How to eat healthy when it's so expensive

Storytella100

sometimes I feel like its cost too much to eat healthy doesn't mean I don't want to but I feel like I can't afford to what are some solution or good ideas for cheap healthy eating.

flitterfoot

Try shopping at your local market, you can often get a lot more for your money there and you also walk more without realising it. I personally won't buy meat from ours because the person selling meat doesn't keep it refrigerated but I can get 10 oranges for £1 while I only get 4 in the supermarket.

Try bulking out meals with veg or if you are doing something like a stew or soup use lentils. They tend to be cheap and if you can buy bulk it's even cheaper overall.

Nobody in our family really likes veg except me but I hide mushrooms, peppers and onion in almost every mince dish I make. I just dice it up really fine (usually while crying over the onion lol). I do root veg mash which for 3 of us I use 600g of potatoes and 100g each parsnip, carrot and swede. They're is more than enough there for a good sized side, it's a little healthier than plain mashed potatoes and it doesn't cost any more.

Use chicken or eggs as protein it tends to be cheaper than beef or pork and you can do so much with it. I usually make 1 mince dish, 1 non meat dish, 1 pork disk and 4 chicken. I only make the pork one because I get a good deal on pork steaks and our youngest daughter really likes Oriental pork with rice.

Rice and pasta are a good source of carbohydrate and keep better than potatoes meaning you can buy in bulk which makes them cheaper. Try and buy brown or wholemeal if you and your son will eat it. I love brown rice but no one else will touch it, so I only buy it if we have spare money that's not being used for something else.

It really depends on what you and your son like. Over the years I've trained our family to be a little less fussy over food and they'll eat stew, curry and rice dishes that can be bulked out using less meat and more veg or pulses.

Try looking up slimming world recipes online they have some good healthy recipes that work out pretty cheap.

Also if you have freezer space think about making extra and freezing if you can get a deal on meat. When our eldest when to uni I made her a terms worth of meals at a time and put them in a freezer on her room. She effectively had convenience meals so she didn't have to think about what to cook if she'd had a bad day at uni. Feeding her for a term was cheaper than feeding the rest of us for about a month because we bought it all bulk.

Storytella100

newmeadow wrote: »

Lentils and rice are really budget friendly and provide excellent nutrition.

Eggs and potatoes - yum and not that pricey.

Basically, to get the most for your money, buying in bulk and then cooking all meals is the best way to go. I know that can be hard when you're a single parent and also experiencing the exhaustion that's common with obesity.

Here's a link to a book

http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Eating-Budget-healthy-budget/dp/1499780923/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434075865&sr=1-1&keywords=eating+healthy+on+a+budget

You can buy it second hand on amazon for less than ten dollars.

Nice great ideas thanks

Storytella100

flitterfoot wrote: »

Try shopping at your local market, you can often get a lot more for your money there and you also walk more without realising it. I personally won't buy meat from ours because the person selling meat doesn't keep it refrigerated but I can get 10 oranges for £1 while I only get 4 in the supermarket.

Try bulking out meals with veg or if you are doing something like a stew or soup use lentils. They tend to be cheap and if you can buy bulk it's even cheaper overall.

Nobody in our family really likes veg except me but I hide mushrooms, peppers and onion in almost every mince dish I make. I just dice it up really fine (usually while crying over the onion lol). I do root veg mash which for 3 of us I use 600g of potatoes and 100g each parsnip, carrot and swede. They're is more than enough there for a good sized side, it's a little healthier than plain mashed potatoes and it doesn't cost any more.

Use chicken or eggs as protein it tends to be cheaper than beef or pork and you can do so much with it. I usually make 1 mince dish, 1 non meat dish, 1 pork disk and 4 chicken. I only make the pork one because I get a good deal on pork steaks and our youngest daughter really likes Oriental pork with rice.

Rice and pasta are a good source of carbohydrate and keep better than potatoes meaning you can buy in bulk which makes them cheaper. Try and buy brown or wholemeal if you and your son will eat it. I love brown rice but no one else will touch it, so I only buy it if we have spare money that's not being used for something else.

It really depends on what you and your son like. Over the years I've trained our family to be a little less fussy over food and they'll eat stew, curry and rice dishes that can be bulked out using less meat and more veg or pulses.

Try looking up slimming world recipes online they have some good healthy recipes that work out pretty cheap.

Also if you have freezer space think about making extra and freezing if you can get a deal on meat. When our eldest when to uni I made her a terms worth of meals at a time and put them in a freezer on her room. She effectively had convenience meals so she didn't have to think about what to cook if she'd had a bad day at uni. Feeding her for a term was cheaper than feeding the rest of us for about a month because we bought it all bulk.

Nice I love it lol Cut up the veggies really small so you don't realize there veggies

Carol_

The BIG grocery store chains contribute a lot of leftover food that did not sell or they have too much of or whatever. Usually it is breads and lotsa' of vegetables & fruit. I believe Social Services can tell you where these food banks are located where you live. Usually it is distributed through the Churches. It could help stretch out what money you have to buy other groceries.

Storytella100

Carol_ wrote: »

The BIG grocery store chains contribute a lot of leftover food that did not sell or they have too much of or whatever. Usually it is breads and lotsa' of vegetables & fruit. I believe Social Services can tell you where these food banks are located where you live. Usually it is distributed through the Churches. It could help stretch out what money you have to buy other groceries.

Good idea thanks

flitterfoot

This is in the UK but perhaps you have something similar in the USA.

My sister runs a best before program where companies donate food that's after the best before date but still ok to eat. Things like rice, pasta, cereal, tinned food etc., they pass it on mostly to churches and homeless shelters but they also sell to the public for almost nothing and then pass the money made on to homeless shelters.

The situation in the UK at the moment means she's seeing people with jobs using the charity because they don't have the money to do their normal shopping.

Angelfire365

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2340208/Papa-Joe-loses-250-pounds-99-Cent-Store-diet-horrified-sight-body-music-video.html

Give this a look. They don't sell produce in the dollar stores here in Canada, but maybe they do where you are?

flitterfoot

That's really interesting. We have a £1 store in the UK but they don't sell fresh produce.

Thankfully we do have shops like aldi who do 69 pence fresh fruit and veg with different specials each week.

Storytella100

Angelfire365 wrote: »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2340208/Papa-Joe-loses-250-pounds-99-Cent-Store-diet-horrified-sight-body-music-video.html

Give this a look. They don't sell produce in the dollar stores here in Canada, but maybe they do where you are?

Wow that guy lost all his weight buy eating at the 99cents store omg that's crazy Ima start shopping there that was a really inspiring story thank you for sharing that with me

Angelfire365

Anytime!