i cant afford to eat 1200 calories/day

i just graduated college and am having trouble finding work so my budget is extraordinarily tight.  if i ate 1200 calories/day i think i'd go broke, but i want to lose weight in a healthy way.  recently i've only been getting 700-900 calories/day if that much. 
i'm also a vegetarian, so i feel like in order to get the nutrition i need (fresh veggies, soy products, meat alternatives) im spending lots of money, so i stretch it as far as it can go. it seems its the unhealthy food that is nice and cheap. 
any suggestions on how i can bulk up my calorie intake in a healthful way without spending a lot of money?

I am in your situation -- except I have to eat way more too!

I am 17, have no job, yet I have to start buying my own groceries AND paying bills and rent very soon.

I do as much shopping in the bulk bins as possible.  Beans and oatmeal are VERY cheap and last for a long time!  Those are the bases of my diet.

Nuts are very good too, but can be expensive.  My mom does buy bags of peanuts (still in the shells) to feed the squirrels around here, and I snack on those (haha!).  I think it's cheaper to buy them that way than any other way.

The tofu I buy isn't all that expensive so I do get that too.

Also keep an eye out for sales so  you can stock up during them (I just bought 7 boxes of Kashi for about $15!  It's usually expensive for my budget!), and check online for coupons!  If you like certain brands, go to their sites -- they often have coupons!

Hope something in there helped =)

Hmmm.  Go for the stuff that is high calorie.  Nuts, for instance....or peanut butter.  peanut butter adds calories fast. 

I know there are other things out there, but I just can't think....oh and soup.  I found these packages of soup.  It's kind of the dry, dehydrated kind.  It was very cheap too.  You just add water and cook it on the stove.  My husband and I ate on that soup for 3 days before it was gone, and it was about 200-300 calories a serving.

Natural peanut butter goes a long way calorie wise especially in bulk, think 10lbs.

I on the other hand kinda like having a tight budget. It keeps me from buying unnecessary things like cookies and stuff that I know will be no good for me. Also, it makes me appreciate what i DO get, like if I get turkey and cheese for sandwiches, I make sure I only eat one slice of each and put a lot of lettuce to make myself think I'm eating more. Doing this helps me from going over my calorie budget AND my real budget.

Hope it helps

Canned beans are cheap, dried beans are cheaper if you have the means to cook them.

Lots of things to do with beans and a can of beans can add at least 300 calories to your daily total.

Some of the best priced foods would be dried beans and rice and you can go to local farmars market type places for fresh fruits and veggies at a better price. You can make a simplistic lentil and veggie soup for cheap as well....If you make up a batch of soup you can alway's freeze part of it so it wont go bad aswell.....

I came across this on Yahoo maybe it will offer some ideas.  Probably not but its worth a shot

 

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/5 2070-20-healthiest-foods--1

A nice big bowl of whole grain rice and beans would do the trick. Cheap, caloric and fairly nutritious. A couple spoonfuls of peanut butter, a handful of almonds - all upwards of 200 cals. One banana or apple is about 100 calories and $0.50-$1.00 at the absolute most. Get those cals up to 1200 minimum!

peanut butter, beans, whole grain rice, bananas, check! i think i can swing that on my budget.
i've always tried to stay away from peanut butter bc its so high in fat (and i think its so delicious), but i need to rethink my good and bad fat, and yes, 1200 calories is a must.
Thanks!

Meat alternatives tend to be very expensive and not especially healthy so I'd also recommend using more pulses/legumes for your protein.  Dried beans, lentils & chickpeas are incredibly cheap.  The bigger ones need soaking and long cooking times but lentils can cook in 20 - 30 mins.  Great source of protein, iron and fibre.

On the fresh vegetables... include plenty of starchy ones to get your calories up.  Potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, squashes, other root veggies... But check the country of origin.  If you shop for seasonal/local foods rather than imported goods then you'll pay a lot less.  Same goes for fruit.

Fats.... So many people remove fats from their diet and there's no good reason for doing so.  Peanut butter has been mentioned but don't forget good old olive oil.  A litre bottle may be a big initial outlay but just an extra tablespoon here and there either in the cooking or as a dressing will add a few hundred extra cals to your day.

Wholegrains.... Complex carbohydrates add bulk, fibre, vitamins and cals to a diet.  Brown rice, wholewheat bread, fortified high-fibre cereals, porridge oats.  All very simple foods that tend to be cheap in price.

