Limited budget and Healthy eating????

Eating chicken leg quarters is fine. Take the skin off and bake it.

Hello!

Me and my wife are both in college and are on a limited budget also. It's diffidently difficult to stick to healthy eating when most of the healthy stuff is much more expensive. We have found that as long as the food isn't terrible for you, it seems to work with weight loss. Like with the chicken, you may not be able to afford the fancy lean chicken, but if you get the regular chicken and cut any of the fat off, it's still a better alternative then just getting ground beef or other greasy type meat products. Somethings boil down to a little more work at home for a cheaper cost. Hope that helps some!

when it comes to the chicken, take off the skin when cooking. Bread... make your own using different. A bag of wheat flour and yeast goes a long way. Any leftovers???? FREEZE THEM FOR A DIFFERENT MEAL. Homemade soups also go along way.

I raised 5 kids on a very very strict budget being a single mom, its all about planning and researching... Its a pain in the *kitten* but well worth it

Whole grains and beans are pretty cost effective. Especially if you cook them yourself rather than buy them canned. Try incorporating more vegetarian meals into your weekly meal plans too. A big part about this weight loss journey is changing current habits and trying new things. Rather than just substitute lower calorie versions of what you already eat maybe explore new recipes? Good luck!

That's right it is calories in vs. calories out. When I started I continued to eat the same old junk as I did to gain weight in the first place but in moderation and within my calorie goals and I lost weight without starting to exercise or even eat healthier but just by staying within my calorie goals. I have since started to eat healthier and add in a little exercise because this site has helped me realize the benefit of it but overall if you stay at your calorie goal you will lose weight.

A few months ago there was a story on the news about someone actually started a "junk food" diet and ate stricktly out of a vending machine for a couple of weeks and ate complete junk food (chips, cookies, candy) and managed to actually lose weight just because they stuck with a calorie goal. I figure if someone that only eats junk can loose weight by counting calories then anyone can.

Believe me, you're not the only one on a budget... You can still succeed in making yourself healthier by the preparation of those foods you have to buy on sale...for example, bake rather than fry and what-not or by practicing portion control. There are ways to do this on a budget and I'd much rather see you try than give up because you think you're not being healthy enough... Take it one step at a time.

i try to buy when things are on sale and portion it and stick it in the freezer.,.,usually around holidays in cali there are alot of sales so i try to keep extra money that week.,.,.,i know here we have a food for less and you can get week bread on sale 2 loaves for a little over 2 buck.,.,.,it is hard i am on a budget too....and coupons! those always help it extra time to look for coupons but sometimes you can get great deals...

I am in the same boat, I have a family of seven and we have to eat what we can afford to buy.
I focus on portion control and try the best to include the MOST healthy choices we can manage.
It may not be the BEST options, but they are the BEST options for us.
We chose the best solutions we can make within our budget.

I think that you need to applaud yourself for trying the best you can to do what you are able with the resources you have.

I am on a pretty limited food budget as well. Tuna is a good option and usually pretty cheap. Yes also frozen veggies are usually cheaper than fresh. If you have the money to buy larger quantities of things like meat it is almost always cheaper in bulk and freeze smaller portions. Store brand wheat bread isn't that much higher in calories than some of the more expensive brands, and I don't eat enough bread to worry much about a few extra calories when I do eat it. Chicken it doesn't really matter what part of the chicken it is as much as it matters how you cook it. Planning my menu ahead of time has helped a lot too. Plan your menu while looking at the weekly specials or sales. You can definitely still eat healthy on a limited budget, it just takes a little bit more work. :-)

Whole grains and beans are pretty cost effective. Especially if you cook them yourself rather than buy them canned. Try incorporating more vegetarian meals into your weekly meal plans too. A big part about this weight loss journey is changing current habits and trying new things. Rather than just substitute lower calorie versions of what you already eat maybe explore new recipes? Good luck!

I love the vegetarian idea! My family and I eat vegetarian meals at least 3 times a week. It gets my kids to try new things too. We also buy our meat from a butcher. It's completely worth the upfront cost because it's the leanest cuts and cheaper that buying at the store every week. My husband also hunts therefor we have plenty of venison steaks and roasts. They are lean and practically free for us.

I eat "surimi" often for my protein, often. It's the "artificial crab" stuff, made from fish. I like it, and it happens to be inexpensive, when it's on sale - particularly the larger size packs. It works out to about 60 cents per half cup serving, which has 70 calories, 6 grams protein and 0 fat - but it is highly processed - and lots of sodium.

I have a family of 4 and my food budget is $400 a month. It's not easy. Here are some things I do:

Stock up on what's on sale. Last week boneless skinless chicken breasts were $1.88 a pound. I bought about 50 pounds of it. Developing a good stock is hard to start with a limited budget. You can't always drop 25% of your budget on just chicken for example. But do what you can when you can. After a few months the stocks start to grow and it gets easier.

