Healthy Eating on a Tight Budget

I have a very tight budget for everything, including food. I am having a realy hard time finding food that my kids and I will both enjoy on top of the time it takes to prep. I'm a single mother. My daughter is 7 and my son is 3. I don't have family near me who can help out with time (watching the kids for me while I shop or prep meals), and I have a full time job that doesn't get me home until around 5:45/6 most nights. I have a crock pot that I like to use, but those meals always seem very high in calories and fat. I do well with taking leftovers for lunch so I can stretch my budget, but it just seems like finding a balance is overwhelming. Does anyone have good kitchen time management times and links to some health recipes that won't break the bank?

Replies

  • dzlilo
    dzlilo Posts: 55 Member
    Hi! I struggle with time management, too! I find that setting aside one afternoon (like on a Sunday) for 2-3 hours will help save time on the weekdays. I will precook a few things and put them in tupperware for the next few days. There's always the option of freezing precooked meals for later, too.

    I love using a George Foreman grill! It saves so much time on cooking chicken, pork chops, etc. (I throw the meat in marinade in the morning, and grill as we get home sometimes, too) We eat a lot of lean meats that are grilled/broiled/roasted along with vegetables as sides. I'll buy potatoes and cooked them on my own instead of buying the processed stuff. It doesn't take as long as one would think! I try to limit weekday cooking to half an hour. I go grocery shopping with a few core things, but will buy whatever meat is on sale and whatever vegetables are in season. I get frozen veg instead of canned, too. Not all crock pot meals are horrible.

    Offhand I don't have bookmarks, but I like look up weight watchers 30 min recipes, and tons of healthy recipes are on sparkrecipes.com . (You can search by ingredient, prep time, etc). People have random good things on Pinterest. One of my favorite sites is http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/p/the-recipes.html , but the "clean eating" may be a bit extreme. I substitute everything to suit my budget and tastes.
  • mynameiscarrie
    mynameiscarrie Posts: 963 Member
    i've got a food blog: aguiltlessglutton.wordpress.com

    it's made up of healthy meals that don't take a ton of time.

    I would make a meal plan at the beginning of the week, shop for the week, then pre-assemble and freeze meals on sunday nights after the kids are in bed.
  • biddy81
    biddy81 Posts: 122 Member
    I haven't really figured how any of the recipes affect my budget, but I've found some pretty tasty and reasonable options on http://www.skinnytaste.com. Sometimes it just gives me ideas that I can edit to my taste, too. Good luck!
  • It may sound silly but use a student cook book.

    These are based on low cost and quick meals.

    I also tend to buy stuff in bulk, as a household we by lots of stuff at once. Buy your fruit and veg from markets (so much cheaper than supermarkets) And don't be afraid to choose the value stuff, it is often just as good as the branded, and can be enhanced with cheap dried herbs and spices.

    My student house (4 girls) we spend on average £8 each a week on food, and most importantly plan your meals, then you only buy what you need, not what you think you may need.

    Hope this help :D
  • BCSMama
    BCSMama Posts: 348
    I grocery shop and prep dinners for my family on Sundays. I have an 8 and 9 year old with lots of extracurricular activities, I work full time and hubby is a full time student and works part time, so we are pretty busy too. I'll often make large batches of meals too and freeze half to use in another week. I also cook enough so that we have leftovers one night too. Check out skinnytaste.com for tons of healthy crockpot recipes and other awesome low cal recipes too.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
    I'm on a South Beach-esque diet with lean meats, cheeses, veggies, light on fruit and I love going to Kayla's Kitchen. Here is a link to her slow cooker recipes.

    http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2005/09/crockpot-or-pressure-cooker-recipes.html

    I heard (but haven't tried) that you could also crock-pot a small raw chicken whole. Sounded delicious to me.

    There are nights I get home at 7:30 and will run to the store and buy a Rotiserrie chicken on the way. It's hot and fresh and I pair it with veggies. Saves me time as it does get exhausting working so late.
  • Bookaholic88
    Bookaholic88 Posts: 106 Member
    This is a good blog for eating cheaply.
    http://budgetbytes.blogspot.ca
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
    There is a great thread on here for slow cooker recipes. A lot of them only need chicken or pork and a few minor ingredients, such as soup or marinades. You can serve them with rice or quinoa on the side, or put some of them in wraps. Check it out. I made two of them last week, they didn't break the bank, and there were plenty of leftovers.


    ETA links....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/864332-crock-pot-slow-cooker-recipes

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/806833-chicken-black-bean-bake
  • If you have pinterest, you can go on there and find a lot of great low cost, low prep, low fat/calorie meals. Hungrygirl.com is also another great resource.

    I'm a full time + doctoral student, and so I'm both poor as dirt (lol) and am stretched for time. I love making crock pot meals, and they don't have to be bad. I make chili with lean ground turkey and lots of vegetables. Country style ribs with bbq sauce takes no time to make. You can even throw a chicken in with lots of veggies, and it will cook nicely. I try to eat paleo, so that limits my options as well. Pinterest is where I get some of the best ideas, though.
  • dym123
    dym123 Posts: 1,670 Member
    I basically plan out my meals, create a shopping list, prepare a couple of dishes over the weekend and put them in individual containers by serving size, half in freezer, half in fridge. When I have time during the week, I will cook an actual meal, but if I don't feel like cooking or have time, I just grab one of my containers, heat and eat. However I do live alone, so it may be a little easier for me.

