Healthy eating on a Budget

melzteach

So I checked out :Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads" from the library a couple of weeks ago. For the most part, I kinda already knew a lot of the information but I've learned a lot. There's a lot of great food ideas and meal plans. I've never followed a "meal plan" before because it's hard to do feeding a family of four with a small grocery budget. Now I'm just focusing on the breakfast and snacks and I'll do my own thing for lunch and dinner. What do all of you do to eat healthy on a budget?

Sez1983

I'm interested in this too!! It costs so much more to buy fresh fruit and veg and also anything else which doesn't contain your daily allowances in one bite!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

sassylilmama

anyone?!

Maztastic

I find the following foods good on a budget:
Porridge oats (I make it up with water but your family may prefer milk)
Apples
Bananas
Pears
Raw carrots (alot of chewing for not many calories)
Low fat yoghurts
Mini pittas
Celery and cottage cheese
I always try to buy the cheaper brands which I find are often lower in fat than the "better quality" brands.

kareokemom5

I would like this information too. I have a family of seven and eating healthy that includes fresh fruits and vegtables is hard when you don't have a weekly income and for the most part buy groceries by the month.

Maztastic

Fruit and vegetables aren't too expensive in the UK as we often get offers and budget packs (the items may be misshapen but fine to eat).

Maztastic

I find frozen vegetables good. No waste and just keep them in the freezer for when you need them.

benztim6876

I shop at Wal=Mart for most of the items that I get.

Marketside Spinach - Wal-Mart's Brand
Pace Chunky Salsa - ( I use it for the Salad Dressing)
Onions
Green Peppers
Red Peppers
Great Value Low Fat 1% Chocolate Milk (Great for after workout recovery) Personal Trainer Tip
I buy the family pack of chicken from Wal-Mart, being single the family pack last me all week for lunch and dinners (4oz Servings)

My Breakfast consist of which is really great for burning fat:

Eggo Low Fat Whole Wheat waffles
Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter (I spread 1 serving on the waffles and eat them like a sandwich.
Dannon Greek Yogurt - Strawberry

You can also substitute the waffles for the Oroweat Double Fiber English Muffins as well. Very Cheap and easy to make.

The snacks are the easiest to get and can be very cheap as well

Planters has Roasted Almond with Sea Salt - there about 7 dollars at Wal-Mart.

mytime60

I was trying to buy the fresh fruits and vegetables, and I still do occaisonally, but I just saw a recent report that showed that the fresh frozen actually have more nutrients than the fresh by the time the fresh make it to most markets. I too buy the off brands for a couple of reasons, cost of course; but if you become a label reader (which I have), I find most of the off brands actually have lower sodium content than the name brands. Making the budget stretch is always a challenge, take small steps doing comparison shopping of products and even stores helps. If you have the time and space, freezing your own vegetables either grown yourself or purchased when they are in season.

humpalc

I find I spend much less when I have a meal plan for the week - I shop on Wednesday evenings, so plan Thurs-Wed. It makes it much easier to buy only what we need and not grab what 'looks good' - Also, the fewer times I walk into the store during the week, the less I spend - If you plan your meals around what produce/lean meats are on sale in the weekly circular, and try to stock up on staples like beans, frozen veg, oatmeal, when they are on sale, it also helps - We are fortunate to have the freezer space to also stock up on meat when they've got a good sale (My freezer is full of whole pork loin and chicken right now ) I also get paid once a month (I hate it, I'm not a good budgeter by nature...)

msbanana

BULK!!
I buy the 5+lbs bags of frozen chicken breast & Shrimp (but I watch the sales and only pick them up where they're cheapest). We have a local discount chain that regularly does bulk meat sales where you can get steaks or pork chops for a 1.19/lbs so I watch for those and portion them out in freezer bags for future dinners.

I buy frozen veggies (for me they last longer and therefore tend to be "less expensive.") and again I look for sales and will stock up so I don't have to buy them every week

For granola, oats, snacks- like nuts, dried fruit etc... I shop in the bulk section. It's ALMOST always a little cheaper because you're not paying for the packaging and then I take it home and put it in my own containers.

