Healthy eating on a ramen budget
Money is TIGHT for us as Im looking for a better job. Right now im making just over min. wage, and my hubby isnt doing much better. Im trying to eat healthy but im finding it hard to find easy, cheap recipes that dont call for weird off the wall ingredients that ar way expensive! help!
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chicken and peppers and onions, frozen veggies and cheese. Use your imagination. With those things, not much can go wrong. I'm a single mom of 2 making not much more than you with no help from the "dads" so I know what you're going through. Oh, pasta and marinara sauce is good too.0
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I understand your challenge. We tend to make a big pot of rice and a crockpot of black beans each week and make gallo pinto, a rice and beans combination. We use it as a main meal for breakfast and as a side or a base for many other meals. Fresh veggies are expensive, but you can get quite a bit of variety in reasonably priced frozen veggies. I also tend to look for meat when it is on sale (pork tenderloin, beef roast, chicken breasts etc.) and buy a couple of them. We made a pork shoulder on Sunday that was also my lunch yesterday and today. Might be boring, but it works!0
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I did a Google search and found this article: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cheap-healthy-15-nutritious-foods-about-2-dollars?page=2
Also, my wife and I just signed up for a local CSA (community supported agriculture) crop share. Every week we pay only $19 for a box of fresh, local, organic produce. It may be worth looking into what is available in your area because this is definitely saving us a lot of money on produce - and it's organic!
Good luck!0 -
Just yesterday, I read an article about a man who lost 200 pounds. He was on a very tight budget, but found he could feed himself healthily by buying most of his food at the dollar store. Also, yesterday, I read on post here on MFP about Aldi being a great place for reasonably-priced fruits and veggies.
If you're not couponing, I would say start right away. When stores run a two-for-one sale on an item, and you have coupons, you can use two and it makes HUGE savings.
Blessings to you as you get through this difficult time!0 -
Costo or Sam's club. You can buy meat in bulk and freeze it. Their produce is good, too! Then throw meat, veggies/beans, and broth/sauce in a crock pot and make brown rice. You will have dinner for days
Buying produce at a farmer's market is both economical for you and your local farmers. Spinach, peppers, and tomatos make great salads. Top that with chicken or tuna. The thing is, when you buy fresh produce/food, you have to just shop more often so you aren't throwing away rotten food... that's when eating healthy becomes expensive.
The Biggest Loser did something about this... they each were able to eat for $10/day eating fresh produce/meat. Coupon clipping is another great way to save $$$ 0 -
It sucks being on a tight budget. Been there, done that! I have a few good recipes that are inexpensive, yummy, and low in calories. Also, much to my surprise, if you have a Dollar Tree near you, they have frozen veggies for $1 and even low-cal popsicles (60 cals each). They sometimes even have frozen ribeye steaks (though I've never tried them), eggs, and sometimes cheese. If you want my recipes, message me...or if everyone wants them, I will post them here. I don't have all of the nutritional info on them, but they feed my family of 4 and I have lost weight eating them!
:flowerforyou:
I hope these suggestions help!
Sara0 -
Frozen fruit and veggies are cheap
Make things in bulk and freeze them. Use some ingredients for multiple purposes. I purchased a whole chicken. Baked it one night and we had it for supper. Wrapped whatever was left and stuck it in the fridge. The next day, I took the rest of the chicken off of the bones, and boiled the bones for broth. Then we had chicken soup, and there's still leftover chicken for sandwiches for today.
I made the SkinnyTaste Italian Turkey Meatballs and Marinara sauce one night. We had that for supper. There was a LOT of sauce left over, so I froze it. The next time we have spaghetti, I will thaw that and use it as sauce!
If your family is willing, cut out meat a few nights a week - lentils, beans, vegetarian meals... that will help stretch the budget.
The best thing to do is to preplan. Find the recipes (www.skinnytaste.com)(http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-budget-recipes-00412000074866/)(http://family.go.com/food/pkg-budget-recipes/cheap-dinner-recipes-pg/) -- modify them for your budget. If it calls for fresh veggies, substitute for frozen. Check to see what crazy ingredients can be substituted for cheap/easy to obtain ingredients. When you have those plans, shop for the ingredients. Look for sales and coupons. Cook and freeze.
Good luck!!0 -
http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/below-the-line-budget-recipes/ This is really good for ideas0
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Hey! Like you I'm on a budget so I have to be careful how I do things... I tend to try and buy things that I can then make from scratch as this is cheaper.
