Stay at home Mom on a budget...

Well, you can eat portions of what they eat, or similar versions. Like when my family has beef tacos I make myself a burrito with lots of veggies and beans. It's similar but a little lower calorie. I'll skip cheese or sour cream sometimes to bring the count down. I eat little diet food, other than fruits and veggies, so I'm not sure what you guys consider diet food.

mzconceptiin86 wrote: »

I have really been having a hard time eating the right kinds of food. I know what I am supposed to be eating. Lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats. However I find myself trying to eat smaller portions of the "normal" food the rest of my family prefers. We don't have alot of money and my significant other tells me diet foods are expensive. Especially when I'm the only person eating them. I don't feel like I get a lot of support from anyone and its discouraging. I have struggled with my weight my entire life and I'm sure some of you can relate to that. I am at stay at home mother, I have no job, and basically no social life. For me weight loss is one of the few goals I have. I want to accomplish something, and I have all the time in the world to do it. Feeling alone!!

Change your thinking about the "supposed to."
Cook foods that are inexpensive and that can fit into your plan . . . for example bean dishes (chili and tacos).
Two good sources:
http://www.budgetbytes.com/
http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/category/eat/recipes/soups-stews/

"on a budget?" The good news is that all you have to do to lose weight is eat less than you're currently eating, which is actually good news when you're on a budget because buying less food = spending less money

Seriously, all it takes is smaller portions of what you already eat. No special "diet food" required.

Edited to add punctuation so it would make a little sense

We are a family of 6 and on a tight budget too. I just eat less which means I save money by NOT buying foods that my family doesn't need like biscuits, chips and other snack foods.

Look up Fruits & Veggies - More Matters. It's geared towards families with kids with loads of kid friendly recipes. Please don't buy expensive 'diet food'. Mayo Clinic website has a great popsicle recipe. If you don't buy cookies, candy, and other overly sweet, salty, or greasy food, you might have money for fruits and vegetables, lean meats, low fat dairy, whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. Also, get the kids involved in family exercise and in growing a square foot or even patio garden. Have a discussion with your SO.

"Diet food" is a marketing campaign.

Eat what they eat, just stay within your calories (using a scale to measure things). The cheapest things (per calorie) that I personally buy are peanut butter, butter, olive oil, cheddar cheese, mixed nuts <- I eat a lot of these foods to keep my overall food budget low. This allows me to "splurge" on veggies and now and then on boutique spices (just bought some smoked fleur de sel) to keep the bland broccoli or whatever interesting enough to eat. Other dirt cheap foods (in my region) are rice, potatoes, lentils and TVP. Those can easily be considered "normal" foods and fit in a calorie deficit if you're weighing them.

You really don't need special food.

I do spend a bit on protein bars/powder because I prioritize protein in my eating and it works for me.

So my usual breakfast is a protein bar, string cheese and often some raw almonds.

Lunch is usually a frozen dinner of some kind (avg. maybe $2.50?) or a sandwich, which is what I had today.

2 slices of bread ($2 a loaf)
1 tbsp of mayo (maybe $2 for the container)
around 3 oz. of deli meat ($7.50 a pound because I splurge on good deli meat...$1.40ish)
some iceberg lettuce ($1ish a head)
tomato slices ($1 a pound right now)

Pretty sure lunch came in at about $2.

Store brand Greek yogurt is usually under $1. Frozen veggies often available for $1 a bag. Popcorn can be really inexpensive if you pop it yourself.

And, like other have mentioned, use a food scale and just adjust your portions; maybe more veggies and less starch.

2011rocket3touring wrote: »

Find a farmers market. They sell veggies super cheap compared to a supermarket.

This depends on the farmer's market. Our big farmer's market is often no cheaper than the grocery store.

There are inexpensive and expensive choices within each food group:

Veggies - asparagus and bell peppers = expensive
Broccoli and cabbage = inexpensive

Fruit - kiwis and mangos = expensive
Apples and bananas = inexpensive

For both fruit and veg - try to focus on what is in season, it will be cheaper. Example - I picked up fresh green beans for $0.99/lb today.... A couple weeks ago they were around $3/per lb and looked sad. Right now I'm buying fresh berries most every week; in the winter I only get frozen berries, if I buy them at all. In the fall my focus is on apples and winter squash varieties.

Grains - grains tend to be inexpensive as a general rule, but buying in bulk (and not purchasing boxed items that come with seasoning packets and such - portion and season the bulk grains yourself) is a great way to save here

Meats - buying larger cuts of meat and doing some of your own butchering can be a huge cost savings; also there are some pretty cheap protein sources that come to mind - canned tuna and eggs for example.

Dairy - where I live whole milk and skim milk are the same price (I opt for whole because I too have young children and I don't drink milk very often myself), but natural cheeses do tend to be more expensive than low fat processed cheese - the difference is the flavor, lol. Buying natural cheese on sale, in bulk, and freezing some can help

You can of course continue eating what you were eating, just in smaller amounts. But eating "healthy" need not be super expensive. Plan your dinners, buy what's on sale (pick up store circulars if you don't already get them in the mail and base your meals on the items that are at deepest discount), buy in bulk and freeze what you can, and shop seasonally. When you buy less "junk" foods, you will find lots of room in the budget for nutritious food. I'm a sahm of four kids myself, so I understand the delimma. As for "treats" for the kids - I check out the circulars and only buy one or two "junk" items that happen to be on sale, assuming I can afford it (this week there was a heck of a deal on Klondike bars... Lucky kids ).

Dnarules wrote: »

2011rocket3touring wrote: »

Find a farmers market. They sell veggies super cheap compared to a supermarket.

This depends on the farmer's market. Our big farmer's market is often no cheaper than the grocery store.

Ours can often be wayyy more expensive at the farmers market too!

My cure for the stay at home mom with "no job, no life" was to start a cooperative playgroup. We started with a group of moms who were in the same position and met once a week at each others homes, or a park in nice weather, with our kids. This was awesome. When winter came around we approached a local community center and asked for free space twice a week. We "stocked' our play group from garage sales etc and met twice a week for years.

Honestly it saved my sanity having the group twice a week. I made friends for a life time and it cost me nothing. Plus my kids really benefitted from the story time, craft time and friendships.

I know the food and budget are hard. But frankly I would just buy frozen veg and add a big portion of it to meals. Kids need to see parents enjoying healthy food too.

Shop in Aldi! It's cheaper than anywhere else for fresh produce and spices etc. And buy frozen fruit/veg. That way you can eat a little at a time without it spoiling. We eat a lot of frozen blueberries in our house (my kids eat them frozen). They're cheap and available all year round.
Likewise you could cook a big pot of bean stew or lentil soup for yourself and freeze it in individual portions. Beans and lentils are the cheapest thing you can buy (I can get a huge bag for 75 cents) so I don't agree 'diet food' is expensive.

You can also make the whole family try to eat healthy with you as well? If you do that it does give you some support because it shows that your making their lives healthier in the long run . It might be rough at first but I promise it will work out