Eating healthy on a budget. Please Help!

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!)

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??

I agree what is what has been said. I have the same issue. I eat a lot of egg white scrambles. Such as buying the liquid egg whites and mixing it with chicken. I also eat a lot of tun salad with crackers. And instead of mayo I used plain greek yogurt. For lunch to work I buy a lunch to go starkist tuna salad with crackers that at walmart is $1.xx and buy one of the Green Giant veggie steamers that are only 40 calories about $1.xx. I have then eaten something that fills me completely up and is under 300 calories and only about $3. Also I price match at walmart all the time. I find adds that I get in the mail and if something is cheaper at one store then walmart is selling for the exact same price. Show the add to walmart at the register and they will price match for you and give you that same price. That helps me with not only saving money on the food but also on gas so I don't have to drive to different grocery stores to get all the good deals. It is a one stop shop

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??

I don't buy for a month but when things are on sale I get more, last week Italian sausage was $1 a lb, usually $4.50 a lb, yeah I stocked up.