What do you do when you can't afford healthier options?

Buy items specifically for you, and hide your portion. I know this sounds extreme, but when my mom lived with me, she almost ate me out of house and home! I had to hide things.

and yes, frozen meals are ok once in a while, but theyre so high in sodium.

Have you tried couponing? I am a big couponer and I am able to get things for my family at about a 70% savings. Now granted it is more expensive to eat healthier, but you can still cut corners with coupons. I save money on all our toiletries and other household things that I can have extra for our grocery bill.

I also have growing children, and one is handicapped and must be spoonfed pureed foods. Fixing a single meal for all of us can be a challenge.

I have learned to build a meal around a lean meat, chicken, or fish dish. Then I add a non-starchy vegetable dish that I like. I add two additional starches for the kids: rice/potatoes/noodles and bread/muffins with butter. I don't eat those.

We all enjoy the same meals -- I just don't eat the starches that they do. For Tabby, I take hers and pureed it in the food processor and add milk as needed for consistency.

Your kids need healthy foods, too. Despite the growing boy thing, they don't need chicken nuggets and pizza all the time -- they get that at school.

I use a crockpot to fix delicious main dishes that fit all my health criteria. I make large quantities and freeze what I don't use. I'm happy to share a couple of favorite recipes if you are out of ideas.

I say buy the brown rice! You don't have to cater to your boys, especially if they are teens. They can either learn to live with the brown rice, or make their own meal. There is nothing wrong with making yourself important at meals times. You are not a short order cook, what you need counts too. Kids will learn to eat the foods you are cooking.

I was listening to a podcast the other day on this topic actually! There is a neat website http://www.localharvest.org/ in which you can find farmers in your area that grow fresh foods and do a food box program weekly or bi-weekly for a cost that is lower than what you'd pay in grocery store. Also check out any local farmer's market sometimes they lower produce at the end of the day

Girl I been there and done that, Feed them heavy meals and they won't eat as much. What do I mean by that. High protein meals, keep them away from junk food it will only make them more hungrier. make chili, ,beans, feed them oatmeal, eggs not sugar boxed cereal that stuff is all crap and they will be back in the kitchen in less than 30 minutes. You do the shopping you have the power to change the whole family's eating habits not just your own. Make it a family thing and teach them moderation. I had one greedy one. that I would have to dish out food to or else they would eat 4 bananas instead of 1. The Power is in your hands. Make it a family thing kids need healthy meals also, less salt and sugar for the whole family.

Bake your meats that way your eating healthy meat too. I eat only white rice I look at the Asians who eat white rice and they are not fat like us who embrace the brown stuff. I don't put salt in my rice, I wash it several times like the Asians on youtube do. You can have a lot of healthy options on that amount of money you need to make a calendar and a list and budget and stick to it.

Some ideas:

Plan your time meticulously so that you build in time to cook your own stuff. Get up a few minutes earlier and throw together an egg-white and veggie scramble? heck, slap it in a tortilla, and sandwich thin, or a tortilla, and you're good to go on the road. Or stay up a bit later the night before and prep it - then nuke the eggs for half a minute the next morning and put them in whatever wrap you like.

If your boys are teenagers, surely they can put on a pot of rice for themselves and you can do the brown rice separately.

Use frozen vegetables and fruit. Seriously, they're just as (if not more) nutritious than the stuff you get at the grocery store that's been sitting for weeks already.

Skip your carb at night entirely sometimes, in favor of a carb-ish snack later in the evening, which eliminates the necessity of cooking two types of carbohydrates at all.

Whole-wheat pasta is great as long as you cook it for long enough.

Have you sat down and actually calculated how much it will cost for you to eat slightly different foods? I mean, if you're spending money on lean cuisines, etc. it might make more sense to create your own frozen meals on the weekends. And let's say you buy less expensive peanut butter for them and good stuff for you - well, your food is going to last a LOOOOT longer because you're the only one eating it. Go through the grocery flyers. Get obsessive, at least for long enough that you establish your new habits.

Use a crock pot. If you don't have one, it's worth the investment. A crock-pot pot roast can be made with potatoes and veggies, and you can pick out the potatoes and let your boys ransack them.

Hide your fresh fruit if you have to.

Try "golden potatoes" - which is mashed potatoes made with half white and half sweet potatoes.

Use your healthy leftovers whenever you need them, for snacks, for breakfast (even though it might be weird to eat dinner for breakfast).

If your work environment allows it, stash your stuff there.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

One thing I did was to stop buying anything in a box. Like mac n cheese. I still make them mac n cheese. I just use the kraft cheese melts instead. They still get it and I know what is in it.

I'm also constantly looking at recipe websites to find things that are healthy that I know they will eat. Or I make healthier versions. They've been eating this way for awhile now and no one has really noticed. My boys are younger so they don't eat a lot at the moment but I've got a 275 pound husband that's built like a linebacker and can eat enough for 5. When he moved in with the girls and I my food bill tripled lol. But I plan my meals by what is on sale and buy frozen veggies most of the time. I've also found planning out my meals and going to the store with a list in hand keeps me in my budget.

I also make a quick and easy pasta sauce that I freeze for those nights we need something quick.

I also buy snacks that are just for me. They know they are off limits and they have their own. But I've found that it's easier to make a lean protein and 2 veggies and me just eat a smaller portion. Our food bill hasn't really changed.

I know how you feel! My family (3 kids, hubs, mom) would eat up all of my stuff first so what I ended up doing was buying a mini fridge for my room. I know it sounds silly or extreme but I buy my fruits, veggies, yogurt, etc and then stash it in my fridge. They also get those kinds of things but go through it much faster than I do, especially since school is out for the summer.

My husband hates brown rice too, but I found he'll eat it if I mix it with white rice, or use it in bean burgers.

I saw someone else has a mom like mine! My mom made dinner and we either ate it or we made our own. She never made separate meals.

I suggest you get your sons in the kitchen with you so they can make their own foods if they don't like what you cook, OR get them to help make the healthy foods and maybe they'll like it. They're old enough to eat you out of house and home so they're old enough to cook.

My other suggestion...when we were in high school we had jobs, if we wanted snack foods that were junk we bought them with our own money/allowance. If they're old enough it might work for them.

do you do a weakly meal planner? that way you only buy what you need? i find it helps me to stick to my budget. I also buy lots of frozen veg as i found that id buy lots of fresh veg and due to lack of time etc couldnt cook them and had to chuck them. frozen is just as good and lasts you for soo much longer. batch cooking and freezing meals is a good idea as well. also say if you roast a whole chicken you could have it with some veg and potatoes and save some for fajitas the next day?

Even though you are healty eating there are still plenty of one pot meals you can make for your family (you can have a small portion and bulk up on salad or veg)

I am thinking things like:
chilli / bolognese (using turkey mince)
Stews / casseroles
Pasta bakes with tomatoe sauce and lots of fresh veggies

You can make these kind of things in bulk and freeze in portions.

(I come from a family of 4 kids!!)

all great ideas too. i find jacket potatoes (baked potatoes) wholesome and you can have them with baked beans, grated cheese, tuna and sweetcorn, chilli.

Great topic...I agree with the others...See what's on sale..Plan it out around that...Is there Aldi's or a Save-A-Lot near you? Aldi's has a really FANTASTIC Fit & Active selection. And a lot of their meats are lower in price...

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it