Really, my budget shopping comes from my grandmother who would inventory her cupboards to figure out what she needed and would then compare that list to all the local ads, clip coupons from the paper and choose the store with the most deals. I'm convinced that my grandmother may have ever only bought one item per trip at full price.

Taking her advice I always make a list and stick to it and I pick the store with the most deals.


Hopefully that helps some!
:drinker:

sweet_lotus

I eat pretty cheap. I'm a vegetarian and at first I found it as more expensive than eating meat!

So what I do is shop seasonally for vegetables. It's winter so I'll shop for what's cheap right now: root vegetables, broccoli, onions, potatoes. My grocery always seems to have lettuce and bananas cheap! I can get clementines for not such much right now, and apples. In spring it will be asparagus, fava beans, cherries, etc.

A lot of filling, staple foods are really cheap. A bag of lentils is $1.19. Grains and legumes are a little bit trickier to cook but having a pot or slow cooker on to supplement your daily meals fills you up fast. Rice, barley, oats, lentils, beans, etc. There are tons of recipes out there that are pretty simple - my basic slow cooked meal is some type of soup mix or cream soup, broth, grain, legume, and vegetable.

A meal might be a casserole or slow cooker meal of bean/grain/vegetable something, my fiancee gets baked chicken, I'll bake or mash some potatoes and set out a lettuce salad.

I also make a lot of low cost stir fries with frozen vegetables and tofu (which is way cheaper than meat) , burritos, bean soups, vegetable calzone, panini sandwich dinners (my new favorite.)

kookla33

I think all of the ideas here are really good. A lot of it does depend on where you shop, and buying in bulk does save a lot of money. There is a website called hillbillyhousewife.com that has a grocery list and meals planned out for tight budgets. They also show how to make yogurt, etc.

My husband and I bought an extra freezer for our garage. We buy meat when it is marked down, or on sale and then store it in the freezer. It really helps save money! (and time).

I went to some grocery store bakeries and asked for their old buckets of frosting/cake filling and they were happy to give them to me. Then, I went home and washed them. Now, I used them to store bulk oats, barley, beans, and flour. It has saved us sooo much money!

My other secret weapon is my crock pot. The fact that it cooks all day makes just about any recipe taste delicious, and often it costs hardley anything to throw some beans and veggies in and make soup, etc.

Good luck! Here's to cheap and healthy eating!

melzteach

Thanks everyone! I'm headed to the store now.

I'm thinking I might start a blog on this very subject.

kacarter1017

Frozen fruits and vegetables are a great way to incorporate healthy food lots cheaper. If you have a larger family, places like Costco or Sam's Club can be wonderful if you pick carefully.

Here's a different way to look at this... if you didn't lose weight and ended up on 2 or 3 medications (very realistic) how would you pay for the copays on those? Most people always find the money for things like that- where does that money come from? I understand limited budgets- been there myself at times. Things to look at: are you still buying unhealthy choices for the rest of your family? If you're trying to buy both fruits and veggies as well as chips and other unhealthy snacks, that is going to get expensive. Can you buy healthy foods in bulk when they're on sale? I've bought beans, frozen veggies, good bread etc in bulk and saved a lot of money.

Although sometimes this next part can be tough, it's another way to maybe look at your budget a bit differently and maybe tweek a few bucks from other areas. If you can eat healthy now you're going to save yourself money in health care costs later. I'm a Nurse Practitioner in a Women's Heart Clinic; it can be pretty amazing how people can find the money once I'm telling them they have coronary artery disease and if they don't change their ways, they have a significant chance of a heart attack in the next 5 years. But for the women who have risk factors but no active disease they can't afford to eat any different. Now, that said, we all have limits to how far our budgets will stretch. But, taking a hard look at our budgets and making sure there truly is no more money for healthy foods is a good idea. Getting creative with foods, using produce that is in season, utilizing sales and bulk shopping can all lead to healthier eating without any budget crunching.

