Shopping Healthy on a very low budget

Pinterest is fantastic for finding recipes! You can also peruse the food & recipes board here and do a google search for healthy meals on a budget.

As for shopping on a budget, shop around to find the best prices (try an app like Flipp) and try to stick to buying what's in season for fresh produce. Frozen veggies (straight up veggies, not the stuff with sauce or whatever) can be super cheap and are still super nutritious. Buying in bulk can also save you money on non-perishables, but do the math to find the unit price to make sure you're actually saving. A lot of discount grocery stores will sell dented cans or prodcts like cereal sealed in bags Keith damaged boxes at a discount. No need to be afraid of dented cans as long as the ends aren't bulging! If you can find bulk fresh produce at a discount, make up some freezable meals with them to get the most out of them (eg I bought a 10lb bag of carrots and the same size of onions for $2 each so I made a huge batch of carrot soup and some beef stew, then I diced and froze the rest of the onions and chopped up the carrots to snack on).

If you are o.k. with eating meat less frequently, focus on recipes for lentils, chick peas, black eyed peas, pinto beans, and so on. Canned and frozen fruits and veggies are o.k. except that the texture is different from fresh.

Tourn85 wrote: »

hi to start im not giving advice im asking it.
ok i am looking for ideas and ways to come up with a monthly grocery list and recipe list
When only able to go to the grocery store one time a month on a um id say 250.00 budget to feed 3 people.

A great place to buy food that you like is Grocery Outlet, or some type of a grocery outlet market. They have everything a grocery store has, except it's way cheaper and often, in my opinion, has better fresh foods (if that's what you prefer).

Also, look for some independent farm markets that sell fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, etc. Not the seasonal kind but those that are established and open every day, grow most of their produce, etc. and sell it in their store. The one where I live also sells other foods as well but at a lower price.

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Three people on $8 a day? I don't know that I could do it.

Can you get food stamps?

Lots of beans, lots of souls... Whole chickens are usually less expensive and you can make stock with the bones for soups (much less expensive than store bought stocks/broths). I cook a lot from scratch to save money- bread, tortillas, cookies, pizzas. Way better for you and cheaper

I've been in the same boat as you before - roughly $300 in food stamps as our only money to feed 3. Tiny town, had to drive 30 miles to grocery shop at a proper store. Have you searched around to see if there are any dented box/can sort of stores in your area that take EBT? They rarely have any fresh veggies, but you can buy lots of staples like brown rice, yeast, broth, tortillas, shortening, etc. on the cheap.

Hunting is big where we live, there were places where hunters could make donations of fresh deer meat during hunting season to those that needed it. Make sure to check in to that.

Many churches have things where you don't have to be a member, but if you get EBT you can pay $16 or so from EBT for a big box of mixed goods each month. Dry healthy cereals, cans of veggies, dry noodles. I believe it was called the Angel Food program where we lived.

Plant veggies if you can! It takes a while to see results, but even if you live in an apartment you can plant in tubs and five gallon buckets. Seeds are cheap, and there are some things you can make more and more starts off of after they start growing. You can plant herbs for seasonings, too!

Don't be afraid to make use of other services to free up more money for food. If you have a small child WIC will cover things like milk, eggs, and cheese. Apply for energy assistance - if you you can get help heating/cooling your home, it would free up more money for food. Never be ashamed to use food pantries either. If you qualify for EBT I guarantee you qualify for food pantries.

Hold you head up high, don't let anyone make you feel bad. It's hard, but you'll make it, and you'll learn to be inventive along the way. Being down for money was how I learned to sew, work on cars, cook from scatch, and use rice as a filler in EVERYTHING!

People keep mentioning frozen veggies... where I live these are never cheaper than fresh vegetables. Are they cheaper in the US?

ETA peas are the exception - fresh peas in the pod cost a fortune.

Kalikel wrote: »

Three people on $8 a day? I don't know that I could do it.

Can you get food stamps?

Yes, you can!!! You can make a pot of chilli for $13 and eat off of it for 3 days!!! Making things that will last...and try to serve in medium portions..(not large). Potatoes are cheap....buy a bag and mash them..that can be a side dish for a few days. Beans and peas are always cheap.

