Help!!! (food shopping issues)

ground turkey, wheat bread, greek yogurt (or normal yogurt), broccoli. be careful with the emergency dinners. lots of sodium...i think healthy choice has the lowest tho.

good luck!

I will tell you.,its a common misconception that eating healthy is more expensive. The inititioal large shop is pricy but after that its completely manageable.

Also
I suggest oatmeal,greek yogurt,and almonds.

ground turkey, wheat bread, greek yogurt (or normal yogurt), broccoli. be careful with the emergency dinners. lots of sodium...i think healthy choice has the lowest tho.

good luck!

Definitely ground Turkey and wheat bread is a must!

lentils are good

not sure what else as i find healthy foods cheaper than the ready prepared processed stuff i used to buy usually i buy carbs like rice pasta or potato i always have bag lentils in and then just fresh fruit veggies seasonal is usually cheaper and then just basics eggs milk cheese plan your meals for the week and stick to it that way you wont get tempted to buy things you then dont use

Eggs - delicious, low cal, and super cheap. Frozen veggies (cheaper than fresh and no worries about them going bad), I prefer asparagus, broccoli, and edamame. Tofu is cheap than meat and keeps longer. Onion and garlic are cheap, low cal ways to add flavor to just about anything. String cheese, especially Sargento's Light String Cheese, it's 50 calories and a cheap, tasty snack. Canned beans are good, low cal popsicles as a treat (Flav-or-ice are super cheap and delicious). Bananas, carrots and other cheap fruits/veggies are always good. As a 23 year old, I know the shopping on a budget dilemma!

best of luck!

Feeding a family of four is not an easy challenge sometimes when the paycheck just doesn't stretch to the 2 weeks it's supposed to...when I get into the overdraft, I start thinking about making a huge pot of homemade chicken soup [which you can freeze in portions].

FF chicken stock
carrots - diced
celery - diced
onion [dice and fry it in water first, until it's slightly caramelized]
cheapest cuts of chicken I can find [cook it and dice it]
handful of either rice or barley
salt & pepper
whatever else you like in your soup...

serve with a nice salad

Hollycat
:flowerforyou:

Just a couple of things in addition to what everyone else said: Whole chickens are cheaper and you can use the carcass to make your own broths and soups. Dried beans are far cheaper than canned. They may take longer to cook, but you also control the sodium in them. And are easier to do if you have a crockpot. And you listed Boca burgers, which are kind of spendy. Look around for veggie burger recipes and you can make your own!

oatmeal, eggs, in season fruits and veggies (cheaper that way), yogurt, sweet potatoes, brown rice.

These plus what you have on your list should be good and these things are all pretty cheap.

Fresh produce is actually inexpensive if you don't go organic. I buy organic food because I don't go stingy when it comes to my health, so I can't help you there.

But as another poster said, dried beans are a good choice if you have a chance to soak them. You can try to buy the produce that's on sale for that week. Brown rice is another thing you can buy in bulk inexpensively. When there is something on sale, for example, chicken, I stock up on that and buy way more than I need so I don't have to buy it another week.

One of the easy ways to let your money go down the drain is to have waste--food that goes bad before you can eat it. Therefore, I'd recommend shopping at least once weekly if the grocery store is convenient to your house.

A lot of grocery stores have email mailing lists now where they send you coupons. This is a great way to find out what has just come out on sale, and it saves paper and you getting junk mail coupons. That way you only print out the coupons you really want.

Some grocery stores offer fuel incentives. Spend so much on food, get so much per gallon off of gas. So even if you go over on your food budget, you save money in another sector of your life.

Buy food from local farmer's markets or join a CSA. You can get good, organic, fresh food for a much more reasonable price than you can at the grocery store. I pay $30-40 a week and get tons of great fruit and vegetables from my local CSA. Since I don't eat red meat, there isn't much I have to buy at conventional grocery stores.

Also, the more things you make from scratch, the more money you save. If you have a bread maker, you can very easily and cheaply bake a large bread loaf that will last you for awhile. Buy it in the store, and you'll be paying much more. Same with soup. Buy a can of soup at the store, expect to pay at least $2. Make soup at home and you can have 10 servings for that price, and it will be lower in sodium too.

Avoid those salad bar and premade food areas in the grocery store that are there for convenience. The more convenient the meal, the more money you will pay for it. Grocery stores make the bulk of their profits from those premade salads and entrees. But it sounds like you don't have a lot of time for cooking things from scratch...in that case, I'd recommend soups, salads, and crockpot dinners in larger servings, at least until you can get back on your feet financially.

To save money, I make large meals. I cook for just my husband and I, but instead of making just 2 servings of dinner and having to make something all new for lunch the next day, I make several servings of the good stuff we eat for dinner, and then I have something very quick and easy leftover to pack in my husband's lunch the next day. It's convenient for me too. Just stock up on tupperware!

Personally i believe that shopping in the aisles is what costs the most. If you stick to the outer ailes (produce, dairy, meat) you can get all your essentials and most of the time those things arent processed foods. Plus way less temptations.

Next trip will be easier since you've already gotten some things and you've got a better idea of costs. I did want to point out one thing about chicken. Personally, I only buy skinless boneless breasts, but thats just a personal thing. I don't eat meat on bones! Any chicken you buy, please check the labels! Lots of them have so much added water(injected) it's a major shock when you cook it! Some of them can be as much as 15% added water! Usually when I buy the stores fresh packaged, they only have 1-3%.

It's SO hard to buy healthy food on a budget...and definitely if you want it quick to prepare.

Yesterday I went to the store and spent 25 dollars.

I bought:
- 5lbs of fresh strawberries
- 4 kiwis
- a bag of red seedless grapes
- skinless boneless chickenbreasts (there was like 10 huge pieces in the pack)
- 5 skinless chicken legs
- a bag of salad
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 green peppers
- green beans

and i have NO idea how I got all of that for 25 dollars! lol I was very proud so I thought I'd share lol

Then as soon as I got home I prepared all the fruit in a bowl and prepared the chicken to cook that way I wouldn't have to worry about doing it later.

see the youtube in my sig. These guys beat that.