South Beach Diet - SBD on a budget

I know I have seen threads about this, but I can't find one right now! I REALLY need to cut back at the grocery store - it is really the only place I possibly can.

Does anyone either have a link to a thread like that or a few ideas? I was thinking of driving up to Trader Joe's this weekend to get some TVP so I can start cutting our ground turkey with it. I usually have beans, spinach, and tomatoes (or leftovers) for lunch. Breakfast is usually cottage cheese or yogurt and fruit. sometimes I have Kashi Go Lean in the bowl too. - I currently spend quite a bit of money on dairy. (about $10 a week on cheese, sometimes more) - I buy (and eat) loads of fresh spinach along with a large assortment of other fresh fruits and veggies.

any ideas?

Hrm...you're on the right path with cutting the turkey with tvp. It allows me to stretch a pound of ground beef into two meals instead of just one.

Beans are very inexpensive, but dried beans even more so. A bag of beans typically equals about three cans of beans and costs about the same as one can. If I don't cook a huge batch and freeze them, I completely forget to soak them and end up with no beans for a meal. I'll cook a pound or two and divide them up into serving sizes. Cooking them in the crockpot is easy! and doesn't require you to be there supervising them.

Dairy....$10 a week doesn't sound like much to me, especially considering milk is over $6 a gallon. I'm feeding more than just one person though...
Making your own yogurt is easy and really economical. I do it on occasion and I know that CyndiM makes her own yogurt as well. It has the consistency of greek yogurt for MUCH less coin. Things like cheese sticks and stuff are expensive convenience items, could you buy in bulk and cut it down? Cheese freezes pretty well. It might be a higher price at first, but cheaper in the long run.

As far as produce is concerned, we get ours from either local farm stands or the CSA. Rarely do we buy supermarket produce and our checkbook thanks us - as well as our bodies! For an example, I bought some haricot verts at our local farm stand at $2.00 for a 3 pound package...the same thing at our local supermarket was $2.49 a pound. I'm sure not everything is such a dramatic difference, but I've noticed that most things (even things like dried beans) are cheaper at the farm stands....and for good reason - low overhead!

There are also little things that I do to shave off a few cents here and there. For example, I make my own seasoning blends instead of buying them. Taco seasoning? Chili powder, paprika, cumin, onion and garlic powder and cayenne. No added MSG and way cheaper per ounce than the store bought packages. Considering how often we eat tacos, it saved us a few dollars each month.

Also, my biggest source of savings was to always plan ahead. I devised a weekly menu based on what stores had on sale and what produce was in season. I bought my groceries at the beginning of the week and sent DH if I needed something (he is a man shopper - in and out - nothing extra). If I needed to make extra trips each week, it would cost me at least $100 more per week because I would always find something "cool" that I wanted to cook with. With a plan, it saved us from going out to a restaurant and me having to make extra trips to the store.

thank you! -

the $10 a week is JUST in cheese. - we drink 4-5 gallons of milk a week. I buy Horizon Organic for DD which makes her milk alone about $20 a week. DS and I drink 1-2 gallons of regular skim, depending on how much cereal he winds up eating that week for breakfast.

Good idea about the crock pot for the beans. - I have plenty of dried but I never have time to cook them when I want them!

Holy COW! That is a lot of milk! I cringe just buying 2 gallons of organic milk.

I never used to cook dried beans either because it took so long. Now, I just soak them overnight and pop them in the crockpot with a buttload of water. 8 hours later, voila! Done. Portion and store. No added salt or HFCS...just pure bean yumminess. I freeze them using zip-top freezer bags. A cup or two per bag.

I don't even drink milk or eat cheese anymore because it's getting too expensive for me. I know how you feel OP!

Yow! Makes me kind of glad I'm fairly lactose intolerant - I just don't eat much dairy because my stomach will only tolerate a small serving a day.

What about buying dry milk for you and your DS? I seem to recall it's cheaper that way - it's buying in bulk, so it can be more expensive upfront but I'm pretty sure in the long run it's much cheaper. Get a small package first to be sure you like it, some people notice a taste difference and some people don't.

I'm just getting into the whole dried bean thing myself, it's for sure cheaper AND better for SBD than canned. If you don't have a crockpot, a BIG stew pot on the stovetop with the heat as low as it goes is almost as good.

I also second the suggestion of using your own spices. For dried greens like oregano or parsley, rub them in the palms of you hands before adding to your meal to crush them and "wake up" the flavour. My mom taught me that one, and I forget why it works but it does - and means you can get away with cheaper spices without losing the flavour.

Oh, and if you're really trying to count those pennies, freeze your crockpot beans in reusable Tupperware type containers instead of disposable bags - just try to fill it right to the top (no air pocket on top) to prevent freezer burn.

I'm just getting into the whole dried bean thing myself, it's for sure cheaper AND better for SBD than canned.

Everything basically matches nutrition fact wise except for the sodium count. Canned beans have a very high sodium count. So it is better to cook the dried beans yourself. I just put them in a pot with lots of water and let them boil. The Goya's dried beans in the bags don't have to be soaked (the package says) so I just boil them for about two hours with garlic and other spices and then I do like you all...pack them into freezer bags and save them for later. I love eating beans on my salad which replaces chicken or fish when I don't have it.

blech. I've tried dry milk....ick ick ick. A few months ago, being the frugal person that I am, tried to extend the life of our milk by pouring half the gallon into a large pitcher and mixing in rehydrated milk. Ugh. It tasted like baby formula.

DS wouldn't even drink it...and he eats goose poo with a smile on his face.

DS wouldn't even drink it...and he eats goose poo with a smile on his face.

