HELP!! Needing inexpensive healthy food ideas

triciacline921

I have a family of 7 so spending a ton of money on healthy food just isn't an option for me. I went grocery shopping a couple days ago and left nearly in tears. It seemed as though almost everything healthy I had on my list was very expensive. I started at 228lbs and have lost 14lbs in about 3 weeks so I'm really proud of myself and don't want to get discouraged. Please give me some ideas. Thanks

SW 228
CW 214
GW 140

Edestiny7

A bag of black beans makes 12 servings and is around a dollar. A bag of long grain brown rice makes 24 servings and is around $2. The beans take about 2 hours to make. The rice takes about an hour to make, Mix a serving of each with salsa and top with shredded cheese or vegan cheese. Inexpensive and tasty, even without the cheese.

skinnyhappy

Don't fret, any step you take toward better health will save you medical dollars in the long run for both you AND your family.

I find myself buying a lot of high fiber grains in bulk, think quinoa. It has iron, protein AND fiber so it'll keep you fuller longer. It cooks just like rice and can be used for breakfast (great with cinnamon) OR dinner. Love that stuff.

What type of stuff are you guys normally eating?

emilydmac

Oh my goodness- dont cry!! I went through the same thing- my boyfriend and I don't have a lot of money and healthy food is very expensive. I found that beans, lentil and other legumes often come in bulk and are packed with protein and fiber. Also- yogurt is often on sale, especially light n fit- which is my favorite. Chicken breasts are also fairly inexpensive and are a lean source of protein. Brown rice, you can also buy in bulk and it will last for a long time. I will look at my grocery list when I get home for more ideas!
Good luck to you!

sandyfeet10

wow!!! 7 people!!!!! i don't know how you do it!!!!

here are some ideas:

canned tuna/any canned fish, peanut butter, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, buy chicken in bulk


good luck!!

frugalmomsrock

Hi! I'm a [recently single] mom of five as well, so I know it's expensive. What stores do you have nearby? I would love to help. I have a coupon website, and I use a couple other sites, so I love saving money. :-D

Here are some things that you should consider:

1) only buy what's on sale.
2) try to use coupons
3) combine store coupons with manufacturer coupons
4) consider stockpiling items like toiletries, health and beauty products, dish soap, etc. These items are often free or nearly free-and that frees up money for you to use on your grocery budget.

LMK what store you have, and I may be able to help more specifically.

CaptainGordo

FROZEN VEGETABLES
Frozen veggies are typically a great value, and very nutritious.

BEANS
Crock pot (slow cooker) is great way to go. Cook 'em overnight and then freeze any surplus. If you go with canned beans, I would recommend rinsing them to cut down on the sodium. Some nice folks have even added the rinsed versions of most canned beans to the food database.

OATMEAL
Oatmeal is another great, cheap, healthy food.

COSTCO REAL EGG (EGG WHITES COLORED YELLOW)
The box of 6 cartons comes out cheaper than even Walmart's brand, and is a great low-calorie, protein-rich food.

GROCERY STORE PRICE MATCHING (WALMART)
We have been able to buy a lot more fruit and veggies (along with meats and other items) thanks to Walmart's price-matching policy on groceries. We check all of the special that come in the junk mail for local grocery stores, jot them down and head to Walmart.

The best fruit and veggie prices here are found in the Latin markets -- it's not uncommon for us to pick-up 6 lbs of oranges for $0.99, for example. Sometimes, though, the quality can be poor at the store offering the sale, so we just take that price to Walmart. It will also save you time and gasoline/bus fare. Walmart's price match policy is that you don't have to bring the ad -- just be able to tell them where you found the offer. They keep the local ads there, supposedly. We've never gotten any hassle though.

Here's another couple of recent posts on the same topic, with some great tips:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/241647-cheap-healthy-help
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/250934-eating-healthy-is-so-expensive-how-do-you-do-it

ratkins811

I'm in the same boat... trying to shop healty on a budget is not easy. I like sugar free jello, which is easy on the pocket if you buy the box not the pre-made. I also get bread from the bread store if there is one nearby you. Do you watch for coupons or go on site to find them? They may help too. Whole chicken or Turkey can be cheaper than deli meats or local veggies may be sold around the area. good luck. i look forward to some of the replies.

trejon

Hit local farmer's markets on the weekend for your veggies if you can.

KaironAndTaviansMommy

i have two kids and me and my fiancee are on a tight budget ourselves. Easy little switches would be turkey meat instead of actual meat, 100 calorie snacks for the whole family... Buy the big back of chips and seperate them out into little snack bags with the serving sizes. Switch to low fat milk, and give up all sodas and juices. There are just as many calories in juice as in soda. You can also go to www.allrecipes.com and at the top there is a healthy recipes section, you can look on there for healthy recipe ideas. You can also go to www.tasteofhome.com. Make sure when you go to the websites you read the comments cause people also edit the recipes. i hope I helped. Have a good day, and Good luck on your journey. I hope you can figure it out.

