Eating healthy on a budget. Please Help!

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Okay so my husband does not eat healthy and I recently quit my job to go to school. Well the bills have caught up to us and we can't afford for us to have two separate diets. (i.e. two different kinds of breads, milk, snacks etc.)

I have made SO much progress and really don't want quite my diet. However, I have no idea how to get by with so little money and still be able to buy everything we eat. Husband is convinced that its too expensive to buy health food and I should just stick to what he eats which is mostly tacos and frozen/easy meals like eggos, corn dogs, mac n cheese.

Its been 2 weeks now and I feel like CRAP! My stomach hurts all the time, mostly because I refuse to eat the crap he eats and end up only having a yogurt, half a pop-tart, or just don't eat. I feel way less guilty eating the crappy food if I just eat less of it. But even if I eat a bunch of food my body is just not liking it.

Anyway I was hoping you guys on here could give me some pointers on buying cheap health food. Thanks.

(should be getting more money on our food stamps by the end of the month, but its still tight)
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Replies

  • skinnygrlerica
    skinnygrlerica Posts: 41 Member
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    I would think that the unhealthy frozen convenience foods might be more expensive in the long run, including expensive to your overall health, if that make sense.

    If you plan a menu, you should be able to get by just fine with $100/two weeks if its just two of you.

    I plan a menu at my house, and for me and two growing boys, I get by on $100/two weeks, if not less. The secret is planning, and I still buy some "expensive" healthier things for myself that my kiddos don't eat. I have also changed how THEY eat, which is great for them too.

    Maybe you should stop being "selfish" and help your husband adapt to your way of eating healthier. It might help him in the long run too...
  • PrettyPearl88
    PrettyPearl88 Posts: 368 Member
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    I don't know if I can help much specifically with your budgeting issue, but I can simply tell you some of my thoughts on what you just said and what I would do if I were you.

    Have you had a heart-to-heart conversation with your husband about this issue? Not just the food and budget, but about your weight loss and feeling good about yourself too? Is he supportive of you exercising, eating healthier, and losing weight? Does he like the idea of you being happier, healthier, more fit, more confident, and more attractive? How does he feel about all of that?

    If you haven't had a heart-to-heart with him, now would be a good time to do so, in my opinion. Explain to him what you explained to us. Tell him why you want to be healthy, how important it is to you, and how much healthy food contributes to that. Ask him if he would want to you to be healthier, happier, and more confident as well (and more attractive too lol). Ask him if he'd be willing to support you. And then see if you and him can agree on some sort of compromise, where you guys buy some healthy food and some of his food, where you both sacrifice a little bit, instead of him getting 100% his way and you basically starving yourself and feeling sick.

    That's what I would do.
  • goldiejoe
    goldiejoe Posts: 121 Member
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    Oatmeal, old fashioned oatmeal. Is so cheap! and easy to cook. It also takes on flavors easily so just a dash of fruit will give it a whole different aspect.
  • marygee1951
    marygee1951 Posts: 148 Member
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    Look towards the top of this thread and you'll see >SEARCH -- hit that, then type BUDGET and you'll pull up a few threads on this exact topic. This question gets posted on a regular basis so there's already a lot of available information.
  • workaholic_nurse
    workaholic_nurse Posts: 727 Member
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    You can check out my diary, it's open to the public. The sum total I spend a week on food about 50 dollars. The only meal I eat during M-Th at home is dinner. Wife doesn't work and we have a 15y/o son. By far the best discovery for me has been the stir-fry veggie mixes from walmart combine one bag with 2-3 meat servings (4oz chick breast, 3 oz shrimp, 4oz pork each equal 1 serving) and BAM 2 or 3 meals with about $9-10 dollars spent. You can also buy more raw ingredients. I tend to buy the same things each week at the grocery store for 2 reasons:1) it makes budgeting so much easier and 2) I can make so much stuff from what I buy. If you have questions feel free to message me.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    Do you cook much? I would think that you could do versions on the same theme such as tacos, omelettes, pizza, etc, that could satisfy your tastes and your husband's, with just a little tweaking for him/her...ALL for less money than the premade stuff. My fiance and I eat healthy on very little money. I actually think that the prepackaged junk winds up being more expensive not only in the long term due to health but also in the short term. I used to be married to a different man who ate pretty unhealthy food, but it was still cheaper for me to cook and bake it myself than to buy the store stuff. For example, baking fresh bread or other snacks. Maybe your husband could learn to enjoy stuff like that, at first, and eventually branch out into eating healthier too! Also, this time of year is great for produce being cheaper and fresher. Maybe incorporate a bit of that to stretch your budget (in season produce). There are also many things like beans, rice, eggs, etc, that can be filling staples for a low cost diet. Peanuts or natural peanut butter provide a fairly inexpensive yet nutritional, high calorie snack (to fit your needs better than say, Pop Tarts). Good luck!
  • lklkl5
    lklkl5 Posts: 113 Member
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    I have found ground chicken to be cheaper than ground turkey or ground beef. Just be sure it is all white meat. It seems to flavor up with seasoning better than turkey.
  • chrislynn_marie
    chrislynn_marie Posts: 77 Member
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    I meal plan around whatever fresh produce is on sale that week.

