i think health eating is not everything.  And healthy eating can also get obsessive and some people develop an eating disorder.

I found an interesting site for parents who care for an eating disordered child

here the link:http://www.e-mental-health.eu/anorexia/website/eating.php

to just look on the other site of "eating healthy"

Healthy eating does not lead to eating disorders. Obsessive tendencies and emotional disturbances certainly do. The cause is not healthy food.

I buy everything on this list except the ground beef.   Haven't eaten red meat in many years.

um....wait..."eating healthy creates eating disorders"? I was just making sure that I read that right. I mean, sure, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but excuse me if I would rather my kids be obsessive about eating healthy than be obsessive about boys; video games or popularity.

If you want to get technical about it, the way that "regular" people eat today (fast food, fatty and unnecessary) is the Definition of an Eating Disorder. So I would like to believe that I'm protecting my kids from eating disorders by keeping them from those harmful foods.

natural peanut butter on whole wheat bread with an apple every day is also very inexpensive. $7=lunches all week long         &n bsp; :)

Okay, I don't mean to offend anyone (and if I do, I apologize) but I think there are some misconceptions as to what "healthy eating" means. For the record, healthy eating is not just about losing weight. It's about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In the case of eating disorders, it means gaining weight to be healthy again.

If they have an eating disorder, they aren't eating healthy. Healthy eating is finding a balance between food and your emotions. Food should be used for nutritional purposes and energy. Weight loss is nice, but that's not the point. People with eating disorders aren't trying to be healthy. Anorexics usually are starving themselves as a form of self harm or they have a distorted body image and they know they aren't eating healthy, and bulimics usually eat to make themselves feel better and throw it up for control.  As a bulimic, I ate depending on my mood. My mood dictated what I ate, how much, and when. That's not eating healthy and it didn't come from eating healthy. Since I joined CC, I have lost 50 pounds the healthy way, and it's been a big step on my road to recovery. The obsession was unhealthy. Most of the food I ate was unhealthy. Since I've been eating healthy, I've been eating more good foods and less bad ones, and guess what? With the help of CC and therapy, no vomiting. Keeping track of my calories and researching have helped me in more way than I thought possible.

p.s. Most of the people I know with eating disorders eat junk food, not healthy food. Even if they're having 300 calories, it's because they ate half a slice of cake and nothing else or drank 300 calories of soda. The ones that have recovered or are recovering, actually eat better things. Myself included.

Anywho.

I've notced that around here you can get about a pound and a half of chicken for less than $5. That's been a pretty big staple in mt fridge.

Thanks, apfelkuchen for some practical advice. Other ideas: raw carrots and celery with peanut butter or lowfat cottage cheese (as a dip) for healthy crunchy snacks. Buy carrots and celery whole instead of already cut up in convenience packaging, and they are very cheap. Also, buy whatever fresh vegetables are in season or on sale. I like to toss veggies in a little olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and then roast for 10 to 15 min in a 450 oven. You want them roasted but still slightly crunchy with some life in them. This works well with almost any veggie: zuchini, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus--all of which are very inexpensive when in season.

any extreme is unhealthy

Way to hijack a thread, and the link didn't really function as it was intended, for me anyway.

The biggest expense in my budget comes from eating in restaurants.  What you buy is important, but also where you shop.  We shop at Winco for the majority of our stuff and it rocks!  We used to go to the local Sprouts (Natural Foods) but their prices on staples:  tofu, hummus, rice crackers, fruit and veg are about 40% higher than Winco!  

Hooray for beans, canned are cheap, dry that you cook yourself, even cheaper.  Rice is also cheap and goes a long way.  

Eggs are great, but not so for the hens.  Please don't buy them, or buy responsibly.  Thanks :)

In addition to what was included in the article, some of my low cost staples are leafy greens like kale, cabbage, carrots, onions and whole chicken (when it's on sale).  These are almost always low in cost per serving.   Another bargain - plain, old fashioned rolled oats. 

In the bean department, I do cook my own from scratch, but like the Whole Foods 365 Brand, no salt added beans.  They are only .99 a can. 

