Eating healthy on a budget.

[paperfist]

I really enjoy black beans with some extra spicy seasoning. They're really cheap and have a lot of fiber. You can also buy a year's worth of lemongrass and kefir lime leaves on Amazon, both of which add a nice flavor to dishes. Celery is cheap and adds a lot of flavor as well.

I've been trying to get more fiber and black beans are pretty awesome. I have been buying the ones with no salt in a bag and not a can so they are a little more challenging unless you mix them with something. I like them inside of a Quesadilla.

Also, just discovered flax seed and figs. I don't even need to buy toilet paper now lol! I just have to figure out how to make my own 'fiber' bars and I'll have a mean inbetween meals snack.

 

[whm1974]

Thanks guys. I do have a 20 oz can of refried black beans left in my cupboard.

 

[shortylickens]

While I was eating cans of refried black beans awhile back. I guess I got tired of it.

thats the problem. they're cheap so you stockpile a lot, get sick of them, and stop. I guess you gotta learn to make several dishes and mix it up a bit or get bored.

 

[whm1974]

thats the problem. they're cheap so you stockpile a lot, get sick of them, and stop. I guess you gotta learn to make several dishes and mix it up a bit or get bored.

Well I was spicing it up with garlic and onion powder, along with black pepper. Then eating it with corn chips. Maybe next time I'll mix it with with brown rice, barley, and onion.

 

[paperfist]

thats the problem. they're cheap so you stockpile a lot, get sick of them, and stop. I guess you gotta learn to make several dishes and mix it up a bit or get bored.

I wouldn't be able to say the same if I had a pile of hamburgers, pizzas or macaroni & cheese waiting to be eaten.

 

[whm1974]

I wouldn't be able to say the same if I had a pile of hamburgers, pizzas or macaroni & cheese waiting to be eaten.

For me that would depend on where they are from.

 

[shortylickens]

For me that would depend on where they are from.

Five Guys, Costco, and Kraft.

 

[whm1974]

Five Guys, Costco, and Kraft.

I got some Shells and Cheese I haven't gotten around to eating.

 

[Kaido]

Budget Bytes breaks down the recipe by meal cost & serving cost:

https://www.budgetbytes.com

Scooby's Workshop has a lot of good reading & videos on eating cheap & healthy:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/quick-healthy-meals/

 

[pete6032]

I've been eating a lot of meat and ramen noodles, along with junk food lately and I'm looking for ways to eat healthier and cheaper. One of the ways I'm thinking off is consuming more whole grains and legumes along with some veggies and fruit.

So I plan on eating more of:

Barley
Lentils
Brown Rice
Split Peas
Onions
Garlic
Chili Peppers
ETC...

Any thoughts or tips?

Http://www.budgetbytes.com

Edit - Ah crap kaido beat me to it.

 

[whm1974]

Budget Bytes breaks down the recipe by meal cost & serving cost:

https://www.budgetbytes.com

Scooby's Workshop has a lot of good reading & videos on eating cheap & healthy:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/quick-healthy-meals/

Thanks I shay read and watch.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've always found that eating so-called "healthy" is much less expensive than the alternative. I've never fully understood why so many people claim the opposite. Fresh fruits and vegetables aren't expensive unless you get exotic or insist on buying things out of season. Dried beans and rice aren't expensive. Eggs and chicken and lean pork and beef aren't expensive. Fish can be pricey, but I limit myself to fairly commonly available fish like cod and a bit of salmon.

Find a natural grocer in town that sells bulk. Most of them do. One that we have locally always has sales on things like bulk quinoa, making it a lot less expensive than that found in boxes on the grocery store shelves. For a few bucks you can buy enough to last months.

I look at my diet and there are several items that I eat pretty much every day and I know I'll never tire of them. I think it may be a little monotonous for many people, but I love the things that I eat daily. A banana, every day. An apple, most days. Eggs, most days. Greek yogurt, every day. A garden salad, every day. Whole wheat tortillas, every day in some form of wrap or burrito.

