Healthy eating on a ramen budget
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Beans, chickpeas, lentils! Buy bulk bags of dried and cook them up into indian curries, veggie chilli, soups!
Baked potatoes with toppings
Oatmeal for breakfast is cheap and filling
Eggs all day every day.
Even making things yourself rather than buying packages is such a good first step - the mark up on ready meals etc is incredible.
Perhaps check a student cook book out of the library, one geared towards kids going to college - they often use cheap and simple ingredients! Otherwise join pinterest and search for cheap healthy meals and you will get hundreds of results.0 -
As a PS. I spend roughly 100 bucks a week on groceries for 2 adults, 2 7 year olds. 3 meals, and a snack box. I swear my kids could eat us out of house and home! I make a list on Sunday of meals for the week. I list the day, have three meal boxes and fill them in - accounting for family activities so I know whether the meal needs to be easy prep. I clip coupons, take the few I need (there are hardly any coupons for healthy stuff! Mostly yogurt and frozen veggies!).. I try to make meals on sale items - and if meat is on sale, I buy extra to freeze. If I buy carrots, salad, spinach etc. for one meal, I spread them over two or so in order to not waste what was not used in the first meal.
I get a lot of recipes off skinnytaste.. And substitute for "cheaper" ingredients when I can.. Or avoid her high price recipes.
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Like a lot of the others have said - frozen fruits and veggies really help.
Also I will make Salsa Chicken in the crockpot and it will feed my two kids and I for almost 3 days. All I do is throw in 2 - 2.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs, a small jar of salsa, 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning, and 1/4 c. water, cook on low for 6-8 hrs, then throw in a can of reduced sodium pinto beans (or any beans of your choice) and shred the chicken. Recover and warm for 20 mins on high. Super filling, add a little cheese and put it on a tortilla and yummo.
Best of luck on your budget and journey! :happy:0 -
Beans, chickpeas, lentils! Buy bulk bags of dried and cook them up into indian curries, veggie chilli, soups!
Baked potatoes with toppings
Oatmeal for breakfast is cheap and filling
Eggs all day every day.
Even making things yourself rather than buying packages is such a good first step - the mark up on ready meals etc is incredible.
Perhaps check a student cook book out of the library, one geared towards kids going to college - they often use cheap and simple ingredients! Otherwise join pinterest and search for cheap healthy meals and you will get hundreds of results.
^^^ This about the oatmeal and the beans. A cup of lentils has the protein of 3 eggs. You can buy a bag of lentils for $1.20 in the regular grocery store or less than that if you buy in bulk in a health food store. Eat with brown rice and steamed/blanched/stir-fried veggies and you have a great meal.
Also, if you have any Latino/Mexican grocery stores in your area, check out their produce. I saw that advice here on MFP a week ago, went to my local Latino grocery, and found fresh tomatoes, onions, avocados, lemons and limes at half the price of the chain grocery across the street (for example, tomatoes for $1.00 a pound instead of $1.99, 2.49 and 2.99 a pound).0 -
Vegetables end up costing more than meat around here. You can buy them for about $1 a pound, but once you have them cooked into something they weigh about half that, so veggies are $2/pound (if you get whatever is cheapest of on sale).. and right now pork in $1 a pound here.
I have chickens.. so I go to our local grocery store and pickup boxes of 'chicken' vegetables, stuff that's wilted or has spots on it. Chickens eat good, and so do we. Last night was 'mixed vegetables'... mostly kale & swiss chard, some collard greens and a little broccoli, 1 leaf of bok choi. I cut it all up, put it in a pot with an inch or less of water in it and let it steam a few minutes. Granulated garlic (or garlic powder would work) and some salt.. we ate well. Side of baked beets and swiss chard & lettuce salad (beets & salad came from the chicken box). I also made some baked potatoes and some of our own pork chops (from last years pig).. and that was dinner. I like lots of vegetable sides.. makes it feel like a lot of variety and you're not just having to eat some of the vegetable dish for the night. Dinner was 1 meat, 1 starch, 3 vegetable.
