Eating Healthy On A Budget?

Stock up on meat when it's on sale and freeze it, things like chicken breast go really low sometimes and freeze really well. I portion them out into 3 breasts in a ziplock so I can thaw enough for a few days at a time, or a big family meal. Frozen vegetables are both healthy and economical, also frequently go on sale. Things like healthy oils and grains it is usually best to buy in bulk. Asian and Latin markets often have lower prices on fresh produce, and you can find things that you might not see in more mainstream stores.

Also, I use EVERYTHING. When I buy a whole chicken, I roast it and use the breast meat for one meal (just me and my boyfriend), the leg quarters for another, and then boil the carcass with all of my veggie scraps (I keep them in the freezer til I'm ready) to make stock, which I then portion out and freeze. I eat all my leftovers - either as lunch or by using components in something else - or try to make a meal that will be eaten entirely. Planning out weekly meals really helps with this.

As for cooking for others, there is nothing wrong with them going on a diet with you, if you're the one cooking they can eat what you make or deal with it. You can always leave the unhealthier ingredients on the side for them to use if you want.

Healthy doesn't mean boring. Cook real, healthy food; everyone can eat it. Keep healthy snacks on hand for everyone.

edit to add: To echo the poster above me: Healthy does not mean "diet" or "low fat" or "low carb" or any of those other marketing words. It means fresh, real foods; meats, veggies, beans, grains, cheese (full fat please).

I don't buy any specifically diet foods, and we are on a pretty small family budget for food. For lunch we have just had baked potatoes with baked beans (jazzed up with some garlic and parsley from garden) and 20gm each of edam cheese. I had 134g raw potato, which equates to about 13c, plus 1/3 tin of baked beans = 60c and 20g cheese = 18c. That's NZ91c for lunch, which equates to about US69c (and although I realize things won't convert exactly, its probably not dreadfully far off the mark for a quick comparison).

If the rest of the family isn't on a diet, presumably they are still eating healthy food (most of the time) and you could just eat the same in slightly reduced quantities?

I'm exactly like havalinaaa in that I eat less of good real food (and not even very much less, just enough less to fit within my calories). So for breakfast I have cereal and milk, lunch is sushi, a sandwich, baked potato (all homemade) etc. and dinner is usually meat or vegetarian main with salad/vegetables. Snacks are nuts, fruit, vegetables, home baking, occasional chocolate, icecream etc. It's pretty simple really.

Beans and rice - yumm! We have delicious tinned beans here called Delmaine black chilli beans (not sure where else you can get them other than NZ). They are soooo good, and perfect on a small portion of rice. My kids love them as well, so they go on rice, baked potato, in tortillas etc.

Oh, the other thing I meant to say about food budget. I'm embarrassed to admit that since I have been very carefully watching my calorie intake my food bill has decreased as the discretionary stuff (baking/sweets/baking chocolate etc.) is lasting so much longer. As well as milk and cheese, which are quite expensive here. Also, we often manage a meal and a half from what would previously have only lasted one meal (childrens portions haven't changed, as they have always had good healthy diets and portion sizes, but DH and I have reduced the 'main' part of the meal and increased the salad), so we end up getting a dinner and lunch out of a meal instead of just dinner. I could easily add the odd spendy diet things into my diet without increase in cost, but I prefer to eat yummy real food in smaller portions (a spoonful of really good peanut butter as a snack for example - mmmm).

Sorry I don't mean this to sound rude but why do you have a severly restricted budget to buy healthy but your family can blow money on fast food?

Sorry I don't mean this to sound rude but why do you have a severly restricted budget to buy healthy but your family can blow money on fast food?

I agree... in that case it should be 50/5 budget for each, leaving you more room to get the things you need, its only fair.

EGGS are a REALLY GOOD protien especially the whites and much cheaper than meat or fish, add a bit of veg which ever is in seson are usually the cheapest and you have a meal. (carrott and cabbage lasts for ages in the fridge with the cabbage you cut off the discolored bit each time you use it the rest is fine underneath)

Dig into mixed frozen veggies, V8, whole wheat grain bread from a bakery outlet (here I can get a loaf for 20 cents). Healthy Choice and Progresso make a variety of healthy soups around $2 a can. Lean Cuisines go in the neighborhood of $1. I know it's not good, but I stock up on ramen and mix veggies in with that. Just the reality of my situation.