    Planning is keyyy in saving money.
  • ginny522
    ginny522 Posts: 1
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    What if in your conversation with your husband, you do a 2 week plan. Whatever your food budget, no matter how small, buy one weeks worth of healthier foods and the next his type of foods...see where you end up. Find ways to stretch your meals, just a thought.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I don't know if you have one out were you live or not, but me there is a store called Aldi's. I don't do all my shopping there, but I have found:

    Turkey Burgers for $5.99 vs $7.XX at walmart
    Fruit and Veggies are frequently low priced (got a small bag of sweet potatoes for $1.99 and bananas were $0.29/lb )
    Milk is generally cheaper as well (currently 2.99 vs 3.29 at walmart)
    Cereal is cheaper (some of it anyway)
    Aldi's version of doritos $1.19 vs going to walmart and buying doritos at $2.XX for same size bag (they taste just about the same too)

    I really suggest seeing if there is a discount supermarket around where you live.

    Also not aldis related:

    Lean ground turkey is $2.XX vs Lean Ground Beef $4.XX
    Turkey bacon is about $1 cheaper than regular bacon (around where I live)


    (I know all these prices are based on where I live, but just ideas for you to look into.)
    That's about all I can think of right at the moment.
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
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    Frozen tacos and easy meals are far more expensive than the healthy stuff !

    You can pick up a few cheap, quick cook foods for yourself that will fit into any budget:

    1. dry lentils (1.00 / lb) cook these in advance, takes around 15 minutes

    2. instant plain oatmeal

    3. fruit in season (bananas - .50 cents / lb)

    4. frozen vegetables (around 1.00 / lb)

    5. low fat cottage cheese

    Supplement your dual foods with your cheap, healthy foods. Work in the rest with the foods you share with him.

    Also think outside of the cooking box. Half of these things can be microwaved or eaten straight out of the can / measuring cup.

    You can still cook convenience foods for him if you want, and eat your own foods without much expense or time.

    In fact, the processed junk food is probably burning a hole in your wallet.
  • katebowen37
    katebowen37 Posts: 55 Member
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    I used to eat 1500 calories a day on $25 a week. I just didn't get a lot of variety and always bought on sale when it was available. I had sandwich materials, milk, cereal, bananas (super cheap for fruit with high calories) mixed frozen veggies, granola bars and healthy option frozen dinners.
  • laurynwithawhy
    laurynwithawhy Posts: 385 Member
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    I agree with everything posted before. Also, look at WHERE you're shopping. Check your area for Aldi or Save-a-lot, or other discount grocery stores. Shop at SuperWalmart instead of the more expensive traditional grocery stores. Buy whatever is on sale that week, and clip coupons to combine savings. There are a lot of websites that compare coupons to store sale flyers for you. Learn to love store brand products, and ditch name brands. Also, look for fresh fruit and veggies at farmers markets or farm stands. Some of them take food stamps. If not, they are usually cheaper than buying stuff in the store. Frozen fruits and vegetables and meats are usually cheaper than fresh and are much better than junk food options. Don't buy convenience size anything; buy the bulk size and portion it out yourself. Eggs are a great cheap source of protein. Beans are also great and cheap; you can make them in the slow cooker and have lunch for a week.