Depending on where you live, you may have Farmers Markets. My parents live in Florida and have 2 amazing ones just a couple miles each from their house. You can go in at the end of the day and get boxes of vegetables that aren't the freshest for ridiculously cheap. Take them home, take off the bad spots and work on preserving.. generally the freezer... but leave out as much as you can for fresh cooking.. they taste so much better not frozen.
Grow your own garden. You probably won't grow anywhere near what you eat, but it can make a dent in the cost of vegetables in the warm months.
National averages say the most money lost on food is ill-preparation. Buying food and letting it go to waste because we didn't have all the ingredients to justify making it when we had it, just forgetting about it, being too tired to cook. Finding stuff on sale and getting it made into something for the table would be the best advise for most people. If you're not going to get meat cooked in the next 2 days, just throw it in the freezer... it thaws fast enough. Vegetables go bad fast too, if you cook them they tend to last longer.. that depends on what kind too.0 -
soups and stews are your friend: they're filling but you can "fill" them with more veg than meat and add water to make them last longer.
My personal favourite is this: 300g ground meat (though you can put more or less or substitute with chicken or fish if you wish. just see what's discounted. You can also use pre-frozen meat as that will save cost); 3-4 large potatoes, peeled, chopped to rough cubes, and a veggie-mix; can be frozen. cook the meat in the bottom of your soup-pot, stir often to make sure it's fully cooked. Add the potatoes and the vegige mix. Add water and bring to boil, season with a bouillon cube and/or salt/pepper. The stew is done when the potatoes are done.
personally, I love the taste of this so I like to eat it very often. It also doesn't hurt that the cost of a meal per person will be about 1.50 EUR, might be a bit less depending on how much and what kind of meat goes in there.
another of our "cheap and eat it whenever we've been lazy with groceries" is a variation of mac and cheese: boil the macaroni, drain, mix with a can of tuna, add paprica powder and stir thoroughly; smooth over, cover with cheese and pop in the oven long enough for the cheese to melt. You can save the cost on cheese here; as you = the chef, decide how much goes on top of the dish instead of everyone adding howevermuch they want.0 -
I just posted almost exactly this a week or two ago. I had some pretty good suggestions:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1003001-dirt-broke-gourmet-looking-for-seriously-cheap-recipes0 -
bump for ideas!0
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My best advise? Buy frozen vegetables or fresh vegetables on sale. I view all the ads online to get the best produce prices and then take that info to walmart for price matching so I only visit one store. My main protein is chicken which is $2lb around here at WM or other stores on sale. You can really stretch when you buy food that isn't processed!0
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Didn't read through all of the other posts, so apologies if I repeat...
I get anything I can at Aldi's- if they have one in your area it's a great place to start. I always get tilapia, salmon, swai, ground turkey, and sometimes ground beef there. They have produce pretty cheap also. I also get things such as toilet paper/paper towels, tin foil, etc. there
For the things I can't get at Aldi's, I'll go through the local ads in my area and circle things that I see on my list that are on sale. I take those ads to WalMart- they do price match. They'll give you the price in any ad that you show from your area.
Also if there are flea markets/farmer's markets in your area those are really worth it for produce and other miscellaneous things (example- 1 spaghetti squash at Walmart is usually around $5 for one, you can get at least 2 for that price at our local flea market.)
It's a little more work than just going to one place for everything, but you'll save a lot.0 -
Bump0
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Rice, beans (I use kidney or black beans) and a can of corn makes a nice, hearty dinner with some spices thrown in. I also second the Aldi's suggestion, they have amazing prices on frozen fish and fresh vegetables.0
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Most of the time I find a recipe that has only things I have on hand or I sub the other ingredients I don't with something else. For instance, last night I made Turkey Meatloaf but it calls for spinach and I didn't have any but I did have a zucchini so i cut up zucchini to put in it instead and it was yummy
Check local farmers markets or fruit stands for some good deals on produce... I only buy fruits that are on sale... I only buy meat that is on sale.... I only make potatoes and rice from scratch which is alot cheaper than buying pre-packaged stuff (and healthier). Frozen veggies are pretty cheap if you get the generic.
