Dieting On A Budget?

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MizManda180
MizManda180 Posts: 68 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am a full time college student, so my budget is tight. When I go grocery shopping I find that buying healthy foods cost me twice as much! I am new to this and I am wanting some ideas of inexpensive meals/snacks that are healthy and will help me lose weight. Nothing weird though, I shop at Wal-mart if that helps.

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  • Lalouse
    Lalouse Posts: 221 Member
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    Try to go frozen for vegetables.. they are better than canned, and not as expensive as fresh. There are tons of stuff that you buy frozen like carrots, beans, peas, broccoli etc..

    If you look at the fresh fruit and veggies, and pay attention to prices, you'll realize that the same items cost different across the year. You need to try and buy things in season. Clementines are super cheap now where I live. Apples are cheap in the fall. Bananas are cheap year round. Fresh spinach is cheap now in the winter (lots of spinach salads!) Figure out what costs what where you live.. and I also try to cook accordingly. For example, I saw that cauliflower was suddenly in season, so I bought some and cooked with it, instead of making the meal I had planned.

    If you are willing to buy basic long-term stuff (flour, sugar, salt, etc..) and take the time to cook, you'll be able to live in a budget.

    And I just looked this up again, but I've used it before in the past.. this is from the USDA: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-on-budget.html
  • Lissa_M
    Lissa_M Posts: 131
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    My first suggestion is definitely try to plan out your whole menu before you get to the store and stick to your list. Buy generic when possible! I agree with the frozen over fresh veggies if you are trying to save money. As far as your proteins go, usually you can get larger packages cheaper, so I usually buy those, portion them and freeze them. I am not one of those extreme couponers, but I do make use of printable coupons on stuff I use (every little bit helps). I also have the option of a couple of different grocery stores in my town (Publix & Walmart mostly), so I try to check the weekly ads and if I need to make a couple of stops to save money, I do.
  • SeaJenni
    SeaJenni Posts: 211 Member
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    Protein bars to keep in your car instead of going to the drive thru. About the same cost as ordering off the dollar menu, but way healthier and more filling.

    A tub of plain, nonfat yogurt instead of individual containers. That's good for breakfast and cheaper than cereal. It's an acquired taste, but hey, I acquired a taste for alcohol, so I can acquire a taste for unsugared yogurt. If not, try the vanilla. Its still cheaper than individual, but has more sugar.

    Beans, if you're willing to cook and season them. Super cheap and filling.

    Same goes for rice, oatmeal, and most things you can cook instead of buying individual packets or instant.

    A small or medium russet potato is extremely filling for breakfast, and cheap. I boil it the night before, and then pan sear it with basil and garlic when I wake up. No butter. Maybe a tsp of olive oil.
  • Ocarina
    Ocarina Posts: 1,550 Member
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    Do you have a grocery store that sells bulk? That saves tons of money. And stick to the outside area of the store with more veggies and unprocessed foods. I never had any luck with Walmart as their selection was not the greatest and basically everything was in a box or container so you couldn't buy it in smaller portions.
  • kaseysospacey
    kaseysospacey Posts: 499 Member
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    I get big bags of frozen spinach and mixed veggies (usually broccoli, cauliflower, sometimes onion, carrot, green bean usually theyre called stir fry mixes or winter mix or california mix, whatever) and theyre really inexpensive, about 99 cents to 1.49 for a good sized bag. I dump some spinach and some veggies in a wok with some coconut oil and then season with a few drops of braggs liquid aminos or you can use teriyaki or low sodium teriyaki. Add an egg for protein. The oil and seasoning last forevr, and the veggies and egg are cheap as heck
  • DrJanet98
    DrJanet98 Posts: 138 Member
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    If you can make the occasional pilgrimage to a food co-op or other bulk food store, you can get a lot of things super-cheap from the bulk bins. Know what's a good nutritional value. Quinoa is high in protein, Chia seeds have an unbelievable amount of omega-3 fatty acids (the best ones!), and steel cut oats take longer to cook but are much better for you than the instant stuff, or even flakes you cook yourself.

    Some foods have a huge variation in price, even between brands. I get my chia seeds at Whole Foods, but only if I can get the Bob's Red Mill one pound bag for $9.99 ($8.99 if I buy a case of 4 at once); I've seen it as high as $13.99 for ten or twelve ounces. Prices online vary even more, but that does mean that if you search thoroughly, sometimes you can find a great deal!

