One of my big problems is that i can't even AFFORD to buy lots of vegetables & fruit - even meat, because I'm a single parent - a student, and am on a very low income. I know it isn't really any excuse, but if anyone is in the same boat, or has been, do you have any tips for me????

Hey I am struggling on a low income too. I just graduated from college. I guess that the best thing for me has been to buy in bulk and make sure that you have lots of tupeware (I don't know if I spelled that right). Sometimes I buy mixed vegetables and put it into rice and pasta dishes. I also eat lots of soup. I switched to healthy harvest whole wheat pastas and carolina long grain brown rice. I understand what you're saying about vegetables being expensive. I try to eat as many veggie dishes as I can but I also take a multi-vitamin just in case I don't get enough.

Fruits and veggies are very expensive right now. I'm lucky enough to have a local farmers market that is open year round and the stuff is a bit cheaper. Frozen veggies are a good alternative to fresh. When frozen spinach is on sale I always stock up. My grocery store also has an area where they sell vegetables and fruit that are kind of like seconds. Maybe a bruise here or there, but definitely good to eat....and priced really cheap. Eating what's in season also helps. Good luck, I'm sure other people will be along with more ideas.

I was going to suggest the same thing as missing. Check if your grocery store has a discount section for veggies. You may also find a fruit and veggie market and see if they do the same (usually they do) It might be worth just buying what you need for a day or two. Also you can freeze your own veggies.

Are there any food pantries in your area? We have a gleaners association that gets surplus from a variety of sources and distributes it to the local food pantries. They stock non-perishables as well.

Brown rice and other grains, lentils, beans are very nutritious and inexpensive when bought raw.

Fruits: Applesauce (no sugar varieties) is usually quite inexpensive and frequently on sale. Frozen veggies have already been mentioned. Store brands are frequently on sale here for around 70 cents per lb.

In the summer, do you have access to a community garden space, or know of people with gardens? Our church and my office have both done veggie give-away days. Anyone with a garden always has too much of something

Store brands of veggie soups are also a frequent sale item here (especially in the winter). Low sodium varieties of canned vegetables and beans go on "case sales" several times each year too.

It DOES take planning. It HELPS to have pantry and freezer space to stock ahead.

Good luck! I applaud your willingness to try to eat healthy on a limited budget. It isn't easy!

Watch your local grocery store sales flyers - many are available online.
Buy what's on sale.
Separate large packages and freeze in freezer bags. (meat)
You can freeze raw or go ahead and cook extras and freeze it cooked.
Frozen vegetables are usually reasonably price and easy to prepare in the microwave.
Canned beans are a good source of protein. If you have a crockpot, you can cook beans from dried without a lot of effort for even cheaper. Look for crockpots at garage sales if you don't have one.
Keep a price book to track what's a regular price and what's really a sale.
(search "price book" to find out how to set one up.) You'll also pick up on sale cycles.
Plan your weekly menu and build a shopping list based on your plan. Don't bring anything home that's not planned for and on your eating plan.
Don't try more than one new food in a week or plan more than one new recipe.
Food that ends up in the trash is not a bargain no matter how cheap it is.
Keep a container in the freezer and add small leftovers to it that are appropriate to make a weekly soup - bones, bits of leftover meet, leftover veggies, too small a portion for another serving. You can make a soup weekly, roasting bones and/or using bouillion instead of canned stock.

1) you buy on sale...shop all the flyers in your area. Super WalMart ad matches so you can make 1 trip

2) Frozen and canned fruits and veggies are just as good as fresh.

3) HOW TO BUY FRESH VEGETABLES and FRUITS
Buy in Season

* When prices are reasonable.

Buy Only What You Need

* Remember: Fresh fruits and vegetables are perishable.

Shop Carefully

* Don't buy damaged fruits and vegetables even if the price is low.
* Handle produce carefully. Someone must pay for fruits and vegetables ruined by rough handling. In the long run, it will probably be you.

Buy Quality

* U.S. Grades can be your guide to quality.
* Buy fruits and vegetables that are mature, look fresh, and are free from bruises, skin punctures, and decay.
* At the produce counter, you are your own best judge of quality.

