Eating healthy is expensive!

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CherylG1983
CherylG1983 Posts: 294 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What do you guys do to cut costs? I can't afford to eat like this every week!!
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  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    So is diabeetus
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    What are you buying that is expensive? What's your definition of healthy?

    Lower costs things I consider healthy:

    Canned veggies. Lettuce by the head instead of bags of salad. Whole carrots instead of baby. Sale fruits instead of full price blue berries or whatever. Rice, dried beans. Watch for sales on chicken breasts and thighs (often cheaper and yummier). Frozen fish fillets. Higher fat ground beef is cheaper, a little harder to fit into your calories but cheaper. Old fashioned oats.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I eat a lot of chicken, beans or lentils, and frozen veggies. I buy chicken dark meat and use the bones to make broth to cook the beans in, and I eat a little more fat and a little less protein than I'd really like to if I were affluent.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    Frozen vegetables (rarely do I buy fresh) and fish and chicken are cheap. Offal is VERY cheap. Eggs as well. I've found that the largest percentage of my grocery budget that's the least amount of value is actually dairy, and if I skip dairy (except butter for cooking) I have more room in the budget to buy other things.

    Not saying dairy is unhealthy, just expensive.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
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    in season fresh produce is usually cheaper, frozen fruit/veggies, canned veggies/beans, canned tuna, peanut butter, oats, nondairy milks, whole grain pastas, offbrand or on sale pasta sauces to spruce up at home. there's lots of canned or frozen options that i consider a basic necessity and they last longer, AND don't break the bank. buying in season and sometimes offbrand/store brand saves me a lot of money.
  • CherylG1983
    CherylG1983 Posts: 294 Member
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    It's all the veggies! I buy fresh and frozen. Only chicken breasts in bulk, and ground turkey. And fresh fruit. I guess eating more of these things means I have to buy more, and it just keeps adding up! Sheesh!
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    No it's not
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Bag of salad costs £1 and will probably last for 3 meals. Add some couscous (£1.40 per kg, will last for about 20 meals). Meat - chicken portions (drumsticks, wings, thighs - £4 for 2.5kg should last about 8 meals).

    I suppose it depends what healthy means to you - organic, free range will cost a hell of a lot more but then it's nice to let a couscous wander around in a field. Filling, nutritious and within calorie goals - what I suggested is fine.
  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
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    What do you guys do to cut costs? I can't afford to eat like this every week!!

    Shoplift.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    yeah, I saw this blog 100 days of real food and she did the "budget challenge" and her meals did not appeal to me at all.
    I think it depends on if you were eating at home before, because eating healthy is cheaper than eating out all the time, for me.
    I got a garden so I can grow some of my own veggies but in Colorado, it's a small part of the year.
    cooking light had a list of affordable dinners, but that doesn't mean healthy, necessarily, just lower cal...
  • MonaLisaLianne
    MonaLisaLianne Posts: 377 Member
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    What are you buying that is expensive? What's your definition of healthy?

    Lower costs things I consider healthy:

    Canned veggies. Lettuce by the head instead of bags of salad. Whole carrots instead of baby. Sale fruits instead of full price blue berries or whatever. Rice, dried beans. Watch for sales on chicken breasts and thighs (often cheaper and yummier). Frozen fish fillets. Higher fat ground beef is cheaper, a little harder to fit into your calories but cheaper. Old fashioned oats.


    ^^^^THIS!

    plus I'd add canned sardines ($1 can makes a good dent in my lunch!), canned beans and a bag of kale, with some chopped onion, garlic, and chicken broth makes a big pot of yumminess that can provide lunch for a week.
  • tdotson38
    tdotson38 Posts: 2
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    "Eating healthy is expensive" is a myth. Some of the least expensive items in the grocery store are in the produce department. You can also get great deals on frozen fruits and vegetables. Look through the weekly circulars that come in your mail every week, there are always good deals on good, healthy foods.
  • lisabinco
    lisabinco Posts: 1,016 Member
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    Here's a cookbook put together specifically to show people on food stamps (SNAP) how to eat healthily and good on a very low budget ($4/day, which is about what SNAP allows people).

    https://8e81c55f4ebf03323905b57bf395473796067508.googledrive.com/host/0B2A2SnkA9YgxaHdzbEhGSmJOZDg/good-and-cheap.pdf
  • TheLostMermaid
    TheLostMermaid Posts: 122
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    Compare it to the way you used to eat. You'll find its no more expensive than that.

