buying on a budget
kimmaurey
Posts: 9
Howdy everyone, really need to lose weight but it seems most healthy foods are double or triple the price, any tips on how to eat healthy for less??
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Replies
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Howdy everyone, really need to lose weight but it seems most healthy foods are double or triple the price, any tips on how to eat healthy for less??
You can absolutely eat well on a budget, in fact I'd you are relying on packaged convenience foods right now, you might even find yourself saving money on groceries.
On the flip side, even if you just chose to eat less of what you are currently eating... well you would be saving money there too.0 -
Can be done! You have to do your own cooking. I saved a lot of money once I stopped eating so much prepackaged food. I make soup in larger batches and freeze for lunches. I buy at the local restaurant supply store, you can get huge bags of vegetable for a very low price. I buy chicken the same way. I pack my lunch every day and eat out only one meal each week. Overall I am spending much less on food.0
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I've saved money. I eat more whole foods now and if you use it all before it goes bad, it's cheaper than buying frozen/prepackaged. I also cook much more than I did so there's dining out way down.
But I'm going to spend it all on clothes so weight loss is probably going to cost me much more in the end
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I do cook my own meals, my problem is its not just for me I have a husband and 2 teen boys, who don't need to diet lol so i need to find healthy stuff everyone will love and is affordable0
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Do you have a yard? If so consider putting in a vegetable garden. Every year we put in tomatoes, zucchini, onions, and carrots. Also since we live in southern California, we put in orange and lemon trees. Its too many vegs for the two of us so that during the summer, I end up sharing with my neighbors. The lemon tree has lemons all year and the orange tree gives us oranges in December. I eat one orange every day and they are great tasting.
If you don't have a yard, I know people that grow stuff in pots on their apartment balcony and do very well with that.
I buy other produce in bulk from Costco and split them with another family. That way we both get good produce at less cost.0 -
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currently winter here lol but i grow in the spring and summer.
thanks for all your replies every opinion helps0 -
Calorie-wise, not much bang for your buck in produce. A cucumber where I live is about $1.00 A red bell pepper is about $2. And that buys me maybe 50 calories. Not a good deal when compared to the calories that can be purchased on $1 menus at fast food places or how many calories you get in the snack food isle.
Saving money means buying the most calories for the least amount of money. Eating less calories on expensive calorie lite produce is not saving money. It's an investment in our health that we all hope pays off down the line, but good luck sustaining your daily calorie needs on bell peppers and cucumbers while either not spending a fortune or not starving to death.
Best to coupon and look for deals, and avoid places like Whole Foods that jack up the prices more than they are already on the supposed basis of "health." Also, eating smaller portions than you currently do of budget friendly foods that make up most Americans grocery carts and meals is probably a more feasible route.
I shop at Costco, I don't have the patience to coupon and I can't stomach the prices at grocery stores. It's definitely worth the membership fee and buying in bulk for me to get good quality and more affordable produce, meat and dairy and prepackaged items, rather than the mostly spoiled and almost always way overpriced food at the grocery chains around here.0 -
Inexpensive food for meals can include these:
-potatoes
-pasta
-rice
-tortillas
-whole chicken
-beans
-eggs
-frozen or canned fruits and vegetables
-peanut butter
Make larger portions for them and smaller portions for yourself.
Shop the bottom of the grocery store aisles. Sometimes the least expensive brands are there.
Get the teens to participate in meal planning, shopping, and food preparation so they are happy with the food and so that they learn skills that will carry them into adult hood.
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Do you have an Aldi? I can feed my family of five very well for $70 a week.0
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Shop the advertisements for all the stores close to you. Ask your favorite store if they "price match". If the answer is yes, then USE that option, just have the ads with you when you shop.
Plan your meals out for a few days, a week, two weeks, or whatever fits into your pay schedule.
Make lists, check them twice, DO NOT IMPULSE BUY! When you plan out your meals, you can take advantage of the sales while they're going on. And if a staple (like chicken breasts) goes on sale, you can buy extra to have in the freezer for the time that your food budget might be a little less for that pay period. The less pre-packaged stuff, the lower your food bill.
