How to afford healthy meals??

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  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
    edited November 2017
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    I eat a lot of brown rice, beans, oatmeal, bananas, eggs, pork chops, chicken, peanut butter.

    I get brown rice 20 lbs for $11 at the local Indian food store.

    Check my diary for what I eat.

    The above are not too expensive.

    Anything processed is usually expensive like Hamburger Helper, little boxes of rice mixes, etc. Don't buy that stuff.

    Shop at Aldi's if you have one nearby. It's cheap.

    Buy meat when on sale. Watch your local supermarkets for sales.

    Get a freezer so you can buy in quantity when on sale. Years ago I bought a used one for $50 which lasted a good many years.

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    The way to get cheaper over time is to take advantage of sales and stock up. Re-invest some of those savings the next sale you see. Over time you have more staples at home and it gets easier and easier. Home cooking except for breads, pastries, and tomato sauce is cheaper.

    Inexpensive breakfast: oatmeal
    Inexpensive lunch: leftovers. Have wraps on hand.
    Inexpensive dinners: soups, stews, chilies. I'll take a family pack of hamburger and make up a whole tray of meatballs and freeze them. Instant ready meals.
    Inexpensive vegetables: potatoes, carrots, cabbage because they keep so well, and frozen veggies
    Inexpensive fruits: check the freezer aisle. There's always bananas, too.
  • jan211k
    jan211k Posts: 5 Member
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    Going to go a few different ways with my answer. When you eat healthier, nutrient dense foods, you consume less and feel satiated longer. Avoid all types of sugar, except honey and 'snacky' cravings will all but disappear. Don't get trapped in the mindset that you are "poor", or are a victim of the food industry and stuck with the "cheaper choices" they offer. Think outside the box, as well as long-term. Get a fruit tree: the caveat being, you must nurture it, be ready to do the work, repotting, planting, fertilizing. It is hard to commit to things like that, hard to find time and energy with a little baby, but also can be a rewarding family experience that includes the child. Think about what people did for food before there were Supermarkets on every corner. Backyard chickens? Eggs are cheap, but "healthy" eggs aren't so cheap... and there is a difference. Perhaps, while waiting for your fruit tree to mature, or while your baby is still a handful, you might consider being neighborly with someone who has mature fruit trees/berry bushes. While you're strolling your baby, if you see someone out, you may strike a co-op type deal that might sound like this: "Would it be a help to you, if I pick some fruit off your tree for you? In return for the work, would it be ok, if I kept a portion of the harvest?" Often, people with fruit trees get busy, lazy, tired of the fruit, or just too much harvest. Be sure to inquire about fertilizer and pesticide use. Best wishes for the health of you and your family. I know you wouldn't be on this website, if you didn't really want to make a better life. You are searching... and so you will find answers. But, will you use them?
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
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    nickssweetheart wrote: »
    I am on a tight budget, so I do almost all my grocery shopping at Aldi, and from the loss leaders at Sprouts and HyVee. I look at the sales ads as soon as practical after midnight on Wednesday morning (where I lives most grocery sales run Wednesday to Tuesday) and plan my meals for the week.

    This week, for example, I got 2 large butternut squashes and 1 large spaghetti squash for 99 cents each, so I'm making butternut squash soup, roasted butternut squash, and spaghetti squash puttanesca. I got onions at 69 cents for 3 lbs, so I bought 6 lbs and am making french onion soup. They had 5 lb bags of gold potatoes for 99 cents, and I know I'm going to make mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, so I bought extra, some to fry for breakfast and some to have as baked potatoes and some to mash at the end of the month. And green peppers were super cheap so I'm putting them with some onions and making a black bean chili.

    Apples on the other hand were relatively expensive this week, so I bought just a few and got more bananas and will be picking up a cantaloupe. You pick up a rhythm after a while.

    Beans are incredibly cheap and really good for you. A 2 lb package of beans will often sell for $1.49 or less where I live. You can cook up half a package and it will make around 3 cans worth of cooked beans which you can then freeze. Make sure to season your beans so they taste as delicious as they can.

    When you get discouraged, remember, things will only be this tight for a little while longer. Sending you warm thoughts and support.

    You can also freeze the caramelized onions, before adding the broth, in ice cube trays. Then just use a couple, and some canned broth for soup. The broth will all be on sale in a week or so :)
  • jan211k
    jan211k Posts: 5 Member
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    Oh, and if you think it's prudent, and you're working, or you have a significant other who works, ask for a raise. So many companies these days are awful about giving raises, and won't do it UNLESS YOU ASK. Of course, that is only an idea for consideration; it's for you to decide whether or not it's a good idea to bark up that tree.
  • Rosemary7391
    Rosemary7391 Posts: 232 Member
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    Perhaps a bit more practical than planting a fruit tree might be looking for one already in your area... public land obviously, but take a look down the side of the road (quieter roads are better ofc). We have some very tasty apple trees near us just growing at the side of a road! Plums, greengauges and cherries as well. And blackberry brambles - loads of them! It's the wrong time of year for it now, but mark them for next autumn...

    If you have the space then a bit of growing is pretty cheap. I live in a flat and I can get salad greens to grow on the windowsill :)
  • LindaGilpin59
    LindaGilpin59 Posts: 233 Member
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    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!!

    :heart: The MFP Community Team
  • NoxeemaJackson
    NoxeemaJackson Posts: 102 Member
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    Have you seen this cookbook? Good eats on the cheap!

    http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/08/01/337141837/cheap-eats-cookbook-shows-how-to-eat-well-on-a-food-stamp-budget

    Also:
    Dried beans: open bag, rinse, soak overnight.
    Next day: Do whatever you want with them, warmed up with sauce, or, the way I like them is with salsa and sour cream.
    beans beans the magical fruit!
    (Seriously, they're cheap! and filling! And have fiber! And vitamins!)
    have you heard of Blue Zones? It's areas of the world where people regularly live to be over 100 years old.
    You know what all of their diets have in common?
    Beans.
    They all eat beans, various kinds, regularly.
    it's the cheapest health food I've ever found.

    Also, eggs...eggs are cheap protein and they can taste like anything you want them to.
    Mix with a little flour, put in a fry pan with PAM and make a crepe - you can make it savory or sweet by adding a little sugar.

    I know money's tight, I bought a countertop egg boiler - it's small. I use it ALL THE TIME. And it makes the eggs easy to peel!! Set it and forgt it - throw them on salad.

    Soups are also a cheaper health food - they're mostly water.

    Good luck!!!

    (I had twins on formula...after they were on real food I felt rich!)

  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
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    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
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
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    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
    Kullerva Posts: 1,114 Member
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    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
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    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!!

    :heart: 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 :dizzy:
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    edited November 2017
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    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
    ChristinaPruitt276 Posts: 5 Member
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    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
    smh_cliff Posts: 146 Member
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    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
    JillianRumrill Posts: 335 Member
    edited November 2017
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    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
    Rosemary7391 Posts: 232 Member
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    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
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    edited November 2017
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    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.

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