Eating healthy on a very strict budget.

happypigs5309

I buy rotisserie chickens from Costco 4.99 each, my in season fruits, eggs, and trail mixes I freeze what fruit I'm not going to use up right away so it doesn't go bad. I buy my Salmon as well from Costco- freeze mini meals together. I make my own muffins and breakfast burritos and ham, eggs, & cheese English muffins I freeze these as well for a nice warm breakfast. I Just pop them in the oven while I'm getting ready for work. I have a family of 3, but we all eat completely different, so sometimes our food bill can get stupid crazy!. I have found that meal prepping is KEY and changing it up.

Example-
Two Rotisserie chickens($4.99 each) turned into-

Chicken Salad w/ pita bread
BBQ Chicken Sliders
Chicken Tacos
Asian chicken salad
This is my weeks dinner and lunch. I spent about 20.00 these meals.
I tend to spend most of my $$ on fresh veggies just because I don't like the texture of frozen to cooked veggies.

hesn92

Aldi is the *kitten*. If you have one. I shop there every week. Their prices can't be beat.

DamieBird

Don't forget to look for "manager's specials" in your local store! My Safeway has great ones, where they mark down meat 30% off the lowest price two days before sell by and 50% off the day before or day of. You either batch cook it when you get home or freeze it. I scored ~2.5 pounds of the Open Nature brand boneless, skinless chicken breast for about 6.50 yesterday and made a batch of shredded chicken for the week. I also got a bag of wild caught shrimp (I'm very picky about seafood) for 6.00. I use apps like the Safeway App, Cartwheel from Target, and iBotta. For the past two weeks, I've been getting 3 Skyr yogurts for .24 (total) after the store sale and the iBotta rebate. There are some great options out there!

PinkCuddleMonster

My budget is $130 per month. I find that it's a little easier to stay in budget now because I eat so much less than I used to. Also, I never go out to eat, I make my dinners, which is cheaper. I also buy in bulk, it's cheaper per pound. And I don't shop unless I don't have any more food, I try to eat whats in my cabinet.

everher

I have a budget of $200 a month for food. Here's what I do:

I split my $200 up into weekly amounts. So about $50 a week is spent on food. This gives me a good ballpark number of how much I can spend in the store. I either count it up in my head when I'm shopping or I use an app to keep track of how much is in my cart so I never go over.

For breakfast and lunch I go as cheap as possible. Cereal + milk will last me all week because I only eat a serving of cereal at a time and usually half a serving of milk. If I don't have that, I'll have eggs with either oatmeal or some form of meat. Basically, I try to keep the price of breakfast for the week to $5-$7. I find this is super easy to do because the cheap breakfast ideas are limitless - pancakes, Greek yogurt (buy the larger container to save), grits, oatmeal, toast, bagels, etc. can all be bought very cost effectively.

Lunch I keep cheap by eating the same thing everyday all week and I try to keep the cost of lunch to about $10 for the week. This usually means either a soup, salad, or sandwiches. Soups can be made especially cheap because all you need is broth, frozen veggies of some kind, and meat (if you choose). Same thing with salads. I will buy a large mix of greens for $5 and can eat out off that all week just have to add the toppings which can be had cheap - tomatoes, cucumber, etc. Sandwiches are my lazy go to. I can spend $2 on a loaf of breed, $5 on lunch meat for the week, $2 on cheese slices and have sandwiches for two weeks only needing to buy more lunch meat on week two.

Dinner can be had cheaply as well. But I'm willing to splurge on dinner and may spend $20 of the week's money on dinner. Chicken is one of the cheapest meats you can buy, but pork isn't terribly expensive either and I can do pork chops a million different ways. Also keep your eye out for sales and meat that has been marked down. For sides, you can get frozen veggies for $2 or so. Potatoes are cheap as well and they're another food I can do a bunch of different ways. If you Google, there are a lot of recipes that will give you the cost of the recipe especially if you Google "cheap dinner recipes".

Snacks I try to keep to $5 or so which usually means I'll buy a bag of mixed fresh fruit or whatever fruit is in season and maybe some nuts. If it's a week I had eggs for breakfast they also make good snacks.

WendyLeigh1119

Holy *kittens* what is "canned chicken"?!

GingerPwr

You could also think about making your own bread or growing spices or smaller vegetables. Check out a book on square foot gardening from your local library. You can probably do some chili peppers, green onions and cherry tomatoes even if you have a small apartment balcony.

And bulk flour and yeast is cheaper and makes lots of bread as opposed to buying loaf after loaf.

Just something to think about.

janejellyroll

WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »

Holy *kittens* what is "canned chicken"?!

It's chicken in a can, a lot like canned tuna. I mean, I wouldn't want it for a fancy meal . . but for something like chicken salad or a pot pie it's okay.