I never use beef mince, turkey or pork mince is cheaper. I bulk everything out with veggies, particularly mushrooms, carrots and broccoli (I keep all my veg in the fridge as it lasts longer and is less prone to go off!)
I make a lot of 'old fashioned' food because it uses cheaper (and normally healthier cuts of meat) lots of stews, shepherds pie, low carb lasagne (the hairy bikers kind), pasta bakes (use a tablespoon of philli and some skimmed milk to thin it out and make it go further) Use bacon in the pasta bake and veggies rather than chicken because it's cheaper. I take sandwiches that I have made to work.
If you can go to a local butcher or grocer rather than the supermarket for meat and veg. It might cost a bit more to buy initially (although I haven't found that to be the case it's normally cheaper IMO) you will get a lot more for your money. £2 of cherries for example I will ALWAYS get more from the grocer.
Also, if you're really struggling you can get really good deals on frozen fruit and veg if you use them for cooking or baking.
I don't know if any of this helps... I hope so xx0 -
Also I swear by turkey thigh meat, it's the cheapest meat you can buy at the moment!!!0
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Are you from the UK or USA?
I'm from the UK, and now buy my weekly shopping from Aldi. For a weeks shopping for 2 adults and a 7 year old child, I spend £30. This includes all meals.
Vegetables are actually cheap to buy - I buy courgettes, peppers, red onions, mushrooms and stir fry these with some tinned chopped tomatoes. This will make 2 meals, with a baked sweet potato and some cheese on top. Meal cost works out to be around £2. I sometimes add kidney beans and chilli powder and eat it with rice or pasta instead - both of which are cheap staples to have in the cupboard, and packets I can buy from 50p a bag (for the essential / shops own brand).
Another cheap meal is poached eggs and toast with beans. It works out to cost (for me) around £0.60 a meal with two eggs and two slices of toast, and half a tin of beans (again all shops own brand) I know this is basic, but it really fills you up. I am planning on having this tonight. It's good for me because I don't get in until around 5:30 so I want a quick dinner before I'm putting my daughter to bed.
Chicken is obviously really good for you - but I can find it quite expensive. Some supermarkets sell them frozen, which I find is cheaper, and I just defrost it ahead of time. Try turkey instead, turkey breasts or mince - this is cheaper than Chicken.
We're i the same situation and I tend to write a shopping list before I go, planning the weeks meals and don't buy anything extra. As I said I usually spend £30 (more if I'm buying washing powder or other essentials). I'll always buy brand own, I know there is a difference but I just can't afford it right now, and it works for me!!
Good luck 0 -
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No recipes needed.
boneless/skinless chicken breasts or thighs $30
Basmati rice or sweet potatoes $20
Steamable brocolli - $12
Bush baked beans $6
4 dozen eggs $8
bananas $4
bag of apples $4
whole watermelon $4
Chobani yogurt $14
Week of groceries : $102 for 2 people0 -
Hi, keep up the good work, it is so hard when the money is tight to keep going, I know. But if your motivation is there, nothing will get in your way. A few options that I have found have been:
boneless chicken thighs. So cheap and all three of my kids love them and my husband and I love them and I can make them for dinner, have leftovers and make them into lunches and salads,pasta salads, etc. VERY economical. If you have a costco membership, it's really cheap in bulk there to just buy and freeze, also super cheap at grocery stores.
I grew my own summer squash and zucchini last year for the first time and I have a SUPER black thumb. The plants were under $3 each and I swear they just grew on their own and gave me veggies. I cant stress enough that I am not a gardener. I planted the plants to satisfy my 6 year old daughter who wanted so badly to have a garden. We seriously just plugged them into a spot in the ground and walked away and they grew. It was great.
Of course anything with eggs.
