Eating on a Low Budget?

[80s_Lover]

I don't know if any of you will remember me-I haven't been on the internet for a while! Needed the break :)

I just got my own place for the first time and when all is said and done, I only have $30-35 a week to spend on groceries. I don't even know where to begin since I'm used to cooking elaborate meals that require that amount for just one day. I also don't want to live on pasta and beans (though they are quite good and I'm open to recipes!). Any ideas for how to eat healthy and satisfying meals on a tight budget?

Thanks in advance and it's good to be back!

Chelley

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

35$ a week is really doable. I spend about 70$ on 4 people which breaks down to less than 20$ per person, though that equation doesn't exactly compare... it's easier to cook for more than one...

I would recommend reading the various websites about frugal living/eating - there's some great ideas.
Also there's quite a few "frugal" threads here where you can get some ideas.

Pasta, rice, beans, potatoes... all these make good bases for meals and then you can add fancier ingredients. It will take a while to build up a pantry of basics, but once you have these, you can make all sorts of wonderful meals while just buying the basics/fresh produce every week.

[rincaro]

You do four people on $70 a week TNS? Help me Obi Wan!

[ilovemydragon]

Try buying store brand bags of frozen veggies on sale. As TNS said, it might take a little while to build up your pantry but you can change your flavors nightly by just adding differant seasonings or sauces (like teriyaki etc).

[VeganForHealth]

Buy rice in large 25 lb sacks, and store in a tin. Get a nice Jasmin flavor or something you'll like. You can do rice up a lot of ways, with cinamin and peas, with a gazillion types of Pillaf, and even a Veggie Risotto. Nutritionally it is important to have too.

Beans. They go well with rice, and they have a lot of protein, and needed nutrition. Get the dried kind in large sacks. Get a couple kinds. I'd go with Black Beans, Kidney Beans, and Chickpeas. They're cheap that way, and actually better tasting. There's a million types of dishes you can make with them. (Indian to Mexican, to African) Get Lentils too. Red, and Brown. Maybe green too.

Learn how to store stuff, so it doesn't spoil, and you can buy in bulk. Keep Onions and potatoes seperate. Learn the veggies you can refrigerate, vs the ones that you shouldn't. (Pretty much everything except bananas and potatoes I think.) Learn how long things take to spoil, so nothing goes to waste.

Don't know where you are, but if you're in a city, find an Indian store. They sell spices for cheap. $1.50 for a decent sized bag. You can make a variety of Indian dishes with about 4-5 spices. You will always find cheaper prices in cuisine of immigrants who are often on a budget as well.

Frozen Veggies on sale are probably the cheapest thing you can buy. Canned Tomatos are a bargain, with a lot of flavor, and often on sale. Learn recipes with them. (Be aware the crushed kind are tomato juice. Get Diced, or Whole.) Every city has places that sell "riper" produce for less. For fresh produce shop at these places daily, and cook up the veggies the same night.

Nuts are expensive, but necessary. Bite the bullet, and buy them in larger quantities. Stores vary greatly on price with these. Never buy those dinky overpriced bags. And don't crack your own, or you'll go crazy. Trader Joes actually has some Ok prices on nutz. Thats where I get them.

Find cheap herbs or you'll be miserable. Parsley and Cilantro are usually a little more reasonable. Buy them where they're not individually packaged. (Probably a no-brainer.)

Hope these help. That's all I can think of for now.

[Michael]

Soups are usually inexpensive. You can make double batches and freeze them in individual serving containers. Hummus is also pretty cheap to make. And probably my favorite cheap-o food... peanut butter & jelly. :drool:

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

You do four people on $70 a week TNS? Help me Obi Wan!
People have asked me this before and I don't have any secret, I honestly don't know... <<shrug>>

I try to maintain a well stocked pantry and a huge freezer. If I had to build up that all again, it'd be a lot more, for sure.

I buy big bags (25 lbs or more) of staples - rice, beans, wheat flour, TVP and keep them in bins in my pantry (which is actually a heated garage) . I buy my spices and some nuts at ethnic markets. I freeze some of my own garden veggies. I buy bread at the bakery outlet and freeze it when I find a good bargain. I get canned and frozen goods at the "scratch and dent" Grocery outlet store, lunch box items at Costco, veggies at farmers markets.

Sadly, much as I would love to, I don't buy organic, (though I do my own garden that way) I rarely ever shop at a health food store, I use very few meat analogues (burgers that I also buy by the case and dry TVP which is very cheap) my kids don't drink juice or soymilk (we use it on cereal and in cooking but thats usually a carton a week, usually I buy it in the quart size because we use so little) and we don't buy the boxed cold/dry cereals.

Dunno if that helps, but that's basically all...

[FreshTart]

TNS - (to make you feel better) having your own garden in the summer is SUPERIOR to organic produce in your environmental impact. There are no transportation costs, no risk of unfair labour issues (unless your kids complain about helping), and you are directly contributing to the improvement of yourself and your property.

Did that help? :)

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

TNS - (to make you feel better) having your own garden in the summer is SUPERIOR to organic produce in your environmental impact. There are no transportation costs, no risk of unfair labour issues (unless your kids complain about helping), and you are directly contributing to the improvement of yourself and your property.

Did that help? :)

Yeah, thanks. :) I need to remind myself of that when I hear all raves on here about organic stuff and how wonderful it all is...

(And I am SURE if my kids knew better they'd create their own picket line and go on strike against my evil labor laws... :evil: )

[FreshTart]

Pass them along my email address. I have experience with strikes and a bullhorn :)

[bigdufstuff]

Some times a bulk section can be a cheaper way to go. I buy my rice, dried beans, lentils, seeds that way. See if there is one near you.

Rice and beans should be a staple for a cheap diet, but of course add a good variety to them so they don't always taste the same.

