eating right on a budget

Yes, your public health department should have food assistance programs (food stamps) and nutrition counseling for free. Also contact hunters for the hungry. That would be a good source of red meat. We love venison and my husband is a hunter, he donates to hunters for the hungry.

Eating a balanced diet doesn't have to cost a fortune. My staples are eggs, whole-grain bread, brown rice, oatmeal, broccoli and frozen chicken breast. The only thing on that list that costs more than a couple bucks is the chicken, but you definitely need some high-quality protein.

Good luck!

I know exactly what you are going through. Been there, done that My advice would be to start making everything homemade.. Try to always keep flour, eggs, bread, peanut butter, baking soda/powder, pasta and some sort of veggies or fruit in your house even if it is canned, it is better than nothing! You'd be surprised at the things you can whip together just from your pantry and some things in your fridge that you may already had....If you have flour, baking powder, sugar and milk and egg and some butter, that's pancakes. Have eggs? Make scrambled eggs or an omelette. Peanut butter? Make sandwiches. Add a can of fruit and you have a healthy lunch. Try to buy some fresh produce... Bananas are pretty cheap IMO. I always have bananas around. Buy the prepackaged bags of fruit instead of buying them by the pound.. Rice and beans are also good to keep around.

And I would definitely try to get food stamps as others have mentioned if you haven't already.. I had them for 2 years and they were a godsend. Also google cheap healthy dinners and that should give you some ideas on what you can make with what you have.
Best of luck to you!

Many of the suggestions you have already received are good ones. I often buy marked down meats at the grocery store and freeze them. I also watch for sales on produce and frozen items like fruits and veggies. I buy them when they are $1 for a 1lb bag. You can also buy fresh produce when they have sales (3 for $5 or 2 for $1) and so on. Check into the snap benefit program in your area and try a local church for more assistance.

Yes it is possible! As a poor student I used to manage the small amount of money that I had very unwisely. For a year I lived off of pasta and pancakes....yep, didn't go so well. Anyways, now I average about $20-30 a week. Do you live near a china town? or a market place? I get all my fresh produce from the nearest chinese market for around $20 (no seriously, my fridge is full). I mostly get veggies and fruit. My protein largely comes from canned tuna (only $1!!), canned beans (usually ~ $1.50) and egg whites ($3 for 8). Then I usually get the rest from Bulk barn such as quinoa, nuts, dried fruit etc. I've also seen that the dollar store sells large bags of simple oatmeal, some nuts and condiments. (however, read the nutrients of everything at the dollar store, since many of there stuff isn't that healthy). Also, you have to scout around for deals, every store is different. I usually go to four different places to get my food, buying only what they have in sale/deals. Its annoying, but worth saving the money!

you'll find that it's actually much, much cheaper to eat fresh on a budget than it is to eat poorly. it takes a little mental work on your part, but pound for pound you get more bang for your buck, especially if you buy things that are in season.

the grocery usually has the worst produce for the most money, so my advice to you would be to seek out a farm stand (not so much a farmer's market because they seem to be capitalizing on a trend; however, you might want to stop in and check because some vendors are better than others).

check reddit's frugal section, too. http://www.reddit.com/r/frugal

oh, and i'll try to find the site, but there's one where the blogger breaks the meals down into price per serving. once you get the hang of it, you'll see that you can literally eat well on pennies to the dollar, despite what the television will tell you.

edit: i am a freelancer on a severely tight budget. we almost never eat out, and if we do we try to only do it if we have a coupon. i grow a good portion of my own food (especially spices because they are ridiculously expensive) and i subscribe to a CSA share ($12/wk) which provides me with things I don't have room to grow. In the summer, I spend about $15/wk on food for the two of us. In the winter, that jumps to about $20-25, but much of it is stored food from the summer. The worst month is February when, basically, we eat a lot of pancakes & leftover jam. Not so great for the waistline, but it's really only one month out of the year.

Eggs, peanut butter, cottage cheese, beans and tuna are all cheap and nutritious calorie sources. Frozen veggies are often cheaper than their fresh counterparts, and result in less waste since they won't spoil quickly. If you aren't already cooking everything from scratch, now is the time to start. You can save an absurd amount of money when you stop buying convenience items. Buy family packs of meat when it's on sale, then portion it out and freeze it. Soups and casseroles are great ways to get more mileage out of your meat budget. If you have a farmer's market near you, definitely buy your fresh produce there, as it is usually cheaper than the grocery store, and almost always better.
Eating nutritiously on the cheap isn't really too hard, since the most expensive items tend to be processed convenience foods that don't contribute much to your diet, nutritionally-speaking.

Is there anywhere you can buy food in bulk? I get oatmeal, pasta, rice, quinoa, sugar, etc all in bulk. I also try to keep these sorts of grains to a minimum, or with other proteins because they tend to make me more hungry.

Sounds crazy, but I eat black beans ALL the time! Like a can a day at least. Also it's worth it to "splurge" on greek yogurt because it does keep you satiated in the long run. Then I get eggs and tuna for more protein. I then go to the farmer's market and stock up on what's in season.