Bree

khinkle44

Hi Tricia! I have a delicious shredded chicken recipe for the crockpot and it is not expensive at all. You can make it for tacos, taco salad, or just a shredded chicken salad... This is how much I make, but you can adjust as necessary....

Put 4 boneless chicken breasts, 2 cups chicken broth, and 1 cup of cut onions in crockpot for 8 hours on low (or until chicken is cooked).... In a bowl mix 1/2 a cup of cilantro, 3 tbps. of lime juice, 2 table spoons minced garlic, 3/4 cup oil, and 3/4 cup of honey
( mix well).... add the mixture to the chicken and let it all cook together for 15 minutes.... After 15 minutes you can shred the chicken with a fork because it is so tender and it is ready to serve.

My husband loves when I make this and it is so easy to do.

emccand

Wow 14 lbs in 3 weeks, thats awesome you are doing something right hon! Not sure what stores you have by you but Aldis is very cheap and has good fresh produce. Also what I have been doing is really watching sales and comparing prices at like Festival and Gordys, and Mega, whoever is cheaper wins. I use coupons also, and its summer time so the local farmers markets are open, they are really cheap for veggies and such, good luck to you!

perrytyra

Start with shopping the perimeter of the store. The dairy, meat and produce section. Buy what is on sale. If it isn't on sale, don't buy it. Of course you will have to go down one or two aisles in the middle of the store, but probably just the pasta/rice section and the baking aisle.

Brown rice is more, but it does last awhile. Dried beans are a good choice. You can soak a bunch of them overnight and then freeze in portions. Couscous and Quinoa are good, but I know they are pricey. So don't buy them if you can't afford it. Brown rice and beans are just as healthy.

If you buy the fruits and veggies that are in season, it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Take apples. I know they are not in season, but a bag of them isn't usually more than 4 dollars. That is the price of a bag of chips. They last longer than chips. Also, shop around. I notice in my area people will say they shop at Walmart because it is the cheapest. Not on produce. People are amazed when I say I shop at Meijer. But Meijer is where the things I buy are cheapest. Kroger might have good deals from time to time(10 for 10) but the produce is never as cheap as Meijer. Plus, I looked at everyday prices, and they are almost always more expensive then Meijer's everyday prices. Especially anything organic.

Speaking of Organic, Meijer's has there own organic label, or Meijer's Naturals. I get them when they go on sale.

What stores are in your area? I have Kroger, Meijer, Super Walmart and Aldi. Super K and Sav-a-lot are on the other side of town, but I don't like either of those stores. I have noticed that Sav-a-lot doesn't really have much cheaper prices than regular stores anymore. Plus my sav-a-lot is dirty. Aldi is clean, cheap and has lots of healthy choices. The produce is usually pretty good(and very good prices) but I need to check it carefully for bruises.

So, I shop at Meijer most weeks, and try to shop at Aldi once a month. I think I need to switch that to Aldi once a week, and Meijer once a month.

lylolil

Hi!

I live in the UK and can sympathise hugely with how expensive food is, I find it easiest to buy and cook in large quantities and freeze food. Healthy and cheap options which we go for are...

- Tuna, pasta bake (canned tuna, whole wheat pasta, tomato based sauce, I use whatever is on offer over here, reduced fat cheese, or cottage cheese for topping and maybe some whole wheat bread crumbs)

- Chinese style egg fried rice (Cooked brown rice with cooked chopped onions garlic, peppers, garden peas, add soy sauce, lemon juice and mix in a raw egg whilst it's hot so the egg cooks)

- I find turkey is cheaper to buy over here than chicken, and I use turkey mince a fair amount to make healthy chilli which you can pack full of baked beans and kidney beans which kids love and it bulks out a meal with healthy pulses.

- I buy a family stirfry ( costs £1 for 600g) so you would probably need 2 or 3 and I make a cheap sauce of chicken stock, soy, dash of honey, lemon juice and add cornflour to thicken, serve with egg noodles.

- Veggie lasagne (or with turkey mince) simple tomato based sauce layered between wholewheat lasagne sheet and any veggies will do, like onions, courgettes (zuchini) and carrots are fairly cheap. top with breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs to save money and calories on cheese.

