granola bars costs nearly $10. generic butter is nearly $10/lb, a small head of cauliflower $8. can of corn? over $5. availability varies, too. i can't get grits in my town. ever. they've never had it and have no plans to order it in. i can't tell you how many times i've looked at a recipe and scratched my head because i've never heard of an ingredient.

the person who posted this needs ideas. she'll have to take everything people say and sort through to find out what is available in HER town and what's cheap in HER part of her country.

savvyfantastic

I go to the local market every sunday afternoon when they sell off their fruit and veg in bulk. Whatever is available, I grab, and create my menu for the week around whatever is in season. Last two weeks was eggplants- stuffed eggplants, eggplant in curry, eggplant lasagna, etc etc.


I'm also a massive fan of the frozen spinach cubes from supermarkets. Very good at getting some bulk for very cheap, spinach curries with added chickpeas and chicken = cheap as.

KGRebelRanch

Breakfast: Hubby has coffee and six eggs, I have coffee and fruit.
Lunch: Hubby has leftovers, I don't typically eat lunch.
Dinner: Tonight, we're having grilled chicken with grilled root vegetables and sautéed cabbage.

Find a local farmer, explain the situation. I happily give away my excess meat/fruit/veggies to those who can't afford food.

That being said, I have laughed people out of my yard when they drive up in an escalade while talking on a freaking iphone 6 and THEN proceed to tell me they cant buy food.

jgnatca

I hope Chloe comes back. I remember the days I cooked on a budget.

IILikeToMoveItMoveIt

See if you have a Grocery Salvage store in your area. You can get great deals on even organic food. And if you have room enough in your freezer, you can really stock up. The selection varies and you have to check dates, but it is worth it. I was pregnant and I fed myself, husband and daughter on a tight month for $150. If that place was closer to me, I would do almost all my shopping there!