I also get the Whole Foods brand of yellow corn tortillas, 12 for .79!  You have to shop the bargains and make your choices good ones.

As someone paying down debt and trying to lose weight, I see a big correlation between budgeting and dieting.  Self discipline seems to be my issue!

Anyway, I have been paying careful attention to what I spend at the grocery store, and it seems to me that buying fresh vegetables in season, lean meats on sale (putting an extra package or two in the freezer for later) and whole grains like quinoa, barilla plus pasta, etc. (which go on sale frequently) is way cheaper than buying processed, overly packaged foods.

Also, I love my kitchen garden.  Lots of salads for several month for 1.69 package of lettuce seeds.  Can't wait for the tomatoes and zucchini.

I like the roasted veggies idea. Also you can stretch your lean meat dollars by cooking soups & stews in the crockpot, with plenty of veggies and whole grains.

Lean stew beef is almost as cheap as ground beef and has more food value to me, plus it's safer (no mad cow).

Locally grown, fresh, whole fruits & veggies in season are indeed very inexpensive and full of flavor and value. Wish I had a garden...

Building off of Claire's suggestion, after you cook that chicken, take the meat off, boil the bones and make soup. I make soup anytime I cook something that has a bone in it or is roasted. Homemade soup is lower in salt than canned, much cheaper and is low in cals generally.

It also saves money if you use your meat as an ingredient rather than a course or dish. We're so used to huge servings that my family balks at just a 3-4 oz serving of meat. Mixed in stir-fry, etc. they are perfectly content.

I'm a big bean fan too! Esp. like lentils because they cook so quickly from dried. I don't generally use dried beans because I can get canned ones so cheaply (.39) that I think the energy bill may not make it worth the cooking.

Don't be afraid of beans and peas!  They are healthy, cheap, filling and now we know canned and frozen have basically the same nutritional value as fresh cooked.  Potatoes are also a good option if prepared without much added fat.  Oven baked fresh fries with spices to taste are a favorite option.  Some people toss the fresh potato slices in a little olive oil, but I just spray mine with a little olive oil based non-stick pan spray for even fewer calories.  Portion control is the key, as always.

I would like to think that a lot of people when confronted with the facts would be opposed to where their meat comes from, how it is "manufactured" and how the animals are treated. $1.02 for a 3-ounce serving of 93%-lean ground beef or 1.5 pounds of chicken for under $5 means that the animals were raised in a high-density, low-cost manner i.e. factory farmed. Because of the nature of their environments, factory farmed animals are extremely susceptible to illnesses and as such are pumped full of antibiotics daily for their entire lives; similarly these animals are pumped full of hormones to minimize their "production time." When you eat these animals you and your family ingest these hormones and antibiotics, which is by no means "healthy." On an ethical level, factory farming is cruel and inhumane, leaving animals stuffed into pens without sunlight and fed improper diets (cow fed an entirely corn-based diet must be killed early otherwise they would die of starvation and malnutrition), 

Organic meat, which are slightly more expensive, suggests that animals are fed a certified organic diet, raised without antibiotics, and use a third party certifier to verify the manner in which the animals are raised. Free-range, on the other hand, is slightly less expensive than organic and is loosely defined as coming from animals who ate grass and lived on a range—generally these animals are only fed antibiotics when necessary, and say on the packages whether or not they are fed hormones.

The bottom line is if you really care about eating healthy on a budget the answer is to reduce your meat consumption and buy organic, free-range, or natural meats whenever possible. Moreover you should know that you vote for something with every purchase you make, and when you buy cheap meat you say that you support animal cruelty.

For more information on factory farming visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming

Don't forget oatmeal! A whole bag of rolled Quaker Oats (not ask good as steel cut, but quicker) for like $2!! And stocking up on pasta & tomato sauce is a good call for a quick dinner - just add chopped, cooked veggies. Yum!

Great list!

I agree, get in the habit of cooking everything from scratch and let convience foods be raw fruit and veggies.  I buy lean meats, fresh veggies, beans, fruits, bean flours, and hearty grains and their flours, and nuts. ( we don't eat soy, eggs, bovine dairy, gluten, wheat, or yeast due to sensitivities). 

