Need cheap healthy food advice :)
courtneyraquelx3
Posts: 37
I am currently a high school student and am graduating in may. I have managed to lose 10 pounds last summer and hope to lose 20 more before this summer! I am moving out shortly after graduation and i do not want to have to live on frozen pizzas and ramen noodles since I have come so far on my diet. I was wondering if anyone has any cheap healthy food/recipe ideas for the typical poor college student 
your help would be greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to add me if you would like
your help would be greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to add me if you would like 0
Replies
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What will you living conditions be like when you move out - will you be in a dorm or an apartment. I''m curious about 'fridge space....0
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I am moving into an apartment with 2 other girls. We are all into working out and eating healthy. A full sized fridge with the freezer on top is provided And there are multiple cabinets in the kitchen. 0
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Canned tuna everything - I used to have tuna pasta, tuna on toast, tuna sandwhiches.
Also find a farmers market or vegie shop that stocks local farmers - luckily I had one just down the road from my uni and so got all my vegies there - the fruit and vegies are so much cheaper and last heaps longer.
Make stews, soups, casseroles etc in large batches in weeks where you have extra money and freeze in 1 portion containers for weeks when you don't have as much money or are too busy to cook.
I used to eat heaps of eggs as well, omelettes, frittatas, scrambled on toast.
Buy beans (such as chickpeas) in bulk to add to stews etc above.
The best thing about uni is that you have lots of time (although it doesnt seem like it) to prepare food from scratch. I put on weight in my first year of uni (living in the catered halls/dorms) but when I moved into a flat went back to a normal weight, but my biggest issue is now that I'm working I don't have the time I had at uni to spend preparing food and I do have the money to eat what I want so have put on weight haha. Most people are the other way round - eat crap all thru uni and put on weight, then when they leave they lose it!.0 -
the best thing that i have bought is a slow cooker or crock pot. throw all your items in during the morning and your dinner will cook alll day long. left overs can be frozen. salads. get bigger batches/bottles/cans that last longer. hopefully you all enjoy the same foods. try eat better america. it's a site that simplifies the foods we love that are terrible for us
hope that helps!0 -
Spend time to look at healthy recipe sites (skinnytaste.com) and spend time each week cooking meals that can be used throughout the week. My suggestions are as follows:
Buy chicken when on sale, in bulk, frozen is fine. You can put chicken in the crockpot with water and after 4-6hrs it will be done and you can shred it and use throughout the week in salads, tacos, etc.
Casseroles are my favorite! I make one a week usually as my husband and 2yo son love them too. I typically make them with eggs/egg whites combo, skim milk, few pieces of bread torn into small pieces, 1 cup cheese (whatever sounds goods), about 1 cup spinach chopped up, 6 pieces of low sodium bacon or sausage and salt/pepper to taste. Makes 6 servings for about 225 calories! 0 -
Canned tuna everything - I used to have tuna pasta, tuna on toast, tuna sandwhiches.
Also find a farmers market or vegie shop that stocks local farmers - luckily I had one just down the road from my uni and so got all my vegies there - the fruit and vegies are so much cheaper and last heaps longer.
Make stews, soups, casseroles etc in large batches in weeks where you have extra money and freeze in 1 portion containers for weeks when you don't have as much money or are too busy to cook.
I used to eat heaps of eggs as well, omelettes, frittatas, scrambled on toast.
Buy beans (such as chickpeas) in bulk to add to stews etc above.
The best thing about uni is that you have lots of time (although it doesnt seem like it) to prepare food from scratch. I put on weight in my first year of uni (living in the catered halls/dorms) but when I moved into a flat went back to a normal weight, but my biggest issue is now that I'm working I don't have the time I had at uni to spend preparing food and I do have the money to eat what I want so have put on weight haha. Most people are the other way round - eat crap all thru uni and put on weight, then when they leave they lose it!.
I freeze alot! I make casseroles, soups, chili and freeze them in individual containers. It's not the expensive if you make a different recipe every weekend to freeze. I then use them for lunches at work or a quick dinner. I am single so cooking healthy for one is something I understand! Homemade Chicken noodle soup, with low sodium broth, no yolk noodles, carrots, celery and white chicken breast is low in calories.0 -
Stock up on: dried beans and lentils. Brown rice. Greens (fresh or frozen if possible, canned if necessary). Tomatoes. Eggs are pretty cheap, even the good free-range ones.