Original Post by ladykelien:

I came across this on Yahoo maybe it will offer some ideas. Probably not but its worth a shot

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/5 2070-20-healthiest-foods--1

Actually this is quite a good little article -- offers good ideas and some recipes.

That article made me homesick.

Where I live you can only buy fresh spinach pre-package and washed and it goes for BD1.300 for 100grams. That's a little more than $15 a pound. Romaine lettuce is about $1.20 per pound so that is what I eat. One of those little 4oz. packages of raspberries is about $6.50. I actually wish I had not done that conversion . . . .

You can't afford not to eat at least 1200 calories per day. I think the folks came up with some good tips.

 

 

If you're a vegetarian and don't want to buy those frozen meat substitutes (which are loaded with sodium anyway!) just get tofu.  Not sure where you live, but near me, it's only like $2.50 a package and I can make several meals with one package.  I second everyohe else's suggestions on nuts, beans, and whole grain rice -- you'll load up on the calories, but at least it's with wholesome stuff.

random quick recipe:  a bag of lentils here is $0.88, a can of vegetable stock is about $0.50 and any veggies you can find + salt and pepper....1 c. of lentils to one can of stock and what ever extras you want  makes about 4 servings of soup...granted lentils are kind of low in calories--but eat as much as you want!  one time i almost ate the entire batch in one sitting.

Here we have a couple good discount grocery stores - they sell food that's about to go out of date, or just did, dented cans, etc.  Its hit or miss what you can find there, but if you're on that tight of a budget you should definitely see if you can find one in your area.  They even have bulk dry goods like oatmeal, flour, cereal etc. especially cheap.

Add some brown rice and potatoes and more canned beans (or dried beans if you know how to cook them) to your diet. They're all dirt-cheap and there in NO WAY that you will get fat eating 1200 calories of carbs a day.

I spent about $15 a week on groceries as a student and definitely ate 1500 cals/day. 

Oatmeal and raisins for breakfast. (From the bulk bins.)

Apples and bananas.

Bulk brown rice, lentils, pasta and spices.  Cans of store-brand tomato PASTE (the small ones that are cheaper than crushed, just add water).

Whatever vegetables are cheapest, if they don't appeal go for frozen peas, corn, spinach - they don't go bad.

Cheese - get the huge economy block, grate most of it, put it into ziplocs and freeze it for use later.

Store-bought bread always seemed to add a lot to my grocery bill.  If you really want bread, it's cheaper to make your own, or even just throw together a few baking powder biscuits/scones every couple days.

Check out your neighbourhood for free food: swing by churches, AA meetings, focus groups ... you can usually grab a cookie. Volunteer at a soup kitchen and you'll get lots of soup, visit some senior citizens in a retirement centre and they'll share their high-fibre snacks.  (Actually, if something's available, get a part-time job in a grocery store or healthy restaurant, you'll get LOTS of free food.) My city hall is also always holding community info sessions when they want to build a new parking lot or re-zone a residential neighbourhood, and there are always bagels :)

More freegan tips - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism, http://freegan.info/  If you google "freegan" and the name of the town you live in you might find more.

 

 

Beans - Beans are a great cheap way to get nutrients and lost of protein.  Can of beans only cost from less then $1 to about $2.  Sometimes for dinner, I will eat a whole can of Heinz bean in Tomato Sauce (cost about $0.79), about 450 calories, lots of protein (you need 50 grams a day or more) and tastes good.

I love them.

 

Another beans and lentils fan here!

- If you like Indian food, google a recipe for Dal (or Dhal or Daal), It's basically just yellow lentils, onions, tomatoes, vegetablew oil and spices, and it's absolutely delicious.

- My sister, who is vegetarian, makes lovely veggie burgers from a mixture of beans, soy mince, onions, mushrooms, chopped nuts, and some eggs and flour to help bind them together. Make them interesting by adding spices and herbs. Make them from fresh, in bulk, and freeze.

- Make a veggie risotto: fry chopped onions and garlic till soft, add some chopped vegetables (my favourite is a combination of peas, carrots and zuchinis), then add some vegetable stock and rice!

- Soups! My favourite uses butter beans (which I buy dry and soak overnight), some onions, carrots, tomato concentrate, vegetable stock, and if you can find them cheaply, sweet potatoes or butternut squash.