We buy more exotic stuff (like flours and nuts, herbs and spices) at our Asian market which has a large variety and much more affordable prices than our local natural stores (sprouts, whole foods, trader joes).  We also only buy what is on sale and use coupons whenever possible combined with those sales.  We may spent almost every saturday morning prepping the weeks food (making sauces, tortillas, roasting meats) but we are spending quality time together and our monthly grocery budget for 2 is about $200!  And we feel great!

At the peak of my eating disorder, I restricted myself to only fruits & veggies. I thought I was the epitome of heath...that was my goal. My mom had cancer so I thought that the healthier I ate, the less likely I would be to get cancer. Society tells us that fruits and veggies=healthy. After a few months of a daily diet of pounds & pounds of fruits & veggies, I dwindled to 1/2 my size (and I was small to start out with). People praised me for eating healthy. They saw fruits & veggies and equated that with health. People, healthy eating is all about balance & moderation.

Just saying....

For the cottage cheese dip person can I get the recipe please it sounds yummy. Thank you

That is a great list  but what bout protiens for vegetarians that aren't too expensive. soy meat products tend to be kind of out of my budget. but I don't eat any meat ever.

I agree with all of you. The one thing that I have found fascinating is that no one talks about food addiction. Unlike other addictions, drinking smoking,etc.... food is something we as humans must have to stay alive, we cant give up food or we will die. As someone who is a recovering eating disorder, I look at food as something I must have, healthy eating is a balance of moderation. Cal Count is wonderful, because it shows me what my body needs to be healthy.

I have dieted most of my adult life because of weight gain after I had cancer when I was 25. Prior to that I had an eating disorder, I was 5'3" and weighed 85 pounds, now as a 40 year old I started out in march at 263 pounds and am down to 244. Dieting scares me, like alcholism, once an individual with an eating disorder always an individual with an eating disorder. I know that I must take my weight loss one day at a time, and that I'm just one missed meal away from the mindset of "hey lets starve myself to loose weight again?". (wow Ive never put in writing what Ive just shared with a bunch of strangers, please be kind)

I think what the author of this article was trying to convey to us is that in todays tough economic times there might be things we dont think of that are cheaper than other things to buy. I appreciate the individuals that have posted other ideas on how to save money at the table.

thank you and blessings to all

Have you tried using edamame to make your own soy based products? its a bit cheaper than tofu, or the non meat substitutes

Well,I do agree that the TRUE eating disorder of the two comparably is the one who eats overly fatty foods and this can actually do more harm to your body than good.While humans and all other animals eat for nurishment,we tend to forget that this is the reason,and over time,overeating is less of a need and more of a compulsion.Eating healthy is not an eating disorder,Anorexia,or Anorexia nervona,bulimia and the like are all  eating disorders.Overeating needs to be recognized as such,in my opinion,as well.*Thank You.*

Original Post by: lotteac

I would like to think that a lot of people when confronted with the facts would be opposed to where their meat comes from, how it is "manufactured" and how the animals are treated. $1.02 for a 3-ounce serving of 93%-lean ground beef or 1.5 pounds of chicken for under $5 means that the animals were raised in a high-density, low-cost manner i.e. factory farmed. Because of the nature of their environments, factory farmed animals are extremely susceptible to illnesses and as such are pumped full of antibiotics daily for their entire lives; similarly these animals are pumped full of hormones to minimize their "production time." When you eat these animals you and your family ingest these hormones and antibiotics, which is by no means "healthy." On an ethical level, factory farming is cruel and inhumane, leaving animals stuffed into pens without sunlight and fed improper diets (cow fed an entirely corn-based diet must be killed early otherwise they would die of starvation and malnutrition), 

Organic meat, which are slightly more expensive, suggests that animals are fed a certified organic diet, raised without antibiotics, and use a third party certifier to verify the manner in which the animals are raised. Free-range, on the other hand, is slightly less expensive than organic and is loosely defined as coming from animals who ate grass and lived on a range—generally these animals are only fed antibiotics when necessary, and say on the packages whether or not they are fed hormones.

