They are all great foods and thank you for posting them.

Sadly where I live all produce is marked way up but I still buy my stables.

Chicken
Tuna
Salmon
Cottage cheese
Greek yoghurt
Spring mix
Romaine lettuce
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Almonds
Any fruit especially berries
Coconut oil

Just be careful and shop organic when it's necessary. There is something called the Dirty Dozen...if you Google the term, you'll see 12 foods that must be organic. I have to try and stay away from as many pesticides as I can...but I'm also far from rich...so the Dirty Dozen is where I live organically

Also, be careful about buying farm raised fish. Particularly with salmon, farm raised filets have way too much mercury and toxins. BumbleBee (the tuna people) have a pouch of wild alaska caught salmon. It is CHEAP delicious and perfect for salads and sandwhiches. It also goes great with quinoa and veggies. Quick, easy, cheap, and delicious.

I tend to stick with the same foods, but change the seasoning

Chicken breast
Ground turkey
Broccoli
Cabbage
Tomato
Spring mix
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese
Mustard - anything but plain. Love the super spicy stuff, nothing sweet

Bumping this for later This is the exact type of thread that I need. Thanks!

I've spent less than $100 a month on groceries for myself since April 2013 and have lost about 40 pounds. I don't belong to a gym and don't heavily exercise -- I walk to work and like to hike on the weekend. I am a woman age 59, within 8 pounds of my goal weight.
My basic diet is not that exciting, but it works for me and is easy to make.

Breakfast:
steel cut oats with a chopped apple. I buy Bob's Red Mill brand and order from Amazon because I can get lower prices than in the store. You can also buy them in bulk (a generic brand) at health food stores. They taste better than oatmeal and are great for lowering cholesterol. I cook one pack at a time, which covers breakfast for 4-5 days.

Lunch and dinner:
Lentils (dried, from the grocery store, between 99 cents and $1.20 a pack. One pack = 4 meals. Lentils don't have to be soaked and cook in 20-30 minutes. One cup has 18 grams of protein, or the protein of 3 eggs.)
Brown rice (anywhere from 99 cents for a generic bag to $4.00 for a bag of organic)
Vegetables (onions, carrots, squash, tomatoes, peppers, etc.)
Leafy greens (I steam a lot of kale and collards)
Olive oil (I add for stir fry, plus for good fat. Sometimes I eat avocados for the good fat)
Spices (I like some of the salt free, MSG-free spices from the McCormick Perfect Pinch line)

Once in while I eat soup, different beans from lentils, or eat out, but the above is basically it.




Simple meal with protein-rich lentils (18 grams of protein per cup):

Cook 1 cup of brown rice in a rice cooker (cooks in 20 minutes or so)

Chop up a butternut squash in small chunks.
Put in a large soup pot.
Add 1-2 cups of dried lentils (1 dry cup - 2 cups cooked, so figure out how much you need)
Cover everything with water, bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until done.

When the lentils and squash are almost, done, steam some kale (do not boil -- the boiling destroys the nutrients. Kale is great for your immune system, per the Mayo Clinic, but should be steamed)

When ready, serve brown rice with the lentils and squash and steamed kale.
This can be seasoned at the table with shoyu (a Japanese soy sauce) and sea salt.
You can also put in a strip of kombu with the lentils while they are cooking (it aids in digestion). Buy kombu at the grocery or health food stores.

Butternut squash cooked with lentils this way is delicious!

Kale is super cheap
pinto and black beans
spinach
apples
brown rice
eggs
lentils
celery
carrots
ice berg lettuce
whole grain cous cous