Running out of money to eat healthy!!!I need advice for my g

Really? My food bill cut in half when i cut out all of the crap and the grocery bags were so much heavier too.

As summer is arriving, you need to hit the farmer's markets hard. Also, do you have any space for a garden? That would be a wonderful way to supplement your food with really fresh, organic produce and it would be a wonderful activity for your family.

You can also freeze, can and preserve fresh foods yourself at much lower cost.

I know all of these options take some time - so i'm sorry if this is not very helpful.

Try to buy fresh fruit & veg in season, that's when it's more plentiful, therefore cheaper. Not in season- try frozen. Most of the time it's just as nutritious or even more so because it's flash frozen just after being harvested. Also, I buy store brands for a lot of stuff. I know some people won't simply b/c they think it's lower quality- it isn't. I like the Walmart brand banana cream pie yogurt a lot!

I'm not working at the moment, and trying to support myself. That and coupons are what I've found to help.

i always but a bag of frozen chicken breast , can normally get about 6 breasts in a bag for £5, go for veg in season, , ive started buying sacks of potatoes. when i go shopping im always looking for a bargain, wholewheat noodles are about £1 for 6 portions, weighing my own fruit and veg instead of buying prepacked sometimes this can 1/2 the price, which i was amazed at , sorry about the prices being in £ dunno if this helps much x

Eggs are inexpensive, low calorie, highly nutritious and filling. Any fresh veggies I buy are whole - not conveniently cut up for me. They're much less expensive and retain more nutrients if you cut them yourself.

Beans are great food. Ramen, on the other hand, probably has no nutritional value at all, and are not filling.

Ground turkey and chicken are less expensive than ground beef, and can be stretched a long way! I brown a pound and then divide it into 4 containers/freezer bags and put them in the freezer to be added to beans, veggies, rice.....whatever.

It really depends on where you are located. I was in OK for a year and food there was MUCH more expensive due to the drought that has been going on for so long. They could not grow food, so it was ALL shipped in. I found the locals could point me in the right direction for finding less expensive foods, farmers markets (tomatoes were finally ripe by Thanksgiving, it was too hot for them to grow in the summer), time of week for sales at each grocery store, etc. Your local grocery store may even be a good source of info for when their meats and produce are marked down - the evening before the truck will be in with more, generally. They want to clear out to make room for the fresher stuff. If you can get a good deal on fresh but don't think it will last long enough to get it eaten, buy it and chop it up to freeze. It will keep, that way!

The farmers market where I live is year round and has cut our grocery bills down significantly. We were spending close to 100 a week on fruit and veg (4 adults), we now go to the market every two weeks and spend 30 bucks. We come home dice everything up and rinse it and throw it in the freezer to be used at a later date. We also buy eggs and other products at the market.

I'm sorry to hear your struggle. Heres a few things I did that have helped me alot and hopefully will help you too.

1) Donot think that you need to be rich to eat healthy. Infact, once I stopped eating outside, I magically found more money in my pocket and not only was I eating healthier, I was eating more tasty food!

2) Try to cook with fresh veggies and reduce the "box items" or fad diet crap. Do you know on average a nice meal for me costs about 75 cents? And we're talking about chicken curry with good bread!

3) Try to expand your horizon into exotic foods. Sounds expensive? its not! Check my blogs for a couple of recipes which are very cheap (and semi-healthy). For Indian food you only need like 4 basic spices and those can be bought for under a dollar each at an indian store and lasts you forever! I'm sure other ethnic foods are the same!

Bump - would love to know how to find a specific blog, as I can only find them to browse through

Really? My food bill cut in half when i cut out all of the crap and the grocery bags were so much heavier too.

Exactly my experience. Since I buy less rubbish, bring my lunch in to work and generally eat less, I'm actually better off.
Use frozen veg, don't buy A-brands, stock up on basics when they're on sale.

Don't give up, please!

There has been alot of advice here. I try to kind of low carb eliminating the white stuff (flour and sugar).
http://budgetdial.blogspot.com/2006/01/low-carb-on-budget.html

I work at a farmer's market 6 months out of the year - actually 2 markets - one on saturdays and another on sundays. I can't speak for other parts of the country, but I don't find the cost of the produce at our markets to be any lest costly than even the cheapest grocery store, but certainly you can get good organic produce for far less than at markets like Whole Foods. Best advice is to shop the perimeter of the store when you do have to go inside to shop. Avoid packaged foods as much as possible. The more processing in the product, the higher the price, generally. Figure out how to manage your time so you can prepare from raw foods. I know, I'm on food benefits, because I'm temporarily disabled and it's hard to buy an entire month's groceries on what I have, but it is easier if I stay off anything packaged or less than nutritious. I still run out of money by midmonth and have to discipline myself to clean out the fridge and cupboard before going to the store again. It's a lot of work, but the benefit is that you will eat better. I don't really have a choice as I'm diabetic and have celiac disease. There's no such thing as potatoes and cheap bread for me and I can't afford any of the outrageously priced gluten free foods. Packaged foods for diabetics are self defeating. So, you have to get creative, garden if you can and do a lot more cooking and the recommendation for a slow cooker is spot on - best investment for saving money and you can get one for nothing if you can connect with your local Freecycle group online. People give them away all the time.