Healthy eating on a very tight budget

alanalosesit

I'm talking supermarket's own brand foods here!

Just looking for things that I wouldn't have thought to buy that are good for me that I can also afford. Recipes as well, I'd love to start making proper meals! Basically anything you can tell me

EmmaR84

I'm on a tight budget too (£35 a week for a family of four).
Try to plan all of your meals/snacks and only buy the food for those meals.

If you have a local market use that (I don't mean farmers market, their prices seem to be going higher and higher), the one in my town has numerous fruit and veg stalls which do large bowls of fruit/veg for £1 when it is gettign a bit to ripe. If you keep it in your fridge rather than a fruit bowl it lasts the week.

Look for offers on meat/fish or cheaper cuts/types. I'm a fan of pork tenderloin, usually about £3 for 400g+, turkey mince is cheap too you can get over 650g for £2.50.
Look for cheaper cuts of fish or frozen varieties which are often less expensive than the fresh version.

Keep coupons and use the points saved up on store cards.

Ready made sauces are often expensive when if you can invest in a decent range of spices (again markets can be your friend!) you can usually recreate the sauces with a value can of tomatoes/passatta (for tomatoe ones at least) or fat free creme fraice/fat free froamge frais for the creamy sauces and the herbs/spices at home.

Stick to your list and don't be tempted by what's not on it.

MsTT80

I recently made a really healthy, low fat and tasty dish using own brands and tins. Portion cost was under a pound and I was stuffed!

Serves 2

Chopped onion, lightly fried with a spray of low fat olive oil or similar.
Add a tin of own brand tinned Toms (I used Asda Smart price)
Add a tin of Green Lentils (Again Asda's own)

Add garlic, herbs and seasoning to taste.

Bake 2 fillets of white fish in the oven (it does not matter what you use, buy what you can afford, forzen ones are just as good)

Serve by putting the fish on top of the lentil tomato mixture.

Jezebel_Barbie

I try and eat veg with all my meals but got sick of throwing away veg from the fridge. I started buying frozen veg (own brand!) and keeping several different varieties stashed away in the freezer to add to my meals. They're pretty cheap but last for ages. Some, like the peas can be used as ingredients in other recipes straight from the freezer which is a bonus.

I second the comment above about planning your meals. I plan all our meals for the fortnight and write my shopping list based from that. When we go food shopping we don't buy anything that's not on the list; it makes it easier to focus on what you need rather than what you want!

Also it may seem odd but when I'm looking for a nutritious, cheap recipe sometimes I check out Mumsnet. There's lots of parents on there swapping ideas for healthy but cheap meals. Sometimes a good place to pick up tips!

jilltaylor86

I'm on a budget too....something I made this past week that was good was a couple of chicken breasts, a zucchini, a yellow squash, a package of mushrooms, some olive oil and dried basil all sauteed together. It was delicous and made plenty of leftovers.

kyt1206

I like simple and hearty, beef and cabbage stew, simmered chicken and wild rice. Just enough meat, add mushrooms and veggies for nutrition, put on the stove, doesn't take long but good. You can get veggies really cheap if you have an Asian market nearby that is large enough. I live in Atlanta and the Asian markets here have vegetables that are sometimes 1/2 to 1/3 of the prices of the regular grocery markets. - And they're more fresh because they sell more and have lots more variety.