 

[whm1974]

I've always found that eating so-called "healthy" is much less expensive than the alternative. I've never fully understood why so many people claim the opposite. Fresh fruits and vegetables aren't expensive unless you get exotic or insist on buying things out of season. Dried beans and rice aren't expensive. Eggs and chicken and lean pork and beef aren't expensive. Fish can be pricey, but I limit myself to fairly commonly available fish like cod and a bit of salmon.

Find a natural grocer in town that sells bulk. Most of them do. One that we have locally always has sales on things like bulk quinoa, making it a lot less expensive than that found in boxes on the grocery store shelves. For a few bucks you can buy enough to last months.

I look at my diet and there are several items that I eat pretty much every day and I know I'll never tire of them. I think it may be a little monotonous for many people, but I love the things that I eat daily. A banana, every day. An apple, most days. Eggs, most days. Greek yogurt, every day. A garden salad, every day. Whole wheat tortillas, every day in some form of wrap or burrito.

Thanks I'll keep this in mind next time I go shopping. I pay about ~$200 a month, sometimes less when I go to the store.

 

[whm1974]

So how cheap can a single person eat and still be healthy? I don't want to be so cheap that I come down with malnutrition.

 

[Kaido]

So how cheap can a single person eat and still be healthy? I don't want to be so cheap that I come down with malnutrition.

Step 1: Figure out how much fuel (protein, carbs, fats) your body needs per day:

https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Step 2: Find the cheapest ways to feed yourself per your macros, that still remains platable to you. Buy oatmeal, chicken, broccoli, etc. in bulk from big-box stores if you want to save a lot of money. Buy stuff on sale. Use coupons. Shop at discount stores like Aldi's. Maybe look into Soylent for either some or the bulk (but not all) of your meals. Try to have some kind of variety in your menu.

Two other things to consider are:

1. How much convenience do you want?

2. How boring of a diet can you handle?

A lot of people who do bodybuilding eat plain oatmeal, plain chicken, plain broccoli, maybe with some salt & pepper (although it's pretty easy to flavor your food, like going the easy way by using stuff like pre-mixed spice mixes). Convenience costs money though, so the more you can cook at home, the more money you'll save. If you invest in some tools like a vacuum-sealer, you can do meal prep in bulk ahead of time so that you can buy in bulk, cook in bulk, and then just heat up or thaw out your meals, which is pretty easy to do.

 

[whm1974]

Thanks. However about buying in bulk, I live in a small SRO apartment so there is a limited to how much bulk foods I can store.

 

[whm1974]

Found this site on eating cheap:
https://www.thesimpledollar.com/surviving-and-thriving-on-an-extremely-small-food-budget/
Well even if I bump the $1.25 a day to $3.00 that will still bring down my food bill to $90 a month. So I will save a ~$110 every month if I can avoid eating out and staying away from 7-11.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks. However about buying in bulk, I live in a small SRO apartment so there is a limited to how much bulk foods I can store.

Might want to look into Soylent then. It's basically a shake with 100% nutrition (like what they give coma patients). Comes in powdered or drink form. The shelf-stable, ready-made drink version is $2.83 cents per bottle (400 calories) without a subscription, making it one of the cheapest nutritionally-complete yet incredibly convenient foods you can ingest: (no dishes to do, no refrigeration required, no cooking required, no mixing required, just throw the bottle away after drinking it)

https://www.soylent.com/product/drink/

Again, if you are concerned about malnutrition, use the macro calculator linked above to figure out exactly what your body's requirements are for protein, carbs, and fats, and then eat according to your macros.

 

[whm1974]

Might want to look into Soylent then. It's basically a shake with 100% nutrition (like what they give coma patients). Comes in powdered or drink form. The shelf-stable, ready-made drink version is $2.83 cents per bottle (400 calories) without a subscription, making it one of the cheapest nutritionally-complete yet incredibly convenient foods you can ingest: (no dishes to do, no refrigeration required, no cooking required, no mixing required, just throw the bottle away after drinking it)

https://www.soylent.com/product/drink/

Again, if you are concerned about malnutrition, use the macro calculator linked above to figure out exactly what your body's requirements are for protein, carbs, and fats, and then eat according to your macros.

I don't know, I think I would much prefer to eat proper meals.