    Here's a recipe for slower cooker mexican chicken. Came out much better than I expected. It says its 481 calories per serving, but mine came out less than that.

    http://www.eatcleandiet.com/food_and_recipes/clean_recipe/slow-cooker_mexican_chicken.aspx#.UQrSLR3AdBE
  • lauraellie10
    lauraellie10 Posts: 273 Member
    Nice thread x
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Cook with beans - you can make them ahead and doctor them quickly if the budget is really tight, but even canned beans are cheaper than a lot of the alternatives.

    I make three bean salad with one can each kidney, garbanzo and green, some onion, a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of vinegar. Stores well and it is filling on a hot night.

    I make lentil taco meat, as well: cook the lentils and season like tacos. Cumin, cayenne, salt and onion are sufficient if you don't want to use prepared seasoning. Made ahead, this heats well. We use this with salads or on top of polenta with refried beans, salsa and cheese. Tastes just like nachos, but it does require a fork. I have even had it without the polenta.

    Don't forget eggs! Hard boiled eggs are easy to grab, but they can also be scrambled for supper.

    Spaghetti squash cooks up well ahead of time, as do most shaped pastas. Just heat and serve with your favorite sauce. I use ground turkey, but you could always experiment with beans for protein. Or tempeh. Is cheaper?
  • Add another vote for frozen veggies. I find that these are a huge budget saver (and time saver too). We eat a ridiculous amount of fruit and vegetables in our house and the biggest issue for me is finding time to go to the grocery store every week. Most of the time, I only manage to get there every other week. As a result, in the second week, I tend to rely on fruits with longer shelf life (apples, oranges, etc) and frozen vegetables. I find that way we waste less and I only have to find time to shop every other week.

    I also agree with the previous poster about putting in a little time on weekends. Even if it is simply browning ground beef, cooking up some chicken breasts, etc.

    It can take a bit of time to figure out some meals that both you and your kids like that are quick and healthy.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    These are all great! I walk away from the computer for a little while and come back to all sorts of helpful hints! A couple of you mentioned prepping on Sundays. I have always done this in the past, but I find as my kids get older and more involved with friends and activities, my time becomes less and less. I also used to have a blog and the bulk of it was about food and meal prep, but that was back when I was living with a second income and help from the ex.
    Someone else mentioned frozen veggies. Believe it or not...I hadn't even thought of that. I know I know....it seems pretty obvious. But really, I hadn't.
    Pinterest....oh man. I am addicted! I'll have to check that out. Thanks Laceyk.
    A few more of you mentioned planning. Again, I used to be diligent here, but I fell behind with life. Do you guys go through ads to see what's on sale and match your meals from that, or do you no bother with sale ads?
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I basically plan out my meals, create a shopping list, prepare a couple of dishes over the weekend and put them in individual containers by serving size, half in freezer, half in fridge. When I have time during the week, I will cook an actual meal, but if I don't feel like cooking or have time, I just grab one of my containers, heat and eat. However I do live alone, so it may be a little easier for me.

    Here's a recipe for slower cooker mexican chicken. Came out much better than I expected. It says its 481 calories per serving, but mine came out less than that.

    http://www.eatcleandiet.com/food_and_recipes/clean_recipe/slow-cooker_mexican_chicken.aspx#.UQrSLR3AdBE

    I'm so going to try this this weekend. I love to cook, and I tried to restart my blog after the split, but most of what I was making wasn't the healthiest. It was good, but it is a blog about being on a single budget with kids. I want to be able to change it up a bit and go with a more health menu. You guys have most certainly kick started my inspiration again. Thanks!
  • Loxley01
    Loxley01 Posts: 2 Member
    Speaking from my own experience, I like to get my shopping and prepping out of the way on Sunday.
    I only shop the perimeter of the store, no processed foods at all - which saves me money. I prep and repackage on Sundays. That is, I split up and freeze the portions of the family packs of meat I get and won't use that week. I prep the slow cooker for a Monday meal. I slice all my vegetables that need it and freeze things like onions and bell peppers. They are composed of so much water and are in small enough pieces that they cook the same straight from the freezer. I wash enough lettuce for salads Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday and leave the salad spinner in the fridge with the lettuce covered in a damp paper towel to keep it crisp. I have to do this again on Wednesday night or Thursday night (gets "soggy" if left too long...).

    The biggest help is I sit down with my sale papers on Wednesday when they come in the mail here and take 30 minutes to plan my protein for the week, sometimes doubling up like having pork loin twice or chicken legs twice so I don't have to freeze them. Then I look at the produce and fill in two vegetables per meal, including frozen (the only thing I leave the perimeter of the store for generally). As I add things to my weekly menu I add them to my shopping list, noting the prices beside the items. If 3-4 stores have REALLY low prices on meat or veggies I suck it up and go to Wal-Mart for the price matching. If I not, I go to the ONE store with the best deals.

    Then I carefully check the sell by dates on my meat and note anything that will be past its prime before I'm scheduled to eat it on my list with a star so I know I need to move it up in my meal plan. I carefully watch the register when I'm rung up.

    Another tip, before I went gluten free, I made a loaf or two of bread on Sundays to last the week.

    As for slow cooker meals being not so nutritious, try potting a whole chicken! I stock up when they are 88 cents a pound and generally this is what I put in the slow cooker on Sunday night to have ready Monday. (I let it cook while I'm at work on Monday, my crock comes out so I put it in the fridge Sunday night and pull it out Monday morning) Then you have tons of options for meals for Monday night or Tuesday. Like soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken enchiladas, chicken spaghetti, chicken salad, etc. My food blog has these recipes and more tips: adriennecooks.com
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    Loxely- You are very organized! That's awesome! Thanks for the help.