Money tight?

Options
Navyfreak
Navyfreak Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a college student working only a few days a week, so money is super tight for me, especially when it comes to food. I really don't have a choice but to eat whatever I can find at my local dollar store because of money issues, and usually it's not the healthiest stuff out there. Thankfully, I am going to school for nutrition, and that helps to give me some info on getting the most out of my food, but I still can't really afford healthy food. Unfortunately, I know all too well the effects these foods may have on me. My question is, in this case, should I be going for quantity over quality? Since quality is out for now. I mean, possibly eating less, but staying in my calorie range? Any advice would be extremely helpful

Replies

  • dellrio
    dellrio Posts: 131 Member
    Options
    I have plenty of money and am no means in the same boat as you, but I have been there and when I was I learned to make foods from scratch. Now for the last three years I pretty much eat at home every meal, and make most foods from scratch. My monthly food budget is about 60-70 dollars, and I eat a ton of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, etc. I am a vegetarian so that helps keep the cost down a lot, but rice and dried beans are extremely cheap, and bananas are extremely inexpensive as well. I think that if you look around a little more you can find higher quality food (for nutrient density - not brand name) within your budget. Ramen is cheap but it does nothing good for your body other than fill your stomach and eliminates hunger for a while. If you need specific ideas just search the internet for recipes and cheap healthy foods - or ask on here, im sure you will get tons of ideas.
  • cmayfield3
    cmayfield3 Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    Inexpensive, healthy, convenient: Pick two. You want inexpensive and healthy, so you will have to sacrifice convenience.

    Forget the grocery store for produce, get it from a smaller produce market if you have one. The price difference is insane. Also, look for scratch n dent fruits and veggies. I used to buy a huge bag of bruised apples for next to nothing and use it to make applesauce. You can turn past-their-prime clearance veggies into soup; just make sure to eat it right away and freeze the leftovers.

    Buy a big container of rolled or steel-cut oats (better yet, buy in bulk) and make it from scratch... doesn't take much time and costs pennies per meal. Eggs are not that expensive. Another trick I used to do, and it's not as hard as it might seem, is make my own yogurt. Instead of buying a half gallon of milk and a quart of yogurt, I'd buy a gallon of milk and use half of it to make yogurt. Works out much cheaper that way. Cook from scratch, and don't waste anything--use vegetable trimmings to make stock.

    If you are the type to want to clip coupons, you can save a ton of money that way. Otherwise, if you have an Aldi, they have super low prices already without having to clip anything.

    If you have any outside space at all (even a patio or balcony) you can even try growing a few vegetables--there's a contraption called an EarthBox that makes it nearly foolproof and doesn't take up much space. It is an initial investment of about $50 though.
  • PinkEarthMama
    PinkEarthMama Posts: 987 Member
    Options
    Make it, bake it, grow it.

    NOTHING you buy at the Dollar store will be as healthy as what you can buy otherwise.

    Eggs, PB, whole wheat flour, produce produce produce. If you can, head to a farmer's market and buy produce there. Bulk rice & pasta,etc.
  • stephaneb74
    stephaneb74 Posts: 151 Member
    Options
    you can shop for better deals and healthier food somewhere else than the dollar store...
  • nakabi
    nakabi Posts: 589 Member
    Options
    Rice and beans

    Canned beans

    Tuna fish

    COUPONS!!!!

    buy your produce at an international store or at the Farmer's market!!!
  • GymAnJuice
    GymAnJuice Posts: 512 Member
    Options
    poorgirleatswell.com
    brokeandhealthy.com
  • specialkyc
    specialkyc Posts: 384 Member
    Options
    I completely understand your problem. I'm not in college, but I have a teenager and an infant. Times are pretty hard for us right now so I have to cut costs as much as possible. Since everyone posted about Aldi a couple of weeks ago, I've been going there and getting whatever fruits and veggies are on sale...and they're really good deals too. This week a 5 pound bag of red potatoes is on sale for $.99, kiwi and tomaotes. Just find whatever is on sale. They also have 1 pound frozen packages of ground turkey for around $1.50 (I know it's not the best quality, but it works for us) and that's regular price so I've been stocking up on that and finding new recipes for it.
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
    Options
    Tuna fish

    Tuna? Cheap? Really?

    I am SO in the wrong country.
  • Vaprep
    Vaprep Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Since you're learning about nutrition, here's an important concept: Nutrition is about the nutrients in food.

    It isn't just how many calories you are getting, but how much actual nutrition you are getting in each calorie. Twinkies might seem relatively cheap, but you are getting almost no nutritional value for your dollar. That makes empty calories a very expensive choice, because you have to buy more in order to get the basic nutrients your body needs to maintain health.

    Some ideas:

    1. Find a source for local free-range chicken eggs. They will probably be cheaper than in the grocery, and the money goes directly to the farmer. Talk about a nutrient dense food.

    2. Beans and rice. What more is there to say?

    3. Find free ethnic cooking classes, or get a library book (they're free!) to learn techniques which are famous for stretching tight dollars into nourishing meals.

    4. Don't buy packaged food. You're paying for the package and the advertising, and you can't eat that.

    5. Eat less, but high quality food and you'll be slim in no time!

    6. Pay attention in class, ask questions of your professors. You might even get extra credit for researching how a family can feed itself healthfully on a budget.
  • emartin17
    emartin17 Posts: 123 Member
    Options
    Look into what you can do to stretch the food that you can buy at a dollar store. I know Dollar Tree is coming out with freezer cases and such at some stores. Make sure to do a mix of both. Look what you can do with recipes (stretching them, variate them), there are recipes all over. Amazon.com has some good deals. Go in with someone else on buying bulk, this can lessen the blow on budget. Especially with things like toilet paper and such you can save a few bucks in the long run. But my favorite thing of all...
    COUPONS! Get the Sunday paper and clip coupons, get on the computer and clip them too. You'll be able to save money on other things that you will be able to turn and spend on produce.
  • cmayfield3
    cmayfield3 Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    Tuna fish

    Tuna? Cheap? Really?

    I am SO in the wrong country.

    Canned tuna is cheap, actual steaks (fresh or frozen) are fairly pricey.
  • browneyez27
    browneyez27 Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    look online or through weekly grocery store flyers - tons of different things go on sale every week - and cut coupons!! no shame in that whatsoever!

Categories