Healthy meals on a VERY tight budget?!
Answers: I really want to eat better, but my funds are limited , and i try to feed my little boy as healthily as possible but not easy, i cant really cook very well i wouldnt know where to start to be honest so any advice on cooking and cheap ways to eat well please! thankyou in advance!
This is not easy,but it is possible. I don't know where you are from,but there must be a discount food store of some type in your area.We have Aldi's and Save-a-lot.Many things they have are good,and when there are things you don't like,you should look for them on sale at the supermarket.There are also thrift bakery outlets that are a great way to buy bread cheep. Choose whole wheat breads, they're best for you and your son. Try making Iced tea and lemon aid instead of soda.It is so much better for you. Stay away from processed foods as much as you can, high carbs,which can be filling,are usually cheep,but they leave you craving them the next time your hungry,and there not good for you.I have 5 kids,and we have fed them lots of cheaper foods like hot dogs and mac and cheese,and sometimes you have too, but you do what you can to the best of your ability. It is hard,but believe me,with perseverance, and a big God you would be surprised what can be done !! Try to find a food pantry in your area, That can help a great deal. If you look into it,there must be some program available where you can learn how to cook different things. You have a computer,look up things. Type in some keywords much like the words you used in your question. Be creative, you can do it!!!!
i guess just get down the the grocery store, your online so look up recipes for heatly meals. Dont opt for ready meals even if they are cheaper than cooking yourself
Frozen veg has been proven to be just as good for you as fresh veg and most frozen veg is alot cheaper than fresh (it'll have instructions on how to cook it too).
Sign up to Freecycle.co.uk. Freezers are a hard item to get rid of when people are buying new ones due to having to pay the council to remove them so you might stand a good chance of picking up a perfectly good freezer for nothing. Some people might even offer to deliver it too.
soup, spaghetti bolognaise, mince and potatoes, corned beef hash, stews and casseroles, home made pizza, stir-frys
1.Try having a salad, packed with vitimins and minerals.
2.Smoothies are good. Get all your daily need in one drink.
3.You could take vitimin/omega-3 (examples) tablets. these can also boost your imune system.
Hope These Can Help Answer You Question
-Cheerio
pasta is very healthy and cheap. and u can cook that with my most things also same with rise.and potatoes
Healthy foods need not be expensive, it should be as simple as reading ABC. Just like cooking spinach or other green leafty vegetables, you may use a little olive oil, some garlic, and saute it or you might want to pouch it, steam it, then put on top of it some protein like steam fish, broil chicken.
Just remember to use the fresh ones and marinating fish or chicken should always be as simple as it can, using the natural ingredients like lemons,pepper, rosemarie leaves ....etc. I hope this might help you.
check out http://allrecipes.com/
If you avoid those cute little toddler snacks that claim to be made from fruit, granola bars, lunch meats (poor nutrition, high in salt, low in protein), macaroni & cheese or anything that is marketed to children, you will find healthier and more nutritious foods. And all young,new moms have to learn how to cook from scratch because it IS cheaper! Do you live in America? If so, then contact your local Extension Office for the Food and Nutrition Program. They help teach you how to cook healthy on a budget. And their programs are free and you make new friends, too! Also, find your local WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program.
Some nutritious snacks for you and your son:
Apple slices with peanut butter
Celery boats - filled with peanut butter
Ants on a Log - celery stalks filled with peanut butter, topped with raisins
Fluffer Nutters - Peanut Butter and Marshallow Fluff on toast (gotta have some sweet, right?!)
egg salad on hamburger or hot dog buns
tuna salad on toast
Choco Bananas - frozen bananas on a stick, dipped in chocolate
Juice popcicles - freeze real fruit juice in ice cube trays. When mostly frozen, stick a toothpick in each cube.
Jello with real fruit (don't buy the premade stuff)
Take a day when you are not in a hurry and really look around your grocery store. There are many nutritious ideas out there that don't have to cost alot of money.
