Eating healthy on a very tight budget... Help?

forJupiter
forJupiter Posts: 45
edited September 24 in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys,
So I'm a very poor student struggling to make ends meet. Pretty much at the most I have about 30-40 dollars to last me a week and sometimes my work cuts my hours back so I can barely afford that. I would like to be able to eat healthier (non processed/more fruits and veggies/etc) rather than buying the cheapest foods at the supermarket but I'm not quite certain how I can with how much I have. I would really like to get into buying local produce when the farmer's markets open around here in Michigan so some advice about that would be awesome as well but my main concern is getting in REAL food.

Thanks!

Replies

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,330 Member
    Dried beans cannot be beat for afford-ability. A little work to prepare them, but you can make a big batch, and then freeze them in portion sized packages.
  • Dan112358
    Dan112358 Posts: 525 Member
    I find that eating pre-packaged foods and processed junk can actually be more expensive than eating good foods. For breakfast, consider omelets as a dozen eggs is only a couple bucks and are full of protein & low-calorie. Buy an onion & a green pepper if you want a bit more flavour. Buying salad mix and keeping it in the fridge is not super expensive. Another way to cut costs is to drink only water. Drinks are very expensive and are filled with sugars/caffeine that will only impede your results. I have one coffee in the morning but for the rest of my day I only drink tap water. Your body needs it anyway. Canned tuna is cheap and also provides an excellent source of protein.
  • cherriesnroses
    cherriesnroses Posts: 2
    There is a website called www.brokeandhealthy.com that I recently learned about - not sure how good it is.

    I think you should ask around about cheaper stores - I cut my costs in half once I found out where the cheaper off-brand markets were. I think usually lettuce is cheaper than the bag stuff.

    Do you cook? I think a lot is just learning how to cook and making snacks, having them ready when you have time. Hummus and peanut butter goes a long way. Lots you can do with eggs. If you can bake stuff that saves - you don't want to eat that much baked stuff anyway but it is so cheap to make vs buy some corn bread or muffins - can always freeze them.

    It takes some work and practice. You can get bulk oats for the morning. I agree about drinking water. Watch sales so you get your chicken really cheap. You might want to eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day until you learn how to stretch your dinner dollars out.

    I totally agree it is so much cheaper NOT to eat processed foods and to eat at home - not out. Be sure you aren't wasting anything on morning coffee out or lunches!

    Wish I lived across the street to help you learn! Necessity is the mother of invention! OH, and find out where there is a food bank where you can pick up a box of food for free to supplement. usually there is a place with no questions asked. Although not sure if the economy has wrecked that. Don't take stuff that is bad for you - give that back! :) Good luck
  • cherriesnroses
    cherriesnroses Posts: 2
    PS - I lived on this as a student: German pancake. You figure out the calories. You should watch how many eggs you eat these days - have no idea if it might work with whites only. Anyway it's cheap!

    Heat oven to 425 and put some healthy margarine in the bottom - about 2-3T. any number of eggs from 3 - 5 (usually 4), mixed with a cup of flour and a cup of skim milk. add a dash of nutmeg if you have it but not necessary.

    This works really well in an iron skillet but I make mine in a round flat baking dish that is about 12 inches around. First melt the butter/margarine in the hot oven, then pour in the lumpy egg mixture (don't beat w mixer - just mix). It takes about 15 minutes - keep an eye on it. It will puff way up and get slightly brown on top. That means its done! When you take it out you squirt lemon all over and dust w powder sugar. When I learned we put it back in the oven for a minute to make the lemon and sugar do something magical, but I stopped doing that years ago. Never seemed to make a difference to me. It will deflate.

    The "real" way to eat it is slopped with preserves and sour cream all over it! But of course we're going to be healthy and just use some applesauce or a thin spreading of fruit only jam or some berries!

    It can feed four people but I can tell you there were many times as a student where I ate the whole thing and that was my meal for the day!

    I have loved this recipe for over 40 years! But it saved the day in college and when the cupboard was bare more than once!
  • sassyg
    sassyg Posts: 393
    frozen veges are usually cheap as
  • gp79
    gp79 Posts: 1,799 Member
    All good ideas. The number one tip I have for you is to make a plan (on paper) before going to the grocery store. Since you are on a limited budget (and food prices are outrageous it seems) and you want to eat more fruits / vegetables, figure out what is in season at the time and purchase those at a discounted price.

    Example...Florida's strawberries have been harvested recently...I'm totally guessing based off of the price of strawberries over the last 2 weeks. They have gone from $4 per quart to $1.68 per quart. That's over a 200% decrease in price.