    See if there are any restaurant supply stores in your area that have food for sale to the public. I did Hospitality for a regional convention a couple of years, meaning I had to feed over 500 people for three days for about $11 each. I couldn't have done it without GFS, where we could get stuff at bulk prices. You could get a big container and then freeze part of it for later, or you can get together with a few friends and split the big containers between you. Just don't forget yourself and get stuff like fruit that's in heavy syrup (eg swimming in HFCS); there's a lot more things available in healthy versions than there used to be, so look for them! If you plan far enough ahead and order online, some places will even assemble your order for you and have it waiting.
  • Tafey
    Tafey Posts: 24 Member
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    If you buy protein, ordering unflavoured whey in bulk from the internet has literally saved me hundreds... $15 per kg as opposed to $60+
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    I am a full time college student, so my budget is tight. When I go grocery shopping I find that buying healthy foods cost me twice as much! I am new to this and I am wanting some ideas of inexpensive meals/snacks that are healthy and will help me lose weight. Nothing weird though, I shop at Wal-mart if that helps.

    This is not true at all. It is a clever optical illusion. Healthful food is way, way, way cheaper. 200 calories of carrots vs a bag of Doritos? The carrots will cost maybe $.40. The Doritos a few bucks. But, the Doritos won't fill you up. The carrots will, and you will feel full much longer.

    Plan your meals using whole foods, then go shop and see.
  • keelz2010
    keelz2010 Posts: 182
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    Try shopping in the early evening a pick up reduced vegetables that you can make into soups or reductions that can be frozen Stick a loaf of wholemeal bread / pittas in the freezer and just take out and defrost what you plan to eat that day to save waste, oat are cheap and filling, tinned tomatoes, eggs can be boiled-baked-scrambled-poached or made into omelettes..I buy a bag of spinach as I find a bag of lettuce turns brown in two days but the spinach leaves keep well over a week.
    Growing your own vegetables and fruit is a fab idea too, stick some pots of herbs on your window sill if you don't have a garden.
  • sarahslim100
    sarahslim100 Posts: 485 Member
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    Buy food at the fruit shop rather than the supermarket.they r way cheaper and usually better quality.
  • brevislux
    brevislux Posts: 1,093 Member
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    I'm in college too and I don't have much money. The best way to eat healthy on a budget (or at all) is to cook for yourself. Get your ingredients and dedicate 1-2 hours a week to cook everything you're going to eat for the next of the week.

    During my toughest year money-wise, all I ate was rice with lentils which I prepared every week, and some fresh vegetables. I spent about 10$ on food per week and that's it, and it was nutritious and healthy.
  • makemewannadie
    makemewannadie Posts: 401 Member
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    Beans, pulses, etc. (lentils, brown rice, etc.) you can get them dried or tinned and they're pretty cheap- so easy and cheap to make a chilli out of them with any veggies you have kicking about! Over the summer I was ridiculously strapped for cash (£15 food budget per week for both my boyfriend and I), I ate a lot of tinned tomatoes and brown rice haha. Instead of buying premade sauces make your own with tinned tomatoes and dried spices/herbs, it's so much cheaper. Same with curries (and a lot healthier to make your own!) Leave out the coconut milk/cream. I ditto what people said about frozen vegetables. I always keep frozen broccoli, peas and cauliflower.
    Also make your own snacks (eg. baked chickpeas with different seasonings eg. cumin, or cinnamon) and ditch any drinks you buy, we realised we were spending so much on diet pepsi/lemonade etc. each week. drink up that water!

    It's really not cheaper to eat junk food- write out a shopping list for a whole week for both, be realistic, and you'll see! :)
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    while fresh whole foods might seem more expensive off the bat, you can easily make twice as many meals with them compared to buying individually prepared meals and foods. and you control the ingredients and flavoring.

    for fun, i went to freshdirect.com which is an online grocery store. now, i've never used them before, but it looks really easy to use!! if you have it available in your area, it looks worth it.

    i know that if i make a pound of ground beef with a 25 ounce jar of sauce and 16 ounces of penne rigata, i'll have enough pasta for at least 4 meals. the ingredients cost me $13, making it about $3.25 a meal. but you're a girl, so what i make into four meals, you can make 6, so it would be about $2 a meal for you.

    an equivalent meal, like a lean cuisine jumbo rigatoni with meatballs, is about $4 in my neighborhood.

    you can also make the meal even healthier and more filling by roasting or grilling up some vegtables like zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and onions, and mixing it with the meal.


    oh my god i'm making myself hungry.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    If you buy protein, ordering unflavoured whey in bulk from the internet has literally saved me hundreds... $15 per kg as opposed to $60+

    Yep^^ same here
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    I find there's only an issue if you want fast, healthy AND cheap food.

    Any two of those and you should be fine - so fast and healthy, cheap and healthy, fast and cheap etc.

    So if you've got time to prepare - yes, buy raw veggies. Make sure you've got a good selection of herbs and spices.

    Not sure about in the US, but in the UK things like the cheapest pasta sauces are often pretty low in calories (40 per 100g for the Asda one I have) as they tend to have more water in.

    For 'nicer food' I'll often go at the end of the day when offers are on.
    Got a pack of prtentious tomatoes for £0.20, £0.40 for a chorizo and chicken salad and the same again for a pretensious fruit selection. Also often buy the (lower calorie) ready meals when on offer similarly, as well as lean meats.

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