Hope these help a little bit, message me if you want any more info, Good luck!!!

kimmerroze

CLEARANCE MEAT
The stores around where I live, have a clearance bin for their meat. There is nothing wrong with it. Its just been in the store too long. So they have to get rid of it. i can get anywhere from 30-50 % off of my meat. I ONLY buy my meat here. Or if it is on a ridiculously good sale like buy one get one free, about once a month the boneless skinless chicken breast goes on sale for a buy one get one free packets of 6-8 chicken breasts, I get about 12-16 chicken breasts for 14 dollars.

FROZEN SECTION

Frozen fruit, frozen veggies, frozen chicken breasts, frozen hamburger patties etc. All will be a little cheaper than buying fresh, granted it isn't as good as the fresh kind, but it isn't bad at all either. For syrup on pancakes I have completely switched to 1-2 cups of frozen fruit, I cook it down on the stove until it is syrupy add a little milk and keep cooking it until the fruit is super soft. No added sugar no processed anything, just good wholesome fruit. Veggies are REALLY easy to get on sale in the frozen section, I get atleast a 1.00-1.50 off of them using coupons. Just stock up when you see that they are on sale. Sure THAT grocery bill will be higher, but you wont constantly be buying them, so future bills will be smaller,

FRESH SECTION

I scout the local adds, QFC, Safeway, albertsons all send me adds, so I see what is on sale, and I stock up. Onions are ALWAYS Cheap, along with potatoes, carrots, and apples and oranges. So yeah you family might not be crazy about them at first if that is the case, but they will learn to like them. Lettuce is usually pretty cheap, the bagged lettuce usually comes with coupons. Always buy what is in season, If you buy squash in the summer you are going to pay tons, but if you buy it in the winter, you wont pay as much. FARMERS MARKETS-shop here as much as possible, local produce is going to be far cheaper especially with the rise in gas prices, costs more to haul it, so its going to cost more to buy it.

BEANS AND RICE AND PASTA

All are really cheap, if you find it on sale, STOCK UP! cook it ahead of time, and freeze the remainder

DAIRY

COSTCO for milk, you can buy "grade B" eggs, which are the imperfect eggs, buy your yogurt in the tub not the individual sizes unless it is on sale. Block cheese instead of preshredded.

BREAKFAST

Cream of wheat, oatmeal, bulk unsweetened cereal (your kids will get used to it) bulk granola (or make your own) Whole wheat pancakes, my mom used to make TONS of them and the freeze them we would just pop a few in the toaster on our way out the door, they aren't AMAZING but they are cheap and easy.



Last but not least. Just remember, it doesn't come easy the first time, my first few "healthy" grocery bills were rather expensive, I can now do it for really inexpensive. It takes practice

frugalmomsrock

I also had another thought....when I first started on my trip to frugality, I started buying whole chicken. It is much cheaper per pound (if you watch for sales, it goes down to somewhere between 60 and 90 cents a pound, regularly it's 1.20 a pound here). I cook a whole chicken-either roasted in the oven or slow cooked in the crockpot (which is DELISH, btw).

Then, pick it apart, and separate the cooked chicken into freezer bags of equal portions. I usually do five per average 4-4.5# bird (that is only about 3-4 dollars, sometimes less). Then use those portions to make meals.

I do a chicken noodle soup with reduced sodium broth, sliced carrots, celery, and homemade yolk free, whole wheat egg noodles.

Chicken gravy and brown rice. Gravy is easy peasy-just mix a little corn starch with reduced sodium broth (I get boxes of 32 oz. broth at a store called Deal$ for 1.00 each, but there's usually BOGO deals on it at my regular stores, for Swanson or College Inn). Add the chicken, and then serve over rice alongside a veggie.

Chicken burritos. Drain and rinse pinto beans (or use the refried if you like those), add chicken, beans, cooked brown rice, and a can of rotel tomatoes or some salsa, add some cumin and mix. Eat in a whole wheat tortilla (I have a recipe for these too) with a little cheese (I like fat free).

Chicken quesadillas. Sautee onion in olive oil, place chicken in pan with onion. Add in about half a can of rotel tomatoes. Sprinkle overtop: 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder. Add a touch of water or juice from rotels if you have it, and mix. You want it pretty dry. Then put in half of a whole wheat tortilla, sprinkle a little cheese, and fold closed. Cook in another skillet (I like the cast iron for this) until slightly browned on the outside-flip after a couple minutes to get both sides cooked. Serve with reduced sodium black beans or make your own beans from dry.

Chicken ala king. I make a pepper gravy (flour, milk, spices), add the chicken, and add half a bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn,etc.) Simmer. Serve over biscuits (again; I use whole wheat and make it from scratch).