WendyLeigh1119

I've literally never seen nor heard of this until now. I guess it's kind of like shredded chicken and turkey forr meatballs and such?

Boland_D

Definitely possible. I think I eat healthier when I spend less money.
I set a budget of 300 a month for my husband and I rarely hit it.
Most importantly look for sales and get a store card.
Many staples last longer than a week so you won't have to rebuy them ex: brown rice, oats, bread, ceral, beans
Try to eat balanced meals so you eat a little of each thing you buy instead of blowing through something like your protein mid way through the week.
Buy frozen veggies! Cauliflower, corn, broccoli, peas and spinach are some of my favorites.
Buy in bulk
And rely on spices for flavor

savithny

Meal planning.

I'm feeding four people, including teenagers, on about 600 a month and we eat well.

You need to plan what you're going to eat and stick to it. And you need to cook for yourself and awful lot.

You also need to think about what your definition of "healthy food" is and why you think it has to be expensive?

Things we eat:
Brown rice, homemade sourdough bread, tortillas (flour and/or corn)
Beans of all kinds (especially black beans and garbanzos), lentils, split peas, mung beans
Nuts and nut butters
Cheese, butter, milk
Chicken thighs, ground beef, chuck roasts, pork chops, eggs
Frozen veggies, especially broccoli, cauliflower, kale, sweet potatoes
Fresh veggies, especially cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, turnips, beets

Basically, lots of things can be "cheap and healthy." There's nothing inherently "unhealthy" about rice, beans, potatoes, etc. What makes most things healthy or unhealthy is how they're prepared and how much of them you eat.

hesn92

WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »

I've literally never seen nor heard of this until now. I guess it's kind of like shredded chicken and turkey forr meatballs and such?

The only thing I've ever used canned chicken for is chicken salad, like tuna salad

mom23mangos

czvanut wrote: »

You could also think about making your own bread or growing spices or smaller vegetables. Check out a book on square foot gardening from your local library. You can probably do some chili peppers, green onions and cherry tomatoes even if you have a small apartment balcony.

And bulk flour and yeast is cheaper and makes lots of bread as opposed to buying loaf after loaf.

Just something to think about.

Yes. Depending on where you live, I always recommend that people on a very small budget try to supplement by living off the land as much as they can. Think about how our grandparents lived. Grow a vegetable garden, go fishing each weekend, hunt if you can. I even recommended to one woman who lived on a farm to raise rabbits and chickens. Rabbits grow and multiply quickly and are a tasty source of protein. Chickens lay eggs and again are a tasty source of protein. If you live in a big city, I know this may be more difficult, but like @czvanut said, look into growing smaller vegetables/spices. And most people live not too far from a lake/river for fishing. Fill up your freezer if you can.

kshama2001

czvanut wrote: »

You could also think about making your own bread or growing spices or smaller vegetables. Check out a book on square foot gardening from your local library. You can probably do some chili peppers, green onions and cherry tomatoes even if you have a small apartment balcony.

And bulk flour and yeast is cheaper and makes lots of bread as opposed to buying loaf after loaf.

Just something to think about.

Ya, I grew basil, parsley, and cilantro on my balcony when I was in an apartment. I love fresh herbs but they can be pricey and go bad quickly (except for parsley - keeps a long time in the frig with the ends in a jar of water.)

My cousin has a bigger balcony and had a whole garden up there.

kshama2001

WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »

Holy *kittens* what is "canned chicken"?!

I've used it for chicken salad, like tuna salad. I would also try it in pasta salad.

I wouldn't think it would be cheaper than raw chicken, but it sure is faster. It's a great, "Oh snap, I haven't put any planning into dinner" solution.

junodog1

Link ---> Safe for work
"here's something you cannot unsee" Canned whole chicken

DamieBird

junodog1 wrote: »

Link ---> Safe for work
"here's something you cannot unsee" Canned whole chicken

I'm guessing this is handy for people living through some type of apocalypse?!

sunfastrose

I do agree with most that buying in bulk usually makes the most sense, but get in the habit of comparing cost per 'X' (i.e. cost per ounce, gram, etc - varies on what you are buying) when looking at sales prices vs. regular.

midlomel1971

I just started shopping at Aldi's recently and what a game-changer it is!!! It's the bomb!

gearhead426hemi

If possible find a local farmer or plant a garden and fruit trees native to where you live. Seeds or starters are cheap and will give you months of food. You can freeze or can them and enjoy them all year. Once you purchase all the jars and a pressure canner you can use them for years and years. There is something very satisfying about growing or raising your own food. We planted all this for under $ 50.00. This is only one harvest and we typically get two harvests a year.






raise goats and sheep for milk and meat and have a large garden.