Fruit. Whatever's in season will (A) taste better than anything out of season and (B) be cheaper. Don't buy strawberries in December or apples in July. Farmer's markets are even better since they tend to only have what's in season right then.
Carrots and onions are almost always cheap which is probably why they go in everything. I'm a believer in potatoes too, as long as you can eat them without them being fried or drowned in butter. Some people shy away from the starch-bomb though. Your mileage may vary.
You can get pretty far with a handful of seasonings... chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, basil, oregano, and soy sauce. I make really, really sure I have plenty of hot sauce on hand too. But that's just me.0 -
I’m on a tight budget, in my 20s, and trying to eat cheaply and healthily:
1. Most import: make sure that your food doesn’t go bad! You might find some fresh veggies really cheaply, but if you don’t plan how you’re going to use them in advance, they may spoil and it’s a total waste of money. So my #1 healthy/cheap eating tip is to make your full menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for the week, then go shopping for the week with a list in hand, and only buy what’s on your list. Also, keep your fridge extra cold to get more life out of most veggies and dairy items, and seal things in plastic bags when necessary.
2. Skip the fancy organicky name-brand package food, like Kashi, Whole Foods brands, Chobani, etc. – basically all those brands that are featured in the health-food section. Also skip semi-prepared foods, like pre-made trail mix, Whole Foods-type stuff. You can eat much cheaper if you buy ingredients and put them together yourself (for example, buy different nuts and raisins and make your own trail mix). My one exception is that I do buy pre-washed greens or else I would never make a salad.
3. Some will disagree, but I say don’t buy organic. Just wash your fruits and veggies well, and when possible pick ones that have peels/rinds that you can remove.
4. Store brands are really good!
My favorite cheap food items: eggs (really cheap, actually), apples, baby carrots, dry beans, tuna, skim milk, chicken. Potatoes, rice, and whole-wheat pasta are very cheap, and they’re fine in moderation. And my cheap favorite…frozen veggies! Just get the plain, nothing-added ones, and cook them for half the time the package says to retain flavor and crunch. All these items stay fresh for a while in an extra-cold fridge, too.
There was a great article in Fitness magazine about a year ago about eating healthy on a budget. That’s where I got a lot of these ideas.0 -
Whole wheat pasta+veggie rich sauce (you can make your own our buy-just check for Heart Smart or something of the sort) frozen chicken breasts and bags of frozen steamable veggies are my bread and butter, instant or regular brown rice, frozen fruits/veggies tend to be cheaper and are JUST as healthy as fresh...plus they taste better depending on what you make :P, low fat cottage cheese, low fat yogurt, 45 cal bread....
I don't know why people think eating healthy costs so much. I've found since I've made the lifestyle change I've really saved a LOT of money.0 -
Steele oats for breakfast and smotthies with frozen fruit no sugar aded (walmart)....not tthat this is all you should eat but they are cheap and healthy!0
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I buy packs of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and they are so versatile you can use them to make lots of dishes. A pack of 10 is about $6.99 at Walmart. And frozen vegetables are really good for you and you can get Frozen veggies for one now at a lot of places. That way you don't have to worry about them going bad before you can cook them.0
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All hail the sweet potato! In grad school I lived with a bunch of guys and that was the primary staple for them. Two were personal trainers, one was a cross-country runner, one was weight lifter, and one was a couch potato. There were always a batch of potatos baking. They also would throw one in the microwave (stab with fork first) for about 8 minutes. I don't like nuked sweet potatos as much as oven baked, but it does the job if you're short on time.0
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bump0
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3. Some will disagree, but I say don’t buy organic. Just wash your fruits and veggies well, and when possible pick ones that have peels/rinds that you can remove.
4. Store brands are really good!
This! Anything you peel, it's not necessary to buy organic. The chemicals they spray on stay on the skin, which gets removed. Yes, you use your hands to remove it... just wash well. Simple.
And store brands are fine, about 95% of the time. Target's store brands are great.0 -
My most recent "cheap" addiction are fresh spring rolls. You can buy the spring roll skins and rice sticks at the grocery store or an Asian market (for me the skins are about $2.50 for a pk of 36 and the rice sticks are $1.50-4.00). I make them with some shredded carrot, cucumber and red pepper. And then I add some pork (I use the Crockpot Asian pork recipe from skinnytaste.com - SOOO good!) and some crushed peanuts. The rolls are about the size of a small burrito and are about 150-200 calories each. I keep all the ingredients ready in the fridge so it takes me less than 5 minutes to put everything together. Yum!!0
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I also am on a pretty tight budget, but here are the tips that worked for me:
1-Plan all your meals, including lunches, breakfasts and snacks - it will ensure that you are only buying the items that you need.