I've gone to Goodwill and paid less than a dollar for each Weight Watchers cookbooks that I have in my kitchen. They are great for inspiration when I get bored or want to try something different than my regular fare.
It IS possible to eat healthy on a budget. My budget is $125 every two weeks (I'm single, so that's my total food budget). ANY food I purchase, whether it's from the store and I cook it myself or I go out to eat, comes out of that money. When the money is gone, I get creative and USE WHAT I HAVE. **If there is any money left over from the budget from that two weeks, I either roll it into the next two week budget, or I put it into my travel fund for the trip to Alaska that I'll be taking when I reach my goal**
You CAN do this! Set yourself as a priority, just like a bill that has to be paid. Make a budget, make a meal plan, make a list, shop from the list, cook from the meal plan. It might take a little time to get accustomed to doing it like this, but I promise it's absolutely worth the effort.
Good luck!!
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yes, thats where I shop usually or walmart
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Frozen veggies are pretty cheap. I can get a bag of mixed veggies for buck and that's in the more expensive grocery stores.
Take a calculator and compare the prices. Sometimes name-brand is cheaper and the biggest package isn't always the cheapest way to go.0 -
I shop at Costco, Aldi and a local grocery store that has the best prices, never convenience stores. A slow cooker is good for stews, chili and soups, which are healthy and will feed a crowd inexpensively. I try to stretch chicken and beef by using them in casseroles, pasta dishes, chili, etc., not as a standalone. I stock up on frozen vegetables when they're on sale because, in my house, fresh vegetables often don't get eaten fast enough and get thrown out. I don't buy bagged salad because it's too expensive and goes bad fast. I buy heads of lettuce instead since they last longer. I buy fresh fruit at Costco (bulk size) a lot because fruit gets eaten fast here, same with milk and eggs. I don't usually bother with coupons because they're time consuming and manufacturers are often promoting new products that are too expensive even with the coupon.0
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Howdy everyone, really need to lose weight but it seems most healthy foods are double or triple the price, any tips on how to eat healthy for less??
By healthy, do you mean organic or the like? If so, the evidence is thin, at best, that those products offer any health advantage.0 -
Sheldonklein - re: organic stuff. The studies I've seen are a bit bizarre on the subject, honestly. They were looking at whether they have more vitamins and nutrients - which they absolutely did not. But they didn't look much at organic foods in terms of fewer pesticides, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial coatings and sprays, ripening sprays, anti-sprouting gases, and so on, which are commonly used on conventional produce, as an example
So if avoiding those is a concern - which it is for many of us - then organic can have value. Although considering that organic produce farmers have to pay to prove it is organic, and conventional produce farmers get subsidies...it's really a lot more money than it should be.0 -
I use coupons to save money on items that can stay on the shelf/frozen (beans, pasta, dried fruit, rice, meat ect) then I use the money I would have spent on that for my fresh items. I will get one of the bulk bags of oranges and apples for about 5 dollars, salad stuff (add salads to calorie dense meal items to help fill you up), kiwis, and either avocados or mangos depending whats on sale. Look at adds to help you find the grocery store with the best sales that week and match them to coupons to save more money.0
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Where I live we have a fruit and veggie market that has good prices and most places to have those kinds of markets if you look or ask aroud. We just went shopping we bought 2lbs strawberrys good ones, 3lb bag of apples, about a pound of brocoli, some baby carrotsand about 2lbs of pairs for a little over $12.00 and that's not too bad.0
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The magic search word is "frugal." If you google 'frugal recipes' or 'frugal groceries' or the like you'll find lots of sites and discussion groups with lots of great ideas.
Here are some I've written up along the way:
Bargain Greek Yogurt Hack
Chicken Leg Quarters: True or False Economy?
10 Pounds of Chicken Legs @ 59¢/lb.!
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I shop around and look for good sales in the local flyers. I buy fruit that is in season and on sale. During the summer I have a garden in my back yard and during the winter I buy frozen veggies. I try to stay away from canned veggies because most of them are very high in sodium.