The bottom line is if you really care about eating healthy on a budget the answer is to reduce your meat consumption and buy organic, free-range, or natural meats whenever possible. Moreover you should know that you vote for something with every purchase you make, and when you buy cheap meat you say that you support animal cruelty.

For more information on factory farming visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming

Thank you! Have you seen the film Food,Inc?

The lower on the food chain we eat the better it is for all life. I feel better since I have been limiting my red meat intake too. I have learned to cook creatively, use meats like bison if I "have" to have red meat. Yes, it is more expensive but it is lower in fat and higher in protein than beef. I suggest people locate their local free range and organic farms and patronize them or the stores that buy from them. Americans are too used to grabbing nutritionally sparse food like potato chips etc when they think they are hungry.

Also if enough peoiple stopped smoking the tobacoo land could one day recover enough to farm. Tobacco is not healthy and it robs the land of nutrients!

Did you know that most soy goes to feed cattle? I don't know if the book "Recipe For a Small Planet" is still in print but in it you find out how much our farm resources go to raise one pound of edible meat. Sad really.

The thing that I find fascinating is that I can go overseas, Japan/Korea and loose a ton of weight with very little effort or major change in diet, however, the same diet here in America will put the weight back on and make me feel sluggish. What is the American food industry putting in our foods? Look at our children. Little girls and boys beginning puberty earlier because of the hormones found in our foods, lets not mention the diyes and the preservatives. As a teacher of children with Autism I have seen a major correlation between red dye in foods and aggressive behaviors. Just makes one think.

Beans are mentioned again and again as a cheap food that is a good protein source.  Cooking dried beans can be kind of tedious if you need to do it every time you want to use beans for a recipe but they are a lot cheaper than canned.  To save money and time I cook a very large pot of dried beans and separate them into one cup serving sizes and freeze them so they are ready and easy to use. 

Whey protein, lowfat cottage cheese, canned tuna-all very cheap. 

Don't forget Frozen Fruit, and another cool trick is to look at the expiration dates on the really expensive organic salads.  Get to know the produce guy/gal and ask them when they restock.  At my local supermarket they ridiculously mark down the salad that is 1-2 days away from expiration.  I have not run into a bad salad yet.  You'll start to learn the pattern.  For us it's Thurs. evenings when this happens.  Also check out my site for a few cool recipes.  www.mikescreativefitness.com

Hope this helps. 

MG

"Ground beef: $1.02 per 3-ounce serving of 93%-lean ground beef. Lean beef is a low-fat source of protein and iron. Plus, it’s easy to cook so you can whip it up quicker than the time it takes for takeout delivery."

Here in Louisville, at least, try $2/lb for 93%-lean ground turkey: that's $0.38 per 3-oz serving, rounding up :)  I've found that I greatly prefer it to ground beef, which I have never really liked (though a truly exceptional steak is my second-favorite food).  It's fantastic in pasta sauce, tacos, burritos, casseroles, lasagne -- all of which can make one pound stretch a long, long way.

I also must second canned tuna (great for quick lunches at work).

Likewise, most of us benefit financially as well as health-wise when we learn about portion sizes and get used to eating smaller meat portions (oh!  You mean this 6-oz sirloin is two 3-oz servings?).  Humanely-raised local meat doesn't seem quite as dear when you realize that one pound makes dinner for a family of four, using 4-oz servings as a standard (now, if I could just convince my room-mate that, yes, four ounces of meat IS a whole serving...).

For the person who asked about protiens for vegetarians: beans!  Beans of just about any type plus rice equals 'complete' protein.  If I'm not completely mistaken, there are also a couple of kinds of beans that stand on their own as nutritionally complete proteins (I think soy is one).  Likewise, if you're not vegan, eggs and dairy products provide protein a-plenty -- but the protein staple of vegetarians throughout much of the world is the lowly (and versatile)bean.  If, like me, you can't stand the texture of beans as nature made them, you can do all kinds of things to them to make them more palatable.

