How to afford healthy meals??

LiftHeavyThings27105

Consider a Trader Joe's if there is one in your area? I am in Winston-Salem, NC and thank the good Lord that there is. The ground chicken meat that I used to by at Harris Teeter (Kroger for most of the rest of the country) was $5.49 per pack and at TJ it is $3.49. The Ground Lean Turkey is $5.49 at Harris Teeter but $2.99 at TJ. The 80/20 Beef is roughly $3.50 with the 90/10 is roughly $6.00 at TJ but significantly more at Harris Teeter (I will *NOT* purchase meat at Wal-Mart....). Lots and lots of other things at Trader Joe's.

What I will buy at Wal-Mart is froozen veggies. The microwaveable "steamers" are usually right at $1.00 per bag. That might help.

Shoot, just with those things you can get a lot of awesome "healthy" meals (whatever healthy means).

I did not see this, so forgive me if you already provided this information - do you have a crook pot?

LiftHeavyThings27105

And, to second what @jan211k stated - do not fall into the trap of buying into the 'fact' that you are poor. Poor is a mind set. Broke is a temporary economic state. Don't let "poor" be a part of your vocabulary. Or thought process. Fight that tooth and nail. I know too many "poor people" and nothing ever changes for them.....it is a mind set. You got this. Things will change. Have faith and keep fighting the good fight. IT WILL CHANGE.

Kullerva

CWShultz27105 wrote: »

And, to second what @jan211k stated - do not fall into the trap of buying into the 'fact' that you are poor. Poor is a mind set. Broke is a temporary economic state. Don't let "poor" be a part of your vocabulary. Or thought process. Fight that tooth and nail. I know too many "poor people" and nothing ever changes for them.....it is a mind set. You got this. Things will change. Have faith and keep fighting the good fight. IT WILL CHANGE.

This. I actually learned to cooks living in poverty. Like, real meals that were decent for me, instead of eating everything out of a box. It was kind of a good thing, in hindsight.

I feed myself on around $150/month, and could probably do it on $100 if I ditched the protein powder and special pancakes. I get everything at Aldi that I can. Staples are rice, beans (dried and canned), spinach, carrots, apples, onions, garlic, pasta, blueberries (frozen's cheaper), nuts ($1/bottle sales), cocoa powder, PB2, oats, and eggs.

Good luck, OP!

kommodevaran

LindaGilpin59 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

Wonder why my post was wooed...

i have noticed a lot of weird 'wooing' in the last couple of weeks, i presume its newbies thinking it is a positive thing... that or people just going round troll wooing.

From the explanation on the new woo button:
Woo can mean two things. You can click it both to mean woo as in woo-hoo or to express that you think an idea or approach is too good to be true.

We hope you enjoy the new reaction!!

The MFP Community Team

People are full of opinions, and of course we are all entitled, but I can't really see how my post could evoke either reaction.

Yeah, I love the woo button

Lounmoun

ChristinaPruitt276 wrote: »

I am on the low income scale, no food stamps, and due to formula issues I have to pay out of pocket for my daughters formula. So I don't have much money to spare on groceries most of the time. How do you get healthy meals without paying an arm and leg? I've tried buying fresh fruit but it's so expensive!

Any help would be appreciated!

A healthy diet is not a specific list of food but everything you consume working together to meet your body's needs. You need to look at nutrients of foods you eat and how they fit your whole day. There are a lot of ways to "eat healthy".

Meal planning is a very good idea if you have a tight budget
Low budget friendly foods where I live are oatmeal, tuna, whole chicken or chicken thighs, dry beans, lentils, rice, pasta, bread, peanut butter, eggs, potatoes, carrots, apples, ground turkey, cabbage, onions, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables.

Fresh foods and vegetables in season, grown locally may be cheaper. Skip food labeled organic.
Frozen or canned fruits and vegetables have nutrients. You don't have to shun them. You can buy no salt, low sodium, no added sugar versions.
Buy generic store brands.

Low budget menu planning and recipes:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/70dollarmenu.htm
http://www.budgetbytes.com
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/03/35-meatless-meals.html
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/favorite-recipes/
http://www.lentils.org/recipes-cooking/recipes/

Some MFP threads you may find useful:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10518784/healthy-food-choice-on-a-budget/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10500423/costing-a-lot-more-money-to-eat-healthier/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10490067/most-healthy-food-options-are-very-expensive-and-im-on-a-very-poor-budget-what-to-do/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10020804/looking-for-vegetarian-recipes#latest
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1

ChristinaPruitt276

Thank you to everyone who posted! And to the comments made on my "retarded expensive" comment, I didn't not mean to offend anyone. I only use the word for things like as I mentioned , the insane price of baby formula! I never use it towards another human being because I feel that it's missused on the wrong people.

As far as the "poor" mindset, I try not to hang on to that thought but sometimes when you're trying to decide between bills and groceries it creeps up. I know it's a temporary thing, because I make more than enough to live, but my family was in a car accident in July and it has put us in a very hard place that I'm struggling to overcome. So we wind up buying ramen 90% of the time.

I don't have an Aldi (though from the sound, I sure wish I did lol) I have Walmart, cash saver, brookshires, and then little retail stores that also carry food items like DG and Dollar tree, Family Dollar etc. I live in a real small factory town (Georgia Pacific if you've heard of it)

Nobody I know of has fruit trees or gardens to supply there own food. My husband and I have discussed putting in a tree in out back yard. Our neighbor used to have a fig tree but they cut it down years ago. Also I live in city limits so I can't have chicken or any form of livestock (beyond the standard household pet of course)

Thank you for all the tips and advice. I will definitely be looking into those websites that have been provided! I just want to provide a healthier atmosphere for my family, especially now that we have a little girl. I will be checking into all these suggestions as I go along.

