Shopping on an extreme budget

Are you based in London? If so, I know a place called Bumblebee in Chalk Farm where you can buy things like beans, nuts and veggie mince by weight, which I think is cheaper than buying the tinned stuff from the supermarket, although it takes much longer to cook with dried stuff, especially beans. I've been a veggie student for a while now, and I make veggie chilli a lot - just need cheap tinned tomatoes, cheap kidney beans (Sainsbury's basics of these are great), a stack of spices, peppers, and some veggie mince (whatever's on offer). It's very yummy in wraps with some low fat yoghurt (again, Sainsbury's basics low fat plain yoghurt, or Aldi's one is fine!)

...and cook meals like soups and stews which are low in calorie and last you for a few days...

Meal planning can make a huge difference in your weekly food budget. Plan a week worth of meals using similar ingredients- if chicken breast is on sale that week, plan for mostly chicken breast based meals. In general it's cheaper to buy the ingredients to cook a meal than it is to buy a prepared meal. $25 a week will be a challenge to stick to but it CAN be done. Your freezer will become your new BFF as you can cook a meal, portion it out, and freeze whatever you don't eat in meal sized containers.

$100 a month? Meaning $25 dollars a week?

I guess that is doable, but I'm not sure you'll get all your proper nutrition.

Here are some recommendations:
1.) Shop Online Coupons - There are lots of free sites
2.) Buy the Sunday paper - More coupons
a.) Pay attention to the circulars. You may have to go to multiple stores, but you'll save

Things to buy:
Frozen Chicken
Frozen Veggies (I prefer Green Giant Steamers)
Brown Rice (In Bulk) - Name brand doesnt matter, brown rice is brown rice
Cous-cous
Beans and/or lentils

DRINK LOTS OF WATER....The more frozen stuff you buy, the more sodium...Counter act it as much as possible by drinking lots of water...I should say, the more store bought frozen stuff...

budgetbytes.com - great recipes and they are broken down by cost.

Well, the good news is that produce is cheap! The bad news is that it is really hard to eat it all before it rots. Do you have any friends in a similar situation? It can be tricky to split bills with friends, but if you can find a healthy eating partner, it is cheaper and easier to divvy up lettuce, vegis, bags of fruit, grapes, etc... And, you can buy basics in bulk (also cheaper) and split those down the middle. Just like rent is cheaper when you are sharing with roomates then when flying solo. I am blessed to have a sister I get along with really well. For awhile I was just out of college starting my first job and she was working her way through vet school. We got away with a really cheap grocery bill by buying toilet paper, paper towels, and some cleaning supplies in bulk, as well as produce and meat, and splitting the cost and groceries down the middle.

Might check if you have a bountiful basket in your area, its where you pay $15 for a huge basketful full of fruits and vegis lasts our family of 6 almost all week...and its all year long and you get whats in season at the time.

I'm on the same kind of restraint for the next few months and most of what I eat is fresh which is often even harder to find deals but I agree with the last post. Find coupons and buy weekly or if possibly daily. For me, I know If I have $25 for the week, I buy veggies on sale like this week i bought a butternut squash, acorn squash, cabbage and 1 sweet potato. I added some things I had on hand (onion, celery, nutmeg, cinnamon, slat and pepper). This made a delicious THICK veggie soup/stew which made 8.5 servings. I coupled it with some salad greens on sale and some fresh fruit and I had VERY filling and delicious meal that will last into next week easily and I spent no more than $16. Throw in some turkey meatballs or beans and you increase your servings and portions.

Also, you can freeze it for individualized portions. Check out the Clean Eating Magazine web site. They have great ideas for healthy nutritious meals on a tight budget. Or just Google eating healthy on a tight budget and see what comes up. If you pick up 1 idea from each site you check out, you will be well on your way to having a slim waist and a fat wallet!

Good luck to you!

bumpy )

WOW.. thanks for the e-mealz.com link! How awesome is that?!!!

That's about what I spend per month, and I can get away with less if I have to (Ok, I now have stores in the pantry). One thing I do is look at the 'reduced' section in the local green grocer. Sure things are starting to look a bit sad, but you can get really cheap veges there. Two capsicum with the yuckky bits cut off? 50c. I know I'm not going to eat it all today, so I dice and freeze everything that day. Same applies in the supermarket. A 200 or whatever gram punnet of sliced mushrooms can be half the original price. They also get frozen.

Obviously it helps if you have a whopping great freezer but at the end of the day, I have stocks of 'fresh' veges waiting for me to turn into lasagna, soup, stews, etc.