I can't afford to buy the right food...
Replies
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And I do agree with what many have posted. It sounds like OP is choosing convenience over content.
When you travel outside your village, perhaps spend that two dollars (whatever the equivalent is where you are) or whatever on some wholesome foods that will end up leaving your family feeling more filled.
Frozen veggies don't taste as good cause they're watered down? Grab some basic spices. You can make
Let's say you had that pizza 6 days a week. That's $12. For twelve bucks, you can get some meats, grains, and veggies.0 -
Laurend224 wrote: »Do you have an Aldi nearby? They always have the cheapest prices in my area.
This. I can buy all the foods I need for about $25/week per person!0 -
Once upon a time, I had a grocery budget of $20 a month. I lived off of cream of rice and grits. Sometimes I bought eggs, I bought 2 bottles of gatorade a week, and once a week Id get one of the 50c burgers from Wendy's. Not healthy, but I was never hungry...cream of wheat and grits and crazy filling lol
Now that I actually have some money and up to a food budget of $40 a month (LOL I jest) Actually, I was spending upwards of $400-500/mth in fast food and packaged foods for kiddo and I..shes a teen and always hungry..Im gluttonous and always want more pie.
Once I put a self imposed ban on fast food and any packaged foods, I was spending about $200 a month on groceries and eating out (which is rare...like once a month I go to the Jamaican restaurant to buy a Sunday dinner. Thats it.)
Because of my early days of being too poor to eat, I still keep a stock of..I'm "too poor to eat" foods which through the years Ive had to made use of... rice, beans (not in a can...in a bag that I have to actually soak and cook. I dont eat canned foods except tuna) pasta, frozen vegetables, flour, corn meal and yes..I still keep grits and Ive replaced cream of wheat with oatmeal, and seasonings. So all I have to buy fresh are eggs and milk.
Literally, just by combining those foods, kiddo and I can eat well for a good two weeks off of what is about $25 of food. Then, I can still afford to buy a bag of apples, and fresh veges that are in season and on sale to add to our meals. If I cant afford it, then we make do with the frozen veggies. We tend to go meatless most meals when Im broke.
Lately, I buy a whole chicken (.99c a lb here in Miami) cut it up myself, make broth from the bones, and freeze it up in individual servings. When meat goes on sale (whatever it is, I never spend more than $4/lb for red meat or $3/lb for pork. Sales all the way), I buy and package it up to freeze.
Granted..I had a really tough time of it when I was younger and never want to go back to eating grits all day every day, so I have a bit of that "depression era" mentality in case I cant afford to buy food for 6 months kind of a deal lol but I dont even have an extra freezer or a lot of cubbard space...My apt is slightly larger than an RV so its not like I shop at costco or anything.
Giving up food isnt an option, so when money is tight...I cook. No packaged foods, no convenience foods, no fast foods. Not only do they take up too much space per meal, they are far more expensive per meal too..pre-made foods are a luxury I cant afford when Im broke. And honestly? Homemade tastes SOOO much better!0 -
hollyrayburn wrote: »And I do agree with what many have posted. It sounds like OP is choosing convenience over content.
When you travel outside your village, perhaps spend that two dollars (whatever the equivalent is where you are) or whatever on some wholesome foods that will end up leaving your family feeling more filled.
Frozen veggies don't taste as good cause they're watered down? Grab some basic spices. You can make
Let's say you had that pizza 6 days a week. That's $12. For twelve bucks, you can get some meats, grains, and veggies.
Uhhh, what? To feed a family you'll be lucky to get meat for $12, and no way that would last a week. I seriously need to find out where you people shop, because other than scraps, I don't see any good meat in stores for under $5 a pound, and good luck feeding a family of 4 or 5 with only a pound of meat for a week...0 -
jodi_fletch wrote: »I'm in a financial crisis at the moment. I have two children and a partner and it's easier for me to grab a cheap pizza or frozen fish fingers.....
Rice + lentils + frozen vegetables.
Super cheap (way cheaper than what you're buying!), super nutritious, and extremely quick and easy to make.
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tigersword wrote: »
Uhhh, what? To feed a family you'll be lucky to get meat for $12, and no way that would last a week. I seriously need to find out where you people shop, because other than scraps, I don't see any good meat in stores for under $5 a pound, and good luck feeding a family of 4 or 5 with only a pound of meat for a week...
Hrmm..I suppose, like if you only eat organic grass fed then yeah, it will have to be that expensive..or maybe if you live somewhere where all the meat is imported, then finding anything for less than $5/lb would be pretty difficult. But othewise, there are meats that cost less, plus grocery stores have sales on meat as well...at least around me (in Miami) they do.
I notice also, that how its packaged makes a huge difference. Like, I can buy prepacked cuts of chicken for $3lb or I can buy a whole chicken for 99c/lb and cut it up myself. Basically...Im paying for the convenience of them cutting it up for me, instead of doing it myself. Also, buying a roast is less expensive than cuts for grilling. Same thing..more work/less convenient but more savings in the end.
Also, a serving size is something like 3oz of meat... To serve a family of 4 for a week if they eat meat every night for dinner, is like 84oz or 10.5lbs. That would come up to $10.40 a week. Just checked my local paper...chuck roast on sale for 3.99/lb. That would come to $41.90. If I had to feed that many people, we'd be eating a lot of chicken lol
But then, honestly...it would still be a lot less...because we dont eat meat every single night, and also, even when we do its not a lot. Often I stretch it through taking one serving, shredding the chicken (or pork, or beef) and serving it in a pasta dish or as a side dish or whatever. Not for financial savings though..we just dont eat tons of meat in our home...I love carbs and kiddo loves veggies. Neither one of us care that much about meat.
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tigersword wrote: »hollyrayburn wrote: »And I do agree with what many have posted. It sounds like OP is choosing convenience over content.
When you travel outside your village, perhaps spend that two dollars (whatever the equivalent is where you are) or whatever on some wholesome foods that will end up leaving your family feeling more filled.
Frozen veggies don't taste as good cause they're watered down? Grab some basic spices. You can make
Let's say you had that pizza 6 days a week. That's $12. For twelve bucks, you can get some meats, grains, and veggies.
Uhhh, what? To feed a family you'll be lucky to get meat for $12, and no way that would last a week. I seriously need to find out where you people shop, because other than scraps, I don't see any good meat in stores for under $5 a pound, and good luck feeding a family of 4 or 5 with only a pound of meat for a week...
I mostly buy meat that i can take a lb of, like ground beef, and use for the whole family (tacos, casserole, etc.). Whole chickens are extremely cheap, i can get a whole chicken for $5 here and feed my family of 4 for 4 days..soups, casseroles, pasta dishes.
Cheaper cuts of meat cook well in slow cookers, too. I do that a lot. I make all my own chicken broth from the carcass of a whole chicken in the slow cooker with some spices, salt, and leftover veggie scraps that I've frozen for that exact purpose (carrot and potato peels, ends of onions, etc.)
I'm typically broke myself, and i still feed 2 pre-teen boys, a husband who eats anything and everything, and myself quite cheaply.0 -
Eat your portion or less and add in frozen or canned vegetables if you cant afford fresh. You can usually get a good deal if you buy generic.0
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Like if we have fish sticks one night we will have peas with it.0
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I also like making chili with lots of veggies and it's cheap!0
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Blueseraphchaos wrote: »tigersword wrote: »hollyrayburn wrote: »And I do agree with what many have posted. It sounds like OP is choosing convenience over content.
When you travel outside your village, perhaps spend that two dollars (whatever the equivalent is where you are) or whatever on some wholesome foods that will end up leaving your family feeling more filled.
Frozen veggies don't taste as good cause they're watered down? Grab some basic spices. You can make
Let's say you had that pizza 6 days a week. That's $12. For twelve bucks, you can get some meats, grains, and veggies.
Uhhh, what? To feed a family you'll be lucky to get meat for $12, and no way that would last a week. I seriously need to find out where you people shop, because other than scraps, I don't see any good meat in stores for under $5 a pound, and good luck feeding a family of 4 or 5 with only a pound of meat for a week...
I mostly buy meat that i can take a lb of, like ground beef, and use for the whole family (tacos, casserole, etc.). Whole chickens are extremely cheap, i can get a whole chicken for $5 here and feed my family of 4 for 4 days..soups, casseroles, pasta dishes.
Cheaper cuts of meat cook well in slow cookers, too. I do that a lot. I make all my own chicken broth from the carcass of a whole chicken in the slow cooker with some spices, salt, and leftover veggie scraps that I've frozen for that exact purpose (carrot and potato peels, ends of onions, etc.)
I'm typically broke myself, and i still feed 2 pre-teen boys, a husband who eats anything and everything, and myself quite cheaply.
Reallly? A whole chicken at mine is for 2 people over 2 days but thats generally a roast type dinner.
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Hi,
I would suggest getting a slow cooker, if you don't already have one. They're very cheap in the supermarkets in the UK, I got a small one (not enough for a family of 4) for 10£ in Tescos. You can probably get a big enough one for 20£. And if public transport is a problem, you can get cheap ones off amazon.
There are loads of hearty, healthy, filling and cheap recipes all over the internet. With a slow cooker, you can buy the cheaper 'tough' cuts of meat and as you cook them for ... ever they become delicious ! I had ox tail stew over the weekend, it was then turned into a kind of cottage pie (just added more veg). Really tasty !
Honestly, I find it's one of the cheapest ways to cook as you can buy in bulk, cook and freeze. You can take the toughest piece of meat and make it tender and juicy.
AND it requires little to no cooking skills to make something tasty
One other thing you can do is look up Jamie's (Oliver) Cheap Meals, he has good ideas.
You can definitely do this, it just requires a little bit of planning. You'll feel better, so will your kids, and you'll be proud of what you can achieve in these hard times.0 -
Thats eating half a chicken in two days per person!!! Yeah, a chicken for two (kiddo and me..shes 18) lasts us way longer than that. Like Blue...I will use that one chicken for at least 3 or 4 meals, which ends up being more since we have the leftovers for lunch too.