2-Schedule when you are going to be doing your grocery shopping. I always go Saturday Mornings, after I've hit the farmers market. I found this works because I was no longer making multiple trips to the grocers, so I didn't purchase items I didn't really need on a whim. Make sure you bring a list of what you need, so you don't forget anything.
3-Try to buy your produce (specifically fruit) on sale. Where I shop, there is usually some sort of fruit on really cheap, so I'll load up on it for the week. This honestly works best if you aren't too picky about what you eat.
4- Only buy food you are going to eat or like. I would spend 50 bucks/month buying yogurt because it's healthy, but it always went bad because I didn't like it, and therfor wouldn't eat it. Just because it's healthy doesn't necessairly mean you're going to actually use it.
5- And I know it's expensive but anytime chicken is on sale, load up and freeze them. Watch for coupons - lots of stores will sell the boxes at 2 for 1.
6 - Use the bulk section when you can. I buy most of my spices, and staples (Quinoa, Rice) in the bulk food section. I found it was much cheaper then buying from the box.
Sorry I was so long winded!!0 -
Healthy food isn't necessarily expensive. Get lots of in season fruits and veggies. Go to your local market (sometimes you can get better deals and better produce). If you buy healthy foods instead of.. NOT in addition to processed junk food, you'll save more money than you might think. Good luck. 0
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Baked potato and chunky salsa. You can add other things, but that does the trick for me. A 10 lb bag of potatoes are like $4 at Wal-Mart and the salsa isn't much more. You'll be feasting for a week for $8 at only 110 calories for the potato and the salsa is low calorie and naturally fat free. Two of those keep me full for a while and potato skin is high in fiber and other nutrients.0
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My daughter is two years older than you. She's in an apartment this year with three other girls. The best thing she did was to buy an electric steamer with a timer on it. They run about @20 at Target. Selection for fruits and veggies isn't good on or near campus. We bring some to her every month or so. She buys frozen veggies and cooks them in the steamer. She can also heat up leftovers in it. The rice from the steamer is very good.0
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My most recent "cheap" addiction are fresh spring rolls. You can buy the spring roll skins and rice sticks at the grocery store or an Asian market (for me the skins are about $2.50 for a pk of 36 and the rice sticks are $1.50-4.00). I make them with some shredded carrot, cucumber and red pepper. And then I add some pork (I use the Crockpot Asian pork recipe from skinnytaste.com - SOOO good!) and some crushed peanuts. The rolls are about the size of a small burrito and are about 150-200 calories each. I keep all the ingredients ready in the fridge so it takes me less than 5 minutes to put everything together. Yum!!
These sound so good!0 -
Hey Courtney!
When I was a student I used to pick up lots of healthy stuff at Lidl and Aldi. I think you have them in the states, and if you can get to one it's so worth it!
Sure, the people are a bit gross and the food comes out of pallets, but it's a damn sight better than the "economy ranges" you can buy at regular supermarkets for the
Their wholemeal seeded bread is just 84p in the UK. It's actually less cardboardy than our leading brand and over half the price! From what I remember, everything in the states is cheaper anyway, so you'll probably get even bigger bargains!
A couple of weeks ago I spent £40 ($65) in Tesco. I tried out a lot of their "Value" range and was wholly dissappointed in the quality.
Last week I spent £40 in Lidl, came home with literally double the number of shopping bags and with a variety of wonderful things; smoked salmon, light cream cheese, wholewheat pastas, brown rice, brand name ketchup, shed loads of tinned fish and frozen chicken fillets, fancy herbs and spices, low-fat crackers...! The place is a goldmine for those that want to eat gormet, on a budget.
I also got some wonderful treats for the fella (who is not on so much of a diet) including dozens of different kinds of chorizos and posh pizzas!
The best thing is that, because they all come from Europe, there are so many more varieties of tinned, jar-ed, frozen and vacuum packed foods to try out that keep for months(!) meaning you can shop big and keep overall costs small!
