OT: Healthy eating on a budget

The biggest help I have had with saving money is creating meal plans and detailed shopping list based on the meal plans.  When something is gone its gone untill the next shopping trip and you will have to make do without.  I try to buy enough based on what I know my family can eat in a week.  Try to make as much of your food at home from scratch.  Beans, pastas, and rice are inexpensive filling foods.  I plan to buy a 1/4 of a cow wich is cheeper per pound but more expensive on the outset. I am currently saving up for it.  Buying in bulk does tend to be cheaper unless you are really good at the couponing thing.  If you have the time you can read through these blog posts about eating healthy on a budget.

The link is not showing.  It is 100 days of real food on a budget. 

Here’s a free cookbook via pdf that might be interesting to you.

https://www.leannebrown.com/recipes/2014/8/updated-version-of-good-and-cheap-now-available

I find that coupons often take a lot of time that I don’t have–time to find which stores already have those items on sale, time to shop at 2 or 3 stores just to get the best price from the coupon–plus the time it takes to decide if I will actually use them within a few weeks or so.

It often seems to end up that the coupons for name-brand items aren’t really less money than the generic brands, unless I happen to find the name-brand item on sale. And my oldest daughter always wants to clip coupons for things we don’t even use.

How come I never see a coupon for “75 cents off fresh cucumbers in the produce department” of our local grocer? Eh?

I am not a planner–which is a good thing in my house, because “certain” people will eat all the fresh veggies and cheese out of the fridge without regard for any meal for which it might be designated… I just buy fruits and veggies in season when they’re cheaper, and keep a pretty standard stock of supplies in the pantry such as rice, lentils, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, etc.  As long as I have a bunch of “standard items”, I can take just about any protein and some veggies and make something with it.

We are semi-primal over here (i.e. very little processed foods, tons of fruit, veggies, and meat, not a lot of grains except white rice).  I serve white rice, potatoes, turnips, or sometimes noodles with almost every dinner–once everyone has had first helpings, you’re expected to fill up on mostly those if you want seconds; make large batches of vegetable soup–I often sprinkle sausage crumbles, chopped bacon, or diced ham over the top for a satisfying “meat hit” without a lot of cost.  We also eat a lot of eggs–my weekly quiche is often one of our dinners before becoming breakfast the rest of the week (I make a BIG batch!)  (Quiche is also a great way to stretch a pound of bacon over several meals…)

If people in your family tend to eat all the meat or cheese (the pricey stuff!) and leave behind too much of the cheap stuff (the starches or veggies), casseroles and crockpot meals are your best friend 🙂

One other thing that I think has helped our budget a lot–don’t be afraid of fat!!  As long as it’s healthy fats (e.g, butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or animal fats from pastured animals), it’s not bad for you–calorie-dense, low price-per-calorie, provides fat-soluble nutrients like omega-3s and vitamin D, and doesn’t raise your blood sugar….  And it is filling and satisfying.  Portion sizes naturally drop a bit once you start eating that way.  (We hardly ever snack anymore, aside from “teatime”!  We used to graze all day!)

I had a similar question a few months ago:

https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/lowering-food-bill-healthy-frugal-foods

We are eating more eggs and beans. Dry lentils cook in 20 minutes, no soaking required.

I’m using the GF version of this plan right now – http://www.simplifiedpantry.com. I still make favorites, but this has helped me simplify and be less overwhelmed.