Does anyone have any suggestions for the best foods to buy when grocery shopping while gaining weight. I feel guilty spending money on extra food for eating more while I am trying to gain weight. Has anyone else ever felt that kind of guilt?
Yeah! I have that same problem; items like nuts are so expensive these days =[
I figured maybe the best bang for your buck calorie-wise is oil since there are so many calories in a bottle of any type of oil, although I get pretty sick if I consume too much oil in a dish, so I am also interested in seeing what other people say as well.
hmm, so id say for full fat foods so you dont have to eat a lot of lower cal foods. try-
PB, oatmeal, breads, pasta+rice, potatos, cheese, oil, sauces.
look on the botton shelf at supermarkets where things are cheaper. also, mix things together-oatmeal+PB, use lots of PB in your sandwich, more oil...
High Calorie items like rice, beans (dry, not canned), lentils, peas, and pasta (especially when on sale - i stock up) are usually pretty cheap (around $1 per pound of dry beans or pasta and $2 per pound of rice). Furthermore, I suggest starting to shop in a place like Sam's Club where you can buy a whole bunch of stuff for less and freeze the leftovers (I frequently buy lots of meat this way and freeze 3/4 of it in smaller portions for later cooking). You can also stock up on other non-perishables, like cans of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce...
I always go in with a list of foods so I can expect how much my bill will be roughly. It definetly can be tough while on a budget but I feel it can be done but takes some extra effort. If you eat certain things alot, try to get them in bulk and on sale. Meat can be bought in bulk and frozen. Also look into the alternate brands of similar items. Most of the times the store brand is cheaper and same quality as a name brand. Nuts I totally agree are expensive, but shop around your local area. For example, almonds at my local Safeway is $1.50 per 100g, but at the Save on Foods it's only $0.99 per 100g. Same with fruits and veggies, there is a smaller fruit market grocery nearby that is much cheaper than my local Safeway and bette quality too. I've gotten to the point where I've been writing down the price of certain items and then when the weekly flyers come around, I check if they have a sale :) Good luck!
Peanut butter, pasta, and pizza. The 3 ps!
Asian and other ethnic markets are your best friends. I can buy huge bags of rice, noodles, tofu, etc. for wicked cheap at the Thai place around the corner. There's an African market that I'm dying to try, too, and a Hispanic market in town...
Original Post by jezebelina:
Furthermore, I suggest starting to shop in a place like Sam's Club where you can buy a whole bunch of stuff for less and freeze the leftovers (I frequently buy lots of meat this way and freeze 3/4 of it in smaller portions for later cooking). You can also stock up on other non-perishables, like cans of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce...
You do have to be really wary of what you're getting at these bulk stores, though. I have been a member of both Sam's Club and Costco, and usually the savings are only if you would buy brand name items in the grocery store. For example, you can get a multi-can pack of Green Giant green beans for cheaper per can in Costco than you would pay in the grocery store . . . but the grocery store brand green beans might be even cheaper per can. So I would only go with Sam's Club/Costco if you need to have brand name items. Otherwise, look for the store brand and those might be the cheapest.
Another example . . . soda . . . you can get Coke or Pepsi cheaper at Costco vs. the grocery store, but if you're willing to buy the store brand or random brand of cola in the grocery store, it's still cheaper than the Costco prices for the branded sodas.