    Snack example: One apple and a one serving of peanut butter. Depending on all sorts of things the most your paying is $2
    Instead of the $1.25 for a soda and $1.99 for chex-mix.

    Now obviously you buy more fresh food more often because they go bad quicker. So sometimes the bad foods seem to last longer but in reality its just their preservatives.

    If you seriously want to save money though get into gardening.

    My neighbor got a local plot in our city and goes there to grow. I have consider this too. Being able to grow my own veggies not only would do good for the world but for me and my family too. Plus save some money.
  • MariaChele85
    MariaChele85 Posts: 267 Member
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    I can understand where she is coming from. I don't think she means fruits and veggies. Just to replace other items it does costs up to two times more. Example, I buy Laura Scudder's - All Natural Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Smooth. The only ingredients in it are peanuts and less than 1% salt, this jar costs about 2x what a regualr jar of JIF peanut butter cost. Same thing with sugar free jelly, yogurt ranch, pita bread, extra lean ground beef, turkey bacon etc....
    So yes, I do agree that eating healthy is expensive. I love and eat my fruits and veggies, but i do like to eat other foods as well. Also so many fruits and veggies have very little calories, that you can eat more and more of them, thus meaning you will continuously keep buying these items. And yes they do add up, fast!
    The only thing, i can tell you is to shop at food stores like Aldi. Here this store is pretty cheap with their fruits and veggies. Also think about the long run of your health, a few extra bucks on healthier foods is better than a lifetime of diabetes :ohwell:
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Cooking from scratch using basic ingredients is not more expensive (unless you've been conned into organic this and organic that) but it does take planning and takes time.
  • TFaustino67
    TFaustino67 Posts: 551 Member
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    Skinny taste recipes - good for the body and budget
  • shelleymclapo853
    shelleymclapo853 Posts: 6
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    I'm only 5 days in.. But whenever I stuck to a 'diet' and spend extra on fruit/veg/healthy eating.. I think about how much I save on junk food!! I would normally get pizza or other delivery at least once a week...£20 easy... McDonalds lunch...£5.... I could do a few good healthy meals for £25 lol ???????????? (and more! Scary when you look at you debit card statement!! Waste a fortune on junk food without even realising!)
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
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    rice
    potatoes
    eggs
    pumpkin

    All cheap around here.


    meats in bulk on special

    I think the prepackaged foods in the frozen section are the biggest rip offs personally. Things like crumbed chicken. So much cheaper to buy chicken and breadcrumbs/oats separately and do it yourself.
  • nickysbt
    nickysbt Posts: 21
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    Learning how to shop takes time. It can seem expensive at first because you don't know when your local stores have sales or what produce is better to buy canned/frozen or what the minimum you need to have on hand to make a decent meal is. Give it a couple of weeks, most people have a fairly standard set of foods they eat regularly. You'll figure yours out and then know to stock up on oatmeal when it's 50% off or skip the raspberries because you always forget to eat them before they go bad anyway.

    For me this means always having the following on hand: steel-cut oats, bananas, honey (maple syrup if I find a good sale), eggs, chicken breasts (always bought in bulk when on sale so never more than 0.99/lb), peanut butter, bags of frozen vegetables, rice, dried beans, cans of tuna, potatoes, butter. During really poor times I've managed fairly well with just beans, rice, and frozen vegetables. It wasn't particularly interesting food, but it was cheap and filling.

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