[das_nut]

Buy staples, and in the spring, plant a garden. (Plant a fall garden now, if you are in a mild climate).

Btw, if you are near a "Savers" or a discount grocery store, visit them. Sometimes they have good deals. Also visit an Asian food store, they'll have rice in bulk bags.

[SeaSiren]

Bulk is definately the key as well as dried beans, etc. I have recently gotten into heavy couponing also. I saved $60 off my bill yesterday (over half). These were for many things such as Frozen Veggies, which ended up being 10 cents per box (3 boxes) after coupons.

I treat coupons same as cash (not like paper), I hand them the coupons and it is the same as if I handed them $60 cash.

There is a site couponmom.com, which can assist as well as printable lists if you happen to be in a large area. (I'm not but still benefit.)

Good Luck!

[purrpelle]

In addition to the bulk food buying, find out what things you can buy at the HFS for the same $ as the supermarket, and buy those things there at least once a week. I do this, and my loyalty is usually rewarded with one day out of date yogurt, free samples of energy bars, and veg*n ramen past it's date but perfectly good.

I love the guys over at my HFS... they always give me freebies, and a discount of things I buy in bulk (soymik, gallon jugs of dr. bronners, etc)
Talk to them, mabye you can work there one day a week or something like a co-op and get a discount.

It does take a lot of cash at the beginning to set up a pantry, though.

[goettling]

I think a well stocked pantry is the key. I buy in bulk as much as I can. I spent 80 bucks today at Aldis, but you should see how much I have.

I always play a game with the pantry. See how many meals I can make on what I got on hand. I might be a canned good junkie though.

I always have dried beans, canned, or canned fruit, canned veggies, rice, did I say beans, lol, veggies of all sorts, noodles, stewed tomatoes, etc.

I do buy frozen veggies also though. Bread frozen, soups frozen.

I just try to stay organized on the shopping thing, since we too are on a big budget.

[Starblossom]

I am on the same budget as you, but I don't have any advice to contribute that has not been said already. I spent a lot at first just stocking up my supplies of pasta and beans and rice and all the bulk stuff (the place I shop at has a student discount on wednesdays, so I take advantage of that!) and now all I really need each week are veggies and fruits.

Shop around and compare the prices at different stores. I recently visted a Fresh Fruit Company store and realized their avocados and broccoli (among other things!) are much cheaper than the regular store I shop at. This makes it a pain in the butt for me to bus to different stores but hey it's worth it to save the money.

Someone mentioned cutting up coupons. Where do you get the coupons from?? I don't seem to get fliers or any of that other "junk" mail I used to get back home...I guess they just are'nt delivered to my apartment building??

[VeganForHealth]

...Weekend newspaper usually has them.

[bigdufstuff]

I always play a game with the pantry. See how many meals I can make on what I got on hand. I might be a canned good junkie though.


Ha! I do this all the time to. I try to see if have enough variety in my pantry to completely run out of stuff before going back to the store. But I usually run out of veggies before that happens.

[Coney]

Someone else on this board suggested this once, and it was such a fantastic idea, I started doing it myself.
---Make large batches of bean/rice burritos and freeze them. One large can will make 3 burritos. I make 6 at a time (2 large cans, cost you about $2.40), put them in freezer bags, then I have a lunch that cost me about .60 total. Put some salsa or jalapenos in there if you want. Some rice if you want.


--Pasta is incredibly cheap. Chop up some broccoli, carrots, onions, peppers, zucchini, and have Primavera. Risoto is also easy, mushroom risoto rocks.

--Indian food is very easy and cheap. Get some curry powder, chopped frozen spinach, and chickpeas. Make some rice. Very tasty and inexpensive.

--Split pea soup, lentil soup, etc, very cheap and easy.

--Mediterranean foods--hummous, couscous, falafel.

Look at cultures around the world that use very simple ingredients that are very inexpensive.

I agree with others above, build up your pantry. Perhaps once a week, you can buy a couple more spices. Get the "store brand" oregano, basil, garlic powder, etc. Combo spice mixes like Adobo are good for putting in soup. Once you get a good amount of spices, you can eat for less than $1 per meal in most cases, usually less, if you make a pot of soup.

Fantastic Foods mixes are great. Their falafel is highly recommended.

Good luck to you, I'm in the same boat trying to pinch my pennies, being gauged by the oil industry like everyone else, I've gotta watch where the cash is going.

[bstutzma]

Large batches are the key. IF you eat the same thing every day for a week, it gets pretty cheap (boring, perhaps, but cheap.)

Lentil soup is SOOO CHEAP, SO delicious. Rice and beans as everyone has said, burritos can be SOOO cheap.

Never underestimate the power of the pizza bagel.

Bfast for dinner: Oatmeal and fruit. A huge stuffed baked potato. BBQ tofu with potatoes and frozen veggies. The less pre-prepared an item is, the cheaper it will be ;-) Buy frozen veggies on sale and you have an instant meal ready to go - stir fry them with some frozen edamame, add soy sauce, add rice, you've got instant dinner for less than $2 a serving. Good luck!!!!

[Dhatri Goddess]

wow, great thread lots of good tips, thanks :)

[spud]

Shop around the all supermarkets and buy in bulk when they have loss lead items. The money I save on toilet paper per year... :flush:

[Tesseract]

If you're buying dried spices at the supermarket, there's usually a cheaper brand sold in packets near the expensive one sold in cans. Or Adams, sold in large plastic canisters in my area, is also one of the better supermarket deals. You can sometimes do even better at the local farmer's market (there's a guy here who sells dried spices in bulk super cheap) but the danger there is buying so much that you take too long to use it and it loses its flavor. If you're going to take advantage of some guy who sells cumin by the scoop for $1, the thing to do is split it with some equally poor friends!