I would suggest looking for produce on clearance/manager's special (essentially, it's going out of date). Then get it home, blanch it or parboil it and freeze it.
I also echo the suggestions about lentil/bean dishes. Dried lentils and beans are cheaper than canned, they just take more time to rehydrate.
Best wishes, that is a tight budget. No shame, do what you have to.

I've become pretty good at this over the past 15 years of having kids and always being broke..sighs. Coupon with your food stamps. First get your local store flyers to find what will be on sale the week you are shopping. Then see if you can find coupons that match what is already on sale. Couponmom.com is an awesome sight to make it really simple. There are tons of free printable coupons on there and you put in your zip code and boom it tells you what the best deals are at your local stores and where to find the coupons you need. Then set a meal plan for each week of the month based off of what is on sale that you also have a coupon for. This will save you a ton and stretch those funds. For instance, last week ground turkey, canned beans, canned corn, diced tomatoes and taco kits were on sale and I had a coupon. One pkg of ground turkey 3.25 - 1.00 coupon makes 2.25. The taco kits were buy 1 get 2 free and I had 1.00 off when you buy 3. Taco kit normally 2.50, now 1.50 and the other 2 boxes free.Canned goods all under 1.00 and I have coupons. So maybe I spent 3.50 for 3 cans of beans, 2 cans of diced tomatoes and 2 cans of corn. I have a small garden as well that helps with fresh veggies. Monday- turkey chilli made with 1 package ground turkey, 1 can pinto beans, 2 cans red kidney beans, a can of corn, a can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, chilli powder, garlic powder and diced pepper and onion. Makes a ton of chilli. Tuesday I take the leftover turkey chilli, add taco seasoning from one of the taco kits and some shredded cheese (low moisture part skim mozzarella) spoon it in soft and hard shells pair with fat free canned refried beans its taco Tuesday. Wednesday I still have more chilli (family of four here) so its "taco soup" reheated, add a bit of water pair with a package of jiffy corn muffins (50 cents). So now I've fed 4 people 3 dinners for around 8 dollars. And its basically ground turkey, veggies and beans so its low cal but filling. Chicken (buy a big whole one on sale) first night roast the chicken serve it with potatoes and frozen mixed veggies, next night use the left overs for chicken pot pie by adding flour and egg for the shell and some chicken stock, then chicken soup the third night with the rest. Large crock pot meals work best for stretching. Male the first meal basic so the second and third you are adding things to make it more exciting. It is mentally difficult at first but once you get used to it it just becomes habbit and sometimes its fun to see what you can come up with. It sounds like alot of the same but if you play with what you've already got you'd be surprised what you can come up with. Meats are hard to find coupons for so I go to the ghetto grocery stores for that that have the "pick 5 for $20" deals. I rarely shop at Walmart for groceries because there is no rewards card. Using your rewards card can get you extra coupons, cheap gas, sometimes 10 bucks off your next order etc. If you have a smart phone there are apps where you can register your rewards cards for extra perks like free amazon gift cards, mail in cash rebates etc. No brainer because you are just swiping your card like you always do. I am not a crazy couponer. I only spend about an hour to 2 every 2 weeks on the whole thing.

One thing that works for me is planning all of my meals around one main ingredient.

I live in Los Angeles, where food is very expensive comparatively. We still can find whole chickens on sale for 79 cents a pound. I stock up and freeze them.

Here would be my week with a whole chicken for example:

Day 1: whole roasted chicken, grain (usually rice), and veggies. I make gravy out of the chicken drippings.
Day 2: Brown rice "pasta" salad. It has chopped leftover chicken, and whatever veggies I have around. Usually some hard boiled eggs to bulk it up.
Day 3: Shredded chicken tacos. Pull all the meat you can off the bones and warm up with some black beans and taco seasoning mixed in.
Day 4: Chicken soup Put chicken bones in a large pot of water with herbs, carrots etc and boil for a few hours. Strain and reserve. Should make about 4 quarts of stock. Make soup with one portion, freeze the rest
Day 5: Beans and rice. Dried beans, spices, and chicken stock go into crock pot until tender. Serve over brown rice with a little cheese and hot sauce.