Poor student trying to lose weight!

There have been a lot of great responses already but my two cents...

Shop the sales - If there are multiple stores that you could shop at, check all to see which has the best sales If you can, stock up - portion and freeze extra for later use. Avoid prepared foods as much as possible - while convenient, they're not as good for you and much more expensive per meal.

Also, don't be afraid to buy manager's special items. They're totally fine as long as you use them within a day or two (more if it's not produce) and you can save a lot of money. If you don't have immediate plans - freeze it! The best time to get managers specials deals is later at night, after the "after work" rush.

Soups/Stews, Beans and rice, and chili are all very inexpensive (especially if vegetarian), easy to make, and freeze well.

I love roasting whole chickens - I swear it's really easy, very versatile (main paired with mashed potatoes and veg, top salads, make sandwiches, etc... when you think you've stripped the carcass bare, use it to make delicious chicken stock), and, finally, because it is often the cheapest way to buy chicken (here, regular price is $0.99/lb and go on sale for $0.79/lb).

Root vegetables are very inexpensive, store for a really long time and are very versatile - baked, roasted, mashed, pureed, steamed... doesn't matter!

Losing weight doesn't have to cost money. You're obviously eating something; Eat less, save money. Go for a walk; It's free.

I stopped buying meat when I was in grad school because it's so expensive! If you use beans, lentils, nuts, and other sources of protein, it's not a problem. I suggest finding a local farmer's market if you can. You can usually buy great produce for reduced prices. I thought my grocery bill would go up when i started buying fresh produce, but it in fact went down drastically! The more I can buy fresh, the more vitamins and nutrients I'm getting (because I'm eating veggies and fruits rather than pasta and bread). I also suggest buying your beans and grains uncooked. When you buy uncooked beans, you get so much more for your money! Make them and then freeze them so they are easy to use in recipes later. I also used brown rice a lot (now i use quinoa a bit more than rice), which is easy to make and cheap.

I totally agree with cooking ahead, which is something I'm doing now more than I used to. I also agree with buying eggs for sure. Eating less of what you are eating now might make you feel really hungry because your mind will be expecting to eat as much as you used to. Eating a similar amount, but less calorie dense foods might make you feel better (even though you will still be eating less calories).

Another trick is simply don't buy sweets. If you don't have them, you can't eat them. Three years ago, I started out in the work force and had pretty much nothing and very little work. I didn't buy any sweets for a long time and really ate to fuel my body. I tend to be an emotional eater, so this was an interesting way of looking at food for me. I've settled back into my old ways since, but if you only buy what you NEED, you save money and can live healthier.

Try buying from bulk stores, like Bulk Barn or something. You can get pretty good prices on things like Brown Rice Pasta (keep that around & make up some healthy spaghetti sauce you can just toss into the freezer), buying chicken on sale in large quantities to freeze it, no name frozen veggies and fruit are usually on sale I find, then there's oats, eggs, brown rice etc.

Typically my weekly grocery list only has fresh veggies (this week is tomatos, kale, cucumbers and peppers), Greek Yogurt, red meat, whatever fresh fruits I want that week that are on sale, eggs, tortillas if I ran out and whatever is the "big" thing I'm making that week (this week is Spaghetti Sauce ) So I buy all the ingredients for that that I may not already have (already have the ground turkey and canned tomatos!) so I can make a huge pot of it. The last two weeks I had chili, so you can do stuff like that, makes life easy, especially as a student, to have meals like that to just grab out of the freezer.

Probably my biggest expense is Greek Yogurt, but I live off the stuff, I eat it everyday, it's worth it for me.

Granted, I also buy staples at Costco every few months that I do budget for. I highly recommend going to a place like this, even if you don't have a membership, hopefully someone you know does, or their parents, and just go with them. I tend to buy those giant bags of frozen veggies and fruit, or if their bulk fresh veggies looks good, I'll buy it, and freeze it, same with fruit. Then I buy my chicken, preferably breasts but thighs end up being less expensive most of the time, and I buy lean ground chicken/turkey, I also get my oats and my brown rice there and eggs for that trip. Additionally, you get great deals on canned salmon and tuna there which I also stock up on. Also, canned beans, and packages of lentils. I put aside money every month for my trips to Costco, which is mostly why my weekly grocery list isn't too bad cost wise.
Then at the bulk food stores like Bulk Barn, I get my gluten free pastas (buckwheat, brown rice etc.), nuts that I may want, crunchy peanut butter, and maybe some chocolate if I'm in the mood hehe.

I think probably the biggest thing is just planning planning planning. I hope my example helped, though I don't know if it is the best, part of my goals is putting on muscle so I do need to eat a lot, but I try to be as cost efficient as possible, so hopefully it does!

As a grocery store employee I have this to add:

-buy broccoli florets in the bag, they last a good while and you can get about two heads worth for around two dollars
-never pay more than a dollar for an avocado
-frozen spinach goes a lot further than the fresh stuff and when drained can be added to pasta and a handful of other veggies for a filling healthy dinner
-buy green beans fresh and bulk, cut the ends off and keep them in water in your fridge they last longer, same with carrots and celery. Disposable Tupperware work great for storing veggies you want to keep fresher.
-check and see if your local grocery store has a rewards card, or better yet a way to load coupons onto it online. The store I work at let's me do all my couponing on my phone, saves me a crap ton of time and an extra $60 on my last big trip.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/

Have a look at this site! Lots of recipes and they all state how much each serving costs

I'm a broke student as well. I like trader joe's a lot, they're very cheap and reasonable with their prices when it comes to organic food.

I do not know where you live but for me its ALDIs that saves the food budget. There have a line of products called Fit & Active and its all wonderful. They also have fruits and veggies that are very inexpensive. Just remember to take your own bags and a quarter for the cart (you get it back), I save a ton of money and my children get to eat fruit and veggies to their hearts content. I LOVE THAT STORE.

Sounds just like the PriceRite here in RI, guess it depends where OP lives...

Eggs are very cheap, healthy and a good basis for a lot of meals; veg is actually cheap if you shop around too (avoid prepackaged stuff). Generally by avoiding processed ready meals, I would have thought your food bill would go down not up...

This. Processed food are so expensive. If you go back to the base foods it helps. Yes fruits are very expensive but veggies are a little better. Good luck!!