    These are all things I have done that have saved me tons of money, it can be done but it is more work.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    Plan your meals around what's on sale. If there are stores like Aldis or Save a Lot near you check them first. I know with Aldis a lot of the no name products are the same as brand name. They are bottled and canned in the same factory with the same product.
  • Erkilie
    Erkilie Posts: 1 Member
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    AHHH, I know exactly how you feel! I'm in almost the same situation with my husband!
    There are a couple things I do to satisfy my husband and my totally different diets. It can be tedious, but it really is a money saver to ad-match and shop at wal-mart. Just get all the ads from the stores around you and make a grocery list writing down the better prices at the other stores. Also, since it's just me and my husband, I buy frozen veggie's (they are like $1 per pack), they don't go bad, they taste good, and they don't cost a lot. For my fresh produce I discovered two co-op's "Bountiful Baskets" and "Market on the Move". Market on the Move is a co-op that moves from place to place selling whatever produce happens to be in season. You pay $10 to get up to 60 lbs of produce!
    My favorite co-op is Bountiful Baskets though; go to bountifulbaskets.org to see if they offer it where you live! Here's how it works... Tuesday you go online to order your basket, it's only $15 (your fist time you pay $3 extra so they can have a basket for you), they even have “extras” like five loaves of bread for $10. You choose from a list of locations to pick it up from, and then Saturday morning you go get it! The only downfall is you never know what you are going to get, buuuuut, you always get a basket of fruit, and a basket of veggies. I usually go in with a friend, and we split the cost and share the basket. It works great for me!
    I hope this was a help to you, I know how frustrating it can be to eat totally different than your husband (and not have the money to get everything you both want)! But it’s possible!!! Good luck! :)
  • evansproudmama
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    Is he willing to make small changes to what you are eating? I had the same situation I was working full time and quit to go back to school and we ended up getting food stamps now but it's tight I still manage to eat pretty clean on the budget of about $110 a week. My husband is pretty good with eating what I make though and isn't picky about having a specific bread so I manage to get him to eat ezekial bread. Check out this website for tips on healthy eating on a budget... http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/100-days-on-a-budget/
  • desiv2
    desiv2 Posts: 651 Member
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    I don't know if I can help much specifically with your budgeting issue, but I can simply tell you some of my thoughts on what you just said and what I would do if I were you.

    Have you had a heart-to-heart conversation with your husband about this issue? Not just the food and budget, but about your weight loss and feeling good about yourself too? Is he supportive of you exercising, eating healthier, and losing weight? Does he like the idea of you being happier, healthier, more fit, more confident, and more attractive? How does he feel about all of that?

    If you haven't had a heart-to-heart with him, now would be a good time to do so, in my opinion. Explain to him what you explained to us. Tell him why you want to be healthy, how important it is to you, and how much healthy food contributes to that. Ask him if he would want to you to be healthier, happier, and more confident as well (and more attractive too lol). Ask him if he'd be willing to support you. And then see if you and him can agree on some sort of compromise, where you guys buy some healthy food and some of his food, where you both sacrifice a little bit, instead of him getting 100% his way and you basically starving yourself and feeling sick.

    That's what I would do.


    ^^ This...

    What you are currently enduring is not a compromise, and honestly if it were me....I would just take the grocery money and buy the groceries, cook real meals... and tell him to eat it or shut up but that's probably why I'm not married. :) haha (crockpot recipes are easy and cheap, and they are great for busy people!)
  • rems2012
    rems2012 Posts: 33 Member
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    extreme couponing!
  • littlebre33
    littlebre33 Posts: 318
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    Have you maybe considered buying bulk? I am currently trying to save money as my bf and I wayy overrrspend and I am on mat leave so I only bring in soo much a month. I go to costco and buy chicken or wahtever is on sale.. and just portion freeze them. I bought a pack of drunksticks for 15$ and it last myself and my bf and my 3 year old about 1.5 weeks. We just switched up the fresh veggies on the side.

    Just recently, I went and stocked up on meats, like pork chops, chicken breasts, ground turkey/beef, and italian sausage (for my bf) and it cost about 60$ total. This will last me all month. Portioned them out and take them out the freezer the night before! All you need it to buy fresh veggies which are quite cheap- maybe try buying things that are in season??
  • Lagarto26
    Lagarto26 Posts: 10
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    Thanks guys. A lot of info but yea basically I need to work on my budget. And as for the husband goes, I have given up on him eating healthy. The only thing thats gonna change him is him so I have just decided to live by example lol. Other than that thanks for all the helpful suggestions!