Eating at the mercy of my wallet

DLDzioba
DLDzioba Posts: 422 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm a broke kid to begin with. I am a secret foodie but ingredients are expensive and it can be cheaper to buy crap. I think my biggest problem is I work fast food and can get a free meal every day I work. Eating the same thing from work every day can be boring so yeah, I pick some of the less healthy options just for the variety.

Any suggestions on how to get a good (and yummy) meal on a super tight budget?

Replies

  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
    Keep a price book, and shop numerous stores. Take notes of the things you buy, and get their prices at every one of those stores. Shopping around can save you significant cash.

    Check out ethnic markets - the same items that cost an arm and a leg at a grocery store will often cost less at ethnic markets, for instance at a normal grocery store a pound of tofu is 2 dollars. At the asian market i can get around 4 pounds for 4 dollars.

    Check out local farmer's markets.

    Buy what is currently in season, its cheaper because it can be sourced locally, so you're not paying for all of the logistical crap to get it from the other side of the earth to your table.

    Grow your own food if you have room for a garden, and then buy a canner and start canning the excess. Likewise, any food scraps that aren't meat can be composted.

    Learn to preserve food and capitalize on sales.

    Make big meals and freeze 75% of it. Then use as necessary.

    Make soups, they're a classic way to stretch food, and easy to make.

    These all work, and are relatively simple to do.
  • ltlemermaid
    ltlemermaid Posts: 637 Member
    Not sure how tight your budget is but if you have an Aldi's around you their prices are the best I've seen for most items. At other stores you can buy meats and fruits on sale, rice and beans (dry not canned) in bulk. Frozen veggies last longer and are cheap and sometimes have coupons for them.

    It will take time to cook these items but they are a lot healtheir than the quick fix fast food meals. Just some ideas to get you started.
  • achojnacki
    achojnacki Posts: 66 Member
    Try to buy seasonal veggies right now carrots, broccoli, beets, and greens are all in season(and cheap), buy store bread whole wheat breads and pastas. Make large batches of chili or soup or pasta sauce and freeze.

    Try to eat less meat and get protein from eggs, beans, and tofu. Take advantage of the sale ads and go grocery shopping with a list.

    Buy larger sizes of things you eat a lot, for example the larger tubs of greek yogurt or larger containers of eggs are usually cheaper than the individual sizes.
  • gorgeouss9
    gorgeouss9 Posts: 221
    I buy my veggies and fruit from an authentic Korean supermarket.. every week I stock up (frill up fridge) for about $50. What I buy normally: eggplant, squash, garlic, onions, spinach, okra, parsley, apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, milk, cheese(sometimes, it can be expensive), carrots, radishes, cauliflour, cucumber, iceburg lettuce (if romain is not on sale), etc. See, a lot of food, and its not so much $
  • Dtho5159
    Dtho5159 Posts: 1,054 Member
    Ahhh that's how I gained 30 extra pounds. I did a small stint (4 months) at McDonalds working the overnight shift when my son was a baby and got a free meal every night AND when we switched over to breakfast, anything left I could pack up and take home with me. It was horrible!!

    My advice for you would be to shop the sales. My store recently had a bunch of good healthy food on sale: broccoli $1/lb (usually $1.50 or more), sweet potatoes .59/lb (usually .99), cucumbers for .59 (usually .79) etc. I also found Egglands Best eggs that were 10 cents more than the store brand so I grabbed those. I buy frozen veggies when there isn't a good sale on fresh and keep a good stock of them in the freezer. My inlaws were in town and brought me a butt load of apples and I made several batches of crockpot applesauce and froze some. i use coupons for HBA, cleaning etc items so I have more money to spend on food items. I buy chicken when its on sale and stock up so I don't have to buy anymore until the next sale.
  • josery1630
    josery1630 Posts: 205 Member
    I have a friend who plans whole meals for super cheap. She makes really yummy foods, gives you a shopping list each week and basically budgets for you. Message me if you want more information.
  • Purpleflipflops
    Purpleflipflops Posts: 563 Member
    Make big meals and freeze 75% of it. Then use as necessary.

