Health Food is too.......

pkgirrl

hmm.

Well, just a couple thoughts, anyways. I'm moving into a residence this fall at university, and hopefully ( although it depends on the room I get, as some have mandatory meal plans.. blech) won't have a meal plan. I have been paying very close attention the way my grandparents shop, who are retired and living off a very small pension budget, because despite not having a lot of money for things. We always loads of fresh and frozen vegetables in the house ( often more than we can eat in a couple weeks, even) always the whole wheat option over the white, leaner meats, and a wide variety of dairy products. We live in Ontario, so things are fairly accessible to us, however, fresh produce can be quite pricey at certain times of the year.

Now, the notes I've been meticulously taking in order to feed myself next year. ( I think things will be a lot easier once I'm off res and in some sort of housing where I can have a garden, as I LOVE gardening, and plan on growing most of my own produce)

First off, we have a few freezers in the house, and they get put to good use. Whenever anything goes on sale, especially meat, but frozen veggies, dinners, and pizzas, we stock up. If you don't have a big floor style freezer, I would say it is a very good investment. I'm also going to recommend you get a good vac pack.There is a local butcher who sells lunch meats waaaaaay cheaper than you could buy anything decent at a deli, which will be way too far for me to access regularly from university. I'm still going to go there ( despite the hour and a half drive) and buy enough meat for 2-3 months. then vac pack and freeze most of it.

Fresh produce IS expensive in Canada, quite frequently. But if there's a decent farmers market around, it is well worth the drive, once again. You can stock pile fresh veggies too, with a little effort. ( ie. preparing them and freezing them right away, it might take up all your spare time for a couple days, but the kids can help, and it will save you tons of time at meal time as oppose to preparing them from fresh every day, and it will save you TONS of money in the long haul. Especially if you stock up for those winter months.

Another good investment is a vac pack. Keeps all that stocked food good WAY longer than any container or zip lock bag I've ever encountered.

Healthy bread does go on sale once in awhile. We buy the Dempster's Multigrain line, usually $2.49-$2.79 a bag. but every month or two it goes on sale for $1.29, and we but a bunch, and they go into that big handy freezer. Yeah, if there was ever a famine, I'm sure we'd be fine for at least a year lol.

This has already been mentioned a couple times, but places like costco and Sam's club have great deals on everything all the time. We always get a 48 pack of the nature valley sweet and salty ones for, I donno, $10ish? They're pretty good granola bars, good fibre, good protein, and very yummy
A little extra sodium, but once in awhile, you can make sacrifices and still eat healthy.

And lastly, if you have space, start a garden! Maybe a greenhouse, even! Seriously, there are so many benefits: free produce ( and if you have a green house, this applies year round) , healthy pesticde free food, that is completely " organic" (lol) , it's good exercise for you, you can the kids involved, ( if you have them) and, its SO rewarding! We live in a condo, so space is limited, but we still grow out own tomatoes and herbs on the deck, and the herbs taste way better than anything I've ever had out of a container :bigsmile:

So anyways. Just a few suggestions. You can even freeze milk to pinch a few pennies.
I understand some people, such as Mamapants, (I've been to NS before, there is literally NOTHING out there are going to have a hard time, no matter what, and kudos to you for raising with such limited resources, that's hard to do even buying the cheapest of the cheap) and I'm pointing this out because through the posts it's kinda seemed like everyone's been maybe a little judgmental?

Just ideas, though, try what you please

GinaB30

hmm.

Well, just a couple thoughts, anyways. I'm moving into a residence this fall at university, and hopefully ( although it depends on the room I get, as some have mandatory meal plans.. blech) won't have a meal plan. I have been paying very close attention the way my grandparents shop, who are retired and living off a very small pension budget, because despite not having a lot of money for things. We always loads of fresh and frozen vegetables in the house ( often more than we can eat in a couple weeks, even) always the whole wheat option over the white, leaner meats, and a wide variety of dairy products. We live in Ontario, so things are fairly accessible to us, however, fresh produce can be quite pricey at certain times of the year.

Now, the notes I've been meticulously taking in order to feed myself next year. ( I think things will be a lot easier once I'm off res and in some sort of housing where I can have a garden, as I LOVE gardening, and plan on growing most of my own produce)

First off, we have a few freezers in the house, and they get put to good use. Whenever anything goes on sale, especially meat, but frozen veggies, dinners, and pizzas, we stock up. If you don't have a big floor style freezer, I would say it is a very good investment. I'm also going to recommend you get a good vac pack.There is a local butcher who sells lunch meats waaaaaay cheaper than you could buy anything decent at a deli, which will be way too far for me to access regularly from university. I'm still going to go there ( despite the hour and a half drive) and buy enough meat for 2-3 months. then vac pack and freeze most of it.

