need to lower my salt intake but dont know how

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him1025
him1025 Posts: 44
in Food and Nutrition
im on a very limited budget when it comes to grocery shopping. i have 5-6 people in my family depending if we have my stepson. my grocery budget for the month is $300.00 and we shop at super walmart and use coupons. my dilema is i need to lower my salt intake since i cant stomach drinking water. it taste really metalicy to me im going to ask my dr about it when i see her again, but in the mean while i would like to limit my salt intake to help with th water weight. we eat a lot of processed and boxed food since they are the cheapest to make. is there anything else that i can buy or try that wont break my budget?
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Replies

  • southernsweetie1978
    southernsweetie1978 Posts: 107 Member
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    Well one way is to start looking at the sodium level of all that processed foods you do buy and find the one with the lowest for one serving. Case in point, even bread can have alot of sodium. Start watching your sodium level on the nutritional information and put down the salt shaker!
  • Chris_acc_can
    Chris_acc_can Posts: 83
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    eat less salt
  • angieleighbyrd
    angieleighbyrd Posts: 989 Member
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    Honestly, with boxed and processed meals...no. Even the lower sodium labels, are loaded with sodium.
  • underw64
    underw64 Posts: 26 Member
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    As far as not liking water, you could possibly research alternate ideas for water intake. Obviously it's a vital part of nutrition and I would definitely look into solutions for that. To help reduce sodium - don't put it on anything frozen, as they add enough of their own salt. Also, when you're at the grocery store is the best time to figure out which options have less sodium (compare two types of bread, for example), just like the PP stated. It's really just all about paying more attention to what your food has in it before you even bring it home.
  • TexanThom
    TexanThom Posts: 778
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    Stay away (as much as you can) from boxed and canned products.
  • akgrown4
    akgrown4 Posts: 28 Member
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    Something fairly inexpensive that you could add to your water is what I like to use: I drink either crystal light lemonade, which adds 70 sodium per packet, but you're drinking the water with it, and one bottle is only ten calories. For a lower sodium, try special k protein water, I get the pink lemonade, but they also have strawberry kiwi, that is 40g sodium, so 30g less than the crystal light, and it has I believe 5g of protein compared to none in the crystal light, and you need protein for building muscle, but it has 30 calories per bottle.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,926 Member
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    Do yourself a favor and drink the water. I know you don't like it but we are humans and we do a lot of things we don't like just because we have to do. I have a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels but I still pop that DVD in the player. Because it works. So does water.

    Stay away from the frozen food section. No processed stuff. No canned soups. Look for low sodium varieties of canned goods (but, nothing replaces fresh veggies and fruits, NOTHING). I swear they sell these things everywhere and my budget hasn't increase whatsoever. When you learn to shop around the outer parts of the grocery store, you'll learn you waste a ton of money on convienence foods. Buy a cookbook instead and make everything from scratch. Yes it takes time, but it's worth it!
  • Melampus
    Melampus Posts: 95 Member
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    I take it you have done the obvious thing of not adding salt to anything as you either cook it or serve it?

    When you are buying processed food you can look at the labels and try to choose products with less salt. It may also be worth checking whether the processed foods really are the cheapest in the various different categories for example I would expect that chicken nuggets would be cheaper than fresh chicken but are frozen chips cheaper than whole potatoes? Are baked beans in a tin cheaper than frozen peas?
  • samiam321123
    samiam321123 Posts: 38 Member
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    My water at my house doesn't taste very good from the tap either. While you're at walmart you could pick up mio to add to it or just buy a lemon and put a slice in every glass to mask the metallic flavor. That's what I do. Other than that you'll just have to do a lot of label comparison to see which foods have the least amount of salt. Good luck.
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,829 Member
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    You don't have to eat processed and boxed food to eat for cheap.

    Buy brown rice in bulk. It seriously lasts forever, I haven't purchased rice in like 2 months. I also buy boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders in large quantities, cook about 3-4 days worth and freeze the rest. That way they're easy to heat up for dinners/lunches, one package of them runs around $6-$7 and lasts my family of 3 a couple days (including me eating chicken as a snack, lunch, and dinner). You can do the same thing with ground beef or turkey, although ground turkey can get pricey so just get lean ground beef and drain off the excess fat. I don't really eat bread or pasta, but you can buy pasta in bulk as well, and it lasts a long time.

    Fruits and veggies can be a little tough, but you can either a. stock up on frozen veggies (they last a long time, have the nutritional value, and no added sodium), or hit up a local farmer's market for deals on produce. Buy what's on sale. My son LOVES strawberries, so I get them if they're on sale or if a farmer's market has a good deal on them. But if they don't, he's out of luck, I'll get whatever fruit is affordable at the time.

    Don't add salt to your food. I know that seems impossible for some people, but I don't do it at my food tastes just fine. Instead, I have a well stocked spice cabinet (spices last a really long time too---I can't even remember the last time I had to buy any of my spices). You can season food with some lemon juice and basil/oregano/cilantro/whatever spice you like and you're good to go.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    A box of Hamburger Helper is $1.25 at Walmart.....it serves four, so you might make 2 boxes? That's $2.50. Add in a pound of ground beef for another $3 (I'm guessing....I don't buy ground beef at Walmart). That makes it $5.50. A can of green beans sets you back another $1. You're up to $6.50 for the meal. Add another $1.50 for bread (a can of crescent rolls). You made an $8 meal.