    Make soups, they're a classic way to stretch food, and easy to make.
    Yes!
    Large amounts of food that can be frozen are awesome!
    Also, my fridge has baggies of oranges and grapes pre-made. You'd be suprised at how much cheaper things are when home-prepped.
    Do you have a locker at work? If so, keep cans of soup or a can of nuts in it, so you have a quick, accesseble food source when at work.
  • 07JKGirl
    07JKGirl Posts: 45
    Big stores like Walmart, will price match so gather the ads from all your local grocers and plan your shopping list based on what's on sale at the different places.
  • _CHRISTIE_
    _CHRISTIE_ Posts: 237 Member
    most stores will do rainchecks so go the last day of the sale, for veggies that are you season, esp fruits etc that during the winter get so expensive... if there is a realy good sale going on, stock up, but then the last day of the sale go back and check it out...if they've sold out, for whatever reason, you can request a raincheck.... rainchecks don't expire...so just hold on to them until wintertime when things aren't in season and get so expensive... and viola! Cheap veggies.... there are alot of coupon blogs, southern savers is a great one to see what is on sale and when... so you may want to check that out...I'm one of those crazy couponors... i went to Harris Teeter and got $300 worth of groceries for less than $100 when they had their super double coupon event a few weeks ago... I buy meats when they are on sale and then freeze them, check clearance meats...usually Monday mornings are great to find clearanced meat, as long as you either cook it right away or freeze it until you're ready to cook it you'll be fine!
  • Kelly_S
    Kelly_S Posts: 11
    I'm always broke at the end of the month! That's when I start to get really creative - and believe it or not I find it quite fun. In the UK veggies are so cheap. I can spend £2 and get enough veggies for a curry. I always keep pasta sauces and curry sauces in the cupboard so this is handy to make tasty pasta or a veggie curry. If you can't afford meat for protein on poor days - eggs or low fat cream cheese are great alternatives. Eggs scrambled into rice with some red pepper, celery etc is nice. Also if you like tuna, this is a great way to make a salad or pasta more filling and nutritionally beneficial. When food FEEDS your body, you won't be left feeling hard done by. Instead of a doughnut - which I can see is a cheap breakfast and handy but not great to make your body feel fed only full - have 4 crackers with cream cheese. If you buy a tub of cheese and a box of crackers its probably cheaper in the long run for a week.... research some supermarkets or markets near you where you may be able to get stuff cheaper?
  • hawkeygal
    hawkeygal Posts: 133 Member
    I have the same problem. Everyone that has responded has had some awesome advice.

    Money has never been more tight for me, so these are the tips I can give to you.

    I (almost) extreme coupon for my necessities such as toilet paper, paper towels, tooth paste etc. That saves me a ton of money. If you'd like, please message me, and I can give you the name of my favorite websites that help me plan for these big, but cheap, purchases.

    I buy my meat in bulk. While it is more expensive, I buy 2-3lb chicken packages at a time and freeze them individually. That way if I need to pull out three chicken breasts done. Conversely, if I want to be lazy and just cook for me (I'm single with no kids/boyfriend/etc) I can pull one baggie out and bake it however I want. Same can be said for beef.

    Also, I've just discovered the art of freezing. Since it's just me, I have a TON of left overs. This works well for me, as everything is already pre-packaged for dinner or lunch (I usually can get away cooking 2-3 times a week and eat for about 7-12 days if I wanted) but the extras I freeze. That way, when I'm super broke, I just pull from the freezer.

    That being said, I usually tuck away an extra 20 dollars a pay check (I get it from the cash station--am I the only one that calls it that still!?) to be sure that I have a little extra money to get some fresh fruits/veggies when I don't have the extra money to "splurge" on them.

    Hope this helps. PLEASE feel free to contact me more if I can help! :-)
    xoxo

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