Clean & Lean foodmeats on a budget

jahnlaw

Due to some tight budeting in my family of 7, I was told I was on my own purchasing and preparing healthy dieting foods. Do you have any strategies buying healthy clean foods, especially lean meats, during tough economic times?

BackTatJIM

Old Fashioned Oats, chicken, vegetables, tuna, eggs. egg whites

DebraYvonne

Check the meat in the reduced area of your supermarket too. You can get some really good buys there. I can find seafood almost every week that is reduced as well in my seafood department at Kroger. A $7.00 salmon for $4.00. I also use ground beef and drain the fat to make spaghetti with whole wheat pasta and you can add veggies like broccoli to this to stretch it I do chili the same way and add lots of beans and even corn sometimes (my kids like it). what BackTatJIM said too -- all of those are very good.

AsrarHussain

Chicken breast frozen or Chicken skinless Thighs contain some protein basicly same callories and is cheaper than breast. brown rice, Eggs,Pasta, Tuna, Basics there Cheap I buy whey from MyProtein 5 kg 35-40£ not sure in $ and dont buy big brand food just buy Basic u want nutrition just add spices or whatever to make it taste better
hope it helped

GoldspursX3

Venison.

The price of a bullet and hunting license is relatively cheap compared to the amount of meat you will get.

cnelson1974

I usually get my chicken breasts individually frozen through WalMart 5lb. bag is $10.50-ish. I also get my fresh veggies by buying frozen (Bird's Eye Steamfresh, etc.) with coupons (hey, I have a tight budget too). I have Rubbermaid containers (all have handy measurments on the bottom) to help me keep within portions. I get my fresh veggies whole rather then pre-cut. You can spend $1.50-ish for regular carrots or celery whole, or pay literally twice as much for the cute little baby carrots or cut celery hearts. Sometimes you can get individually packaged tilipia for cheap if you buy in bulk on sales. I watch store prices close, and even though I wont make 4 trips to 4 different stores, I will go ahead and get my albacore tuna at Walmart even if I have three cans in the pantry (its $1.40 at WalMart).

Granted, prices vary from city to city.

Good luck!

nxd10

Venison.

The price of a bullet and hunting license is relatively cheap compared to the amount of meat you will get.

Better still, find a hunter who has too much.

AnnaVee84

also check out slow cooker recipes, they may be able to help stretch out some of your ingredients and definitely is a time saver. i made the salsa chicken recipe with I believe 4 chicken breasts and ate leftovers for a week!! good luck!

edit: oops, thought you were cooking for 7, not 1 :flowerforyou:

GoldspursX3

Venison.

The price of a bullet and hunting license is relatively cheap compared to the amount of meat you will get.

Better still, find a hunter who has too much.

That's why I have a deep freezer, but you do have a point.

OP, check to see if your area has a program that local hunter's donate their kill. Many areas have this. Your local game warden or deer processor should be able to let you know.

jahnlaw

Awesome idea. I'm hoping Santa gets me my first gun for Christmas. :-)

leeann0517

Due to some tight budeting in my family of 7, I was told I was on my own purchasing and preparing healthy dieting foods. Do you have any strategies buying healthy clean foods, especially lean meats, during tough economic times?

I don't understand. what is the rest of your family eating?

ermahgerdkate

Always be on the lookout for circulars advertising sales! I follow a low carb diet, so eating meat is a core part of my meals. If something's on sale, I get as much as I can comfortably afford and freeze what I don't need at that moment.

jahnlaw

My family returned to more frequent cheap evil food that the kids dont fight over. Hopefully it is just temporary that we have hotdogs, pizza, naxhos, and white bread for 3+ meals a week while I hide the "good" food. Unfortunately, whole wheat bread is 6. Times more expensive than the cheap "bread."

pkw58

I like those generic egg beaters in a carton at the grocery store. I also buy chicken in bulk at Costco so I can just heat up a chicken breast for dinner.

I have found that if I buy my favorite protein powder in the large keg it lasts forever!

Also, i buy a bunch of bananas at 10 cents a pound, peel them and freeze them.. a frozen banana, protein powder and water make a great smoothy!

leeann0517

My family returned to more frequent cheap evil food that the kids dont fight over. Hopefully it is just temporary that we have hotdogs, pizza, naxhos, and white bread for 3+ meals a week while I hide the "good" food. Unfortunately, whole wheat bread is 6. Times more expensive than the cheap "bread."

So you are feeding your kids crap while you eat good healthy food? SMH sorry, but you need to find some other place to cut costs. there are certainly healthy, inexpensive options not to mention the health cost later on.

jahnlaw

[/quote]
So you are feeding your kids crap while you eat good healthy food?
[/quote]

LOL. Yes. I feel terribly guilty. At least I did until this morning when I saw an empty Natures Pride whole wheat bread bag and low processed deli turkey after my teens fixed their lunch. On one hand I was proud they made good food choices but on the other hand I was stressed to only see white italian bread and Bologna left for me.

Being the family cleanup man (ie, not letting that last piece of cake to go to waste) was never good for my health. I believe most of us have to get a little self centered to get fit, especially relating to time. You are, of course, correct that my wife and and I need to find a better way but recall that I was told if I wanted to eat this way then I was on my own for the time being.

weird_me2

My family returned to more frequent cheap evil food that the kids dont fight over. Hopefully it is just temporary that we have hotdogs, pizza, naxhos, and white bread for 3+ meals a week while I hide the "good" food. Unfortunately, whole wheat bread is 6. Times more expensive than the cheap "bread."

