How to lose weight on a budget??

I understand the budget deal. I have a family of four also. I started out mine drinking more water and leaving soft drinks alone and limiting tea to one a day. which is hard because i love tea and mountain dew. then i cut out sweets except maybe once a week. then i eat breakfast and walk and eat small lunch a sandwich and walk and supper i either skip it or eat a bowl of ceral. I am still trying to limit what i eat as far as portions size and a little a long. but it is working. I started out 160 and i weigh 145 now. its slow but easier for me to do slower than to scare my system to deaf. Weekends are harder for me but I am still trying. Cuttting back on portions and etc. helps and exercise and staying active to burn off calories helps alot. and i also love mac and cheese. that is another big weakness for me. and i use lowfat milk and whole wheat bread. i have a few recipes on my page. like i use flour tortilla wraps for breakfast with sausage and egg. and i limit myself to one. But it is a small one. its a step by step process for me. I learn new recipes and some i come up with myself and some i find. but sometimes i eat a bigger lunch and light supper or and sometimes small lunch and bigger supper. but always eat by certain time so i will not eat and then go to bed. worst thing to do.

There are 4 adults, 3 children and 2 dogs in my house and I do the shopping for $150 per week and feed everyone with that amount of money. How??? Home cooking!

I know you said you don't cook, but honestly...start experimenting. You might enjoy it. As for meat - you CAN work ground beef into your diet - just watch portions - it's higher in fat/calories than other options, but workable.

One of my favorite go-to cheap meals is pasta and meatballs. I can make dinner for all 7 of us for under $10. I make my own sauce too - my grandmother's recipe - old world Italian recipe so it's just fantastic. Yummy!

Wow, some great suggestions up above! Since you mentioned you have some freezer space, here are some things we do with our freezer....

If you have access to stores like a walmart super center, super target, stater brothers, winco, or fresh & easy, watch their sales ads - (some of those don't advertise prices, so you just have to keep an eye on what you need and go to the store that's the best choice)

When meat is on sale, we buy it - london broil for $2 per pound? buy 10 lbs - some of it, ask if they'll slice to 1/2" or 3/4", and then cut them down when you get home, and lay them flat in gallon ziplocks - mark the date and the cut, so you know how and when to cook it..... use some, freeze some. stuff that's not sliced thin, cube for beef stew (perfect crockpot meal), cut into strips for stir-fry (meat goes pretty far this way, toss in lots of frozen veggies and serve over brown rice!), etc.

Ground beef or ground turkey on sale? Buy tons..... chop onions (if your family likes onions like we do, we do a 1 lb meat to one whole onion ratio..... again, stretches and flavors the meat), put them in while you're browning the meat, and then drain well and divide into family-size servings, put in ziplocks, write dates/amounts on them....... can use sausage the same way. For ground beef/turkey, we use these pre-cooked packets for hamburger helper, tacos, chili, spaghetti, burritos, scrambled eggs, etc. With the sausage, you can make spaghetti, gumbo, or biscuits and gravy (though that's not exactly "healthy"!)

Chicken on sale? We get the frozen boneless, skinless varieties and toss bags in our freezer too - the tenderloins (when cheap) make great "quick" meals as they're small enough to cook quickly from frozen..... if it's a whole chicken, or "half-breasts with ribs attached" at $0.99 per lb, we'll buy several or tons.... whole chickens are easy to bake, and the half-breasts are a god-send...... bake a ton of them in the oven with a cube or two of boullion and some herbs on top, as many as you can/want to cook. Save the broth! Let them cool, pull the skin/bones off, and then chop the meat into 1" cubes, put a family size serving into ziplock freezer bags, pour a little of the broth into each bag, label, and freeze flat..... these we use for enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken tacos, chicken helper, chicken soup (ramen noodles, 1/2 the seasoning, tons of frozen veggies, and some chicken.... takes all of 20 minutes to make), and also thaw and drain the broth and make chicken salad (stretch it with shredded carrots, chopped celery, chopped onion, etc and make it with light or low-fat mayo)....

Veggies on sale? Most freeze - our favorites to freeze are chopped onions, bell pepper and onion combos (perfect for stir fry, homemade pizzas, or to toss in crock-pot spaghetti, etc), squash, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower.... just watch, because sometimes it's cheaper to get the already-frozen-in-a-bag stuff. :laugh:

Some of that stuff takes time, but it also "saves" time later, as you've done the prepwork for several meals at once.... sure makes for a quick school/work night meal when the meat is already cooked, and when it's frozen flat, it thaws quite quickly, either the night before or under cool water!

Good luck! And for reference, we have a family of 5 (2 teens in that mix) and typically spend about $80 a week on groceries..... your budget is just fine! You can definitely make it work and still do it the healthy way! :flowerforyou: