Eating well on a budget?

stylistchik

I know this has to be a common theme nowdays especially this time of year but we are FLAT broke and I try to limit my groceries to $30 a week for my husband and myself. We eat a lot of whole wheat pasta, brown rice, frozen veggies, dried beans, and he eats chicken. I feel like I can never buy enough food to make him feel full though and I feel bad but I don't know what to do! Does anyone have tips or recipes that are really filling and really cheap? I'm trying to find a new (better paying job) but for now I'm stuck at my sucky one.

Classalete

When I was broke in college I did a lot of couponing. There are plenty of online sites that offer manufacturer coupons, and if you search around local ad books you can usually find great savings. I was stacking 'double rewards', 'double coupon value' certificates on-top of various other incentives and literally walking out of the place with up to 75% savings on my total bill. My biggest haul was 250-300 worth of goods for a measly 40 bucks!

If you've got the ambition and the motivation...It's easy to stock up on food goods on the cheap.

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

stylistchik

When I was broke in college I did a lot of couponing. There are plenty of online sites that offer manufacturer coupons, and if you search around local ad books you can usually find great savings. I was stacking 'double rewards', 'double coupon value' certificates on-top of various other incentives and literally walking out of the place with up to 75% savings on my total bill. My biggest haul was 250-300 worth of goods for a measly 40 bucks!

If you've got the ambition and the motivation...It's easy to stock up on food goods on the cheap.

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Where did you shop with your coupons? I usually shop Trader Joe's (no coupons) or wal-mart for things like rice and beans. Do they offer coupons for fresh produce? I have a friend that coupons like crazy and she saves a lot of money but it's all junk I wouldn't pay for anyway. :laugh:

EuroDriver12

I know this has to be a common theme nowdays especially this time of year but we are FLAT broke and I try to limit my groceries to $30 a week for my husband and myself. We eat a lot of whole wheat pasta, brown rice, frozen veggies, dried beans, and he eats chicken. I feel like I can never buy enough food to make him feel full though and I feel bad but I don't know what to do! Does anyone have tips or recipes that are really filling and really cheap? I'm trying to find a new (better paying job) but for now I'm stuck at my sucky one.

only thing i could see is big bag of rice around $5-6 and rest veggies and tuna.. no chicken as its expensive 18.99 for 2kg...

but srs omfg! lol $30 bucks of groceries for a week? i spend about $150+ a week??? that rice, chicken, tuna, salad, veggies, milk, eggs, cottage cheese etc... i dont think it would be possible for me to buy enough food to live for a week.. id starve after the 2nd day cuz i ate everything lol

again sucks ur in a situation like that but isnt there somewhere else u could save money so you could buy more food? e.g. disconnect cable and internet? ud be outside alot more exercising and ud have more money for food

dargytaylor

When I was broke in college I did a lot of couponing. There are plenty of online sites that offer manufacturer coupons, and if you search around local ad books you can usually find great savings. I was stacking 'double rewards', 'double coupon value' certificates on-top of various other incentives and literally walking out of the place with up to 75% savings on my total bill. My biggest haul was 250-300 worth of goods for a measly 40 bucks!

If you've got the ambition and the motivation...It's easy to stock up on food goods on the cheap.

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Where did you shop with your coupons? I usually shop Trader Joe's (no coupons) or wal-mart for things like rice and beans. Do they offer coupons for fresh produce? I have a friend that coupons like crazy and she saves a lot of money but it's all junk I wouldn't pay for anyway. :laugh:

you can use coupons for health and beauty products! I have not 'bought' toothpaste in at least 6 months, body wash super cheap and laundry soap!

this way you would have a bit more money for the food end of the grocerys

Classalete

When I was broke in college I did a lot of couponing. There are plenty of online sites that offer manufacturer coupons, and if you search around local ad books you can usually find great savings. I was stacking 'double rewards', 'double coupon value' certificates on-top of various other incentives and literally walking out of the place with up to 75% savings on my total bill. My biggest haul was 250-300 worth of goods for a measly 40 bucks!

If you've got the ambition and the motivation...It's easy to stock up on food goods on the cheap.

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Where did you shop with your coupons? I usually shop Trader Joe's (no coupons) or wal-mart for things like rice and beans. Do they offer coupons for fresh produce? I have a friend that coupons like crazy and she saves a lot of money but it's all junk I wouldn't pay for anyway. :laugh:

With big places like Walmart and Trader Joe's you're going to be limited to manufacturer coupons only. You need to seek out the smaller food stores who HAVE to throw out coupons in order to compete with the big box distributors. I would hit up places like Super Fresh, Fresh Express, and sometimes Whole Foods. Coupons really shine on boxed and canned items that make great additions to an entree...Such as brown rice, tuna, beans, yams, veggies, ect...Staple items that don't spoil quickly.

If you want to stock up on junk that's on you, haha, but you're not limited to just crap.

MB_Positif

Well, one thing that really helps is making recipes where the meat is cut up into smaller pieces, like soup or a rice and veggie dish. Most of the time a serving of meat is supposed to be 3 to 5 ounces. The chicken breasts that I usually buy actually average closer to 9 ounces...crazy, I know, but we all spend too much money and eat too much food when we leave them whole! I started by cutting them in half, but even that can still be more than you need. For my family of 3, I usually cut up two chicken breasts and we never even finish all of it. Buy in bulk and freeze in individual packages of 2 breasts. You can do this with any kind of meat.