Good luck to you...0 -
I find frozen store brand veggies to be quite reasonable. Also frozen is supposedly much better than canned b/c it doesn't contain all the sodium or preservatives. Also try to get fruits in season, you can also try frozen fruits b/c they last longer. Also if there is a farmers market you may get some better deals. You can always swap ingredients in recipes if you can't find it or if they are too expensive. Good luck!0
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Find an Aldi! Great fruits and veggies and meat at a fraction of the price! Ask a person who works there and find out when their produce is delivered and then only shop those days and your stuff will last longer. Frozen veggies are just as healthy as fresh if you are just looking for a side dish. My family is easy and love grilled food so about 5 days out of the week we are eating grilled meat and vegies...with or without a potatoe or carb, depends on my calories for the day. Best of luck to you in your job search. I think all of us at one time have gone through that uncertainty. Bless your family!0
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Frozen veggies are wonderful! I get them at Kroger, Kroger brand, mostly a dollar a bag - or when they're doing their 10 for 10. I'll use 2 bags of whatever- usually 1 broccoli and 1 onions and peppers mix. Toss in about 1 chicken breast, depending on size out of the package.. I don't weigh them but I eyeball size. It's probably 1/3 pound breast.. Anywho, stir-fry that together and add some chili peppers and soy sauce. done. So it's like 5 bucks? for the entire meal? Idk how to judge how many servings.. Cup wise or anything but it makes about 3-4 bowls.0
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Aldi has come a long way from the "food like product" distributor that it used to be. Their fruits and veggies are usually fresh, frozen bags of veggies are only $1, and most of the grocery staple items are much cheaper there (I can get, for instance, corn tortillas, the same exact brand as in other stores, for 39 cents a pack there. At the other stores? $1.39) Some things are bad quality, but honestly I've been pretty shocked at the quality of items there recently because I went once about 10 years ago and determined that it was just trash. I only went back there to check it out after I read an article about how Aldi and Trader Joes are owned by the same company.
Buying a whole chicken is much less expensive than buying the parts. If you have a local ethnic market check it out, they tend to be much cheaper for fruits, veggies, and meats. The dry goods are typically more expensive though.0 -
I can totally relate to this (I won't even get into the amount of money I spent on 2 degrees at a private university)! I pretty much keep myself alive by shopping at Aldi. I always have cucumbers, green peppers, and baby carrots to snack on, and I kick off each morning in the office with their yogurt and granola bars. Dinners usually consist of their Fit & Active soups or whatever frozen fish they have on sale (made on the Foreman) with white rice and canned veggies. It's definitely a challenge at times but it's definitely achievable. Good luck!!! 0
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Beans, chickpeas, lentils! Buy bulk bags of dried and cook them up into indian curries, veggie chilli, soups!
Baked potatoes with toppings
Oatmeal for breakfast is cheap and filling
Eggs all day every day.
Even making things yourself rather than buying packages is such a good first step - the mark up on ready meals etc is incredible.
Perhaps check a student cook book out of the library, one geared towards kids going to college - they often use cheap and simple ingredients! Otherwise join pinterest and search for cheap healthy meals and you will get hundreds of results.0 -
As a PS. I spend roughly 100 bucks a week on groceries for 2 adults, 2 7 year olds. 3 meals, and a snack box. I swear my kids could eat us out of house and home! I make a list on Sunday of meals for the week. I list the day, have three meal boxes and fill them in - accounting for family activities so I know whether the meal needs to be easy prep. I clip coupons, take the few I need (there are hardly any coupons for healthy stuff! Mostly yogurt and frozen veggies!).. I try to make meals on sale items - and if meat is on sale, I buy extra to freeze. If I buy carrots, salad, spinach etc. for one meal, I spread them over two or so in order to not waste what was not used in the first meal.
I get a lot of recipes off skinnytaste.. And substitute for "cheaper" ingredients when I can.. Or avoid her high price recipes. 0 -
Like a lot of the others have said - frozen fruits and veggies really help.
Also I will make Salsa Chicken in the crockpot and it will feed my two kids and I for almost 3 days. All I do is throw in 2 - 2.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs, a small jar of salsa, 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning, and 1/4 c. water, cook on low for 6-8 hrs, then throw in a can of reduced sodium pinto beans (or any beans of your choice) and shred the chicken. Recover and warm for 20 mins on high. Super filling, add a little cheese and put it on a tortilla and yummo.
Best of luck on your budget and journey! :happy:0 -
Beans, chickpeas, lentils! Buy bulk bags of dried and cook them up into indian curries, veggie chilli, soups!
Baked potatoes with toppings
Oatmeal for breakfast is cheap and filling
Eggs all day every day.
Even making things yourself rather than buying packages is such a good first step - the mark up on ready meals etc is incredible.
Perhaps check a student cook book out of the library, one geared towards kids going to college - they often use cheap and simple ingredients! Otherwise join pinterest and search for cheap healthy meals and you will get hundreds of results.
^^^ This about the oatmeal and the beans. A cup of lentils has the protein of 3 eggs. You can buy a bag of lentils for $1.20 in the regular grocery store or less than that if you buy in bulk in a health food store. Eat with brown rice and steamed/blanched/stir-fried veggies and you have a great meal.