I have spent several good chunks of my life as a vegetarian, though I'm now an omnivore, and never had trouble getting enough protein (B-vitamins and iron were another issue, due to a familial tendency to shed B-vitamins like they're going out of style).  Soy meats are made out of beans (soy beans, as someone above pointed out).  You can even make them at home, if you can invest the time -- there are recipes all over the Intarwebz.  

With regard lsunday's question of what the American food industry is putting in our food to make us fat: I suspect that, for the most part, the food industry isn't really the problem.  Not that I'm absolving them entirely, mind you -- but Japan, for example, loves processed foods (possibly even more tham America: Japan embraces them openly, while we nibble in our processed, pre-packaged closets), and is in the midst of a wild love affair with mayonnaise, of all things.  There's a lot more I could say about this, but I think I'll throw it in my journal, because this is getting loooong.

Ironically, the healthiest Italians and Japanese  -- tradtional Okinawans from small fishing villages, for exmaple -- tend to come from remote, rural areas that eat a lot of fish and don't generally possess enough of the latest nutritional-science data to 'know' much about healthy eating. 

They simply tend to eat fresh foods that grow nearby or can be harvested from the sea, coupled with staples (usually carbs such, as pasta and white rice, much feared in the nutritionally-wacky US) and invest time and effort in making food that is both attractive and delicious.  Likewise, they consider dinner time an important part of their culture -- in rural Italy, it's the time when the family sits down to catch up, enjoy each-others' company, and delight in really freaking awesome food :)  (My best friend in HS was Italian, and I can definitely attest to the delights of Italian home cooking.)

I would have to say that the best formula for healthy, inexpensive food is to forego packaged 'health' foods, buy whole ingredients from your nearest CSA business, farmer's market, or grocery store, and invest time in cooking.  If you're lazy, like me, you can make a decent dinner from some ground turkey, rice, and a pile of raw veggies in about twenty minutes.  Learning to make basic staples, like bread, can help, too -- a loaf of homemade bread is definitely cheaper than store-bought and almost guaranteed to be better for you.  Moreover, it's easier to be satisfied with smaller servings if the food tastes fantastic -- so learning to cook well makes a big difference.

None of this is hard if you have a reasonable one-job income and no kids (or a two-parent household in which only one parent has to work full time).

The real challenge would be to offer some realistic recommendations for how a single Mom working two low-paying jobs in, say, Baltimore (where food is ridiculously expensive) can feed herself and two kids healthy, fresh foods, with as little reliance on prepackaged stuff as possible, in the tiny shred of time she has left.

It seems that once upon a time we generally had either money or time -- if we had money, we could afford to pay someone else to use their time; if we didn't have money, we tended to have enough time to put things together ourselves.  Today, those who have the least money also often have the least time.  The bar they must leap is twice as high -- so how do we help them get over it?

Actually we bought a half side of beef and the end cost was .50 for 3 oz. The beef was raised on a family farm a couple of miles from here. (It probably had a name too but somehow that doesn't really do anything for me.) Of course you have to be able to shell out ~$700 for the quantity and have a large freezer.

This is all very helpful information when shopping I use coupons and only buy if the item is on sale.  I have found that many of these staples price has gone up in the last couple of months.  I have been keeping away from Safeway, Ralphs and Albertsons prices are just to high and the sales is not even good sales!

Fruits and fresh vegtables at the produce discount stores and Chicken... Affordable.

Lots of great ideas.  After reading all that, I really don't know what else I can add.  My problem is taking my hubby along and trying to stick to the list.  He's a sugar addict.  Nothing but sweets!!!!  Yuck!

I've always tried to eat healthy - I grew up eating kale, tofu and brown rice practically every day and worked at the local organic/local foods grocery store throughout high school. I just recently joined this site trying to lose a few pounds - I'm not overweight, but the jeans I bought a year ago are a bit snug and I'd rather not buy a new pair! I agree with one of the other comments - eating less is another good way to save money. Watching calories makes me pause when I think of buying that iced tea, chocolate bar, or random thing that just looks tasty. Another thing I like is plain old cabbage. It's pretty cheap (49-99 cents a pound), doesn't need to be organic, has some fiber, and can go in anything! I've eaten it with ramen noodles, stir fried, pickled (kimchee!) and it's always good.