We all just have to do our best with what we have. Make the best choices we can within our time and money constraints. Every positive move is one move toward being healthier.

road2peachtree

I, too, have a family of 4 and trying to feed all of us on a $400-$500 budget is getting harder and harder since The Boy is gaining the appetite of a linebacker (seriously, do 10yr olds REALLY need to eat THAT much?!). But there are some things that I do to help stretch the dollars and sneak some healthy stuff in there (while they aren't looking, of course).

1) BUY FROZEN VEGGIES WHEN THE BUDGET DOESN'T ALLOW FOR FRESH. I love fresh veggies, but sometimes my time and my wallet won't allow for it (seriously, when did cucumbers become $1.29 each???) I pop them in my steamer or in a Ziploc steam bag and I have a fab veg for dinner/lunch/breakfast.

2) STUFF 'EM. I pack as much extra junk as I can into a dish so that everyone is satisfied and they've had something healthy. Chilli? Packed with tons of veg and beans. Spaghetti? Packed with tomatoes & other veg. Sandwiches? Everything but the kitchen sink. LOL

3) BOGO? YOU BETCHA! I'm not sure if you have a Publix where you live, but I have found that their buy one get one free sales have literally saved my pantry & my fridge. When the budget allows (and sometimes when it doesn't) I buy and extra set of something to keep on hand just in case. Taco dinner kits, juices, cheese, snacks, hot dogs, chips, sauces, whatever. Now the important part about this type of shopping is (A) if you have a coupon...whip it out, and (B) try to pick the healthiest choices if you can. Usually when they have rice, pasta, nuts, and salad mix bogo I go nuts (no pun intended) because those are things that I can keep on hand for longer periods of time (except the salad) and they can be relatively healthy.

4) DOUBLE UP. Ohhhhh yeaaaa, I love this part. When I go grocery shopping $100 is reserved JUST for meats. Buy purchasing large pkgs of lean meats, I can create different meals to carry us through the week. Large packages of ground beef or turkey anyone? From one I can make 3-4 dishes. And if a meat is on sale, I'll take it to the store's meat guy and have him switch it up for me. Chicken breasts I'll have sliced in half, london broil (when it's on sale) I'll have ground up, turkey breast sliced in half or ground. I love the meat guy--he's a good friend of the budget shopper. I also make a habit of buying reduced priced meat....as long as it's not green or walking out of the store. LOL And purchase your lunch meats from the deli--just be careful of what types of lunch meat you are choosing. Not all of it is created equal.

5) SKIP THE MEAT. I know, I know--weird that I would say this AFTER number 4, but atleast 1-2 meals per week are non-meat meals. And when they insist on having meat...that is when I can't sneak it past them...I'll opt not to have it. For instance, my tacos are made with black beans instead of ground whatever--I tried to sneak the black beans in on them once and it wasn't pretty.

6) BREAKFAST ANYONE? Hey, who says you have to eat breakfast foods at breakfast time? Not me! A fluffy pumpkin or sweet potato pancake, eggs, sausage, smoothie, waffles, oatmeal, cereal and so on make for a pretty good dinner (ummm....don't eat that all at once please) and it makes it fun for the kids (if they are small enough to be interested) to help cook breakfast for dinner. Another plus is that it allows you to stretch your food a bit further. After one fluffy pancake or waffle, everyone will be satisfied and your wallet can relax.

7) POINT THE FINGER....at cute little finger foods that is. If your family is like my family, we are busting butt on the weekend to clean, go to this game or that game, shop, and do all of the things we don't get to do during the week. So sometimes for dinner, I pick some healthy stuff and some left over whatever from the week and create some nifty finger foods. Not only are they cute and yummy, but they are a great way to stretch your stock and your money. Put it in front of them while you have family game night or accompany it with some air popped popcorn and watch a movie. You'll be so distracted by the fun, you won't be busy stuffing your mouth.

