Eating Healthy on a budget?

[Mark1234]

Whats up guys. I have a fairly straight forward question to ask here.

I'm a very active guy (workout 5-6x a week, commute by bike, have physical job) and would like to know some good tips on eating on a budget?

I'm going to school full-time for massage therapy and work about 30 hours a week. Since my body and health is going to be vital to improve my massage career I'm trying to take better care of it.

My ultimate goal is to build strength overall with the starting strength 3x5 program and work on flexibility as well for body mechanics for my job.

My question is, what are some good tips for shopping on a budget (food) ?

 

[Bible_Belt]

Getting enough lean protein is always the hardest part of shopping on a budget. Poor people tend to buy a lot of simple carbs, mostly because they are cheap, and that is part of the reason why everyone is fat.

If you have a Sam's Club or Costco, they have the cheapest bags of frozen chicken I have found. The hard part of buying anything in bulk is keeping it from going bad, but frozen stuff keeps well. Cottage cheese is another lean protein that keeps in the fridge fairly well. As snacks, I like peanuts and almonds.

For fruit and vegetables, find a farmer's market near you. They are often open only once a week and only during the summer, but it depends upon your climate. Local and in-season produce will always be the healthiest and the cheapest. Do not worry about the "organic" label. With the new changes in the law, it has become meaningless.

Two items you might consider purchasing (used is cheap) are a crock pot slow cooker and a pressure cooker. The crock pot will make a stew or roast overnight or during the day while you are at work. A pressure cooker is often used for home canning, but you can also use them to cook food. The idea is that you can buy beans, grain, or rice in its dried form, which is ten times cheaper, and be able to cook them in half an hour instead of the day and a half it would otherwise take. A huge plate of beans and rice is about $2-$3 if you buy canned beans and instant rice, but with the dried stuff, that same meal costs about 25 cents.

 

[bukowski_merit]

I actually went to my grocery store one day and spent about 4 hours figuring out what gave the most value for the $ of non-junk food.

No surprise:
- Oatmeal was #1 (about 1200 calories per $1!)
- Whole JUMBO Eggs were #2 (about 600 calories per $1)
- Sweet Potatoes/Yams #3 (500 calories per $1)
- Red Potatoes #4 (450 calories per $1)
- 80/20 Hamburger #5 (if you want it more lean - just drain and rinse it after browning it and it becomes 90/10) (450 calories per $1)

These are based on the prices in my local grocery store. Yours may be different so just spend some time in there looking at good whole foods.

I build all my grocery shopping and recipes i look for around these things; and then swipe up stuff in bulk if it's on sale. For example: There were chicken breasts in sale for $1.50 a lbs at the grocery store a few weeks ago (normally $5 a lbs)... I bought 20 lbs!

Also: Don't be afraid to get "some" dirty foods to round out your macro's... As well as cheapen the hit on your wallet...

 

[almonteobal]

Whats up guys. I have a fairly straight forward question to ask here.

I'm a very active guy (workout 5-6x a week, commute by bike, have physical job) and would like to know some good tips on eating on a budget?

I'm going to school full-time for massage therapy and work about 30 hours a week. Since my body and health is going to be vital to improve my massage career I'm trying to take better care of it.

My ultimate goal is to build strength overall with the starting strength 3x5 program and work on flexibility as well for body mechanics for my job.

My question is, what are some good tips for shopping on a budget (food) ?

There are many online food store available in the market which providing coupon code with every purchase and you can save big amount by purchasing every-time. Always remember that very cheap food is not good for health.

 

[user43770]

My diet revolves around lean ground beef, chicken, eggs, brown rice, oatmeal, green veggies and whey protein. All of the grocery stores in my area have occasional deals on ground beef and chicken, you just have to find them and stock up when they do. If you can afford it, do what Bible said and get a membership to Costco or Sam's Club - they specialize in bulk! Oh yeah, and if you're bulking invest in peanut butter; it's hard to beat PB and Js for easy calories.

 

[incognito42]

I eat out a lot, and can eat healthy for $3 per meal.

For example if you buy a turkey sub that costs $6, you should only be eating half and turning that into 2 meals.

Eating at home and knowing exactly what's going in your food, is always preferable. But you can eat out and eat healthy on a budget