I think the thing here is portion sizes...0 -
Yeah, if i were to use it as a roast, it wouldn't last nearly as long. I make a casserole, chicken noodle soup (and that usually lasts for 2 days, honestly), chicken tacos, and a pasta dish with chicken, for example. I stretch meat out as much as possible because it's typically much more expensive than anything else i can buy.
I buy tofu quite a bit, as well. Tofu + frozen veggies + spices and soy sauce = great stir fry0 -
Pasta is super cheap, and the Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta has half a serving of vegetables per serving. I can get it on sale for 88 cents a box in my area. Tomato sauce is also fairly cheap.
Oatmeal is another healthy and cheap item. You can top it with frozen fruit, which is cheaper than fresh fruit. Or bananas. Bananas are really cheap (I can get 7 for a little over a dollar, and I live in an expensive area).
Get frozen vegetables instead of fresh vegetables; they are much cheaper than fresh vegetables due to the smaller percentage of spoilage, and since they are flash-frozen they retain all the nutrients of fresh vegetables. Just get the plain ones, not the ones with sauces and so on. Frozen kale is probably the best because it has the most nutrients. You can also get medleys for stir-frys and so on.
Potatoes are pretty cheap from what I remember (haven't bought potatoes in a long time seeing as I have no stove). Squash is also pretty cheap in fall, about $1 per squash that makes about 4 servings.
As other people have said, lentils, rice, pearl barley, beans, split peas. Spices are your friends here, they are a little pricey at the outset but they last a long time and will make things way more appetizing (also, hot sauce). I would recommend sage and lemon juice for rice. Lentil soup is a great meal...my mom's recipe is made from lentils, onions, frozen spinach, carrots, Parmesan cheese on top.0 -
Thats eating half a chicken in two days per person!!! Yeah, a chicken for two (kiddo and me..shes 18) lasts us way longer than that. Like Blue...I will use that one chicken for at least 3 or 4 meals, which ends up being more since we have the leftovers for lunch too.
I think the thing here is portion sizes...
Sometimes people are just like that though...my fiance could eat an entire chicken by himself in one sitting tbh. Back when we had a stove I always found it annoying to buy meat because he would eat everything on the first day and there'd be no leftovers.
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Apply for SNAP/WIC/EBT.0
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From the prices of food I've read here, you guys are pretty lucky to have such cheap food! I'm in Australia, and just a few things I bought this week:
1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
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Get government assistance if you can. Spices are not expensive in the long run. I'm sorry you think unsalted frozen vegetables taste bad. Maybe you're just not thinking hard enough. Reminds me of that large woman with 3 kids in the UK whose house is jam packed full of sweets and pre-packaged food on the UKs dime because she doesn't know how to cook, and says that she wouldn't be fat if the UK had just given her more assistance to buy fresh food and give her a gym membership. Since when does a pack of Twinkies or 2 for $5 pizzas ever cost less than the serving price of noodles, tuna and vegetables?0
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Maybe buy yourself one of those rolling carts that are also collapsible. You can carry a lot of groceries in those.jodi_fletch wrote: »I think the problem is I live in a little village and rely on public transport
ive done the steamed veg and stuff and I love fruit and pasta I think the answer to my problems is to bulk by the beans and pasta stuff then I can keep it for weeks at a time0 -
There's this totally incredible website called Budget Bytes that lists very good and wholesome meals at totally affordable prices. It breaks down the cost for the meal and per portion, some of which are as low as pennies per serving of food.
My go-to healthy foods are the same as those listed here, but I don't cook anything that's not from Budget Bytes these days--and it's saving me a ton of money!0 -
1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.0 -
Yep! Our prices are ridiculous compared to other countries
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1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.
A US dollar is only worth 78 cents to 1 Australian dollar though.0 -
1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.
Yep, the cost of living in Australia is EXPENSIVE. We pay more for just about everything0 -
1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.
She's actually paying
$11.68/2.2 pounds chicken breast
$4.68 for a ~1 lb. bag of frozen vegetables
~3.00 for a half gallon of milk
$10.13 for a whole roast chicken
$3.12 for 2.2 pounds of bananas
Crazy that even the stuff that should be domestic is high. I guess the producers have to share the pain too.0 -
Yep! Our prices are ridiculous compared to other countriesobscuremusicreference wrote: »1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.
She's actually paying
$11.68/2.2 pounds chicken breast
$4.68 for a ~1 lb. bag of frozen vegetables
~3.00 for a half gallon of milk
$10.13 for a whole roast chicken
$3.12 for 2.2 pounds of bananas
Crazy that even the stuff that should be domestic is high. I guess the producers have to share the pain too.
Thanks for that. I was in the middle of working out the translations. My brains hurting lol
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1kg chicken breast== $15
500g frozen veggies== $6
2L carton milk== $4
a whole roast chicken== $13
1kg bananas==$4
wow I pay 1.99 a lb. for boneless chicken breast, a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies is usually .99 a gallon of milk is usually 3.38 but was on sale for 2.50 last week bananas are .52 a lb.
What state are you in? We are in north carolina, and 2 lbs boneless chicken breast was $10.00. 1 lb ground beef is $5.00 or do.
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