Also, use frozen veggies whenever possible. They're cheap and taste great and rarely have added salt like canned do. I see you shop at Trader Joe's, which I think is pretty affordable so stick with it! Hope this helps a little...you can add me as a friend if you'd like...my husband and I BOTH lost our jobs within the last 3 weeks so we are going to be living on a much tighter budget so hopefully I can offer you more tips as we figure this out!

nakabi

I would try places like Big Lots.
For your produce, go to an International store or a Hispanic store. They have the best produce and it's cheaper!

stylistchik

I know this has to be a common theme nowdays especially this time of year but we are FLAT broke and I try to limit my groceries to $30 a week for my husband and myself. We eat a lot of whole wheat pasta, brown rice, frozen veggies, dried beans, and he eats chicken. I feel like I can never buy enough food to make him feel full though and I feel bad but I don't know what to do! Does anyone have tips or recipes that are really filling and really cheap? I'm trying to find a new (better paying job) but for now I'm stuck at my sucky one.

only thing i could see is big bag of rice around $5-6 and rest veggies and tuna.. no chicken as its expensive 18.99 for 2kg...

but srs omfg! lol $30 bucks of groceries for a week? i spend about $150+ a week??? that rice, chicken, tuna, salad, veggies, milk, eggs, cottage cheese etc... i dont think it would be possible for me to buy enough food to live for a week.. id starve after the 2nd day cuz i ate everything lol

again sucks ur in a situation like that but isnt there somewhere else u could save money so you could buy more food? e.g. disconnect cable and internet? ud be outside alot more exercising and ud have more money for food

I'd turn the heat off! haha we don't have cable, we just pay $8 a month for netflix instead. Our house runs on oil heat and we had no idea how expensive that was when we bought the house. :noway: Other than that it's just the fact that we make a lot less money here than we did before we moved, most of our paychecks go to bills (mortgage, insurance, cars, student loans) and we have about $600-800 left for food, gas, dog food and whatever other unexpected expense decides to pop up. :grumble:

lynn1982

I'm also on a budget since I'm a grad student and get paid pennies... I mostly eat a lot of tuna, tofu, and eggs for protein. I only buy chicken when it's on sale. Sometimes I buy tilapia, but lately it's been more expensive (not sure why). Things like quinoa, rice, beans, and oatmeal all tend to go a long way and are usually fairly cheap. Fresh produce has been my biggest challenge - I still buy fresh fruit, but lately I've had to rely on frozen veggies since what my local grocery store has available has been rather expensive. I know others have suggested coupons, but I rarely find any for what I usually buy. Usually it's for things that I'm trying to stay away from...

stylistchik

When I was broke in college I did a lot of couponing. There are plenty of online sites that offer manufacturer coupons, and if you search around local ad books you can usually find great savings. I was stacking 'double rewards', 'double coupon value' certificates on-top of various other incentives and literally walking out of the place with up to 75% savings on my total bill. My biggest haul was 250-300 worth of goods for a measly 40 bucks!

If you've got the ambition and the motivation...It's easy to stock up on food goods on the cheap.

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Where did you shop with your coupons? I usually shop Trader Joe's (no coupons) or wal-mart for things like rice and beans. Do they offer coupons for fresh produce? I have a friend that coupons like crazy and she saves a lot of money but it's all junk I wouldn't pay for anyway. :laugh:

With big places like Walmart and Trader Joe's you're going to be limited to manufacturer coupons only. You need to seek out the smaller food stores who HAVE to throw out coupons in order to compete with the big box distributors. I would hit up places like Super Fresh, Fresh Express, and sometimes Whole Foods. Coupons really shine on boxed and canned items that make great additions to an entree...Such as brown rice, tuna, beans, yams, veggies, ect...Staple items that don't spoil quickly.

If you want to stock up on junk that's on you, haha, but you're not limited to just crap.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out!

CharlieBarleyMom

I try to buy things when they are on sale. The grocery store I go to here in PA is Weis. On Wednesdays or Thursdays they start putting $1.00 $2.00 and $3.00 off this package of meat.... and then I buy as much as I think I can fit in my freezer... of course you have to want to spend the time to repackage the food. I usually take the time before I freeze it to break it into portion sizes so that it is easier to pull out of the freezer for specific meals.

I also make a lot of slow cooker beans... black beans with chipotle peppers.... I use dry beans because they're cheaper, but also because you exclude the sodium that canned beans bring to the meal.

Veggies I try to get at the farmer's markets because they're the cheapest.

I also have a local chicken/turkey & other meat processor that I use for turkey... They sell turkey thighs for $2.89 a pound which is about the same as a package of Shady Brook farms at the grocery store, but these thighs are boneless and skinless... now that's a deal! And, although I'm not a dark meat eater generally, if you put half a bottle of Ken's buffalo wing sauce over them and bake them slowly for 2-3 hours, Oh My YUM!

jwilloughby51

As others have said, use some coupons! Lots of website offer manufacturers coupons you can use at any store. Keep an eye on ads & make sure you are getting stuff while its on sale. Walmart will price match any stores prices if you bring in an ad. Checkout the website called "Krazy coupon lady" she has links to tons of manufacturers coupons and also a forum where other people will post their deals of the week. Also, like another person said use coupons for shampoo & stuff. I have a closet full of toothbrushes, toothpate, shampoo, razors & tampons. Stores like CVS & Walgreens (dont know if you have either of those) will sell them very cheap or free if you stack in-store savings with manufacturers coupons. Less money here = more money for groceries!

I've also read that a lot of healthy food goes on sale around this time of year through the end of January because a lot of people get into the losing weight kick as a new year resolution.