Eating clean(ish) on a budget. HELP!

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  • jordanlell
    jordanlell Posts: 340 Member
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    Thanks so much for all the advice, as I'm sure you could imagine I'm pretty new at this stuff still, and you guys have a lot of great ideas!
  • M_lifts
    M_lifts Posts: 2,224 Member
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    bump
  • missfitmt
    missfitmt Posts: 67 Member
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  • nyssa1231
    nyssa1231 Posts: 120 Member
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    I never do well with huge grocery lists! It's too much to pay for at once and it's difficult to use up everything before they start going bad.

    Note that we live in Barcelona, Spain, and things are set up differently here. Everyone goes to the market at least every other day to get fresh food (veggies, fruit, fish, meat, cheese, and olives). There are several bakeries, cheese stands, wine stands, everything stands just steps from our front door, so it's easier for us to grab what we want for that night on the way home. You would need to tweak things a bit for U.S. living, but it can be done! It just takes some planning. Given that, here are my suggestions:

    - Invest in a good cookbook and cook everything from scratch. Alternatively, you can check one out from the library, usually for a month at a time, which is enough time to get the hang of cooking from scratch. I know I've talked about him a lot in other posts, but I like cookbooks by Mark Bittman. He places a lot of emphasis on cooking from scratch and making it simple. The recipes usually include things you already have in the pantry. Every week, tag a few recipes that you would like to make for that week. See what you have and don't have in your pantry/fridge. Get what you need just for that week.

    - Plan on having leftovers. There's this lentil and potato curry dish I make that I make for dinner and I eat for lunch all week. All it takes is a couple of cups of lentils, a couple of potatoes, coconut milk, veggie stock, and curry powder! Easy, healthy, and yummy!

    - Go get basics from a supermarket once a month. I go to our local supermarket once a month and get enough dry goods (rice, dried legumes, and pasta) for the month. I oftentimes get this from the local Asian supermarket, where there is more of a variety and they are cheaper.

    - Get veggies/fruit every couple of days. I used to do our grocery shopping once a week, and things would usually start going bad by midweek. By shopping a few times a week instead, you minimize waste. We use up all of our veggies and fruit now, and I rarely throw anything away.

    - Learn some "cleanup" recipes, like soup and/or stirfry. Learning how to make a basic soup or stirfry and winging it is a great way to use up random veggies that are still hanging out in your fridge.

    Our food budget actually went DOWN whenever we started minimizing processed food. It just takes some strategy to make it work! Good luck!
  • KGFitnessGuru
    KGFitnessGuru Posts: 41
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    brown rice 1/2 cup / sweet potatoes 1/2 cup / veggies as much as you want least a cup / chicken boiled 1 cup every 3 hours total meals including breakfast be about 6. sounds like a lot till you break it down and lose weight and help with budget.

    breakfast 3 egg whites 1/2 cup of oatmeal plain. if you need sugar do the trivia or any of those.

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