Here is a website http://allrecipes.com/howto/cooking-on-a-budget/ that might be useful.

It may have been said before - buy in bulk. Use places like Costco. I see there are lots of specific suggestions for menu items.

Beans are a great way to fill out a vegetable soup or chili. They add protein and fiber to almost anything. Buy dried beans - and soak and cook up a bag weekly. Then, you can use them to put on top of salds, wrap up in a whole wheat tortilla for lunch and make a veggie chili for dinner. They are about $1 a bag where I live and can go so far.

Sorry I don't mean this to sound rude but why do you have a severly restricted budget to buy healthy but your family can blow money on fast food?

I agree... in that case it should be 50/5 budget for each, leaving you more room to get the things you need, its only fair.

It doesn't sound rude at all. Think of it this way - you can get a burger at McDonalds for a dollar. I can't say how much off the top of my head how much 1/4 of beef costs, but I'd wager it's more. My family just goes for the cheapest option, even if it isn't the healthiest.

Really, there isn't a huge budget for food in my house to begin with. Hell, there isn't a huge budget for anything. There was actually one week where I was sick and had to decide "OK...do I want to eat, or do I want to go to the doctor?"

I usually don't do the shopping, but now that I'm eating differently I am shopping for myself.

Conventional ground beef is often $1.99 - $3/lb where I live, and I live in an expensive, major metropolitan area. I'll edit to add that I have spent some time researching and comparing prices at different chains in the area, and I've sacrificed going to the gourmet or "prettier" supermarkets in favor of less, uh, trendy or aesthetically pleasing ones, to get some great deals.

Anyways, let's say the beef is $2 one week - that would make the meat of a 1/4 lb. hamburger 50 cents.

Everyone else is giving great advice! While *calorie per calorie* fast food may be "cheaper," you will almost always get a healthier and less costly -- dollar for dollar -- meal by cooking in.

I could talk about this forever but my biggest suggestions would include buying dried beans and grains, buying whole chickens, etc. and skinning/cutting them yourself, buying frozen vegetables, and store brands of staples like oatmeal, low-sodium pasta sauce, etc.

Get your local store circular a couple days before you need to go shopping for the week, and plan a menu or at least many of your meals based ONLY on the fresh produce/protein that's on sale. And skip most everything in the middle aisles except for things like aforementioned beans and whole grains That's where both the unhealthiest and, often most expensive items are.... A bag of store-brand chips where I live is $2 or $3, but you could get 2 pounds (or more) of apples on sale for that much.

If you have access to a club store like Costco, BJ's, etc. that is another great way to save money. The trade-off of course is that you have to buy in large quantities, which requires some storage space and an outlay of more cash at the outset. However, the bigger outlay of cash at the beginning will save you SO MUCH money in the long run. You may have to buy a huge bag of frozen chicken breasts, for instance, but maybe the chicken breasts will average out to, say, $1/lb, where they can run upwards of $3 or $5 at the regular grocery store.

If you want to get into couponing a bit (though not to the extreme level, which is really only good for getting huge stockpiles of unhealthy crap), go to a site like couponmom ... That site has a search engine where you can match national coupons against sale items at your local store. While again coupons are mostly for processed/packaged foods, sometimes the occasional gem turns up. It's also a good way to get cheap hygiene and household cleaning products, which is a way to free up a little bit more money for your food budget.

Good luck! I do all the grocery shopping and menu planning for my household (three adults, most meals in) so I would be happy to give more in-depth suggestions! Everyone else on this thread has had great suggestions so far.

I ate really well on $20-25 a week by myself in grad school so it can be done.

I did stock up on just a few things, rather than a huge variety.

Here's sample:

Breakfast: cereal, milk, frozen berries

Lunch: tuna, crackers, celery, tomato, cheese

Supper: ground beef (93/7), 1/2 can corn, 1/2 can beans, rice

snacks would be apples or similar fresh fruit

I agree with others - buy in bulk and at sales and go for raw, fresh foods that you can cook rather than packaged foods. Dried beans, rice, greek yogurt, etc are great quick lunches that are still healthy and relatively inexpensive.

Good luck!