Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is hard to eat healthy on a budget, I don't care what anyone says. But it can be done. I buy rotisserie chicken (I don't eat the skin) and it gives me several servings. Bag of apples instead of presliced, bananas (which are actually very healthy), oatmeal, lots of salads using whatever veggies are on sale (I make my own dressing - super easy - just splash of olive oil and whatever type of vinegar you like), eggs. I like Amy's burritos which I get $ 5.00 for 10 of them. Shop your local sales flyer for BOGOs. Stay away from organic if you are on a tight budget. Pancakes with whole wheat flour like Kodiak are tasty (with sugar-free syrup or no syrup).
Actually, I think the biggest benefit of a Costco membership nowadays, other than the gas, is the fact that I can get organic foods for the same price as non-organic anywhere else. At least the Costco I shop at here in Silicon Valley. For the same price of buying non-organic anything at Walmart, I can usually get an organic version at Costco.
I eat a lot of these $1.50 frozen dinners. This is a pretty good review, but I don't think they are as bad as he makes them out to be. For a $1.50, they are pretty edible, and I think not unhealthy.
I shop at Aldi. Oatmeal is ridiculously cheap. Roman lettuce, it last and taste great and sometimes when I am too lazy to cut it up, I can just eat the leafs as is. I love rotisserie chicken too. One chicken can last me whole week.
If oatmeal and salad is your staple..I imagine your about 110 pounds Kera.
I also clip coupons or download them to my Kroger card. I look for the Mega Deals like buy 5 or 10 and save a certain amount on each. Usually, it is gluten free cereals (flakes and oat circles), bxed soups, etc. There are bargain sections so I hit those first. I usually get the half off mushrooms, other produce, dried goods, some refrigerated if i can use them right away.
We grow many of our own fruits and vegetables. I freeze tomatoes, corn, peas + strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries and blueberries. The veggies i make soup with and the fruits i use in smoothies or oatmeal. Eggs, we eat lots of eggs. I am a vegetarian so also stock up on dried beans and lentils. Simple satisfying meals can be made cheaply.
Thanks for some of your ideas. I will incorporate them into my food choices.
I buy a rotisserie chicken and make it last. First day we just eat it plain and I steam some veggies to go with it.
Second day, dh makes a curry with rice or I make chicken a la king with carrots and peas over rice. Third day there probably isn't anything left but I put the carcass into the slow cooker and make bone broth to drink during the week.
I make use of frozen vegetables in winter--peas, corn, broccoli, and I found some really good frozen brussels sprouts that I can roast. Also, frozen strawberries and blueberries make good smoothies, especially with a banana added in.
I use Amy's frozen burritoes and Amy's pizza when I'm too tired to cook. I try to add fresh tomatoes and chopped onions to the pizza. I'll cook turnip or butternut squash or beets in winter. They keep in the fridge for a while and they're hearty enough for cold weather eating.
I have a few favorite slow cooker recipes like bean soup with corn meal dumplings. Also in the slow cooker is pot roast in winter and of course, beef stew. Meatloaf is an old standby too, made with either minced beef or minced turkey. I also like to cook some elbows and make a casserole of cut up hotdogs, carrots, and broccoli with oil and vinegar.
Breakfast in winter is oatmeal with nuts or maybe pancakes with real maple syrup and blueberries. I guess maple syrup is my indulgence but I don't want the fake stuff. Coffee, tea, and a few other things can be found locally for really cheap at a small discount grocery store. It's fun going to that place and finding nice teas and good coffee, good fresh vegetables, premium yogurts for dirt cheap, always a few pleasant surprises in that place.
If I'm not being frugal, I'll get a leg of lamb, but that only happens once a year, if that. Favorite meat, but it's become way too expensive.
IM pretty sure a Banquet meatball meal isn't really healthy.
Probably not, but you can make a batch of meatballs easily. Adding bread crumbs to the ground meat makes the meat go further. Brown them and then cook them into a tomato sauce. You can either eat leftovers for several days, or eat one serving and freeze in single serving portions for heat and meat meals later on.
Meatball recipes can be complicated, but for easy, just use your hands to mix a cup of bread crumbs, a small finally chopped onion, and one egg into a pound of ground beef. Make small meatballs and brown them then let them simmer in a sauce of canned tomato sauce or economy brand jar of spaghetti sauce. Add dried oregano, dried basil, minced garlic, and chopped onion to the sauce.
Buy a french bread roll from a bakery, or go to the day old bakery outlet for French rolls. Split the roll and spoon in some meatballs and a bit of sauce for a meatball sub.
The leftover meatballs and sauce can be served with pasta, made into a pizza, or used to stuff a baked potato.
Meatballs can be made with cooked rice instead of bread crumbs. You can add a bit of chopped spinach to your meat mixture to make it even healthier. Sprinkle a few shreds of skim milk mozzarella over the top of your pasta or sandwich to add calcium and interest without adding much fat or too much salt.
instant oatmeal with fresh raspberries from Costco
2 whole wheat wraps (from Walmart) with falafels made from a mix from Trader Joes (just add water and bake), with fresh tomatoes and avocado
2 more of the above wraps for dinner (I had made all four at the same time, and just saved 2 for later)
Soup made with a stir fry sauce I poured into water, boiled, added frozen stir fry veggies from Costco (they have an awesome frozen stir fry veggie bag), some fresh bok choy leaves from my garden, some frozen veggie pot stickers I bought cheap at Grocery Outlet, and some tofu chunks I had marinating in some stir fry sauce in the fridge -- Anyway, it was just a matter of boiling water and throwing in all of the above.
A couple glasses of wine
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
