Cheapest Healthy Foods?

Hey Guys,

 Out of curiousity and hopefully out of experience I wanted to know what are some of the cheapest healthiest foods you can buy at the grocery store? Money is pretty tight right now and I'm trying to look for less pricer items, but things I can still eat and lose weight on while keeping it healthy.

Thanks in advance. :)

Frozen veggies are usually a little over a dollar a bag and beans are also cheap. If you have an ALDIS where you live, they have bags of salad for just over a dollar. Check out your local ads, that's what I try to do and at times I can find grapes or applies for around 1.50 a lb.

Frozen veggies are usually a little over a dollar a bag and beans are also cheap. If you have an ALDIS where you live, they have bags of salad for just over a dollar. Check out your local ads, that's what I try to do and at times I can find grapes or applies for around 1.50 a lb.

I buy frozen fruits.  They are great for smoothies in the morning with some almond milk.  Plus frozen fruits are typically more healthy than fresh fruits, since fruits begin to lose their nutritional value after being picked, fresh fruits sit on the stand for a while and frozen fruits are normally frozen soon after being picked therefore keeping more of their nutritional value. Also Quinoa is a great great food.  It is so healthy and you can normally buy it in bulk so it last a long time and it is easy to cook.  

I like to mix the quinoa with tons of veggies: peppers (anheim, jalpenos, red, green etc), beans, corn, cilantro, onions,  tomatoes and a little bit of lemon juice and red wine vinegar with salt and pepper to taste.  If you use just one cup of quinoa with the above mixtures it makes about 8 to 9 cups prepared since quinoa swells up so much once cooked. 

Also nutritional yeast is another farely cheap addition to foods.  It is great on popcorn and packs a lot of nutritional value (protein, b-vitamins etc.) and it has such a great flavor (cheesy, nutty flavor) and it can be bought in bulk as well. 

Plus risotto boxed meals are great.  They are fulfilling and you can normally add extra stuff (tomatoes, shallots, beans, onions and so forth) to taste.  Normally a whole box is only 500 calories so it makes a great main meal and keeps you full for a long time.

Hope that helps some :)

Garbanzo beans are called in Spain, the poor's steak, and it really is. All mediterranean poor soils and short economies eat from garbanzo beans, white beans, lentils, etc. From one Kg dry garbanzo you can get up to 3 kg of food, we add it to soups, salads, combined with spinach, or other green cooked vegetables, you can prepare hummus (lebanese recipe) which includes tahin (sesam paste) which adds lots of additional nutritional values. My father grew on big plates of garabanzo beans with olive oil and has never a problem with cholesterol, he is light and strong and 80 years old. Every spanish market has shop that sells solely boiled beans. Lentils with rice is what our children eat best, lentil salad (just add finely cut tomato, little vinegar and extra virgin olive oil - extra virgin holds all vitamines; or lentils with olives); white beans we mix do cold salad mixing the beans with salted cod just raw (you have to keep it 24 h in cold water to get the salt out), tomatos, green pepper and onions and black olives; warm are soups of any kind and cauliflower with white beans and little vinegar and oil.

How about growing some of your own fruit or veges! I know this isn't always practical but even growing tomotoes in pots?

It works out very cheap especially is you grow from seed but if you aren't patient like me then even buying the baby seedlings is a good start. We grow pumpkins in the winter - very very easy to grow - literally threw the seeds from a pumpkin we ate in the garden and they started sprouting - warning they can take over!! But once picked they do last for ages and great for winter soups.

We also grow in summer, corn on the cob - cooked on the barbeque in its husk. Lettuces - straight from the garden makes the freshest yummiest salad. Tomatoes - these can be tricky as sensitive to frost but you can grow them in pots which are portable. Plus potatoes - these are pretty easy to gow too.

Original Post by awarnica:

Hot Pockets?

I have to say, one hot pocket having 27% of your daily fat (and that is if you are not on a low fat diet, for me it is most of my daily fat content, read the 10% Solution but that is a different matter) is not anything I would call healthy.

I mean if you only ate one a day you would run out of calories pretty quickly so you wouldn't need to spend much for the rest of the day!

I do think that whole wheat pasta and plain tomato sauce is filling, you can have a ton of pasta for only 6-700 calories with very little fat content, high fibre and most of all to me, filling.

 I'm not sure if I agree.  Lean hot pockets (broccoli & cheese) are the only frozen food that I keep in the house.  I do because by Friday I need something quick and easy that I don't have to mess with.  They are about 250 calories, pair it with a salad and it's a quick meal.  I wouldn't want to have one every day but they are good in a pinch.  At $2.50 for two servings I think its a bargain.

There are several websites on the cheapest foods. For example, one of the best ways to lose weight and keep healthy is to eat less meat because it's expensive. Instead, of having a burger with extra lean ground beef, buy some dry beans (they are cheaper than canned, and much healthier), cook them and mash them to make a bean burger. Then add, some slices of spinach (it's healthier and you get twice the amount of protein than lettuce) and tomato on a whole wheat bun. Better yet, try to make your own bread with just whole wheat flour (very cheap!) and water.

Stop buying water. Instead, use tap water but cool it in the fridge so it tastes better :)

Here are some healthy, cheap foods in a list:

- Frozen and canned vegetables instead of fresh (they last longer and are much cheaper)

- ONLY buy seasonal fruits. Google, "fruits and vegetables by season" and you should get some good sites about which fruits and veggies are in season so you get the best tasting and cheapest fruits!

- Beans, Oats (VERY CHEAP!) don't buy instant oats but buy old fashioned oats in a container.

- Bananas and apples are relatively cheap year round so you can buy them often

- Potatoes, eggs, onions --> make a great, SPANISH OMELLETE! So delicious!