A few years ago, I used to be able to get ground turkey in the 1 pound chub for .99 a pound. I'm sure it is much higher in price now, but you can still use very lean ground turkey in many recipes, has less fat that hamburger, and if you shop around, can possibly find it much cheaper than ground beef.
The idea about frozen veggies is a good idea. Also, buy fresh veggies at the lowest price only when in season and switch as the sales do.
Finally, you save more by buying more. Its hard to do at first, but save up a few hundred dollars first. If you don't have enough freezer space, consider getting a deep freezer. Now comes the hard part: Buy only what is on sale, and as little of anything that isn't. I know we always need milk, bread, etc. But, stock up on the sale items:
1 lb veggies frozen for $1 or less a bag, buy 24. Canned veggies on sale for less than 40 cents a can, buy 48! Your good grade of hamburger on sale for $1.99 or less, buy 10 or 15 lbs, take it home, weigh it out and freeze it in freezing paper.
Same goes for chicken breasts, boneless skinless chicken breasts, pork tenderloins, pork chops, and other cuts of meat. Also, things like butter when then are less than $1 or 1.33 a pound, buy 12 lbs and freeze them.
If you do this right, you will only buy most of your groceries on sale and won't run out of too much until it is on sale again. Every item that costs more everyday that you bought at a lower price on sale saves you money.
Best advice I can give for getting a cheap healthy diet is do a lot of research.
Put a list of food items into their groups.. work out what you can use together (and what you can use in multiple meals easily), against how much it'd cost to buy.. and pick a balanced shopping list that way.
At university I've really started to get into cooking, and the cheapest meals by far seem to be:
Rice: There are a lot of rice recipes on the net, and they're simple and inexpensive.
Pasta: Like with rice, easy to make a meal out of it, plenty of quick and simple recipes on the net.
And since it's my favourite:
Lasagne: make a tray of it.. freeze it. For around ￡6, I can make 12 meals, and i'm not using the cheapest ingredients at that. Not sure how much the white sauce (bechamel) is to buy.. I always make my own.
In fact.. there's quite a lot of meals you can make in batch and freeze.
Cereal and fruit can always be a good combo
And try to avoid snacks.. they usually don't help.. just adds more to the costs :P
Fresh Vegetables. Boil em up. Add a stock cube. Blend. ITS SOUP. Try frying onions and bacon at the start. Even nicer.
I've been on a tight budget all my life. Some good meals for kids are scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, burritoes or quesadillas, fried potatoes with hamburger, cheese omelettes, grilled cheese sandwiches, tuna casserole, tuna sandwiches, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, baked chicken, green beans, corn on the cob, watermelon, pickles, orange slice, bananas, apples, Spanish rice, potato salad, rice, I could go on and on. Just look on the web for "budget meals" and you will find a whole lot of stuff.
what i do is get a stew pack what are about ￡1. and get a tin a corn beef ,and maybe some chicken. and I'd make some stew or some soup .what you don't eat that day freeze . get a bag of potatoes has well . you can jackets and home made chips .if your not a good cook, with a stew i just chop my veg and through it in a pot nd let it cook on its own.hope this is a help
Do your food shopping at Aldi ands Lidl, both have excellent fresh fruit and vegetables at ridiculously low prices. Their tinned food may not be brands readily recognisable but the quality is very good. Both stores have hardware lines, childrens toys and clothing
Get hold of a copy of "The Pauper's cookbook" by Jocasta Innes - Penguin - published in 1971, so it's old, but very good.
Why do people think that healthy food is expensive, it`s the rubbish that costs more, like pre packed food, if you aren`t to good in the kitchen invest in an easy step cook book, you and your boy could have fun learning as well as making healthy meals
Tweets makes a good point about getting a freezer on freecycle.
Veggies from the market are cheaper than the supermarket, just any foods made from scratch are better than processed foods.
Also buy basics range tins of tomatoes, beans, pulses, lentils etc and try to add things like this into your cooking for extra nutrition. Bulking out something like a chilli con carne with a tin of green lentils and various tinned beans makes it go further and its miles better for you . . . I always do this and I love it.
Supermarkets and womens magazines ofen have some good basic recipes.
Good luck