Budgeting and balancing life

ashleighhowat

Hi all I am wondering if anyone is in the same situation or has some advice on eating healthy with a very tight budget and small amount of time for meals. I work full time and am the main provider for my family (partner and 1yo son), I work 9-12 hours a day 5 days a week so I usually skip breakfast since the morning is usually a huge rush, I have a sandwhich and yoghurt for lunch and tend to skip dinner because I'm home too late or if I have a bit of time at night I shove something in the oven that's quick and easy. I only have about £30 left of my wage each week for food which I tend to spend on frozen food because fresh veg and fruits don't keep till I next get paid, I reckon if I can figure out the eating part the now I could lose at least 7lbs by Christmas.

kommodevaran

Readymeals, eating out, takeaway will over time be more expensive than home cooked. You need enough money to live no matter how you choose to eat, so maybe you have to look for assistance and/or change of priorities. These are general tips:

• Base your shopping/cooking/eating around cheap staples - rice, beans, oatmeal, pasta, bread, chicken, pork, eggs, tuna, peanut butter, onions, carrots, cabbage, canned tomatoes, potatoes, apples, oranges, bananas.
• Prices vary to some extent. Buy whatever is cheapest that fulfills your needs. Produce in season is best and cheapest.
• Frozen vegetables/meat/fish/berries are just as good as fresh. Just look at the ingredients list, it should mostly be just one ingredient - that food.
• Don't buy more than you need, and eat up everything. Plan your meals so you can use up everything, and plan meals you actually want to eat. Learn to cook if you don't already. Skip unnecessary ingredients if it means that you'll have to throw out a lot.
• Buy limited amounts of very perishable foods, and plan to eat them fast. If you shop once a week, plan to eat perishables in the first part of the week, and the sturdier produce later in the week. (You can buy food at any time, as long as you have money, you don't have to buy everything at once the moment you get paid. Sorry if I misunderstood, I don't mean to sound patronizing.)
• Don't pay more for hype - any claims on the label, like healthy, organic, low or free this or that, enriched, or directed at children, will be more expensive.
• Look at the unit price, especially when you are buying sales items.
• Also decide what conveniences are worth paying for - precooked, prechopped, preportioned, mixed etc, tend to add to the price.
• Prep in advance. Lots of meals are fast and easy if you just have the ingredients ready. Put foods that need thawing and soaking in the fridge the night before.
• Consider if a slow cooker can be a good investment for you.

To lose weight, you just have to eat less. It can be hard to just reduce calories if your diet is poor, but the advice above should help.

TavistockToad

essentially, you want to eat less to lose weight...

obviously a healthy balanced diet is important in general, but start with cutting down on portion sizes to get a calorie deficit.

frozen fruit and veg is fine, look for offers and bulk buy if you can (chicken breasts for example) or do your food shop at the end of the day when stuff is reduced to get some bargains?