Where do you live? Do you not have a Walmart nearby?

At our Walmart - white bread = $1.28 100% whole wheat bread = $1.48 That's a little more than 10% higher, but only $.20. Yeah, the Walmart whole wheat bread doesn't taste quite the same as the Earthgrains 100% whole grain bread I really like, but it costs about $3 less, so the other bread is a splurge. Sam's club has 2 lb bags of salad mix for less than $3 and ours had boneless skinless chicken for $1.77/lb the other day, and our local grocery stores have it on sale for $1.69/lb this week. Buy in bulk and shop sales, it can be a lot cheaper.

Your family can make healthier meals fairly cheaply. Definitely more cheaply than buying pizza and/or nachos. Even if you are doing frozen pizza, you're probably spending at least $10 to feed a family of 7. To make nachos, even if you buy the off brand of processed cheese you are looking at at least $4-5, plus the other ingredients put you probably at leat at $10 once again. At price, you can get a box of spaghetti, a couple jars of sauce, a couple pounds of chicken, and a bag of salad. Bam, a cheap, healthy meal for the whole family. Or, you could get a couple pounds of dry black beans, cook those up and make a soup. Throw some shredded cheese and chicken on top, and it's a filling, healthy meal for very cheap.

Honestly, I've found that eating healthy is way cheaper than eating "unhealthy" as long as I'm not worried about buying a bunch of convenience products and/or "diet" products, especially if the unhealthy alternatives are highly processed. A small frozen pizza = $4 on sale and feeds, what 2, maybe 3 people? For that price, I can make 3 large salads filled with veggies, freshly grated parmesan cheese, delicious dressing and 3-4 oz of chicken each. I make big pots of soup that DD (who is 6) takes to school for lunches and that I take to work, and they are usually loaded with veggies and healthy proteins (beans and chicken) and cost less than $1/serving. It just takes planning and a little effort.

tripodsmom

You just changed my

I like those generic egg beaters in a carton at the grocery store. I also buy chicken in bulk at Costco so I can just heat up a chicken breast for dinner.

I have found that if I buy my favorite protein powder in the large keg it lasts forever!

Also, i buy a bunch of bananas at 10 cents a pound, peel them and freeze them.. a frozen banana, protein powder and water make a great smoothy!

you just changed my life! I never knew you could freeze a banana!

leeann0517

So you are feeding your kids crap while you eat good healthy food?
[/quote]

LOL. Yes. I feel terribly guilty. At least I did until this morning when I saw an empty Natures Pride whole wheat bread bag and low processed deli turkey after my teens fixed their lunch. On one hand I was proud they made good food choices but on the other hand I was stressed to only see white italian bread and Bologna left for me.

Being the family cleanup man (ie, not letting that last piece of cake to go to waste) was never good for my health. I believe most of us have to get a little self centered to get fit, especially relating to time. You are, of course, correct that my wife and and I need to find a better way but recall that I was told if I wanted to eat this way then I was on my own for the time being.
[/quote]

I still don't understand why it is acceptable for you to get money to buy your own healthy food and yet there's not enough money to buy healthy food for the kids. Sorry, you either need to suck it up and cut your budget somewhere else - cell phones, cable, entertainment, personal spending - or sacrifice so your kids can eat healthy.

tekwriter

another avenue to approach is reducing the meat. You can have chicken noodle soup or chicken rice soup for less chicken and cost. You could also try Meatless Monday's, it is a web site with meatless meal ideas. Even your teans may buy in on some of the vegetarian aspects. Best of luck.

weird_me2

So you are feeding your kids crap while you eat good healthy food?
[/quote]

LOL. Yes. I feel terribly guilty. At least I did until this morning when I saw an empty Natures Pride whole wheat bread bag and low processed deli turkey after my teens fixed their lunch. On one hand I was proud they made good food choices but on the other hand I was stressed to only see white italian bread and Bologna left for me.

Being the family cleanup man (ie, not letting that last piece of cake to go to waste) was never good for my health. I believe most of us have to get a little self centered to get fit, especially relating to time. You are, of course, correct that my wife and and I need to find a better way but recall that I was told if I wanted to eat this way then I was on my own for the time being.
[/quote]

You're just shopping wrong. You don't need the Nature's Pride bread or the low processed deli turkey. For a little package of meat that'll make, what, 3 sandwiches?, you pay $3? For the Bread, $4? For that $7, you can get a loaf of store brand bread and about 3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken on sale. Roast or grill up the chicken and use it to make a healthy chicken salad for sandwiches. I make one with Kraft mayo with olive oil, chopped celery, onions and a bit of pickle relish for DD. I also make a spicier one with just the light mayo and chipotle chili powder. You can have 10 sandwiches with a good amount of protein on each one for the price of 3 skimpy sandwiches with half a loaf of bread leftover.

Again, don't by the processed convenience stuff and don't buy the high end products. Your low processed deli turkey is still processed and probably costs a $6-10 a pound. If you really need convenience, you can buy a whole rotisserie style chicken and get way more meat from it. At our Sams club, they are only $5. At our local grocery store, they are $7.