Also, if you have any Latino/Mexican grocery stores in your area, check out their produce. I saw that advice here on MFP a week ago, went to my local Latino grocery, and found fresh tomatoes, onions, avocados, lemons and limes at half the price of the chain grocery across the street (for example, tomatoes for $1.00 a pound instead of $1.99, 2.49 and 2.99 a pound).0 -
Vegetables end up costing more than meat around here. You can buy them for about $1 a pound, but once you have them cooked into something they weigh about half that, so veggies are $2/pound (if you get whatever is cheapest of on sale).. and right now pork in $1 a pound here.
I have chickens.. so I go to our local grocery store and pickup boxes of 'chicken' vegetables, stuff that's wilted or has spots on it. Chickens eat good, and so do we. Last night was 'mixed vegetables'... mostly kale & swiss chard, some collard greens and a little broccoli, 1 leaf of bok choi. I cut it all up, put it in a pot with an inch or less of water in it and let it steam a few minutes. Granulated garlic (or garlic powder would work) and some salt.. we ate well. Side of baked beets and swiss chard & lettuce salad (beets & salad came from the chicken box). I also made some baked potatoes and some of our own pork chops (from last years pig).. and that was dinner. I like lots of vegetable sides.. makes it feel like a lot of variety and you're not just having to eat some of the vegetable dish for the night. Dinner was 1 meat, 1 starch, 3 vegetable.
Depending on where you live, you may have Farmers Markets. My parents live in Florida and have 2 amazing ones just a couple miles each from their house. You can go in at the end of the day and get boxes of vegetables that aren't the freshest for ridiculously cheap. Take them home, take off the bad spots and work on preserving.. generally the freezer... but leave out as much as you can for fresh cooking.. they taste so much better not frozen.
Grow your own garden. You probably won't grow anywhere near what you eat, but it can make a dent in the cost of vegetables in the warm months.
National averages say the most money lost on food is ill-preparation. Buying food and letting it go to waste because we didn't have all the ingredients to justify making it when we had it, just forgetting about it, being too tired to cook. Finding stuff on sale and getting it made into something for the table would be the best advise for most people. If you're not going to get meat cooked in the next 2 days, just throw it in the freezer... it thaws fast enough. Vegetables go bad fast too, if you cook them they tend to last longer.. that depends on what kind too.0 -
soups and stews are your friend: they're filling but you can "fill" them with more veg than meat and add water to make them last longer.
My personal favourite is this: 300g ground meat (though you can put more or less or substitute with chicken or fish if you wish. just see what's discounted. You can also use pre-frozen meat as that will save cost); 3-4 large potatoes, peeled, chopped to rough cubes, and a veggie-mix; can be frozen. cook the meat in the bottom of your soup-pot, stir often to make sure it's fully cooked. Add the potatoes and the vegige mix. Add water and bring to boil, season with a bouillon cube and/or salt/pepper. The stew is done when the potatoes are done.
personally, I love the taste of this so I like to eat it very often. It also doesn't hurt that the cost of a meal per person will be about 1.50 EUR, might be a bit less depending on how much and what kind of meat goes in there.
another of our "cheap and eat it whenever we've been lazy with groceries" is a variation of mac and cheese: boil the macaroni, drain, mix with a can of tuna, add paprica powder and stir thoroughly; smooth over, cover with cheese and pop in the oven long enough for the cheese to melt. You can save the cost on cheese here; as you = the chef, decide how much goes on top of the dish instead of everyone adding howevermuch they want.0 -
I just posted almost exactly this a week or two ago. I had some pretty good suggestions:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1003001-dirt-broke-gourmet-looking-for-seriously-cheap-recipes0 -
bump for ideas!0
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My best advise? Buy frozen vegetables or fresh vegetables on sale. I view all the ads online to get the best produce prices and then take that info to walmart for price matching so I only visit one store. My main protein is chicken which is $2lb around here at WM or other stores on sale. You can really stretch when you buy food that isn't processed!0
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Didn't read through all of the other posts, so apologies if I repeat...
I get anything I can at Aldi's- if they have one in your area it's a great place to start. I always get tilapia, salmon, swai, ground turkey, and sometimes ground beef there. They have produce pretty cheap also. I also get things such as toilet paper/paper towels, tin foil, etc. there
For the things I can't get at Aldi's, I'll go through the local ads in my area and circle things that I see on my list that are on sale. I take those ads to WalMart- they do price match. They'll give you the price in any ad that you show from your area.
Also if there are flea markets/farmer's markets in your area those are really worth it for produce and other miscellaneous things (example- 1 spaghetti squash at Walmart is usually around $5 for one, you can get at least 2 for that price at our local flea market.)
It's a little more work than just going to one place for everything, but you'll save a lot.0
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