The options are limitless with the whole chicken. A little goes a long way when paired up in a healthy meal including whole grains, beans, and/or veggies.



egg noodles:

3 egg whites (or about 1/3 c. of the egg replacer-egg beaters, better n eggs)
1 TBSP water
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
whole wheat flour (I don't measure)

Beat egg whites, water, and seasoning. Add flour until a firm dough forms. Roll out fairly thin on floured surface and let dry (at least a couple hours). Use pizza cutter to cut to desired size. Add to boiling water/broth and cook until tender (these are amazing with roast for beef n noodles too).


whole wheat tortillas

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 TBSP non-hydrogenated oil (melted smart balance, olive oil, canola oil, etc)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
lukewarm water

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Drizzle oil overtop of flour. Mix in. This will form little chunks of flour/oil and some just flour looking mix. Add a little water at a time until a pliable dough is formed. Knead for about five minutes. It should be very elastic in appearance. Separate into 1 1/2 inch balls. Keep covered. Let rest a few minutes, and then begin rolling out thin on floured surface. Place in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook briefly on each side (there will maybe be a few bubbles and a few spots of brown, but NOT browned entirely). Put two paper towels inside of a gallon bag and place cooked tortillas between paper towels. They can be frozen or stored in fridge in the zipper bag.

triciacline921

Wow...I am so greatful for all the responses and I'm not sure where to start lol. Yes a family of 7 is a lot. He had 3 previous and we had 3 together but lost our daughter in November so we have a family of 7. Some days I don't know how I do it either to be honest, especially after losing Charlie. This weight loss journey has helped my spirits. The excitement of possibly losing weight that day has given me a motivation I've lost along the way.

I loved all the suggestions and thank you all very much. I'm super excited to make the shredded chicken recipe because I know my family and I would love that. My problem is I hate beans and I'm not a fan of rice unless its in a burrito or something. These alone cut down my choices significantly. I've tried to choke down beans and just get used to them but the texture seriously makes me want to vomit and I can't change it.

As far as coupons and stores go...yes I have a ton of coupons and usually save between $30 and $50 a week. I have some health and beauty items stock piled that I got nearly free or free with coupons but that's it. I shop at Meijer also to the woman who talked about it being cheaper than Walmart I totally agree! I go there because they double coupons up to 99 cents so I save a bundle in my coupons. I also shop Krogers sales, but get the majority of my food at Meijer. I love the idea of farmers markets, but I'm not sure that we have any around here. I will look into it though. We have Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, Giant Eagle, Aldi, and Carnival foods. I did try to shop at Aldi a couple times but didn't seem to have a lot of luck so I will try that again. Also I didn't realize there were recipes on here so thank you to the person who pointed that out. I'm new to the site.

Thanks again to everyone for the ideas. I'm excited to try some of them.

sfmathews

You might look into Bountiful Baskets http://www.BountifulBaskets.org
Depending on where you live, you can get produce very inexpensively. They will also have special offerings in addition to the regular produce baskets.

frugalmomsrock

I *heart* Aldi!! I do more and more of my shopping there. Especially for fruits/veggies.

This week, I'm getting whole pineapple for 1.39, 1.29/pound strawberries, .99 cantaloupe, 2.19 for two big colored peppers (usually a red and a yellow, sometimes red and orange), .79 for baby carrots, 1.29 for 2# of Vidalia onions, etc. I often get 5# bags of apples for only 1.99 (sometimes even less). They also have decent prices on lots of other items that if you run low on and there's no sale at another store, you can get there. Whole wheat pasta is .89, canned chicken is 1.59, etc.

They also have a DELICIOUS version of the frozen fudge bars (weight watchers has one). It's 100 calories, 5 g. fiber. YUM.

stariera

I don't know if you have one of the dollar trees in your area that has a frozen section like the one down here does and this won't totally help you out however they have the TJ Farms 1lbs bags of frozen veggies for a $1 and they have less sodium then many of the other brands I've looked at labels on. Walmart for same size is almost 2 bucks.... so I save big time as I eat a ton of veggies.

vannaceej

Oh honey...I know exactly how you feel!! I spent $141 at the grocery store this past Friday, now here it is Wednesday and I have no money, and none coming in til Friday. It is such a struggle to eat well, in fact, it's more than a stuggle, it's a shame. I have to buy food for me and then food for the family, so, I am just trying to cut down on the amount of regular food that I eat. I have done pretty good, I've lost 8 pounds in almost 3 weeks. I only get paid once a month, so, when I get my next payheck on June 15, I am hoping to be able to get more healthier stuff, so that I can really see what the carb watching, etc., can do for me. I noticed that lots of people suggested rice and beans, and yes they are cheap, but, you can only eat so much rice and beans, right!! My suggestion is only buy whats on sale, and use those coupons. We have a store that frequently does triple coupons, so even if you don't need or want the item at the time, keep that coupon, because you never know what bargain you will run across. Good luck to you, and to us all for that matter!!