 

[Kaido]

Found this site on eating cheap:
https://www.thesimpledollar.com/surviving-and-thriving-on-an-extremely-small-food-budget/
Well even if I bump the $1.25 a day to $3.00 that will still bring down my food bill to $90 a month. So I will save a ~$110 every month if I can avoid eating out and staying away from 7-11.

There are a lot of sub-reddits on Reddit about this concept:

https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/

https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetfood/

https://www.reddit.com/r/studentfood/

https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndVegan/

https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetveggie/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cheap_Meals/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/

https://www.reddit.com/r/mealprep/

https://www.reddit.com/r/slowcooking/

https://www.reddit.com/r/onepotmeals/

 

[Kaido]

I don't know, I think I would much prefer to eat proper meals.

So that loops back to defining what a proper meal is: does that mean solid food? Does that mean eating per your body's macronutrient requirements? Does that mean fresh, healthy food, or does that include fast-food & prepared and packaged foods? There is a huge difference between eating cheap to fill your stomach, vs. eating according to your body's needs, vs. eating foods from fresh, wholesome sources as opposed to chemically-produced artificial foods. But it depends on specifically what your personal goals are.

And one thing to factor in is convenience - do you want to, or are you willing to, cook all of your meals? Because you can live on Dollar-menu items just fine, as well as stuff like Ramen & store-brand cereal if budget is the driving factor here, which is nice because then all you're doing is either picking up food, or assembling food, and not really having to do any actual cooking.

 

[whm1974]

So that loops back to defining what a proper meal is: does that mean solid food? Does that mean eating per your body's macronutrient requirements? Does that mean fresh, healthy food, or does that include fast-food & prepared and packaged foods? There is a huge difference between eating cheap to fill your stomach, vs. eating according to your body's needs, vs. eating foods from fresh, wholesome sources as opposed to chemically-produced artificial foods. But it depends on specifically what your personal goals are.

And one thing to factor in is convenience - do you want to, or are you willing to, cook all of your meals? Because you can live on Dollar-menu items just fine, as well as stuff like Ramen & store-brand cereal if budget is the driving factor here, which is nice because then all you're doing is either picking up food, or assembling food, and not really having to do any actual cooking.

Well... While my main goal is to save money, I do want to eat less packaged and fast foods. I also have lots of time on my hands, so cooking wouldn't be that much of an effort if I can use the fewest pots and pans as possible.

 

[Kaido]

Well... While my main goal is to save money, I do want to eat less packaged and fast foods. I also have lots of time on my hands, so cooking wouldn't be that much of an effort if I can use the fewest pots and pans as possible.

Excellent...the more clearly you can define your requirements, the more successful you can be at a project! So to recap, your goals so far are:

1. Save money on food
2. Eat healthier (less packaged food & fast foods) and eat real food (not Soylent)
3. Cook at home (lots of time available)
4. Use fewest pots & pans as possible (be efficient in terms of what you have to clean up)

I am a really big fan of appliance-based cooking. It means faster, more consistent, and better results, as well as fewer dishes. Read through my "modern kitchen" post here when you get a chance:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/kitchen-technology-investment-instead-of-renovation.2533617/

I would recommend starting out with an Instant Pot. It is the single most versatile cooking machine I own. The good one (7-in-1 DUO) can be had for as little as $99 on sale (which is still a big investment for a kitchen tool, but a worthy one!). I make a ridiculous amount of meals, snacks, and desserts with it...everything from pulled pork to rice to yogurt to creme brulee to blueberry compote (pancake & ice cream topping) to poached pears to cooked chickpeas (for hummus) to hardboiled eggs & egg bites, the list just goes on & on! Between that & my sous vide equipment, I cook probably 95% of my meals at home these days. It's an investment up front, but you don't have to buy everything at once (and you definitely don't have to buy everything on the list), and everything kind of pays for itself over time. I really enjoy this approach for both eating healthier & for saving money!

 

[whm1974]

Thanks for the link. I shall read.

 

[whm1974]

I read that link and it does seem to be a good way to work around a small kitchen. I can't blame for you not wanting to spend on just improving the looks. Myself, I barely have enough room for my slow cooker when I'm using it.