P.s. Our cash saver has a 5/$17.88 meat deal but they are only small portions of meat. I typically try to buy 1 pick 5 and make it last through the week. I also have a membership with Sam's Club, but it's an hours drive so I REALLY have to preplan for it, if anyone has suggestions on that. I've noticed a few things I can get cheaper elsewhere but I prefer buying in bulk when possible.

Thank you everybody! (And sorry for the long post, I was trying to address most of the comments I just read lol)

smh_cliff

Children here wean from six/7 months usually, is a year really more common over there?! There's usually a bottle in the morning and evening alongside until a year but definitely meals too.
I know that's not advice, I'm genuinely interested though!

JillianRumrill

My husband and I get free food from one of his co-workers. She has a deal w/ a couple of the local grocery stores, she takes all their unsellable recently expired or about-to-expire food off their hands and uses most of it to feed her pigs. She gets so much that she passes it along to everyone at the hub. Since my man is laid off for the winter season, he goes to the hub every week to pick up his free goodies and catch up with the boss. It's like our own personal food pantry!
See if you can work out a deal with one of your local grocery stores. Tell them that it's not going towards human consumption (by law stores can't give food to humans) and see what happens. At the very least they'll say "no".
On a side note, it's such a shame that good food is wasted. All of that food could go to feed the homeless, but we have laws in place which yes, do protect them from eating rancid food, but still, the laws lack compassion.

Rosemary7391

Just had another thought. You can buy cheap cuts of things like beef, but chicken might be cheaper per meal to buy a whole one. When I was house sharing we'd do 2 dinners for 4 out of 1 chicken, usually roast one night and then either chicken soup, pasta, curry... anything to be done with bits of chicken later in the week. If you don't mind getting your hands mucky you can pick a lot of little bits of meat off a carved chicken carcass.

rheddmobile

I've never been to Sam's Club, but if it's similar to Costco in what they offer, one of the best things we get is chicken thighs. They come in several sealed packs so it's easy to use them and freeze them before they go bad. A giant pork tenderloin is also a good use of money - cook the whole thing, then use it for sandwiches, stir fry, wraps, fajitas, all kinds of meals.

At this time of year, keep an eye out for holiday specials. Most stores will have a loss leader to get people to do their Thanksgiving shopping there and you can pick up a cheap ham or turkey breast, canned pumpkin, whole pumpkins (which make great chili, as well as being good roasted) and other foods you might not have thought of except in a holiday context. A turkey breast can make a whole lot of turkey salad or sliced turkey sandwiches.

Since you live in a place without much selection, it might be worth it to take a look on the internet and see if there are nearby towns which might be worth a weekly drive for supplies.

Unknown

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lynn_glenmont

ChristinaPruitt276 wrote: »

Thank you to everyone who posted! And to the comments made on my "retarded expensive" comment, I didn't not mean to offend anyone. I only use the word for things like as I mentioned , the insane price of baby formula! I never use it towards another human being because I feel that it's missused on the wrong people.

Please don't take this as a personal criticism or a suggestion that you go around intending to offend anyone. It's just an FYI, to help you understand why some people will find "retarded" offensive even when used to describe a situation or an idea, not a person, much less a person who actually experiences a developmental disability. It also applies to a lot of other words people use and claim people shouldn't be offended because they're not using it to refer to the people who were originally marginalized by the use of that word.

When you take a word that originally was used to describe a person, and then use it pejoratively to describe other things you feel negatively about, you are implying, whether you realize it or not, that the people that the word originally applied to also share those negative characteristics. You're using a metaphor, and metaphors imply shared characteristics between the original reference for the item and the new thing that is being described by the same term.

If I say of someone whom I believe is ditzy or not very bright, "she must be a natural blonde," it's not just an insult to that individual -- it's an insult to all blondes, because the reference makes no sense if I'm not implying that blondes as a group are ditzy or not very bright. In your usage, saying that prices you find "insane" are "retarded" implies that individuals with developmental disablilities are "insane," whether you're conscious of that implication or not.

And while as a group, blondes are not necessarily disempowered, vulnerable, or marginalized, as a group, people with developmental disabilities are, so using metaphors that imply they should be viewed negatively (because you never say something is retarded when you want to give people a positive impression of it, right?) isn't just offensive. It's being offensive about people, who as a group, are generally excluded from the conversation about what's offensive.

cherys

Can you base your menus around staples that are relatively cheap? In USA, I noticed meat is much cheaper than in Europe. Veg seems more expensive. If you have a protein based main with two-three portions of frozen veg or in season/special offer veg and/or fruit at each meal then you should be able to find something in budget. One advantage of frozen veg is that you only use what you need and so it never spoils. Works out cheaply that way. Same with frozen fruits. I have frozen berries most mornings. They are 50-75% cheaper than fresh but just as delicious.

andfivesixseveneight

We gave up meat, cheese, bread, processed snacks and cereals, sweets, and we mainly drink tap water now. Most of our groceries are whole food that we cook ourselves at home. These changes have saved us about 50% on our grocery bill!
Buy lots of bulk dried beans, seeds, lentils, oats, nuts. Whenever healthy foods are on steep clearance, I stock up. Buy whatever fruits and veg are least expensive and do without whatever is too spendy. Ethnic grocers and aldi often have fantastic prices on produce.
Stay away from individual portions of prepackaged foods- packaging costs more. I don’t make a shopping list. Whatever is on sale/best value is what we eat and pack the leftovers in our lunch boxes.
Best of luck to you and your family.

jgnatca

So nice to get your feedback, @ChristinaPruitt276 . Around this part of the world, if you want to get in to fruit growing, it's a lot less maintenance to put in a few raspberry canes. They keep giving, and giving, and giving.....

Another great home fruit (stem) is rhubarb. This plant is also un-killable.