I'm on a fixed, government income. The price of gas and the higher prices of food are really doing me in. I'm used to living on frozen dinners and packaged snacks. With my budget lately, I can't eat that way any longer.
Can someone please help me. How can I keep on a calorie-counting eating plan with cheap food.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer to me.
That's the beauty of calorie-counting - there's no need to buy any special packaged foods! And if you stock up on non-perishables and frozen stuff you can reduce the number of trips you have to make to the store to save on gas.
How about a large bag of brown rice, dried or canned beans, tubs of lowfat cottage cheese and yogurt, a couple of boxes of high fiber cereal or oatmeal, wraps or tortillas to make leftovers into lunch (economical!), frozen vegetables, frozen berries or other fruit, bags of baby carrots and snap peas to snack on, and so forth. A lot of it depends on your taste.
Make sure you've got some measuring cups and spoons and ideally a food scale so you can figure out the calories yourself, and you'll be fine!
3Beans said what needs to be said! Think of food in terms of nutrition and calories for cost first. Look at what is seasonal and on sale. Meatless meals are fiber rich, lower cost and healthy. Rethink the way you eat to save and be healthy.
My husband and I are both on disability, and are on a supertight budget.
Our methods may not work for you, but if you search "frugal dieting" on google, you will find a lot of great websites with lots of great tips, and use what will work for you, and ignore the rest.
I can also recommend the Tightwad gazette books (I borrowed them from the library, and bought the three volume set used from amazon.com or a garage sale), and similar "thrift" books.
A lot depends on how much time you have to comparison shop, and how much time (and desire) you have to cook. Our strategy changes depending on how we are doing. If we're feeling well, we do a lot more to save money, and when we're not we have to compromise on convenience foods.
We usually start our shopping at a liquidation store (such as Big Lots, though now we live near a privately owned store that has a lot more variety and better sales). They get in overstock and bankruptcy liquidation stock from grocery stores and health and gourmet food stores. They can get absolutely anything in, and the prices can be anything from 1/10 to 3/4 regular grocery store products. Unfamiliar brands are the most discounted, but we've had great success with them. Salad dressings and marinades are extremely cheap, usually .39 - .69 (with retail values of $3 to $5). We've found that even a lousy salad dressing makes a great marinade for a cheap cut of meat like flank steak or chicken legs).
Our next stop is Aldi, it's a discount grocery store. The produce here isn't always cheaper than regular grocery stores so you have to know whether it's a great deal or not. The food is good, but you have to bring your own grocery bags, scrounge boxes they often have in the store, or buy them at the check out counter (a few cents per bag). There isn't a lot of choice, but they have most of the basics at very good prices. Their Fit & Active brand is very good. The Fit & Active frozen southwest vegetable sandwhich (like a hot pocket, but MUCH better) is very good and a box of 2 sandwhiches are 1.69. They also have a pizza variety I haven't tried.
Anything we can't get at Aldi's we usually buy at Walmart. Although I also do read the weekly grocery store flyers to see if there's something worth making a special trip for. Although if you take the ads with you to Walmart, they will match any prices (I never remember to do this). Rotisserie chickens from Walmart ($4.50 - $4.97) are only $1 more expensive than raw chickens, so we buy those often. Their brand of frozen mixed veggies are really good, and about $1.50 per bag. Often the day before serving, I'll take a bag, pour it in a bowl (frozen) add a salad dressing (usually a lower calorie italian) and maybe some chopped onion, cover it and put it back in the fridge to thaw. Very easy, very cheap, and good for potlucks too.
Most of the strategies we use, I picked up from the frugal websites. At first, the effort seems to take a large bit of your time at first, but as you find what works best for you, it becomes second nature and doesn't take much time at all.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot tvp (textured vegetable (soy) protein). I buy the granules in a health food store for $2.25 per pound, which is equivalent to 3 to 4 lbs of ground beef. My husband doesn't care for it plain, but I brown 1 to 2 lbs of ground beef with up to a pound of the dry tvp (looks like grape nuts cereal) and some seasonings like onion, celery, dried green pepper (health food stores are also cheaper for spices and dried veggies). Then when the beef is almost browned, I add water to rehydrate the dry tvp. You use about 1 cup of water for each 1 cup of dry tvp. Then I put all of this in a ziploc bag and freeze. Until it is frozen, I smush the bag every fifteen minutes or so. This way, I can measure out the meat mixture to use for spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, taco filling... any recipe that calls for browned ground beef.
I'm going to suggest that you hang around with the calorie counters http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=172
They come from all walks of life and economic strata ... but most of all, they'll be happy to help you.
I've spent way less buying frozen chicken and whatever vegis are in season than I used to spend on all the frozen meals we ate.
My mom is retired on a fixed income and told me recently that by paying attention to sales, that she never spends more than $2 on a meal. That's pretty hard to beat and she's a real cook. No ready-made stuff for her.
Lots of good advice. Don't worry, you can do this. Just think of it as a challenge, and soon you will be eating better, healthier meals than you were before.
I buy the sales. It takes a little time, but it's so worth it. I clip coupons and
they are really worth the time. My store doubles everything up to a 1.00$ and almost all stores will double up to .50.
Buying in large bags is usually cheaper, but not always. Be sure you check the price. Especially if you have a coupon. It's usually cheaper then to get the small. I cook a large amount of brown rice and I'll freeze it or store it in the refrigetator. Beans, all kinds, black, pinto (great for wraps and mexican food) take some time but are very nutritious. Frozen vegetables are usually cheaper than fresh and almost as nutritious. More so if the fresh has been sitting around for awhile. Frozen are picked and frozen right away and retain their nutrition. I freeze vegetables that I have left over too. Use half a green pepper for a recipe? Freeze the rest for another time. Same with onion.
If you're not doing it already, plan your menues. I set down with the sales papers and a list of what I have in the freezer and make my menu for the week. Most people waste way too much food.
I'll second the coupons suggestion - since I started clipping coupons and watching store sales I've literally cut my grocery bill in half. I walk out of the store laughing at my receipt... literally. Like last week I paid $49... the "you saved today" thing at the bottom said $42. I saved nearly half of what I would have paid with coupons and shopping sales.
I've actually started to look at meal planning a little different too -- most people say plan out a week or two's worth of meals and shop just for what you need for those meals. What I've been doing (and what has been saving me a ton of money) is to buy what's on sale, what you can get the best deal on, and stockpile. Plan meals with what you have on hand, with the food you were able to buy most cheaply. Almost everything goes on sale at some point in the grocery store, and we're still able to emphasize fresh food and *real* food this way.
Do a google search for "the grocery game," that's the basic concept I'm following, it's helped me tons!
The Economy and Food. Help!
I'm used to living on frozen dinners and packaged snacks. With my budget lately, I can't eat that way any longer.