 Really the best way to spend less money on food though is to grow it yourself. I've planted some cucumbers, tomatoes, and broccoli this summer and the seeds cost about $2 per packet - far less than the cost of all the produce they will produce! Plus, gardening gets you active and out of the house. It's a win all around.

I do think many people get excessive about "healthy eating"!  I would rather be with a group enjoying some junk food than a bunch of carrot-nibblers any day :-)

I think there is a time & a place for all types of food, and either extreme is equally bad!

Food should be a way to live not a way of life. Having said that, I ask myself what kind of life do I want? There are people who don't want to be around "goody two shoes" of any kind. Most of us have all kinds of friends and relatives. My friends are not my friends because of the way they do or do not eat healthy. They are my friends with all their foibles. Most people I know eat all across the spectrum. However, even when I have been at my heaviest I have not liked being around people whose food philosophy is more food, cheaper food and damn the cost to my health. I am not comfortable around people who are sloppy eaters and just jam it all in their mouths without any obvious appreciation of the product. I also do not like being around chain smokers, people who drink just to get drunk (they claim they are having a good time- yeah sure until the hang over), people who are cruel to others who do not agree with their views etc. And I have been at the receiving end of folks like that. If you are not "one of them" you must be crazy, unAmerican etc.

I grew up with parents who shopped at outdoor markets (and I lived in a major city). both knew how to cook, never had a lot of money for extras like soda, candy etc. I am a baby boomer. Drank milk with meals or maybe in the summer had iced tea, koolaid or real lemonade. Fresh squeezed juices. Seafood in season. Veggies and fruit in season. Grocery stores were only for canned food, coffee, deli stuff etc. Food was fresher, less processed and just seemed to taste better. Eating healthy was more natural, that's all.

My first job was in a research lab that looked at role of protein quality in brain development (circa 1967). I got interested in nutrition and started to learn about food. My interest came naturally. It was a mind set. I spend more money now on food than I did a few months ago before I started this weight loss program. Only because I am buying better quality food, more fresh things and using better ingredients to cook with. I also feed my pets very well. No cheap food for them either. I do not smoke or do illegal drugs. If I have an alcoholic beverage it is to accompany food not to get a buzz on. My money doesn't go towards gambling. I am no saint. I do like books, music, handmade crafts etc. It's a matter of what is important. What I value another person might not; I understand that and accept it.

No one should have to chose between good food or medication to stay alive. Particularly in this country. But because we are a "free" people we have the right to exercise what we do with our resources. Spend your calories, your money and your life as you think fit but do not sacrifice your family, friends, job etc. for them and do not complain later that Ronald McDonald made you and your children fat and afflicted with Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or other things. Isn't it funny that some tobacco companies own food companies? Hmm? And we expect good, nutritious food from these folks? Huh? Oxymoron.

End of tyraid! Have a great week folks. Live long and prosper.

Try this: The next time you cut an end off a carrot, onion or celery throw it in a freezer bag and freeze it to make stock instead of throwing it away. Freeze chicken bones and steak/beef bones like that, too--just keep it all seperate.

Once the bags are full, throw it all in the slow cooker for about12 hours and you have homemade stock at no extra cost, and with very little effort.

I was disgusted with having to lie to very personal questions to get to just comment on this. I am totally against these fake ideals since most are very much overpriced and I got bathroom issues when I had some beans and I love the low sodium spinach and corn, and those are good, asparagus is overpriced, but I love it much more although I very rarely buy it. I only get the 'organic' rice since its better tasting and the price is a little higher than regular brown rice, I think Wally World is able to sell healthier foods which are affordable and normally anything which has the word 'fresh' is normally overpriced, I am on food stamps and I can't afford 'healthy' foods. I am disgusted with the 'health media' always flattering organic since its more costly and I see nothing better, but more $$$$ so I am disgusted with all of this. I refuse to buy those overpriced foods which I can't afford for my money, the food stamp office now gets me $110 a month so I could afford better foods and I get foods from church Angel Food, which are affordable.