Here is a website with fruits and vegetables when they are in season:

http://dvo.com/newsletter/monthly/20...t/remedy2.html

Plan your meals around sales. Buying bulk meat is cheaper than buying it packaged smaller. It may seem bigger in cost but it isn't.

Stay away from the packaged foods.

Many store brands are just as good as brand names.

You have to stalk out the sales. Acme had large shrimp at $4.95 a pound and extra large at $5.95 a pound a few weeks ago. You had to buy a 2-lb. bag, but it was frozen and you could just pop it in the freezer. I got 8 bags of shrimp that week. It was a considerable investment, but I'm set now for at least two months.

Also, the boneless chicken breasts go on sale regularly, you just have to watch your supermarket flyers. I am also fortunate to have a little produce stand around the corner where things are cheaper. Asapargus here was $1.99 a lb. when the supermarkets were selling it for $3.99.

Occasinally, the lean filet mignon and boneless pork chops go on sale, but very rarely.

Stores like BJs, Sams and Costco have good prices on things like cereal. They're no good for perishable things unless you have the space to freeze, and it's usually way too much produce to use up before it goes bad. But things like Cereal, english muffins, Weight Watchers bread (they sell that by the loaf), you can usually save some money on.

There's not much you can do about some prices. However, just remember how much money you wasted on fast food or junk food before you embarked on your weight loss plan! If you have to pay more for lean mean and veggies, it probably evens it all out. We just have an aversion to spending what we think is too much money.

Kind of like a smoker who spends $40 a week on cigarettes, but thinks $30 for two week's worth of patches is too expensive!

I am in the same boat! We're a family of five with one low income.

I use coupons to food shop, and there are often coupons for frozen veggies and canned veggies. Frozen are really good for you - sometimes better than fresh because they are frozen at their peak.

There are also often coupons for Progresso soup, diet frozen entrees, and so forth. I match the coupons with the weekly sale flyers, and I use all that to plan the weeks menu!

I also buy some things generic and buy in bulk when I can.

I feel you i'm also having a problem with affording groceries. I find that walmart is my best friend.

coupons, and using a list. bagged cereals are cheaper.

tupper-type containers save $, I was spending a small fortune on baggies it seemed and started bringing sandwiches in a square tupper-type container, also better for the environment.

you can make soups pretty cheap, I made a chicken tortilla soup from allrecipes and added a bag of frozen mixed veg, instead of the corn it called for, it was great. I found Walmart is a good place to buy the canned stuff, too. It's good to have some canned beans, tomato sauce or diced tomato to make a quick chili.

This was just discussed on another bored. Some of it applies to veggies... but truthfully... I really think that everyone can afford to eat veggies and the like. But there's a trick to it.

Buy 1 get 1 free sales (for canned or frozen) and produce markets for fresh (ONLY what is in season, you will know by the price! LOL)

Check out the FLEX board, there's a post there about WW on a budget. It might help! A lot of us wrote really long posts about our tricks of the trade. I personally feed a family of 4 adults on about 60 a week including TONS (and I do mean tons LOL) of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Have you all seen the Hillbilly Housewife website? She basically works on feeding a family for a budget, and just added a "healthy" section that includes all kinds of cheap recipes for healthy, calorie-controlled foods on a budget.

http://healthy.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm

One thing to remember, for those of us that eat meat. We only need a 3 to 4 oz piece of meat. Weigh your meat. You might just find you are eating way to much. An expensive piece of meat can go a long way if you aren't eating to much of it at one time.

Here's a few things that I do:
Lean ground turkey vs. Lean ground beef (Perdue 93%lean has 140 cal/4 oz) and it's less expensive. I get a 3 lb tub of the ground turkey for $5.22 at walmart.
Aldi's: Lettuce($0.79 head, Broccoli anywhere from $0.99-$1.29 for 14oz crowns, cherry tomatoes $0.99 etc.) you do have to check it, but so far the lettuce has been better than what I find at Walmart. I also get my canned fruits and veggies here.
If it weren't for my DH and his eating 6 full meals a day, I would probably only spend $60 a week, but because of him I spend like $125 a week. I usually buy 3 of the 3lb turkeys, 3 things of broccoli, 3 lettuce, 2 things of cherry tomatoes, brown rice, 3 dozen eggs(just for him!), milk, and I follow my list. I definitly save more when I meal plan for the week.
Jamie