Struggling to eat enough on a low budget

glasscast
glasscast Posts: 16 Member
in Food and Nutrition
after logging my intake i've realised my problem is undereating most of the time (more due to financial issues than on purpose), and then overeating whenever i get the chance.

i'm trying hard to eat enough but it's hard to even meet ~1200 calories per day with healthy food. if i wanted to just take spoonfuls of olive oil or sugar i could do it, but i'm trying to go with nutritionally dense options like vegetables, eggs, lean meat, complex carbohydrates.

it's just that those can be expensive sometimes and i'll run out of them mid-week and be left without a lot to sustain myself with... and when payday rolls around i'm starving and ready to eat at least 4 big macs. anyone else here on a tight budget found a way to comfortably meet their recommended intake without resorting to empty calories?

Replies

  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    Pasta, rice, potatoes, bread. All cheap staples. I stick to cheap veg as the bulk of my meals, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots but if you need more calories you can't go far wrong with some starchy carbs.

    "Nutritionally dense" is something you can worry about after you get your calories and your budget on the right lines. Most of what people would think of as not nutritionally dense is "junk food" or snacks that I'm assuming isn't a big part of your budget anyway.
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
    Organ meat and seafood are incredibly cheap. Fattier cuts of meat, canned fish, whole fat dairy, starchy carbs/vegetables, nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocados, full fat coconut milk.

    You also might want to up your calorie intake. 1200 isnt sustainable for most people. I know it seems daunting with your budget, but a little of some of the above (especially butter) goes a long way.

    Here are some other tips
    *buy whatever produce is in season.
    *don't buy everything organic. If you really care about that, then just go by the Clean 15, dirty dozen list. Either way, you will still get plenty nutritional benefits from conventional, and it wont hinder your weight goals.
    *look for good sales. Base your recipes off of sale items.
    *markdowns on meat are great!


    I'm sure there are more, I'm just tired.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,932 Member
    People have given you some advise on cheap produce. Another thing: where do you live? What's cheap in the US is different to what's cheap elsewhere. You can get really cheap seasonal fresh veggies at Aldi in the UK, and sometimes Lidl, while both are not really cheaper than other supermarkets in the Netherlands. But going to a weekend market close to closing time might be an option. My market sells fruit and veggies per small bowl, often for 1 Euro per bowl (might be 700gr cherry tomatoes, 5 bell peppers, 2-3 pomegranates) and the price usually drops to two bowls of choice for 1 Euro near closing time.
  • glasscast
    glasscast Posts: 16 Member
    I live in Australia, but we do have Aldi here. Thank you for all your advice.
  • stricklee11
    stricklee11 Posts: 218 Member
    Try setting a weekly veggies and fruits budget. Mine is $15 and I buy a couple items to stretch out for the week. Also, beans and lentils are a cheap way to have a nutritious meal. I normally do lentils or sweet pea soup with a couple potatoes, carrots, spinach or cabbage. I've found that allocating more of my grocery budget to meats is paying off since proteins keep you full longer and are relatively low on calories when compared to carbs.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Can you grow your own vegetables / fruit according to season? It does not take a lot of soil and compost to start your own little garden.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    Beans, rice, frozen veggies, grains like oats etc are all cheap. Add things like generic brand peanut butter, clearance meats, etc.

    What store options do you have nearby? Do you have any discount ones? Even some Dollar stores are now selling frozen veggies and fruit for $1 a bag, and most of them have canned goods and non-perishable foods.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    glasscast wrote: »
    I live in Australia, but we do have Aldi here. Thank you for all your advice.

