Eating right on a budget

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  • capriciousmoon
    capriciousmoon Posts: 1,263 Member
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    Sometimes you can get good deals on cereal and some other food items at Dollar Tree or Big Lots. Not sure if you have either of those near you. Big Lots here usually has good brand cereals like Kashi for only $2.
  • Kebby83
    Kebby83 Posts: 232 Member
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    I was going to say Aldi too. I just shopped there today and bought snacks (junk for my boyfriend) and fruit quite a bit else including meat and it came to $40.
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,020 Member
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    Copied from an earlier post on another thread:

    What I do:

    Breakfast is pretty basic. I have either eggs with cheese or steel cut oats/oatmeal. Both are quick and easy for a workday morning.

    Lunch - Planned overs. i.e. planned leftovers from dinner the night before.

    Dinner - Here's where the shopping list comes in.
    * We (we = husband and I) get the weekly store ads on Wednesday.
    * We make note of what's on sale (veggies, meats, and staples like flours, beans, tuna, etc.)
    * We flip through cookbooks, kind of randomly, and pick out 7 recipes that look yummy, then write them on the fridge (piece of paper works, we have a magnetic white board), plus one "lazy back up" meal just in case we have a "I don't really want to cook" night.
    * Any ingredients for those recipes that we don't have on hand (note, we've stocked up when certain staples, mentioned above, were on sale previously) go on to the grocery list.
    * We go through our envelope of coupons to see if we have one for anything that's on the list.
    * One of us goes to the grocery store and buys what's on the list.
    * Each morning we get out the meat/fish/whatever's frozen out of the freezer for that night's planned meal.
    * Each night, we cook the pre-planned recipe and store the planned overs for the next day's lunch.

    Saves money and makes list making plus grocery shopping a breeze.

    p.s. We cook for 2 adults and a 2.5 yo on $50/week with an occasional $100 "splurge" week.
    p.p.s. We cooked a Turkey (on sale these days) on Tuesday with rice stuffing (http://healthydoesntmeanboring.blogspot.com/2011/05/rice-stuffing.html) and have been/will be eating this through Saturday, at the minimum (it's so good you don't get bored with it. :smile:)... and the bones turned into broth for future recipes.
  • jenn_is_trouble
    jenn_is_trouble Posts: 114
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    Bump.
  • MarySunshine70
    MarySunshine70 Posts: 118
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    OK - I know that some are going to find this barbaric... but hunt elk.
    There's no better clean/low fat meat... the trick is butchering it yourself and DO NOT add fat to it.
    Way cheaper in the long run
  • JulieBoBoo
    JulieBoBoo Posts: 642
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    Some of the things that help me eat healthy are apples, cabbage, turnip/rutabaga and carrots. I eat apples and shredded cabbage as snacks every day and eat turnip and carrots several times a week as a dinner side. Turnip is a fabulous carb replacement for dinner and has very few calories. I just chunk it and boil it and serve it with a touch of butter but you could also roast it or boil it with some carrots and mash them together for a lovely puree (this would be great for your 1 year old).

    I also have oatmeal for breakfast and buy it in the big pack (quick oats) and them make it in the crock pot overnight. It's delish and you can control the sodium and sugar which is nice. It's also very filling and easy on the pocketbook. I sometimes send some to school for the kids in a thermos.

    The biggest way to save money and stay healthy is to try to eat less meat. Meat is expensive and there are some good cheaper alternatives. Add bulgur to spaghetti sauce instead of ground beef, make a shepherd's pie or moussaka with lentils instead of lamb, try making chick pea and rice burgers instead of ground beef or chicken. These stretch the budget without being empty calories and keep you full and properly fueled.

    Good luck!
  • bonnykate
    bonnykate Posts: 123
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    bump this!
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,020 Member
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    Add bulgur to spaghetti sauce instead of ground beef,

    I so need to try this!
  • annabellj
    annabellj Posts: 1,337 Member
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    eggs are super cheap and you can make pancakes, or waffles from bisquick cheaply or make your own mix. spaghetti is cheap, homemade soup with broth, chili, anything vegetarian, the less meat, the less money, homemade hamburger mac with a can of soup and macaroni and cheese, a can of corn and a little burger thrown in, grilled cheese and tomato soup, french toast(we have chickens so we eat a lot of stuff with eggs in them!) pretty much anything not processed that doesnt come in a box is cheaper than prepackaged. look up ten dollar dinners
  • lil_pulp
    lil_pulp Posts: 701 Member
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    Chili tends to be a pretty cost-effective dinner for me--you can bulk it up with beans, which are pretty cheap.
  • JulieBoBoo
    JulieBoBoo Posts: 642
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    Add bulgur to spaghetti sauce instead of ground beef,

    I so need to try this!

    I was vegetarian for two years and did this all the time. It's yummy.
  • Klynn63
    Klynn63 Posts: 66
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    My budget is $50 a week, it is totally doable! You have to plan for EVERYTHING your going to buy and buy off brand or generics. Buy bags a chicken (frozen, bonesless, skinless breasts) they go a long way. Fat free hot dogs are dirt cheap, buy bags of FROZEN fruit & veggies, you can steam veggies and they taste great.. frozen fruit I make into smoothies. I buy yogurt 4 packs around $1.88, you can go to bread stores for cheap bread.. like .85 cents! I buy low cal bread so I splurge and get Natures OWn for $2.00! I shop at Walmart, they have been the cheapest I have found and I find everything healthy I need! There are so many websites you can google as well for healthy, low cost meals! It all depends what your family likes..
    But trust me, if I can do it.. anyone can do it!
  • rsalleyne
    rsalleyne Posts: 5
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    Very good topic. Here's a blog post I wrote on this last year. It's got a California slant to it but hopefully it helps everyone

    http://drbecky1970.blogspot.com/2011/04/eating-right-when-times-are-tight.html
  • Sorova
    Sorova Posts: 101 Member
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    You can save a tonne of money by learning to cook legumes (black beans, lentils, navy beans, chana, etc.) from dry instead of buying canned. They cost pennies a serving and they're more nutritious than the canned versions, cheaper, and don't have any salt. They're loaded with protein and fibre and other nutrients and there are lots of ways to prepare them.

    This website has a great guide for beginners on how to cook dried beans, including the ratios of beans: water you need to use.
    http://www.chezbettay.com/pages/basics1/basics_beans1.html

    Black beans are one of my favourite foods and I always have a bowl of them in the fridge so I can throw them onto salads, eat some with salsa for a light snack, etc.

    Oatmeal (old fashioned oats, not the packaged stuff) is also a filling money saver. In general, you can save a lot of money cooking from scratch the old fashioned way and skipping the more expensive prepared and packaged foods. Sadly it takes time.
  • marycmeadows
    marycmeadows Posts: 1,691 Member
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    Frozen veggies all the way! I prefer fresh, naturally, BUT you can get great deals on frozen veggies -- especially if you buy store brand, or watch for sales..... often you can get a whole bag of veggies for under $1.50..... compared to fresh!? No comparison! frozen is way better than canned to.... Beans are also great! you can get bags of dry beans for cheap - sure, you have to soak the beans overnight, but it's not a big deal! :)

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