Healthy foods on a budget

I am trying to buy healthy food with a very low budget.  I am not working. I could buy a lot more food that is unhealthy, does anyone else find it hard to be healthy and have a low budget?

We're on a tight budget as well. Instead of wasting your money on the cheaper junk food, opt for fruits and veggies, which are often much cheaper in comparison - you'll get more for your money in the long run.

Really watch the ads as well - whenever you see something natural or organic on sale, get that instead (this is my preference, anyway, as our bosdies were not created to handle all of the extra "goodies" man puts in foods, etc).

You can find many healthy things for a lot cheaper than you might think if you try shopping at different stores, local farmers markets and sales.

Good luck!

This is one of the harder things about eating healthy, I think.  You can buy a Double Cheeseburger and value size fries at McDonalds in the US for $2+tax.  No way are you going to get a skinless chicken breast and some veg for that price to make yourself.

Some cheap staples that I can think of are canned tuna, bulk bags of brown rice, and canned/frozen  vegetables.  Staples such as brown rice and whole grain pasta can be found pretty cheap if you go for the store brand and the larger sizes.  I actually pull out my phone and divide the price by the weight to find the best deal, as sometimes the larger size will be more expensive than a smaller size on sale, and sometimes the larger size is still cheaper than the smaller size.  If you check closely on the price tag on the shelf, sometimes the price per weight is listed already.  I find that it is the fresh food that costs a lot, fresh fruit, veg, and meats.

If you have a decent sized freezer, watch for sales and stock up.  This week my local grocery store had a sale on 4 lb bags of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Normally $12.99 but this week it was buy one get one free, so that equaled about $1.62 per pound.

I work full time and take college (university) classes online, so time and money are always tight for me and it is one of my biggest challenges as well.

As luck would have it, I just stumbled upon this article from the NY Times.

That's a great article!  Thanks for sharing it with us. 

I do almost everything they mention.  What I try to do is have beans and whole grain, a green vegetable, a vegetable of another color, and a dairy procduct, to make up a wholesome, cheap and balanced meal.

I live by my budget so I'm going to add to that awesome list:

Frozen fruits & vegetables: It seems like my grocery always has generic brands on sale. I especially love pearl onions, peas, okra & cauliflower. So handy to have on hand. Fruit goes on sale only occasionally, but it's a nice treat. Cherries are my favourite.

Sugar Free canned fruit: I know. *gasp* CANNED FRUIT! But when you want some juicy fruit & can't afford the fruit in the grocery, it's nice to have something to put on your yoghurt. Del Monte makes sugar free Fruit Cocktail, Pears & Peaches (formerly "carb clever") & my grocery sells a generic Kroger brand of them too. Canned stuff always goes on sale.

Giant cans of crushed tomatos: tomato soup, marinara, pizza sauce, stew, chile, you can make everything out of them. What I dont use I freeze. There is always some brand that is on sale.

Broth: " "

Progresso soups: this is the only canned brand I vouch for, besides my kroger tomato soup. They offer reduced sodium & are often on sale at my grocer. Our family loves Chicken & Wild rice. Soup + Salad = dinner

Cabbage: delicious sauteed with everything & anything. Great texture even when cooked a while. I love it carmelized. Also, it lasts FOREVER in the fridge.

Mushrooms: nutritious & add a meaty texture to a stir fry or salad

Celery & Carrots: I use them as a base for everything I cook. I dice them & cook them first with onions & garlic (mirepoix). They bulk everything up with nutrition & fiber.

Yams: they are my favourite tuber. You can microwave them whole, or dice them & nuke for 3 minutes. I add them to everything. Stir fry, curry, salad, oven fries, whatever. I also love them for dessert with almond butter.

Head Lettuce: always by the head. You can buy a giant head for less than a bag. I use lettuce as a "bed" for everything I eat.

Powdered Milk: Sounds revolting, but it's what I use in my coffee, tea & hot cocoa. It's cheaper than using "drinking" milk.

I ALWAYS buy meat on sale. Whatever is on sale is what we have for dinner. I break up into 1/2lb portions & freeze them so I can use as less or more as I need. I often use 1/2lb meat with beans to fill it out.

Pretty much all of our "convenience" foods I only buy because they are on sale or something. We go without things like cereals and crackers if nothing decent is a decent price. It's pretty harsh, because I always see things like Lucky Charms etc on sale for 10 for $10. WTF? When my Light Thomas English Muffins go on sale I get as many as I can cram in my tiny freezer.