    For $3 you can get a bag of potatoes.....with about 10 potatoes or more in the bag (depending on size). So, for 5 potatoes you have $1.50 worth of potatoes. Add a pound of carrots for about $1.25. Your meal so far costs $2.75. A local butcher where I live has pork loin on sale for $1.78/lb (you have to buy a larger quantity, but they will cut and package it however you want). A 2lb roast would be $3.56. Throw your roast, chopped potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot with some water and let it cook all day. This meal costs $6.31.....saves you money and costs less. It's really not more expensive to eat unprocessed food, if you plan it.
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,829 Member
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    I take it you have done the obvious thing of not adding salt to anything as you either cook it or serve it?

    When you are buying processed food you can look at the labels and try to choose products with less salt. It may also be worth checking whether the processed foods really are the cheapest in the various different categories for example I would expect that chicken nuggets would be cheaper than fresh chicken but are frozen chips cheaper than whole potatoes? Are baked beans in a tin cheaper than frozen peas?

    Actually, I've found that buying a bag of chicken nuggets is more expensive than buying your own chicken and making em yourself. I have a 5 year old who went through a phase of refusing all food except chicken nuggets, salad, and strawberries, so I started making my own for him, much more cost efficient and healthy!
  • jadashute08
    jadashute08 Posts: 56 Member
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    A box of Hamburger Helper is $1.25 at Walmart.....it serves four, so you might make 2 boxes? That's $2.50. Add in a pound of ground beef for another $3 (I'm guessing....I don't buy ground beef at Walmart). That makes it $5.50. A can of green beans sets you back another $1. You're up to $6.50 for the meal. Add another $1.50 for bread (a can of crescent rolls). You made an $8 meal.

    For $3 you can get a bag of potatoes.....with about 10 potatoes or more in the bag (depending on size). So, for 5 potatoes you have $1.50 worth of potatoes. Add a pound of carrots for about $1.25. Your meal so far costs $2.75. A local butcher where I live has pork loin on sale for $1.78/lb (you have to buy a larger quantity, but they will cut and package it however you want). A 2lb roast would be $3.56. Throw your roast, chopped potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot with some water and let it cook all day. This meal costs $6.31.....saves you money and costs less. It's really not more expensive to eat unprocessed food, if you plan it.

    I love how you broke that down!
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Options
    I take it you have done the obvious thing of not adding salt to anything as you either cook it or serve it?

    When you are buying processed food you can look at the labels and try to choose products with less salt. It may also be worth checking whether the processed foods really are the cheapest in the various different categories for example I would expect that chicken nuggets would be cheaper than fresh chicken but are frozen chips cheaper than whole potatoes? Are baked beans in a tin cheaper than frozen peas?

    Actually, I've found that buying a bag of chicken nuggets is more expensive than buying your own chicken and making em yourself. I have a 5 year old who went through a phase of refusing all food except chicken nuggets, salad, and strawberries, so I started making my own for him, much more cost efficient and healthy!

    So agree with you! I make chicken nuggets at home for my daughter too. I wait till chicken is on sale and then I have her help me make them. She learns about cooking and eating healthy, and I know exactly what's going into her body, all while saving some $$.
  • unhinge
    unhinge Posts: 318 Member
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    A box of Hamburger Helper is $1.25 at Walmart.....it serves four, so you might make 2 boxes? That's $2.50. Add in a pound of ground beef for another $3 (I'm guessing....I don't buy ground beef at Walmart). That makes it $5.50. A can of green beans sets you back another $1. You're up to $6.50 for the meal. Add another $1.50 for bread (a can of crescent rolls). You made an $8 meal.

    For $3 you can get a bag of potatoes.....with about 10 potatoes or more in the bag (depending on size). So, for 5 potatoes you have $1.50 worth of potatoes. Add a pound of carrots for about $1.25. Your meal so far costs $2.75. A local butcher where I live has pork loin on sale for $1.78/lb (you have to buy a larger quantity, but they will cut and package it however you want). A 2lb roast would be $3.56. Throw your roast, chopped potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot with some water and let it cook all day. This meal costs $6.31.....saves you money and costs less. It's really not more expensive to eat unprocessed food, if you plan it.

    Ditto this.... it is really less expensive to make your own meals especially if your on a budget. There are loads of sites that help you fix healthy budget friendly meals.
  • angieleighbyrd
    angieleighbyrd Posts: 989 Member
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    We are on a strict budget with food. I stopped buying canned veggies and started buying either fresh or frozen. yes you can get a can for 50 cents and a bag of frozen is about $1.50 or so, but the bag has about 4-5 cans worth.
  • hkevans724
    hkevans724 Posts: 241 Member
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    im on a very limited budget when it comes to grocery shopping. i have 5-6 people in my family depending if we have my stepson. my grocery budget for the month is $300.00 and we shop at super walmart and use coupons. my dilema is i need to lower my salt intake since i cant stomach drinking water. it taste really metalicy to me im going to ask my dr about it when i see her again, but in the mean while i would like to limit my salt intake to help with th water weight. we eat a lot of processed and boxed food since they are the cheapest to make. is there anything else that i can buy or try that wont break my budget?

    One thing you can try is frozen veg instead of canned. Canned Veg has a lot more salt in it.
  • abbybean11
    abbybean11 Posts: 122 Member
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    just eat only fruits, veggies, and beans! it will save you money, make you healthier, and totally cut down on your sodium! seriously, try it! google "plant-based diet" or read dr. furhman's book "eat to live" - definitely changing my life.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
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    Frosted Mini-Wheats have ZERO sodium.
  • Emancipated_Tai
    Emancipated_Tai Posts: 756 Member
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    Get rid of processed foods. That's the only real way. Or choose low/no sodium food options.

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