Need Help: Dieting on Budget

Hey Guys,

First I want to thank you for taking the time to read my post. I really appreciate it.

Now, diet and budget there are two words you don't hear very often. I've been trying to lose weight and have lost a good amount in the past year. For a bit of background info I'm 23, female, 5' 8", at 160. I recently moved (for graduate school) and during my weight lose journey I previously haven't had to restrict my grocery list. I've always bought items for salads, fresh fruits and veggies, and low sodium deli meat and items. With being healthy comes the price tag and money wasn't really an issue. But now I only have a part time job. I'm a budget freak and the possibility of rent increasing is becoming more and more likely. Before I was tight and watching where my money was going but now examining my budget the only way to get the extra money for rent is to cut out part of the food category (which already has been lacking). Bills, health insurance, and gas for work come first always. It really sucks and has had me stressed and depressed for the past week of where the extra money will come from (I am in the process of looking for another job). Right now I'm basically living off cereal and PB&J. Some other friends in the same money situation live off Ramon noodles since it's so cheap.... but all that high sodium is not worth it for me. I guess it's a great opportunity for me to lose more weight but I just want to do it the healthy way.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is what would you suggest I do to ensure I get all my vitamins, calories, and that I'm living a healthy lifestyle during this rough patch? Even though I have a money shortage I still want my body to be as healthy as possible.

Thanks for your time and assistance!

The cheapest foods are usually the healthiest but they require some preparation and cooking.  Still.. if you're time-rich and cash-poor, that's not an issue.

Beans, lentils and chickpeas are particularly nutritious (high fibre, high protein, iron etc.) and the dried versions are practically for free.  If you can beg, steal or borrow a slow-cooker that opens up a lot of possibilities to make soups, stews, broths and use the cheaper less popular cuts of meat like brisket and stewing steak.  Seasonal vegetables might not be all that exciting but they are dirt cheap compared to fancy imports....  This time of year (assuming N Hemisphere) there are lots of things you can do with humble root-crops... turnips, swedes, carrots, leeks, cabbage.... will all give you stacks of excellent quality vitamins and minerals. Same goes with fruit... if it's apple and pear time where you are eat apples and pears... leave the imported fruit for the wealthy types.   Rather than expensive cereals buy simple oats and make oatmeal... much cheaper per serving and you can also use the oats to make other things like veggie burgers.  Eggs are good... if you don't mind how the chickens have been reared you can get very cheap battery-farmed eggs which opens up all kinds of ideas.... omelettes, poached, scrambled, fried... or to bind other ingredients.

Takes a little thought and application but I'm sure you could do better than PB & J...

I'm pretty busy but jane is right, the raw veggies and whole, uncooked foods are cheap and also healthy. I throw a bunch of cabbage, and other various veggies in my slow cooker on the weekends and have lots for the week. I make that cabbage soup often because it has become a comfort food for me. Just onion, cabbage, carrots, peas, ect. Once and awhile I throw a potato in there too. Or some rice. That ups the cals but it is still a nice healthy veg soup. Requires some chopping but otherwise it's all into the pot and thats it. Beans are very healthy but high cal. Stll, I mix some of them in with salads or other veggie dishes. Very cheap.

Frozen veggies too are not expensive and not unhealthy. Most have no preservatives and provide the vitamins.

Also rice cakes are cheap and a little peanut btter and low sugar jam goes a long way on one to ease a sweet craving.

Fruit that is in harvest also. Frozen fruits are not terribly expensive and a bag can last a while if you toss a few berries in salads or cerea.

Another thing I have recently come upon is oatmeal. I have learned to like it and it is very healthy, not too high on cals, and cheap as can be. A few berries...yeah, it's good too.

I've started buying the big store-brand container of plain yogurt.  Not sure of the size but at my local Wal-mart I can get it for $1.82 and it lasts me for longer than a week dishing out a half cup serving at a time.  I doctor the plain up with frozen fruit and splenda, but the big container of vanilla yogurt was the same price.

Last night I had exactly $10 left in my grocery budget until my next payday.  I went to Wal-mart and bought a gallon of skim milk, a dozen large eggs, the large container of plain yogurt, a bag of spinach, and a loaf of the bread I like.  My total was $9.82.    Course I'm lucky that I have all of the other things at home to go with these like the frozen fruit and oatmeal and salad dressing but hope this illustration helps a little.  I have a set amount of grocery money per paycheck, I withdraw it in cash and then once it's gone I'm done grocery shopping until the next payday rolls around.

Buy a big thing of store brand quick oats.  You can google recipes if you don't like plain old oatmeal.  My current obsession are oatmeal pancakes.

A few things that I buy that are half the price of what I used to get: a bag of whole carrots instead of the pre-washed baby carrots, bags of fully grown spinach instead of baby spinach, 3 lb bags of apples instead of loose apples....

The best thing to do is look at your budget and know exactly what you can spend on groceries for that week.  Write down what you have to have to survive: bread, peanut butter, milk, eggs etc....  Learn how much they cost and then see how much $ you have for the other stuff.

Check out your grocery store's websites and see if they have coupons on-line or their weekly sales flyers and see when you can stock up on something you use all the time.  Any money you can save on your normal items you can use towards new things. 

First of all - don't buy prepared foods.

Spending some time in the kitchen peeling and chopping your own fruits/veggies/salads or re-portioning some meat you got on sale for individual serving sizes is going to help your budget out big time. (Sale meat is my favourite - often I can get huge roasts for 50% off if you are willing to stop in the grocery store on occasion and only buy on sale items) Eat an orange or apple instead of buying the juice.

Coupon clipping sounds silly - but if it is a basic that you USE then why not save 50 cents? ( But don't buy things JUST because you have a coupon).

Buy in bulk the things you know you can get through before they go bad. Most grocery stores will have a price/kg (or lb)  breakdown on items. Make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck on the brand and size you are buying.

Plan ahead. If you know WHAT you will be eating that week then you won't buy extras that will just go bad or be ignored. AND sometimes you can save money and time by re-using items in several recipes throughout the week. Also you are less likely to resort to fast food or something pre-packaged.

If you added up the cost of a well thought out home cooked meal it will almost ALWAYS be less than the take out version.

I don't have too much to add beyond the advice others have already given, except to say that even at places that have a reputation for being expensive (Whole Foods, Fresh Market and their ilk), you can sometimes get a better price buying from bulk bins for things like beans and grains. I don't know if this is a city/state/regional chain, but at my Sunflower market, I can get rolled oats for 77 cents a pound, vs. paying over $3 for 2.5 lbs of the generic brand at my grocery store. It means doing some research, and going to several stores to compare, but it can save you money.

I agree with everyone! Do you by chance have a Save-a-lot grocery store? They actually have generic everything, usually half off from the reg. grocery store. If not, if you are cooking for yourself only, then prepare enough for the week and portion it by freezing it then reheat when ready. Well after a while you will have many different items to choose from! Coupons are the best! even going to those Mexican Super Markets are pretty cheap! Are ramon's really that bad if you only use half or a third of the seasoning? i typically boil an egg with the soup to get my protein! :) As do I not eat meat so my budget is less expensive!! Good Luck with everything!