Instead of individual yogurt cups buy the big container... its cheaper.
Spices are usually at the dollar store and will totally change a meal without adding calories. Good luck!0 -
I'm also a firm believer of coupons. You don't have to go overboard, but I'm typically saving 30% to 50% per grocery trip using them, and there ARE a lot of healthy-purchase coupons out there, not just junk food.0
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Just yesterday, I read an article about a man who lost 200 pounds. He was on a very tight budget, but found he could feed himself healthily by buying most of his food at the dollar store. Also, yesterday, I read on post here on MFP about Aldi being a great place for reasonably-priced fruits and veggies.
He was on GMA this morning but I missed it. I had to leave for work, but I read his article on yahoo.com I believe. His dollar store (probably) sold fresh veggies that were not selling at the regular supermarket. Veggies that more or less needed to be used immediately. I heard the Dollar Tree had fresh veggies a few years back but I don't see it.
I've been making veggie meals that last almost the whole week. Cabbage, kale, onions. - season and steam/saute. Add chickpeas or canned tuna. I'd roast/broil skinned and sliced eggplant and toss with with BBQ sauce. Wasn't bad.
I LOVE ALDI's. It's like a supermarket vacation. i go there just for the heck of it. I have enjoyed everything I have purchase from them. Just yesterday they tried to temp me with a $10 Carvel-type ice cream cake. They almost got me but had to think of my budget lol.0 -
I'm not sure where you are. But my boyfriend and I live on a ramen budget. We have 3 dogs, an the two of us. We prepare a list of things that we need. We do majority of our shopping at discount stores. We buy our meat (poultry mostly!) at Save-a-lot. They tend to have deals where boneless skinless chicken breast is around $1.99 a lb. And we buy at least 3 lbs of it. When we get home, we pound out the chicken breast. 1 lb or almost 1 lb chicken breast can be pounded out and feed the both of us. (And its big!) We also buy store brand frozen veggies. (anywhere from .98 - 1.49 a package) And we also buy a lot of fresh produce. We eat a lot of asparagus (Wal-mart in our location actually has a decent produce section.) sweet potatoe, Egg plant, spinach. Pineapple, apples, bananas. Our normal grocery bill is around $35-$50 (depending on what we need that week. haha, if coffee is in there , we buy in bulk so, it ranges around $50) And to feed 2 adults. Not bad. You have to do research on flyers as well -- such as, last week at Shaws Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries were all on sale for b1g1 free (fresh!) and I bough 5 contaniers (since i buy frozen anyway) and it was a little more than i would pay for frozen -- but its fresh, and i went home,w ashed them all, cut them up, frozen, and I have frozen fruit this week (fresh!) Chicken was $2.29 a lb, in family size packets, and steak was like $3.99 a lb (for expensive cut, normally $7.99 a lb) Normally we do not shop at shaws because its outside my price range, but I couldnt pass up the deals on stuff that we normally get. And Normally we have to go to several stores to complete grocery shopping. But it saves us money on food. 0
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I'm also a firm believer of coupons. You don't have to go overboard, but I'm typically saving 30% to 50% per grocery trip using them, and there ARE a lot of healthy-purchase coupons out there, not just junk food.
This!!
I am also a firm believer of coupons! We save at least $10 each trip.0 -
bump for ideas :-)0
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I'm from the UK, and now buy my weekly shopping from Aldi. For a weeks shopping for 2 adults and a 7 year old child, I spend £30. This includes all meals.
Hey! Send me your weekly shopping list and menu plan!!! mine cost me waaaaay more than that!! i think i could learn from you!0 -
Bump!0
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