If you don't mind weaving amongst hoardes of shuffling hobos and pensioners to get the tastiest and cheapest food around, get down to a Lidl or Aldi near you!!!!!0 -
soups are great and are cheap to buy the ingredients esecially beans I buy black beans and lentils for less than $2 per bag and they are 2lb bags they will last awhile. I also have an aldis in my area where I can buy canned veggies for less than .50 each of course fresh is better but not always possible especially in cooking. Just drain and rinse the can veggies before adding them. The soups I make feed my family of three at least 4 times if not more plus they freeze really well.0
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My favorite "cheap" thing is old-fashioned oats for breakfast. I eat it like cold cereal with a few almonds, raisins, cinnamon and skim milk.0
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I second the slow cooker suggestion. My favorite recipes all use the slow cooker, throw in some healthy stuff, veggies, lean protein, some kind of liquid, spices... then set it and forget it. Endless possibilities and it's really hard to mess it up.0
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Looks like I'm not the only one that thought canned tuna. I used to live on that stuff in college. I still really enjoy it. Fruits and veggies are always a good choice, as well as yogurt. I also get a lot of the big frozen bags of boneless skinless chicken breasts. They're perfect in a pinch.
Lean Cuisines/Healthy choice meals go on sale all the time, when they do...stock up--Same goes with progressive soups and granola/cereal bars.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great!0 -
whole wheat pasta and ground beef, you can eat for day with a package of each and provides good carbs and protein. Make sure ground beef is 93/7, lean.
no spaghetti sauce. way I cook it brown the beef, season with garlic, pinch of salt and pepper add water (after you have browned the meet) and tomato sauce (half a can) add some parsley, basil and you have at least 6 meals with it maybe more. I eat 2 cups of pasta at a time so you I'm sure you can eat for almost a week from it. Total cost less than $10 for everything.0 -
I also am on a pretty tight budget, but here are the tips that worked for me:
4- Only buy food you are going to eat or like. I would spend 50 bucks/month buying yogurt because it's healthy, but it always went bad because I didn't like it, and therfor wouldn't eat it. Just because it's healthy doesn't necessairly mean you're going to actually use it.
I started freezing my yogurt before it went bad in icecube trays. Now I always have yogurt on hand to make smoothies. A fun idea I found on pinterest (my new addiction).0 -
I have to agree with everyone you need to freeze your meals. It is soooo easy just to grab and go especially when you are so young. If you set aside time on the weekend to make meals or soups to freeze. What is great is crockpoting and freezing leftovers for another day. there is a site I like called skinnykitchen she shows you how to make the food and gives good healthy recipies.0
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I've been looking into which foods are the cheapest on a per calorie basis. So far, the best I've come up with is whole wheat flour and dried pinto beans (sold in bulk). Corn and corn meal is pretty cheap, too.
Also, to echo what someone said above, sweet potatoes are awesome. In this area, they're one of the cheapest vegetables (THE cheapest by calories) and they're extremely nutritious, versatile, and tasty. Growing them doesn't require pesticide or much fertilizer, so there's no need to buy organic. They also keep very well, so if you see them on sale, buy as much as you can carry. I like to cut them up as fries and bake them with just a little bit of olive oil.0 -
I'm extremely frugal, so here are my suggestions:
1. Look at the grocery ads for the stores in your area. I have about 13 ads from various grocery stores in the area (and I live in a town with 1 grocery store and WalMart) and I see what's on sale for the week and price match it all at WalMart. That way I'm only making one trip to the store, but still getting the best deals. If you have Mexican grocery stores in your area, price matching their meats and produce (along with bags of beans and rice) will save you TONS of money! When shopping, also use coupons for any of the products you are buying that are on sale...extra savings! If you use a certain brand, email the company and tell them how much you like their product, how often you use it, etc. and most of the time they will mail you coupons to use on their products.
2. As others said, get a slow cooker/crockpot. You can make large quantities of food at a time to freeze for future meals and you'll be able to "cook" meals while still doing homework or in class.
3. Plan plan plan what you are going to eat. If all of your room mates and you are going to be eating together (like family style), make some type of menu based off the food that you purchased so it gets used up and doesn't go bad. This will help you not waste money, but will help with time management and also your planning of your food diary for the day. Win all the way around
4. If you are getting graduation gifts or money, you can always save that towards kitchen items that you may need, such as a digital food scale or a George Foreman type grill for meats.
5. As for recipes, etc. there are some great ones on here and I tend to look up recipes too on allrecipes.com of stuff that we like and then just modify the ingredients (or omit some) to make them healthier. We are a family of 4 and we always have leftovers that I freeze for future nights for dinner or for my DH to take to lunch the next day. You can do this too so that you don't have to worry about cooking every night, especially when you have a big test or project that needs to be worked on.
Hope some of this helps! 0
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