Healthy Diet, On a BUDGET!

2»

Replies

  • melindafritz1976
    melindafritz1976 Posts: 329 Member
    maybe plan some good breakfasts
    so you will want to get up and eat
  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 856 Member
    a friend of mine on facebook posted this the other day, in regards to cooking, eating well, and staying on a really tight budget. She has a family of four.

    "Sunday dinner. Mmm. A roast chicken, roasted baby red potatoes(with a couple of sweet potatoes tossed in, too) and bacon balsamic sautéed collard greens with mushrooms.

    As I've posted before about how it is so much cheaper to eat real, healthy food, I would like to once again encourage you to consider the cost of this meal.

    I try to cook at least 1 whole chicken a week. So, for $6.50, My family gets protein for 2 meals, a generous portion of white meat for walts lunch at work, and a pot of nutritious bone broth/chicken stock for a soup meal later in the week. I get about 10 cups of stock, give or take from each carcass. A can of broth in the store is about 2 cups for ?? Maybe a dollar? I don't know since it has been years since I bought any. So, I think I can reasonably say we used $2 worth of chicken. I won't even subtract what I saved fully on stock.

    The red potatoes were fresh, local, sweet and beautiful. We used about $2 worth for our meal(I subtracted the portion I packed in walts lunch). The 2 sweet potatoes I used were very small. At the store I bought about 8 for under $3, so, I'd say I used $0.75 worth for this meal. $2.75 for potatoes.

    The collards were $1.24,the free bacon flavor came from strained grease from frying bacon. (Did you know that cooked, strained, refrigerated bacon grease doesn't go bad and adds great flavor to sauté?) I used the remaining half of the $1.88 pkg of mushrooms I opened to used In the stir fry yesterday. So, $0.94 worth?
    I also used 1 onion. A 3lb pkg is $2.48 at walmart and has around 7 onions. So, under $0.40. I then took 1/5 of this dish out for Walt's lunch. So, $2 for this.

    So...this adds up to about $6.75 for our family's meal. It is probably one of the more expensive meals we will eat this week, too, because the red potatoes were a splurge. We will eat brown rice, pasta and/or sweet potato most other days.

    Please. Be encouraged."


    For $6.75, and being their most expensive meal of the week, that's a pretty great cost to feed 4 people. It CAN be done! that's the same price as one mcdonalds meal . I know this may or may not apply to your situation in that you are living with your dad, but its an example of how to cook well on a budget and use parts of one meal in your next days meals.
  • yayamarieg
    yayamarieg Posts: 5
    I still stick by my WinCo rec, hehe. They really do have a lot of great stuff. The bulk section, fruits, veggies, low-cal salad dressing, healthy meats, healthy cheeses, low-calorie oatmeal/hot cereal, almond milk/coconut milk, and a lot more. Plus, if you bring in a bunch of reusable bags, you get a discount per bag (and more if you bring in 10+ bags!), even if you don't fill all of them.

    Anyway, back to your most recent post! :) Personally, I recommend Just Dance 3 or Just Dance 2014. I have those games for the Wii, and it's a good way to get started. I still do them when I'm not up to going to the gym, and it's a lot of fun. There are also some good workouts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN8cwK3zM20 is my favourite simple warm-up. Fitness Blender has a LOT of workout videos. I had a sciatica flare-up for a week or two and working out helped me get through it quicker and with less pain (than my first incidence of it in March, which was horrible). The Just Dance games I play have fitness modes too... they're different from one another, but it's not too confusing.

    To make sure I am drinking enough water, I have a couple different bottles I drink, refill, chill, repeat. I also bring one with me when I go out, whether it's grocery shopping, another errand, or something else. It helps. Although, there's a hashtag on Instagram that really fits here -- #drinkallthewaterpeeallthetime. ^_^ If you tire of plain water, there are a lot of zero-calorie flavour drops that are really tasty.

    Also also. When serving yourself food, use smaller bowls. I saw that tip on another post earlier, and it totally works. I put a couple servings of what I made for dinner in a smaller bowl than I had planned on, and I stuck to those servings and saved the rest for later. Aaaaand I'll stop, I'm rambling a lot.
    [/quote]

    Thanks so much doll! I too had an issue with my sciatica, but ive noticed keeping active , I have less flare ups! All of your tips have been so helpful! especially the water idea. i am one of those few people who would rather quench my thirst then feed my hunger sometimes Lol, basically i am always thirsty! I will definitely have to try your idea. Thanks again!

Categories