Shopping on a Budget/Not Getting Enough Calories

Look for more nutrient-dense items. Stuff like eggs, whole or 2% milk, nut butters, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pastas, dried fruits, dried beans and lentils, oatmeal, peanuts, bananas, brown rice, sunflower seeds...

Many lower-fat foods don't offer much in the way of calories. Fat isn't "bad", you just want to pick good sources of it.

Buy dry rice & beans in bulk at Indian grocery stores, they're really cheap compared to regular grocery stores.

Cabbage is always a cheap, healthy veggie to cook with. Buy other fruits & veggies in season, they will be richer in nutrients and cheaper, too.

My hubby and I try to get by on a $60 food budget a week, which works fairly well for the two of us. We eat a lot of beans and vegetables, and store-roasted chickens are amazing for us!

Mostly we try to make sure we cook as much as possible and go out as little as often to keep within a reasonable budget. You might try making soup with carrot, potatoes and chicken thighs. Try and find cheap cuts of meat and look up good ways to cook them so they taste good. Pinterest is a god send for recipes that are cheap!!

Generally we try to stick to 3 regular meals a day and 2-3 snacks. Snacks are usually fruit or nuts, things you can take with you easily. If you track exactly what you're eating for a few weeks, you will get a feel for what is high in calorie and what isn't. That way if you eat something lower in calories early in the day, you can plan for something heftier in the evening. Plan well in advance to see what will work and help you all toward your calorie goal for the day.

I subscribe to the Sunday paper and my mother clips and mails coupons to me. Then, I match coupons up with the sale ads. I also shop at grocery stores that double coupons. I have a stock pile for items and try to really buy only what's on sale in multiples so that I can add to my stock pile. My store has a lot of buy two get three free sales.

When I am looking for meat, I ask the meat department manager what time they mark the meat down (my store does it on Friday at 5PM). I plan my shopping trips around this time.

I also have a freezer in the garage to keep all the extra meats and frozen items.

there is always top ramen soup, cans of tuna & at the grocery store u can find discounted meat or dry beans u can soak in water overnight until they swell & cook them.

Check out http://www.budgetbytes.com/. She posts meals that can be made for cheap, and they are almost always healthy, as well. She also includes the cost breakdown of all the recipes, and sometimes posts helpful tips, such as the proper way to freeze chicken. Quite a lot of the food I make comes from her blog.

eggs, dried beans, rice, farmer's markets for produce.


trader joe's is really good option for $10 i can get enough protein for 1 person for a week in eggs and frozen chicken thighs. $10 more i can get yogurt, avocadoes, rice, berries, sweet potatoes and bagged spinach

Canned fruits and veggies often have higher vitamin content than fresh food that has been in transit for weeks and weeks. And they may be a cheaper alternative.

Buy beans and rice in bulk: try the ethnic groceries.

Grow your own food. Fresh sprouts in winter. Garden in season. Freeze the bounty. Order your seeds from a seed catalogue on-line. They will be fresher and have a better germination rate than what you buy in the stores. And the bounty only a few plants will give you will keep the family fed. Preserving your garden also helps feed the family in the winter.

When I'm low on funds I get frozen veggies and brown rice from Dollar Tree. I also like to get my produce from ALDI's . You can catch great sales on produce their. I like dried beans cooked via the crock pot. Look for cheap crock pot recipes also. I rarely buy pre made items. I can usually make them myself for cheaper. So you have and mom and pop grocery stores or meat markets near by? I check those often for sales.