    Aldi is Awesome!! That's where I get 95% of my shopping done, definitely check them out!
  • namelesshere
    namelesshere Posts: 334 Member
    What is your daily calorie allotment? Perhaps it would help to see what others are eating in that calorie range. Maybe even make a shopping list for you. I tend to eat a lot of salads so for the week I will buy 1 head of iceburg lettuce, 5 roma tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 5 large apples. I compliment that salad with 1 serving of a nut mix or maybe some sliced ham or chicken for protein. I can also add shredded cheese or raisins for variety. That usually is my lunch. I don't work and it takes a long time for me to get through my salad. The key of course is weighing everything that goes on the salad. For suppers, I can do a chicken/frozen veg stir fry over rice. Soup with noodles or dumplings, egg omlet, etc. What I found by eating differently is that not much of my budget is taken up with the junk food I used to buy.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited January 2019
    namelesshere wrote: »
    What is your daily calorie allotment? Perhaps it would help to see what others are eating in that calorie range. Maybe even make a shopping list for you. I tend to eat a lot of salads so for the week I will buy 1 head of iceburg lettuce, 5 roma tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 5 large apples. I compliment that salad with 1 serving of a nut mix or maybe some sliced ham or chicken for protein. I can also add shredded cheese or raisins for variety. That usually is my lunch. I don't work and it takes a long time for me to get through my salad. The key of course is weighing everything that goes on the salad. For suppers, I can do a chicken/frozen veg stir fry over rice. Soup with noodles or dumplings, egg omlet, etc. What I found by eating differently is that not much of my budget is taken up with the junk food I used to buy.

    Good point here-bagged lettuce is over double the price of a head of lettuce where I live, so I now buy heads of lettuce (.98 per head usually).
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    glasscast wrote: »
    ...
    i'm trying hard to eat enough but it's hard to even meet ~1200 calories per day with healthy food. if i wanted to just take spoonfuls of olive oil or sugar i could do it, but i'm trying to go with nutritionally dense options like vegetables, eggs, lean meat, complex carbohydrates.
    ...

    Unless you're in Northern Alaska or the equivalent, I can't imagine rice/bread/potatoes/pasta (1 of these is pretty much going to be native to any area that has traditionally supported human life) being that cost prohibitive.

    (Disregard if you live in the remote tundra - manufacturer set prices on certain things can actually make 'junk food' weirdly cheaper than the cheapest staples - as in loaf of bread=$8, carton of Dibs (an ice cream product) out of freezer = $3.50)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Not sure where you live but around here, Ontario, there arent very many in season fruits available at this time. Whatever we get come from far away places and is pretty much tasteless while costing crap load of $$$. So as others have suggested, go for frozen. Ditto for veggies. No need for fresh unless you want lettuce etc.
    Another option, dried beans, legumes, meat close to expiry that goes on sale which you can stock up on and throw in your freezer. Buy flour and make your own bread.

    Yes, I have four kinds of fruit and four veggies in my freezer right now. The cherries were a disappointment compared to fresh in-season, but I will add sugar and bake them into something. The raspberries, (wild) blueberries, and strawberries are perfectly acceptable this time of year.

    For those of you in New England, Market Basket has the best prices on frozen fruit, with the possible exception of Aldi's (don't shop there.)
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Not sure where you live but around here, Ontario, there arent very many in season fruits available at this time. Whatever we get come from far away places and is pretty much tasteless while costing crap load of $$$. So as others have suggested, go for frozen. Ditto for veggies. No need for fresh unless you want lettuce etc.
    Another option, dried beans, legumes, meat close to expiry that goes on sale which you can stock up on and throw in your freezer. Buy flour and make your own bread.

    Yes, I have four kinds of fruit and four veggies in my freezer right now. The cherries were a disappointment compared to fresh in-season, but I will add sugar and bake them into something. The raspberries, (wild) blueberries, and strawberries are perfectly acceptable this time of year.

    For those of you in New England, Market Basket has the best prices on frozen fruit, with the possible exception of Aldi's (don't shop there.)

    My local Aldi has 16oz bags of mixed frozen fruit for around $3. They also have bags of just strawberries and just blueberries for close to that too. Frozen veggies are between $1-$3 (asparagus being one of the higher priced options).
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    i plan my meals for the week around the foods that are on sale in the grocery store (specifically my proteins); pasta/rice are typically cheap; frozen veggies are as good as fresh most of the time

    check out budget bytes as a blog for cheap food prep

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