buying on a budget

kimmaurey wrote: »

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.

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

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.

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.

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!!

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.

kimmaurey wrote: »

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.

kimmaurey wrote: »

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??

Rice, lentils and frozen veggies are as cheap as dirt.

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.

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.

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).

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

**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.