8) ALL SOUPED UP Mmmmhm, soups the name and stretching your money is the game. Cooking your own soup is a fantastic way to make use of the veggies you have on hand and any left overs you may have. And if cooking soup isn't your thing, buying certain ones can really switch up a meal and save you some much needed dough. I often keep 2 cans of a beef pot roast type of soup on hand in the pantry for quick nights. Warm it up, cook up some brown rice, spoon it on top, sprinkle some shredded cheese and bam! A fab, fast low cost meal that will keep them full and fancy free. A serving of cooked rice is more than enough for one person, especially kids. Who knew!

9) LOVE YOUR FARMERS I'm lucky enough to live about 20 min away from the farmer's market. I LOVE that place! I bought potatoes, nuts, bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, grapefruits, broccoli, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, mushrooms, and one deliciously ice cold coke in a glass bottle (really? who can resist that???) for $25. And I'm not talking 1 of each either. The trunk was FULL of good eats and I couldn't believe it! If you have a farmer's market, please, please, please take advantage of it. Your wallet will thank you for it later

10) SHARING IS CARING Do you have a friend or family member with a similar family size or similar budget issues? If so, ask them about sharing a membership at a club like Sam's or BJ's. If your families eat similar things, create a meal plan together for the week, shop for what you need together and split the product. Share sales and coupons with one another also. It helps to stretch your dollars.

BONUS: SERVING SIZES ANYONE? I found that a lot of my problem with keeping food in the house was that no one was eating the serving size of ANYTHING! Two pb&j's? Oh sure! Two ham sandwiches? Why not! Two pieces of garlic bread WITH spaghetti? Hell yes! Between myself, my husband, and the Boy (the Girl doesn't eat that much)--2 weeks worth of groceries were gone in a week. For some things I do allow some room--if the Boy wants 2 peaches, I'm not going to deny him 2 peaches. If the Girl wants another bowl of tossed salad, I'm not going to shoot that down. But for the most part, I make sure I give my family the serving size and a healthy snack between meals. Not only does it help my wallet and my pantry, but it helps them too. Learning that a chicken breast the size of their head isn't the proper portion is like money in the bank. The healthier they are, the healthier all of our bank accounts will be.

Hope that helps you.

Sommer J, The Tortoise

ickybella

I buy whole chickens when they're on sale 3 for 10 or 2 for 7 or something. It's a lot cheaper than buying skinless, boneless chicken breasts, and it saves time when I'm cooking. I cook one chicken at a time and then remove the meat from the bones, put the white meat in one container and the dark in another. I try not to eat too much of the dark meat (no more than 100g a day) because it's higher in fat, but it tastes good, and I like to add equal amounts of white and dark meat into curries, stir fries, enchiladas, etc. I also compare prices on anything that I want to buy. I love fish, but it's expensive, so I buy frozen fish, which is cheaper. I like to buy frozen berries for my smoothies, but I always buy a big bag of fresh spinach and some other fresh vegetable for lunch, a fresh citrus fruit or apple, and fresh berries weekly. Otherwise, I buy a lot of frozen stuff because it's cheaper and lasts longer. There are some things I will only buy on sale: Greek yoghurt, granola, houmous, because I don't really need them and they can get expensive. In the UK, you can shop for your groceries online and save a lot that way, plus they pick out the nicest fruits and veggies for you. It still makes me feel lazy, but we spend a lot less on groceries now. Also, when I was buying chicken breast, I would buy the big bags of frozen breasts, because they were a lot cheaper than fresh. Dried beans are pretty cheap too. You can buy a big bag and it will last ages. It does take a little more work than something in a can or jar, but I think it's worth it.

anna_b1

This website is pretty interesting and shows that healthy eating doesn't have to cost us loads and loads of cash

http://www.brokeandhealthy.com/

Hope it helps!

CarthagoDelendaEst

Some amazing tips here!

dmmsquared

Great thread... Thanks!

messyhare

This website is pretty interesting and shows that healthy eating doesn't have to cost us loads and loads of cash

http://www.brokeandhealthy.com/

My newest favorite food blog! Amazing, yummy, inexpensive recipes and I love her style of writing!