I think what you need to do most of all is watch your portion sizes. I have lost almost 40 pounds by just cutting my portion sizes down to a "normal suggested serving" and not cutting any foods out. If you have a good food scale and stick to the portion sizes you can make any budget work with any food items.0 -
Laurend224 wrote: »
I came here to provide my own link, and I am flattered my post was already linked to!
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Ty everyone. I will use some of these tips for sure0
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missiontofitness wrote: »Laurend224 wrote: »
I came here to provide my own link, and I am flattered my post was already linked to!
It's a great post!
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I spend an average of $120-150 a month (including non food) for two adults and toddler (I'm EBF so baby doesn't count). I shop at Aldi's and Hannaford. Probably 50% of the food I buy is organic. Like mentioned above, we have a garden that we eat out of all Summer and in the fall, we store as much of the veggies as we can. We raise our own pigs so we eat a lot of pork. I cook from scratch which ends up being cheaper. When I buy chicken, I buy the whole chicken and cut it up myself, usually legs and wings is one dinner, breasts are another dinner and the rest I make stock with for soup that makes another 2 or 3 dinners (so one whole, natural chicken is spread over 4-5 dinners and cost me about $5 to $6).0
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Check the grocery store ads to see when there are specials. Chicken is already the cheapest meat, but when it goes on sale that's the time to buy. Get on the store's loyalty card for discounts, use coupons. Processed foods waste money; basics like meat, dairy, frozen vegetables, bananas, potatoes and so forth are pretty cheap. Cooking from scratch and following sales/specials/what's in season is the best way to save money.0
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I've found that learning how to freeze leftovers helps a lot. The problem in my house was waste. I've found that rice casseroles and soups freeze well. Below are a couple recipes I make then freeze often. I usually freeze 2-4 servings which is then my lunch for work or a quick meal for me if my family wants to eat something I don't like fast food. I also buy frozen veggies instead of fresh usually so that if I don't get to them right away they aren't wasted. Another thing that has helped me is a coupon/budget page on Facebook for my city. The lady who runs it posts all the best deals around town so I know each week which store has different things on sale. I put the link to her page below but there's probably one near you.
Enchilada Rice
http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/17/cheesy-enchilada-rice-skillet/
Corn & Potato Chowder
http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/12/slow-cooker-potato-corn-chowder/
freezer meals:
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-freezable-recipes
San Antonio Budget Examiner:
http://spendlessshopmore.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SABudgetGrocery?ref=br_tf
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Frozen and canned product. Seriously. Plus lentils, beans, and rice are crazy cheap and a great base for spectacular dishes. My husband swears by frozen turkey burgers as a cheap protein (the ones from costco are 100% ground turkey, no other ingredients). Eggs are also very cheap.0
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**Buy meats when they are on sale and freeze. I can find boneless skinless chicken breast fairly often on sale for $1.99 a pound (I live in Texas).
**Buy your produce at Aldi if you have one near. I bought grape tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, baby carrots, peppers, spinach, and romaine all for less than $10 last week. It's enough fresh salad veggies to last my family of 5 a week. I also bought 2 pineapples, bag of grapes, 4 apples, bunch of bananas, carton of blackberries, and 2 grapefruit for about $12.
**Use rice, pasta, beans, and potatoes to fill out your meals. Rice and pasta are incredibly cheap and aren't really that calorie heavy per serving for as filling and satisfying as they are, it's the sauces that people put on top that are usually calorie filled so go easy on those. Beans are a great source of fiber and protein. Potatoes are so yummy, versatile, have tons of nutrients, and are ridiculously cheap. If you've never had baked sweet potato fries you are missing out!
**Learn to cook and meal plan if you don't already. Eating out can cause you to blow through your budget really quickly. Planning your meals out ahead of time and eating at home can make a huge difference. Check out http://www.budgetbytes.com/ for inspiration. Her food is amazing and she breaks down the cost per serving for you.0
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