Tips for eating healthy on a budget

EyeSight

Hi guys,

I am trying to eat healthier but i am finding most healthy foods to be quite expensive. I have started to make my own salads because the ready made ones are way overpriced, but as a man with a large appetite i can't have one without some chicken or fish(usually salmon) mixed in.
Thing is i find chicken fillets can be expensive if i am having them often. Next to less healthy food its hard to stick to a diet on a budget.

I have limited freezer space so i can't buy in bulk. I also find fruit and veg go off quite fast

Has anyone any tips on how to cut costs down? I try to keep the food exciting as possible in order for me to stick to my healthy plan. Having apples and bananas every day gets boring and makes the temptation of a Snickers too much.

cosmic

Buy big bags of dried pulses - lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, all kinds of beans - in Tesco for next to nothing. Use these as your protein sources instead of chicken or fish.

sillysmiles

When you say on a budget, what approx your weekly food spend?

Veg soups with added lentils or pulses can be a great and filling lunch. Something like this - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1231639/

SunnyDub1

would you consider buying a bigger freezer? I'm not being smart by saying that but it will save you a lot money in the long run. No harm looking to see if you could buy one second hand on line, or shopping around for a cheap one.

I was like yourself buying everything fresh spending a fortune and at the end of the week would end up having to chuck loads of it out cause it would go off.
You can buy frozen veg & fruit. Or buy fresh fruit and freeze it.
A lot of butchers and stores offer good deals on chicken fillets/meats & fish. My local butchers does 10 chicken fillets for €10.
Frozen fish is also a lot cheaper than fresh fish like prawns, shrimp, salmon.
One example is salmon: off the fish counter it's aprox €3 a fillet, for 2 fillets the exact same size (sometimes even bigger) packed and frozen it's €4.

Buying in bulk saves a lot of money.

Also mentioned above - there are other sources of protein like beans and tinned fish which can work out cheaper.

lazeedaisy

When food is cheap in the supermarkets - like last weekned the 29c veg in Tesco, I stock up.

I freeze mushrooms (usually the ones left at the end of the day) cut them up: don't thaw them out they go gooey - dry fry - frozen, bung into an any meals frozen,

potatoes get chopped, sliced or diced and frozen,

Peppers get roasted and bung into a sterilised jar - last a lot longer and are lovely on a sandwich or in tortillas. same with tomatoes.

Tesco had the baby tomatoes for 29c - great in salads or roast them for salads later - bung them into the oven and dry them also for salads - cheap at that price

Another thing Tesco sell is cheese in the going off soon aisle - great in salads

Chicpeas - dried (but rehydrated) are great in salads,

Food has never been cheaper and a second freezer is the only way to go.

for lunches - I buy sliced ham when it is half price and freeze it in slices, or bung it into buttered rolls and freeze the whole roll,

Fish is usually quite cheap at the end of the day in tesco - you can bake fish pie and freeze, make soup with it - tonnes of ideas especially when it is quite cheap.

Aldi/Lidl do nice fish too

Just make sure you buy fresh food in season and don't let it go off - there are loads of web sites about freezing food etc.

Also - we tend to get into habits about food - Patrick Holdford has great salad ideas for evening meals and he used a lot of quinoh (forget how to spell it) bulk up on proteins from pulses as well as meat & fish & eggs - see examples http://www.allaboutyou.com/health/healthy-eating/the-nine-day-liver-detox-plan-daily-menus-40478

Its cheaper, go in with a friend and buy a bag of rice in a chinese supermarket,

thegreatiam

EyeSight wrote: »

Hi guys,
I am trying to eat healthier but i am finding most healthy foods to be quite expensive. I have started to make my own salads because the ready made ones are way overpriced, but as a man with a large appetite i can't have one without some chicken or fish(usually salmon) mixed in.
Thing is i find chicken fillets can be expensive if i am having them often. Next to less healthy food its hard to stick to a diet on a budget.

Salads them self aren't actually healthy, they are 99% water (assuming you mean lettuce cucumber tomato etc.) so there is very little nutrients to them. You should be adding veg to them and chicken or fish too.

A typical salad for me at lunch would be 2 breast of chicken/tin of tuna +mayo, mango/avocado. small hand full of lettuce, onion, beetroot, boiled eggs etc. this meal can be very filling.

Tinned tuna is cheap and very good for you (in reasonable limited quantities)
Chicken is great, and at around €1 per breast quite cheap. If this is too much consider turkey and other cuts of chicken, Buy chicken whole and butcher it your self to really stretch the money out.

EyeSight wrote: »

I have limited freezer space so i can't buy in bulk. I also find fruit and veg go off quite fast
Has anyone any tips on how to cut costs down? I try to keep the food exciting as possible in order for me to stick to my healthy plan. Having apples and bananas every day gets boring and makes the temptation of a Snickers too much.

freeze fruit and veg when it is on offer. and if you have space. (maybe buying a 2nd freezer would defeat the point of saving money on food at this stage)
Consider buying a dehumidifier, they can be got v.cheap and can dry fruit and meat which will last ages.

Also learn to cook properly, a decent bit of cooking knowledge will really help stretch the budget. I can cook very healthy food for 2 on a very low food budget and we eat a varied diet.

If you learn to cook you can buy cheaper cuts of meat, beef shin and shoulder, oxtail etc. These are extremely cheap in comparison to the more popular cuts. dont fall into the thinking they are cheap cos they are crap. They are cheap cos they are unpopular. They taste as good if not better and can be just as tender when cooked right.

Buy a slow cooker as these cuts of meat tend to be tough(hence the preference to usually buy loin and rump cuts)
Brown the meat, and put it in the s.cooker for a few hours and you have a tasty roast for 2 meals for dirt cheap. add some frozen veggies and a bit of sauce and its a stew.

Here is a recipe i did sunday

Beef cubes, depending on the cut you get but ask the butcher for shoulder, shin, brisket etc these tend to be cheap. (say you want something to cook on a low heat for a few hours)

oil in a fry pan high heat. quickly thrown in the beef cubes til its browned. Just a few seconds each side is enough.

Put in slow cooker.

Mix in a bowl, 1/4 cup of soy sauce with teaspoon of ginger, garlic, pepper corns sat and granulated sugar.

chop an onion thin and add it and the sauce to the beef.

cook for 5+ hours on low setting (around 100deg in the oven), test the beef if its gone tender its cooked enough.

Add tomatos and peppers. cook for an hour on high (around 160)

check taste.

take a spoon of cornflour and mix with a little water til it dissolved, add to sauce.
Transfer the whole lot to a pot and cook on a higher heat (just under boiling) until the sauce is thick. serve with veg.

You brown the meat, chop the veg and sauce the night before. Then you can set the cooker on low in the morning and do the rest after you get home form work.
The whole thing maybe did 5/6 portions and was little more than the price of the beef. probably €7/8 in total maybe less if you get a deal on the veggies. But it was food enough for 2 for 2 days.