FLOUR: You can make whole grain anything yourself. You can make batches of pancakes, waffles, whatever & freeze them. I've also learned to make my own bread, biscuits, rolls, pizza crusts, etc. I don't do it all the time, mind you, but when I have the time my daughter LOVES to be involved & we can freeze the dough in small enough portions to make several things. Tortillas are super easy, & you can make just as many as you need instead of buying a bag.

 Whenever you make something, consider making enough to freeze a portion or two so you don't get caught with a fast-food dilema (unless you want some $1 fries. Yum.)

I also wanted to add, since I've already hijacked this thread , that if you have any "ethnic" markets nearby check them out! Our best meat comes from the Ethiopian market. We don't get to it often, but when we do it's so worth it. It's so fresh that it only comes in from the butcher 1/week & then it's gone until the following week.

Our "asian markets" have great deals on produce, seafood, tofu, rice & noodles. Latino markets have great beef, rice, beans & condimants.

Yeah.

I second the ethnic markets!  I'm lucky enough to have Indian, Korean, Mexican, and a large general Asian market close by.  An example of a great price - rice vinegar in the supermarket is over $3 for a small bottle.  I can get the same brand a bottle over twice that size for the same price.  Real, fresh corn tortillas are .89 a dozen!  Tofu is less than half the price in the stores because it's sold in bulk.  The Korean produce people have bananas that are always .20 less than the supermarket. 

Another tip - don't write off stores like Whole Foods Market!  Go shop around and you'll find some great prices.  Their store brand is high quality and the price is often less than supermarket brands.  I get their no salt added beans when I don't want to cook an entire batch of one variety.  Sometimes they have tuna, also no salt added, for .99 a can.  Yes, they have the expensive stuff, but hidden in there are lots of bargains.

Also, Trader Joe's!  I get milk there for .99 a quart.  I like having sealed quarts because I live alone and it keeps longer that way. 

They've already been mentioned but I swear by beans... also lentils, chickpeas and the rest of the pulses (legumes).  For about 75p I can get 500g kidney beans which, once soaked and cooked become about 1.3kgs of top-notch protein.  If you drain them really well and allow them to cool they freeze beautifully.  I use beans in burgers, casseroles, soups, pasta dishes... all kinds of things.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are overpriced in the UK so I know where you're coming from. One way to lower the costs is to buy basics such as frozen or canned fruit (in juice rather than syrup) and vegetables from budget supermarkets, and try to eliminate waste on all kinds of food by buying in bulk when something is on offer (most supermarkets have offers on something each week so stock up when something is on 3 for 2 or buy one get one free) and freezing what you're not going to use immediately. If you split everything into portions for you or your family before you freeze it, you're also not tempted to take out too much and then eat the leftovers (I do this with meat, fish, bread, etc). Also shop around rather than buy everything at just one store ... I go to six or seven different supermarkets and buy different things at each.

I really like the farmers market on the weekend. Most towns in US have one. They sell tons of fresh fruit and veggies at bargain prices. Just be careful not to buy to much at one time. Ground turkey is very inexpensive. I think like 1.50 or so. Boil some brown rice or wheat noodles, take some garlic, a tomato and onion and garlic chopped (all three at farmers market) and cook turkey in it (you can add mushrooms, very cheap white wine, peppers, basil, oregano shredded cheese, anything really). Put it on top of the rice or noodles.  I made this last week- a lot of it- for around 6 dollars. My husband, daughter and I ate for 2 dinners (and 1 of my husbands lunches). 

^most towns have seasonal farmers markets, unfortunately. I'm lucky because in Seattle we have 2 year round farmers markets, but we don't have any winter fruits here.

Heh, that is so weird that ground turkey is inexpensive in the UK. It's way more expensive than ground beef here in Seattle. Ground pork is the least expensive.

The meat at our farmers markets is really expensive. It's amazing, organic, pastured meat, but very, very expensive, even if you buy a share of an animal. I can only afford things like soup bones and bacon ends, so I go with the ethnic markets & sales for meat.

my besttrick is to buy in bulk when things are on sale-like rihgt now chicken at jewel is half off soi bought a whole bunch and froze what im not going to use yet. you can do that for fruit and veggies too. i bought a bunch of cranberries cos they are in season and froze them so i can haev them later in the season or next season. look up a chart of what is in season also, and keep it with you so you can get fruits and veggies at their cheapest and freshest

Beans, beans, and beans. They have both protein AND fiber. Plus, they are ridiculously cheap. They're also surprisingly easy to make. Just soak them overnight and put them on low the next morning. They'll be ready in time for dinner!