What's really helped me most was cutting out bread, tortillas, and pasta because it usually made me more hungry, and not to mention, bread and tortillas can be expensive if you're avoiding high fructose corn syrup.

Unfortunately, I do eat the same things over and over, but I've found that food just becomes less important in life. I only think of meals as a way to fuel my body anymore, freeing the mind and the wallet.

the suggestion to check with a community garden is a good one, too. right now there should be surplus of vegetables and most people will gladly ask you to take them before you have to ask them! specifically squash which can be made into a bizillion different things, including comfort foods like pasta, pizza or tater tots.

there are many wild things to eat right now, too, so if you have any good foraging friends, ask them to take you out on a tour so you can get to know what is good to eat that grows wild. many berries are in high season right now and lots of leafy greens including miner's lettuce, dandelion greens and plantain (white man's footprint). most of these things can be found in even urban forest patches and are considered weeds, so if they are there, then it is likely the area has not been sprayed with pesticides.

aw, this breaks my heart!! i'm so sorry for your struggle!! there are things you can buy that won't be super expensive.

eggs are cheap and a great source of protein! stick to mainly eating the whites, like 3 egg whites and 1 full egg. also you can find canned tuna or salmon fairly reasonably priced. peanut butter on whole grain bread is another great choice! brown rice is only like $2..99 i think if you buy in in the bag instead of minute rice. canned beans are great for you. cheese is also good in monderation. cereals that have whole grains.

obviously fresh, unprocessed foods would be the best thing for you body, but since you are on a budget, these are some other good choices! good luck sweeatheart, i really feel for you!

for the next few weeks, just do what you can, you know? i totally know how it is. it's scary, and it's new territory. so see if you have someone that you can have dinner with (family) a couple times and if you have to go to the pantry, go and stock up on as much as you can, then use whatever dollars come to you over the next couple weeks super wisely on fresh produce to healthy it up.

best of luck, honest! and if you need any help figuring out what to do with something you have on hand, let me know. i'm fairly inventive.

HI SORRY YOUR HAVING A TOUGH TIME WITH MONEY I KNOW THE FEELING VERY WELL. I LIVE ON A FIX INCOME ITR IS TOUGH. BUT I AM ON EBT ( FOOD STAMPS) AND LOOK FOR THEIR DOUBLE BUCK PROGRAM AT FARMERS MARKETS WHICH PARTICIPATE...THEY DOUBLE A CERTAIN AMOUNT TO DOUBLE YOU BUYING POWER...AND IT COVER ALL FRU VEGITABLES IN SEASON..I ALSO EAT MOSTLY CHICKEN, WHOLE GRAIN BREAD, YOGURT, STRING CHEESE, PEANUT BUTTER PASTA, TUNA..GOOD LUCK..PEACE..ISSY

Check your church's food pantry and soup kitchens.

Take inventory of what you have in your cabinets, and use supercook.com to come up with meals.

And then there's couponing- while not everyone is this extreme, this site http://thekrazycouponlady.com/category/extreme-couponing/ tells you the deals, what store, and what coupons to use. Often if has links to the printable coupons. I understand it's not practical for everyone to coupon, but it's worthwhile if it's something you need and will use.

Farmer's markets, you can sometimes haggle.

Check walmart and grocery stores for soon to expire food. Sometimes you'll get some peppers that need to be eaten that day for cheap.

Here's a link to the 50 best money-saving blogs:http://24savvy.com/home-a-money/item/620-50-best-money-saving-blogs-and-websites.html Sometimes they have really good ideas, sometimes they're just weird.

Frozen veggies are good, they do go on sale 10/$10 sometimes. Check the circulars. If you can't buy a newspaper on Sunday, ask coworkers or friends to give you their unused coupons and weekly flyers. I get tons of coupons that way. Some stores also have in-store coupons at the customer service desk, you just need to ask.(Walgreens, Stop and Shop)

Good luck!

Additionally, do you live near an Asian/Latino grocery? Produce is often cheaper there. Most things were almost 50% cheaper. Also, wherever you do shop, ask the managers about upcoming sales and promotions.

When you have so little money, you have to look out for nutritionally dense stuff. Sure iceberg lettuce is cheaper than spinach, but you get more bang for your buck with deeper greens. Try to avoid packaged foods (salad dressing, sauces, canned foods, etc) because they tend to me more expensive than their fresh or frozen counterparts.

Have you done a spreadsheet of what you typically eat/buy and identify anything you can cut out? I survived on $150/month per person and I was living in the DC area, which has very high cost of living.

While this might not help for the next three weeks....but what I do to save on produce is price match at Walmart. I look at all the ads online of all the surrounding grocery stores and write down the best produce deals. Then that's what we get for the week. If it's a really great deal I'll stock up. (Ex: apple can last three months in the right conditions). It's not free but it's cheap! Beans are also a good staple. Buy the dry beans and soak them yourself. Can be used in a lot of dishes at a meat substitute. I soak and cook a huge pot then freeze in can size quantities for later use.

This is good advice. I bring all of the weekly ads to Walmart. I save a TON of money!!