Thanks for all the helpful tips! I grew up in a family where you HAD to have meat at dinner, we always did, but I guess you can have meals without it, just never could think of really anything... Thanks for the suggestions! I'll tackle things a little differently when going shopping...Yay! Now portion control Mand! I need to stay away from Pasta for awhile...I could eat it EVERYDAY if I could...but know that probably isn't healthy. And I never eat just a little of it either....hehe!

dh and I eat clean food....... and we have found that it is outragous to eat healthy.....

a bag of chips for $2 goes as far as paying $10 for stuff for a couple salads...... great if you can eat one lettuce compared to the bag of chips.... but you need more for a salad......

and we live in canada and the prices are so high......

we pay 75 cents/lb for bananas
and we just bought chicken breast they were $8.09/lb...... like $20 for 5 breast.... unreal.....

we dont eat a lot of pork, very little ground beef, we try to stick with chicken or turkey as they are the cleanest/healthiest choices.... but hte most expensive......

cottage cheese and yogurt...... very expensive........ we cannot find it for less than $3.39 a container....... and we eat them mixed together, so a container of each only lasts us 1.5 days.....

what we have found to be the best for your money.....

oatmeal
and a turkey.... when on sale we get one , boil it and take the meat off the bones...... and it makes for dh's lunches all week long, and a dinner for us all.....

gloria-- are those canadian dollars???

yes those would be in canadian dollars........

Gloria, It's crazy the prices huh? I used to live out in BC, and the prices were cheaper then out here! And in the summer of 2004 I was down in New Hampshire for the summer, couldn't believe how CHEAP things were down there!!! WOW!!! It's insane up here!

We don't have chicken that cheap where I live, either. We have boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale from $1.99/lb to 2.99/lb, which I *think* is around $3 to $4.30 or so Canadian.

I usually look at all of the grocery store sale papers and buy foods that are on sale and make sure I use fresh produce - I HATE buying nice fresh fruit and veggies and letting them spoil in the fridge b/c I forgot to eat them.

I find it cheaper to go to Costo once in a while and buy a big pack of meat and then split it up into two person servings and freeze when I get home.

I usually shop around for sale items by looking at flyers and at on-line flyers. Not sure if any of you Canadians have these shops near you but we have them in Ontario - Basics (but bring your own bags or boxes with you or you have to pay for them) and Produce Depot - I can usually get fresh fruit and veg cheaper there in the winter time. There dairy and other grocery items are kind of pricey though.

In the summer I frequent the farmers markets - broccoli is 50 cents a bunch there as opposed to the supermarket that charges up to 1.49.

I also shop once per week and meal plan so that I only buy whatever fruit and veg I need for the week. Everything I buy has to fit into the meal plan so it doesn't get wasted. If there is no plan for it we don't buy it.

Also some of the discount brands are just as good as the name brands (my exception being Kraft peanut butter )

We also buy a lot less pop and junk than we used to and I started baking my own cookies and baked goods when the mood strikes me. It is cheaper and at I can make healthier versions of what is in the stores.

I make a lot of stir fries and pasta toss meals and fill them full of veggies to stretch out the meat a bit more or just make them vegetarian. I also make chili, stews and casseroles in the winter and freeze any leftovers for future use. Use chicken bones and leftover meat to make soups so that nothing goes to waste.

At the end of the summer when the produce is really cheap and the local farmer's market is clearing stuff out to close down for the winter we load up on things like cauliflower, green beans, yellow beans,broccoli and carrots, etc. and blanch and freeze them at home.

It also helps to eat seasonally as these items will be cheaper than imported items that are out of season.

hehe, at least you don't have to eat like youre poor. I'm on a $10/ week (thats $10 maximum!!!) budget and I usually have just oatmeal here and there. It's not mentally satisfying but it does its job and gets me through my day!

veggie lover...... i want to know how you can eat on $10 a week........ and be eating 2000-2300 calories a day?

Maybe it is more unusual in other places to find the boneless breasts at that price. Mississippi produces about 15% of chicken that is produced in the US, so maybe we see some lower prices because of that. However, from living other places, I know it's not unusual to find much lower prices on leg quarters, (we can actually find it here for 19 cents a pound, but I don't remember finding it below 39 cents a pound in other areas). Obviously, I'm speaking of US dollars, not Canadian.

I think I'd pass out if I had to pay $20.00 for 5 chicken breasts.

HAHAHAHAHA thanks for making me realize that I haven't updated my signature yet!!! Before making my budgeting calculations for the summer, I had around 2300 calories per day. Now, thanks to my temporary (from now til october) state of poverty, I'm struggling to get 1500 calories per day. I eat about 2 servings of oatmeal for breakfast, 2 servings of oatmeal for lunch, and about 1 serving of pasta for dinner with tomato sauce and some vegetable if I can afford it. It all adds up to around 1100 MAX. I really can't afford to have my 2300, and I'm going to be so sad after a while. I'm going to work my butt off so I can get enough food (and check out the food shelters people tell me about), hopefully I won't lose any more weight since I'm 110 lbs already....

Ack - veggielover, you need to add some protein!! Beans are good, and if you buy them dry and cook yourself, pretty cheap. Also eggs.

Here in Alaska, things are pretty high priced, esp fresh veggies/fruit. Bananas are usually $.99/pound, and a good sale price for boneless/skinless chicken is $2.99/pound. When I find a good sale on meat, I get it and freeze in meal sized portions. Also our market has it's "almost expired" meats in a bin and marked down 30-50%. I get good buys there, esp on cuts I can't afford at the regular price. Another thing you can do is make big stir-fries that are mainly veggie with one serviing of meat spread between two of you.

pat, id there any type of bean thats suitable for a bean-hater?? LOL I would love to eat beans if I did, but I can't cuz I dont like their texture!!

veggielover can you get on food stamps? $10 a week is insane girl. Even for one person. That is not healthy. I understand if you cant help it but if there is something you can do to get some help than you should try it. Food stamps, food pantrys, etc. At least eat something from each of the food groups. Oatmeal is good, add some peanut butter and some yogurt. maybe some ham and cheese sandwiches. Good luck. I hope you can get some help until oct.