Fresh produce IS expensive in Canada, quite frequently. But if there's a decent farmers market around, it is well worth the drive, once again. You can stock pile fresh veggies too, with a little effort. ( ie. preparing them and freezing them right away, it might take up all your spare time for a couple days, but the kids can help, and it will save you tons of time at meal time as oppose to preparing them from fresh every day, and it will save you TONS of money in the long haul. Especially if you stock up for those winter months.

Another good investment is a vac pack. Keeps all that stocked food good WAY longer than any container or zip lock bag I've ever encountered.

Healthy bread does go on sale once in awhile. We buy the Dempster's Multigrain line, usually $2.49-$2.79 a bag. but every month or two it goes on sale for $1.29, and we but a bunch, and they go into that big handy freezer. Yeah, if there was ever a famine, I'm sure we'd be fine for at least a year lol.

This has already been mentioned a couple times, but places like costco and Sam's club have great deals on everything all the time. We always get a 48 pack of the nature valley sweet and salty ones for, I donno, $10ish? They're pretty good granola bars, good fibre, good protein, and very yummy
A little extra sodium, but once in awhile, you can make sacrifices and still eat healthy.

And lastly, if you have space, start a garden! Maybe a greenhouse, even! Seriously, there are so many benefits: free produce ( and if you have a green house, this applies year round) , healthy pesticde free food, that is completely " organic" (lol) , it's good exercise for you, you can the kids involved, ( if you have them) and, its SO rewarding! We live in a condo, so space is limited, but we still grow out own tomatoes and herbs on the deck, and the herbs taste way better than anything I've ever had out of a container :bigsmile:

So anyways. Just a few suggestions. You can even freeze milk to pinch a few pennies.
I understand some people, such as Mamapants, (I've been to NS before, there is literally NOTHING out there are going to have a hard time, no matter what, and kudos to you for raising with such limited resources, that's hard to do even buying the cheapest of the cheap) and I'm pointing this out because through the posts it's kinda seemed like everyone's been maybe a little judgmental?

Just ideas, though, try what you please

Yeah, I LOVE Nova Scotia and wouldn't want to live anywhere else- but the farmers markets are a long drive, there are no costco's close (the nearest is in Halifax 2.5 hrs away from me)...lol

There is no such thing as a sam's club here that I've ever heard of either lol

There IS a red and white store that sells cheap things at times (meats mainly) and if I could get there some times I'd stock up...its a long drive though *yet again!*

We do have a decent chunk of land (not huge) but we grow what we can....we used to have cherry trees and plum trees but the black knot got in to the cherry trees and ruined those and it spread to the plum trees...so sad =o((
They had to be cut down...
So now we just have the pear and apple trees and grow some rhubarb and some sweet peas/radishes....that sort of thing.
We do what we can to save and pinch the pennies, such as we ONLY shop at the thrift store...now that might sound crazy to some people but the Frenchy's Thrift stores here get awesome stuff...I bought a coach bag for $1 and re-sold that sucker for a great profit! =o)

GinaB30

I think the difference for most people (especially those with LOW income)...
Is that they can't afford to run back and forth to the grocery store all the time to pick up fresh things, especially when those thins go bad quite quickly.

......and I don't know where you guys are from but here in NS Canada, we pay a LOT for produce (depending on the time of year).....but then when summer hits we get the good deals from locally grown stuff...
I LOVE fresh cherries, grapes, etc- but I can't afford to pay the high prices in the winter...and I've seen a head of brocolli cost $3.99 before, for a very SMALL one....it's crazy!
I think it depends on the income and where you live- personally I think it is quite expensive to eat 100% healthy all the time.
Take for example low fat whole wheat tortilla's....LOVE those.....they are $3.99 here for a 10 pkg. A pack of 10 does NOT last long when you have three kids and two adults to feed.

lol edit// except one of the three kids only eats breast milk at the moment..=oP

I was in nova scotia visiting my mother .. she had me go to the local store for milk.... when i saw the price i told the cashier i just wanted the bag, not the whole cow!!!!! and chocolate milk!!!! that was insane... we pay .99 a litre here on sale, it was like 4 bucks there!!!

i feel your grocery budget pain

I know!! It is crazy for the milk...and my kids can go through that FAST!

pkgirrl

not crazy at all.. I LOVE thrift stores! I mean, where else are you going to get comfortable, already broken in jeans, and unique pieces that 4 of your best friend don't already have

GinaB30

not crazy at all.. I LOVE thrift stores! I mean, where else are you going to get comfortable, already broken in jeans, and unique pieces that 4 of your best friend don't already have

lol so true,so true....especially when all of my bestest friends moved far away! :laugh:

pkgirrl

awwww :noway:

GinaB30

awwww :noway:

LOL nah its okay, I couldn't borrow their clothes anyway they were all really short!

Das_Modell

Exactly! I can even afford fruit . I bought some apples to eat at work and i have only 2 more left. They've lasted me a 1 1/2 weeks.

And yogurt....i see price tags saying buy a certain amount for $10 or so. Most of them are like 99c