    If you're hungry...the grocery store is the last place you want to be.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    I also recommend reading the local grocery store ads before heading anywhere. If you can't get hard copies, just go to their websites and look for links to their weekly ads. Any of the stores that offer it, I sign up to have them delivered directly to my e-mail. Then I read through all of them each week and make lists of the cheapest/best deals. You can definitely plan out better shopping plans this way. i.e. this week I saw fuji apples on sale at one store for $1.47/lb and made a note of it,but then the very next ad I looked had fuji apples for .77/pound. So I saved .70 per pound just by reading the ads first.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Brown rice and dried beans are cheap and a great base for lots of meals.
    If you can stretch it, buy a bigger bag of rice or beans or oatmeal because it usually works out cheaper this way (but means you have to outlay more.... tricky I know!)
    Look out for spices like cummin or chilli flakes or dried oregano on special, they add lots of flavour and last for ages.
    I second paying attention to what is in season, and look online to find out where your local market is. At my market, if you go in late in the day it is really busy because they are selling off fruit and veges much cheaper - lots of stuff for $1 a bag. (I won't suggest you shop at my market though, a flight to Australia wouldn't help your budget!)
    Do you have a Chinese supermarket near you? They often have some great basics like rice, crushed garlic, spices etc at good value prices.
    You can cook all kinds of good stuff with chicken wings and drumsticks - they make great soup with those beans and bargain priced veges you've just bought :)
  • AbiNichole
    AbiNichole Posts: 300 Member
    3 Tips

    1.) Buy in bulk then ration out your portions in ziplock bags. This is especially useful for buying lean protein. It's always much cheaper in bulk.
    2.) Buy your grocery store brand's frozen veggies. They taste the same and they are often not seasoned so you don't have to worry about those sneak-a-boo calories.
    3.) Buy in season. Fruit is always more expensive in the off-season AND when there is a sudden change in weather that affects the supply of it. It sucks but sometimes you have to buy clementines instead of blood oranges. As long as you're getting in your 2-3servings of fruit, it's better than nothing.

    Happy shopping! I'm sure you'll figure it out. :flowerforyou:
  • roxybubbles
    roxybubbles Posts: 27
    Switch chicken for turkey, chicken is really expensive here in the UK especially if you try to buy free range so I buy turkey breasts - half the price nearly and tastier imo x Oh, I also add canned beans, lentils or pearl barley to curries, chillies or stews - it stretches them out a lot further so you get more servings and you can freeze the extra portions.
  • jlcghs27408
    jlcghs27408 Posts: 37 Member
    Brown rice, dry beans, oatmeal, frozen chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, eggs, canned tuna (buy on sale), and only buy produce on sale.

    I think eating healthy is pretty inexpensive most of the time. It's the all crap you DON'T need that expensive! The only things I spend too much money on are energy/snack/protein bars. Almost $2 a pop. I so need to get out of the habit of eating them before my workout.
  • achojnacki
    achojnacki Posts: 66 Member
    I know this may not be the advice that you are looking for but since you have such a limited amount of money for food have you considered applying for federal snap benefits(food stamp card)?

    You can apply for them online:

    http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm

    This applies only if you live in the US.
  • sweetsarahj
    sweetsarahj Posts: 701 Member
    One way I save $$ on fruits and veggies is by shopping in the evening.... I have noticed that about 2 hours before closing, my local grocery store wraps up the bruised fruits and veggies and discounts them. There is usually nothing wrong with them, mostly some bruising or discolouring. You do have be careful though, sometimes the fruit is nearly spoiled. Also, I have to be careful not to over-buy just because it's cheap, one time I bought massive quantities of zuchinni--- mistake!

    Since making an effort to cut down my grocery bill, I noticed that almost every grocery store has these "marked down" produce shelves near the back of the produce section. Also, some stores are better than others for this. I go to stores that have a very big produce section, because they usually have more stuff on the discount rack.
  • Angela1303
    Angela1303 Posts: 33 Member
    To save money we would write a shopping list, stick to it and buy in bulk, cook foods in bulk and freeze so its your own ready meals!
  • dwyadygwyad
    dwyadygwyad Posts: 46 Member
    I'm in need of more advice myself, but ...

    Soups are good low budgets. You can make a big batch of soup and eat it or freeze it.
    Broth is usually around 3 dollars
    water- free
    garlic- under a dollar if you take pieces off like I do!
    celery- 2 dollars
    carrots- 3 dollars
    beans- dollar or three for a bag or can- lets face it, soaking the beans is a pain. Just be sure to wash the beans of sodium. chick peas, black beans, lentils, kidney beans, all great for soup
    green- 4 dollars or so = spinach, swiss chard, kale, anything, any dark green
    tomatoes- one can- 3 dolalrs or so

    There are so many soup reciepes, but these are typical ingredients. Just google to find one suitable for your taste/ what you already have.

    - Raw red peppers are filling and sweet to snack on.
    - spices- if you like curry, a little goes a long way, and can be added to anything- other spices- cinnamon, fennel seed, etc all have flavor and not a lot of calories.
    - buy a whole chicken and add to whatever you cook throughout the week
    -if you like seafood, mussels are so cheap! cook with cheap white wine and garlic
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