Okay, I just have to ask, What in the world is "goose poo?" :lol:

Okay, I just have to ask, What in the world is "goose poo?" :lol:

I don't think it is safe to ask that question Cottage. :nono:

Everything basically matches nutrition fact wise except for the sodium count.

Hmm, I thought they were somewhat higher in fiber and or a lower glycemic index. It seems like the table in the SBD book lists some types of dried beans as lower than their canned counterparts. Correct me if I'm wrong on that - seems like the canned process would reduce the fiber somewhat though. Of course, maybe eight hours in the crockpot does just as much, I dunno.

But enough rambling - dried is certainly still cheaper! Which is what this thread is originally about, after all. :)

I eat about a dozen hard boiled eggs a week. They are easy to pack on the go and cheap. I also eat 3-4 cans of Tuna a week. I'll drain all of them at the beginning of the week and put in individual tupperware containers so that I'm forced to eat them or they'll go bad.

I've also been eating more peanut butter. We're allowed 2 TBS on phase I, I've just been taking a heaping TBS and a glass of milk for breakfast and it fills me up and is cheap (and FAST).

Also instead of eating fudgesicles I've been eating sugar free jello with fat free frozen whipped topping which is also very cheap.

I've turned to frozen veggies. I like the mccormick supreme vegetable seasoning. A serving of frozen broccoli or cauliflower with seasoning on it is quite good. It's also healthier to eat frozen produce then fresh produce that's been sitting in your fridge for a few days. They freeze it at the peak of freshness and fresh produce looses nutrients every day it's not consumed.

Also I eat a decent sized bowl of real oatmeal pretty much every other day. This also is SBD friendly and super cheap.

I eat about a dozen hard boiled eggs a week. They are easy to pack on the go and cheap. I also eat 3-4 cans of Tuna a week. I'll drain all of them at the beginning of the week and put in individual tupperware containers so that I'm forced to eat them or they'll go bad.

I've also been eating more peanut butter. We're allowed 2 TBS on phase I, I've just been taking a heaping TBS and a glass of milk for breakfast and it fills me up and is cheap (and FAST).

Also instead of eating fudgesicles I've been eating sugar free jello with fat free frozen whipped topping which is also very cheap.

I've turned to frozen veggies. I like the mccormick supreme vegetable seasoning. A serving of frozen broccoli or cauliflower with seasoning on it is quite good. It's also healthier to eat frozen produce then fresh produce that's been sitting in your fridge for a few days. They freeze it at the peak of freshness and fresh produce looses nutrients every day it's not consumed.

Also I eat a decent sized bowl of real oatmeal pretty much every other day. This also is SBD friendly and super cheap.


I live on PB and sugar-free Jell-O. I've just started getting into frozen veggies. I should have started that months ago.

Winter is a great time for cheap foods too. I think in soups, you can easily use frozen veggies, and it's still pretty cheap. A lot of those crock pot/soup recipes we're posting are cheap, and make big batches! (I've had had soup or chili every day for the past 1 1/2 weeks!)

thank you all so much!! - I am online now looking up RDA's. I want to make sure that I continue to get all of the nutrients and calories I need but first I need to see what foods contain those nutrients. Then I am going to figure out which ones are SB friendly and cheap!

I have been eating more of the tomatoes and beans meals (which I really like) but it occurred to me that I am eating an awful lot of a few foods and maybe I need to check into it a bit!

FitDay or Daily Plate or a similar site will really help. You can list your foods for the day and see how it matches up to the RDA. It was really helpful for me.

Check out the cabbage thread too. That's another high impact food - good vitamins, very filling, usually inexpensive :)

Ladies-

I really needed this thread this morning! Thanks!

:) :) :) :hug:

Re: the dairy, we buy our milk from a local farm and I'm paying $6.50/gallon. I'm not ready to give this luxury up yet, grocery store milk just can't compare. So we only use the fresh milk for drinking, cereal, etc. For cooking, I always substitute dry milk. It's easy, if the recipe calls for a cup of milk, I add a cup of water and 1/3 cup dry milk. The difference is not noticeable. For sauces and cream soups, I use canned evaporated skim milk. It makes things taste richer and more creamy than regular skim milk or dry milk, and I keep a few cans in the pantry so I never have to worry about running out.

I cook my dry beans in the pressure cooker, very quick and easy.

I freeze as much as I can in the summer when produce is cheap, and switch over to the frozen once the farmer's market closes. When I run out, I go to grocery store frozen.

If you have an Aldi's nearby, their cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, and eggs are much cheaper and good quality. I love their nonfat yogurt as much as I love Greek. I have a yogurt maker and make my own sometimes, but I only do this now when my expensive local farm milk is getting elderly. It's cheaper to buy the Aldi's than make it with local farm milk.

I make lots of soup too, very inexpensive and filling. I make a veggie soup with whatever veggies I have on hand and need to use up. It makes a great and filling veggie snack during the week and always turns out good.

zeff, when you tried the dried milk trick, did you let it chill overnight before drinking? The flavor improves, although I have done it with 1/4 dried, not half, they notice that much. It tastes pretty yucky right after mixing.

I may get brave and give the dry milk another try for yogurt. I have this childhood memory of my Mom always forgetting to mix the milk until right before dinner and it being warm and lumpy. Still don't drink milk.

Schmoo - I did let it chill....maybe I just made the ratio too much for a first timer. I've heard it also tastes better in a glass container.

I do use evap. milk in baking and soups....much cheaper that using a cup or two of milk. I especially love it in my tomato soup which calls for heavy cream - the same amount of evaporated milk still makes it very creamy and good, but fewer calories!

I'll have to give dried milk another shot...use less this time. Has anybody found organic evaporated milk? It kind of defeats the purpose to buy organic milk and then mix half with regular milk.