INEXPENSIVE Healthy foods?

the best low calorie/inexpensive meal that i have found is ratatouille. and a great tip for frying things is to use a non stick pan so you dont have to use oil or if you absolutely have to use it use calorie cooking spray.
A great sweet desert is a fruit sorbet. its low in calories compared to icecream but it tastes even better! Remember to chose brown foods (wholegrain) instead of white food. Theyre usually roughly the same price. Many vegetables like mushrooms have hardly any calories in them and wont stretch your wallet!

If you don't eat all of something you can always put it in the fridge for your next meal. For recipes, only use half of what it says if it's going to make a whole bunch of something.

i really dunno what to tell you to buy though you can always go add me and look at my diary (it's public).

Dried beans are a real bargain. Just a little planning to use them, and you don't have to cook them all! I find cabbage is a cheap meal. A little virgin olive oil, onion, garlic, chopped cabbage is soooo good. Add just a little dried oregano for a different taste, and add a cut up tomato or whatever you have....leftover canned tomatoes work. I use about 1/3 of a cabbage. The remainder use in a soup, or cole slaw.

My response in another recent thread looking for cheap meal ideas

Buy the basics... staples... dried beans, peas, rice, frozen bags of veggies (not the single serving steamer packs where you get... WOW a single serving for $1 while you can get a full kg bag for $2 just having to portion it out at time of serving.
Lots of cheap options, BUY when on sale, I'll buy a 12 pack of soup at $0.59 a can to avoid paying the $1.89 each price when they're not on sale, they last about 2 years by the date on the can so no harm buying a few extra cases. When tuna is on for $1 a can I'll buy 24 of them again to avoid the $1.89 regular price.
Bulk pasta rather than individual servings, you can get a 2kg bag of elbows for about $2-$3, you only get 3 boxes of kraft dinner for that and it's only 600grams of elbows.
Buy bigger containers for the cheaper per unit price and portion it out (1kg bag of almonds is $11 here, but you can pay $1.39 for each 50 gram bag if you want to)
Buy a block of cheese and portion it into whatever serving size you use, I always use an ounce of cheese if I'm bothering with cheese so I cut it into one ounce blocks and shred them as I need it. A bag of pre-shredded is $7 here for 380grams or I can get a 700 gram block for $9.... hmm almost twice as much cheese for only $2 more? It's worth it.

By buying in case lots when they're on too I have the soups etc sitting here, then if I have a lean month financially at least I know I'm going to be eating mostly healthy that month.,

Fresh fruit or veggies
Frozen chicken or fish

Just remember it's cheaper to and better for you to buy fresh than fast food.

Veggies can be frozen raw - don't cook them before freezing. If they're dirty give them a wash (peel anything that needs to be peeled like squash, carrots), then cut them up into the sizes that you'll want them in when you come to cook them before putting them in a freezer-friendly baggie. Try to make them fairly dry before freezing cos they'll stick together! Potatoes aren't great for freezing, they tend to go black. Think you can freeze them after cooking/cooling first but this isn't something I've ever done to be honest! Just found this online for freezing asparagus: http://www.ehow.com/how_2292452_freeze-asparagus.html

Berries can be washed, hulled, and frozen. Better for cooking later than for defrosting and eating though. Same with apples and other fruits (except, probably, citrus).

In terms of buying. If, like me, you like curries and things from different countries it's MUCH cheaper buying it from specialist stores or the specialist section in a supermarket. I know this is in the UK but garbanzo beans from the 'Indian' section of the supermarket are 10pence (16cents) cheaper than in the ordinary garbanzos in the same supermarket. Crazy! I also buy big bags of rice cos it's cheaper and keeps well.

I must congratulate you on trying to discuss the topic with your boyfriend and his mom. It isn't an easy situation for you to be in while you're changing your life, I had a difficult enough time when I was living with my own parents. Unfortunately the way our countries are going in it's difficult to explain to people that they're damaging their health. Healthy food can be damn tasty or otherwise the rest of us wouldn't be here on MFP losing weight and being healthy WITHOUT being bored by food! Good luck trying to help them change their lives too x

Lots of awesome tips here!

One I will add is that you can find really healthy grains in bulk for much cheaper than you would pay for them packaged at the grocery store. For example, at bulk stores or organics stores you can usually find bulk quinoa, hulled barley (less refined than pearl barley, though it takes longer to cook), steel cut oats, buckwheat/kasha (makes for a great breakfast alternative to oatmeal, also awesome in chili, which is one of the easiest and least expensive meals one can cook, I think!), amaranth, millet, etc... all of which are great nutritious alternatives to plain white rice, and easy enough to cook if you have a rice cooker.

Buying in bulk means you could buy as much or as little as you want, too, so if you want to try something new it won't hurt the wallet that much.

Good luck!!!

I know that when I get hungry and I want a snack that is when I go for what is easy... but my new favorite thing is sugar free jell-o. It is so cheap and only 10 calories per serving. I know it is hard to buy all fresh veggies, fruit and meat. Hang in there. Have you also tried tuna or canned chicken?

Good luck!

Yup, it stinks living this way - been there done that. (As a child and into early adulthood.) All the things I suggest here freeze well as left overs or will last in the fridge.

Buy organic milk. I know it's more expensive, but as a single person you probably don't drink milk fast enough to keep it from going bad. Instead of wasting money on cheaper milk you throw away, buy the ultra pasteurized organic and it will last about 3 times as long, saving you trips to the store and money.

My mom fed a family of 6 this way for years and she had to keep our diet healthy because my dad is a diabetic. Like the others said, shop around the edges of the store. Oatmeal and raisins make cheap breakfasts. Left over oatmeal can be stored in the fridge and lightly fried in a pan for dinner - sounds weird, but it's really tasty.

Buy frozen oj, not the canned. Frozen veggies and canned tomatoes. Buy liver a lot - it's absurdly cheap and you can find good recipes on line to make it tasty. (I know - I hated liver when I was a kid, but it really can be cooked right so that it's tasty.)

Shop at the 99 cent store. Shop the damaged food shelf in the back of the store. Buy dried beans, rice, and pasta in bulk.

Never buy boxed meals, frozen meals, or other premixed things like that. Buying basic ingredients and cooking from scratch is way cheaper than buying pre- or partially made food.

Buy whole chickens and break them up. Take off the fat and skin yourself - it's way cheaper than buying deboned, skinless breasts. Use the bones to make stock for soup.

Eat rice and beans for cheap vegetarian meals that have complete protein in them. Look into government surplus food as well. (Though skip the velveeta. It's crap.) If you have a little land, plant a garden and grow your own veggies. Get seeds for pennies at Walmart. Grow extra and freeze them for the winter. You can make strawberry or raspberry jam from your garden or from wild fruit. If you live in a rural or semi-rural area find patches of wild blackberries, raspberries and whatever other fruit grows wild in your area. Eat it fresh, freeze some, and make jam out of the rest. Use re-used sterilized glass jars and paraffin wax to get a sterile seal on the jam.

Good luck! It won't be this way forever.