budget food/snacks?

Do you want to be healthy or do you want to lose weight?

FWIW a bag of frozen or fresh veg is about the same kind of price. Throw in some couscous ($1.50 a kg, 50g for a portion) and you have a reasonable meal for one.

I'm on a budget, but its hard to shop healthy. I'm walking in the grocery store and there's pizzas that are $1.99! But getting together a salad can cost more than $5. I'd much rather eat the salad but the pizza is bigger AND cheaper. I really hate it..and I want to be healthy.

Can anyone give me some budget foods and snacks?

What are you putting in your salad thats making it $5? You can buy those Dole prepackaged salads for like $2 or something I think. I say get the pizza AND the salad and eat a bit of both. Pizza will fill up your belly (and your taste buds) while the salad will provide you with the low caloric micronutrients that you need.

A fresh garden salad or pizza are not the only options here. Get some 99 cent a pound chicken and a 99 cent bag of frozen vegetables and got to town.

Most pizzas are very greasy, high in calories and I know it won't help me with my weight loss. Salads can be costly, with just the lettuce itself, and dressing, cheese, fillers like tomatoes, ham, and that's just about what I put in it.

Also, to be healthy and lose weight, you should drop the dressing and the cheese from your salad. Lean ham is much lower in calories than cheese, or better still, a small tin of tuna or oily fish like mackerel will zest up your salad and give you much better nutrients. If you must have dressing (and I must), invest in a good quality low-calorie one and use it as sparingly as you can manage.

Good luck

I just graduated from college - this is one of my favorite topics

Since I was paying the majority of my day-to-day expenses, it was really important for me to manage my food costs. Here are some of the things I did (and still do):

- Weekly Meal Planning:
> I plan for breakfast, two different meals, and two different snacks. If I get bored, I usually can make up something different using pantry staples.
> I also try to have some things that can cross between recipes (i.e. the same vegetable/meat in two different dishes)
> At the end of the week, I put leftover individual portions in the freezer for those days when I need something quick.
* If you have the freezer space, you can always do monthly meal planning and prep, which will save you a few more pennies.
* Some people will tell you to stock up when certain things are on sale - if you have the space, go for it, if you don't, you can still do well on a budget.
* I used to just buy whatever cut of meat that was on sale for the type of meat I was going to need, since I was going to cook it anyway. For example, when I made spaghetti one time, there was some kind of tiny chopped up bits of beef (had a spanish name that I don't remember) that were way cheaper than a pound of ground beef, so I bought that.
* In general, you'll save the most money as your food items get less processed. So, if I want pizza and salad, I buy my preferred pizza toppings and make crust from scratch. I don't buy canned soups, I buy stock, meat, and vegetables.

- Shopping Location:
> Walmart is usally people's go to, but in both of the places I've lived recently (a place where the COL is 10% less than the national average and a place where it's well over the national average), it is a lot cheaper to shop at other places.
> Look for the budget place in your area (Aldi, Sharp Shopper, Price Rite). Even the grocery stores that tend to cater to international customers tend to have a broad and inexpensive vegetable and meat selection.

- Recipe Suggestions:
> Chili - This is my go to, super-cheap week recipe. The most basic recipe I have: meat (or lentils, if that's your thing), ~30 oz of tomato sauce, 2 15 oz cans kidney beans, onion, 15 oz diced tomatoes, green pepper, a hot pepper (those four basically add up to salsa)
> Spaghetti - Even buying the Barilla Plus pasta, this is pretty inexpensive. If you use the big can (28 oz) of tomato sauce (sometimes it says crushed tomatoes), some dried herbs from your cabinet, and some fresh onion and garlic, you'll have a pretty tasty dish. You can add meat, if it's in your budget, and a couple of tablespoons of low-fat ricotta, if you want a little something special (not too many calories, either!).
> Salad - I keep olive oil and balsamic vinegar stocked in my cabinet. Buying a whole head of lettuce (and I try everything but iceberg) is less expensive, by weight, than buying lettuce mixes. It's also been my experience that the plastic containers are cheaper than the bags. I have had taco salads (ground beef, corn, black beans, green peppers over greens), asian sesame chicken salad (orange segments, sesame seeds, and chicken over greens [the dressing is what really makes it here!]), a strawberry and feta salad over greens, and many more, all on a budget.
> Black Bean Soup: My favorite cheap recipe! ~30 oz black beans, chicken stock and water, corn, and salsa (or just buy the things that make up salsa)
> There are so, so many more. I head to Pinterest frequently for recipe ideas. Generally, if I'm making it, it's cheap.

- Snacks:
> I usually try to have a protein item and a veggie/fruit item every time I snack. This is a more expensive part of my grocery budget, but I save so much money in the meal part that my cart isn't that expensive. I'm a big fan of involving almonds or greek yogurt in my snack plan, but Greatist has multiple lists of great, protein-rich snacks.

I survived on a $20 (the real rough weeks) - $30-ish/week grocery budget for the three years I lived off campus. The bottom line for me was, if I can make it, don't buy it, and eat as many vegetable-based items as possible.

Good luck! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or want more ideas!

I would go both the supreme bagel bites are 2 servings to a box after all. And so long as you keep everything separate the salad stuff shouldn't go bad too fast. Grabs some fruits but keep it to small containers like 4-5 servings that you can portion out over a few days.

Ramin noodles are really cheap but throw away the packet which is full of salt. Add some steam in bag frozen vegetables and a poached egg on top. I doubt that even comes to $1.99.