When figuring meat cost by weight consider the parts you don't eat. Yes, leg quarters are cheaper by the pound, but you aren't eating that bone. 70% ground beef gets super cheap sometimes, but you aren't eating all that fat that comes out during cooking. When you make a burger with 94% ground beef it doesn't shrink.

I never spend more than $2 a pound on any meat. How? I hit up the grocery stores in the morning and snag the marked down meats. It's either eaten that day or it goes in the freezer. Marked down meat scares some people but I've never had a problem with it. I don't do marked down fish though.

Check out the bulk bins. Oatmeal is cheap and filling. It's even cheaper in bulk. I also get pancake mix and dried fruit there. The kids like picking what flavor of pancakes they will get. I make them with Pam on a nonstick skillet. I get soup base there too. Soup makes you feel like you're eating a lot more than you really are. And spices,... man spices are expensive in a little bottle, and pennies from the bunk bins.

I've never seen a Goodwill that didn't have a bread machine for sale. Used bread machine + bulk bin ingredients and you can make your own healthy bread. Throw in all those happy little nuts and twigs that are good for you. I spend a day doing it and I have a months worth of healthy bread. Just toss it in the freezer.

Gotta love the freezer! If you run out of room you can usually find a stand alone freezer in the local classifieds. Even after the electricity cost in pays for its self in food savings.

i dont buy the expensive breads. i eat the 99cent loafs (its lowest in cal anyway), as long as u get wheat vs white.

i shop on $200 a month for me and my mom (she probably spends $50 of her money on stuff she specifically wants, so $250). I eat alot of baked potatoes and rice. fat free milk instead of whole milk is same price but lower fat & calories. lots of stuff like that r same price but just different, so price wont be different.

With meat i cut out as much fat as possible. I have ground beef sometimes but limit my amount. If Im gunna make hamburger helper or meat in my spaghetti i make sure to really drain it well, and also instead of using a whole pound the receipe calls for i use .75lbs or .5lbs, which saves money AND calories/fat.

I have steak and pork, etc, and just watch portions.

Canned tuna on sale (my moms been finding it at 25cents a can, so we have 20cans right now), then i mix it with yogurt instead of mayo to save calories and add in some celery for a veggie.

I rarely buy fresh fruits. I get canned ones and lil indivdual cups. also frozen ones r good for smoothies, etc. this month on my list i have some fruits like grapes and raisins, but unless i can afford the fruit, i dont get it.

Veggies seem cheap to me so far, lots of carrots, celery, spinach, brocolli for me. i like mine fresh, canned has to much sodium generally, and im not big on frozen veggies personally but thats just me. I probably eat carrots everyday. good snack, filling than other veggies.

I shop at winco and they have seasonings in bulk (just refill ur old garlic powder instead of buying a new bottle, etc), saves money. they have nuts and such too that i plan to look at next time i go.

Go online and use coupons, get a newspaper with the coupons in it, etc... will help save money.

I buy a whole loaf of regular cheddar cheese and dont worry about low cal ones that are more expensive, i cut my slices really thin so they arent a full ounce..

beans n such r cheap, however i dont like beans, so i dont use them.

be careful with processed foods and such items. compare labels.

the cheap 75cent can of spaghetti sauce is under half the calories of the expensive jarred ones... wheat noodles instead of regular... leg quarters r fine, remove any skin or fat like that..

Just count ur calories and try not to go over.. i eat cheap, im full all the time, and im never over on calories (until i go out or something like that). I personally buy bagged chicken breast, frozen, skinless, boneless, etc and one bag is $5 and lasts me like 3weeks because ur only using half a breast for a 4oz serving..

I dont feed a family as big as yours, however i have to eat cheap as well...

oh and if u have the option, doing things like popping ur own popcorn can save u money, instead of individually wrapped packages. make ur own meals instead of anything boxed or pre-made.

Something else you could do is make up for own cereal/muesli. You can buy all sorts of breakfast grains (oats, bran, millet, rice, wheatgerm etc etc) and add some sultanas, some coconut, whatever is cheap at the time and make up a big batch of cereal. It'll save loads of money and will keep well as long as you have a decent air-tight container.

If you don't have the space or time to grow your own veggies, maybe you could just make a little herb garden in a pot plant. This way you can grow a number of different herbs and use them in your cooking. You get the benefit of lots of nice fresh herbs to flavour your meals meaning you can cook with less fat and salt.

Buying in bulk is also good. I've stopped buying the individual tubs of yoghurt, but kept a couple of the tubs and washed them out. And now I buy the 1kg tubs and spoon portions into the little tubs for snacks. I do the same with tinned fruit.