It seems there have been several posts both by rookies in the game and vets about finding foods that help the body without blowing up the budget. I've also heard quite a few people say in threads that they weren't sure how to eat inexpensively throughout 6 meals a day. It occured to me that there really hasn't been a great thread to discuss inexpensive options, recipes, meals, and so forth all in one place.

Please use this thread to write meal ideas that are on the cheap.

I'll start by just naming a few normal staples, and hopefully others can come up with a larger variety, and eventually we can all check this thread for grocery ideas.

Standbys:
Protien
-Tunafish (.69)
-Salmon in water (1.69)
-Egg whites (1.59 for a large 18pack of eggs)

Carbs
-Canned beans (.99 for black, red, chili, and refried)
-Canned spanish rice (1.09)
-Rice (brown, white, jasmine, etc. they all differ in price but none are more than 3 bucks)

Fats
-Peanuts (1.79 per bag)
-Natural PB (2.99 per jar, I use 2tblspns at a time and there are almost 20 servings in my jar)
-Almonds (slightly price, but at 4 dollars a pound on sale I can get by for nearly 2 weeks eating about 20 almonds per serving)

Interesting thread LemonSong.


I find myself eating a lot of the budget-food staples you mentioned such as pbj sandwiches, rice and beans, baked potatos, oatmeal, canned tuna, sardines, bananas, etc.. I've found I can offset the dullness of what are generally bare bones meals by using some higher quality ingredients here and there while still not breaking the bank.

I've been using ezekiel sprouted grain bread which though a little more expensive than regular bread is more than made up for in nutritional value and deliciousness. I've decided "365 every day" natural pb from whole foods is my favorite pb. I like it even more than the expensive organic variety. I thinks it's $2 for 18 oz.

I find myself buying the more expensive "nishiki" rice from the japanese market because it tastes so much better. Sometimes buying at ethnic markets can be cheaper for things like rice. A health food store where items can be bought in bulk is often cheaper. I like to buy grains in bulk (oat groats, kamut, amaranth etc) which is very economical.

Canned tomatoes are an inexpensive way to liven up rice and beans. I do like to splurge on a nice jar of olive oil. I use olive oil so sparingly that it's worth buying the good stuff.

What else, salmon steaks are cheaper than fillets.

Sardines. These range widely in price depending on brand but my deli is always selling brunswick sardines for 50 cents.

For those people living in the UK, the discount supermarket LIDIL has the cheapest Tuna ive ever seen (30p per small tin), and it tastes spot on.

A good tip when buying lean meats is to go to your local butcher and ask what he has on offer, and get whatevers going cheap. Every week, my mum goes down the butcher and gets whatever he has on offer. Somtimes chicken breasts, other times steak. All really good value, taste and quality. Also, it adds variety, as you dont know what your gonna get from week to week. Plus, once you get to know them, the offers will get better. :nod: I would assume the same would be true of your local greengrocer and fishmonger.

Cottage cheese is cheap as chips. Dont buy the stuff with added ingredients (pinapple etc), buy plain and add your own. This is much cheaper. Try adding chives, pinapple, cucumber slices, paprika for starters.



This thread is a good idea. Ive already learnt something, as i never thought about beans as carbs before. Are they complex ?

Hey...I need another stand by. I've never liked canned fish. Though I guess my protein powders, and mrp's could be clasified as stand by's.

best carb of them all.... OATS...cheapest thing ever...

get your chicken in big bags from the frozen foods section...sooooo much cheaper!!! ;)

ive found tesco and sainsburys cottage cheese is pretty expensive...gotta have a look around the other shops to see how cheap it is...

my 2700calorie diet costs me £4.62 a day...plus vegetables.. i think thats quite good for 7 meals?.... anyone else worked out how much they spend a day on food?

ive found tesco and sainsburys cottage cheese is pretty expensive...gotta have a look around the other shops to see how cheap it is...


I've never thought Tescos Cottage cheese was expensive. It's the only one I've ever bought, though. I get the Healthy Living Variety, which is almost fat free and I think it's about 69 p per 300g.

Anyway, I expend about 40£ a week shopping for my 1800 cal/day diet. But... That includes ocasional non-food items, like washing powder, shampoo, shaving foam, etc...

Oh, if you know from other cheaper cottage cheese around or any without fat at all, please tell me!!! :nod:

Asda cottage cheese is cheap, but then again, i never felt tesco's was all that pricey really.

Walmart sells, for $1.79, three cups of cottage cheese. That's 3 X 28g, and it tastes good. I use that a lot. Also, small cans of chicken are great on a bagel or something similar.

I've gotten now into the low carb chocolate milk. It's not a superb diet item, but for $3.79 I can have 8 servings of this tasty stuff and it's 100 calories with 12 g protein each.

Asda cottage cheese is cheap, but then again, i never felt tesco's was all that pricey really.
Actually, it's even cheaper than i said

http://www.tesco.com/superstore/frames/default.asp?buttons=&url=/superstore/frames/main.asp

Tescos cottage cheese is far nicer than Asdas.
Dont know why, it just tases better.
I just wish that one of them would stock.......

Fat free(or low fat) sour cream
Wholewheat Tortillas
Egg Beaters
Atkins syrup

There is a stack of other stuff I always see listed on this website that I just cant seem to find anywhere here in the UK. :d_mad:

I never hear about spices when people talk about their grocery lists. For those of us that are less than hardcore, I think they're a vital way to make a clean diet more appealing and therefore, easier to integrate in to a new lifestyle. They add (virtually) no calories, but make the food so much better.

For instance:

crushed red peppers, the italian kind in vinegar.

something to make canned meat more 'salad' like for instance 1 tbsp FF sour cream or 1 tbsp FF salad dressing. To me, and I know this is only a personal preference, I am willing to trade the 15 or so calories in FF miricle whip to make the tuna palatable. (...hides the mercury taste)

Grilling spices such as chili powders (ancho and chipotle are my favorites), cumin, corriander (Ground corriander seeds for the english folk out there) for your lean meats. Try grilling chicken marinated in a little ff yogurt curry powder. the acidity of the yogurt tenderizes the chicken and keeps it from being dry.

cinnamon and or nutmeg for oats/ sweat potatoes

All around staples such as garlic powder, hot paprika, hot sauces, onion powder.

oregano and basil and fresh garlic are a must for tomato based dishes.

Fresh herbs are fantastic if you can get them. I use a handful of chopped cilantro (I think its called corriander in England, not sure though) in just about everything. Experiment, a buch of herbs is pretty cheap in most large american grocery stores. Fresh rosemary is good as well.

I really like the StarKist chunk light tuna in water. I get the three-pack of 3oz cans for $1.39. Each is 18g protein. Recently, there are coupons on them for $1 off when you buy two, so that's ~$1.80 for 108g of protein! They have the pull-tops as well, so I eat them for my afternoon snack at work. I usually have a few fat-free RoldGold pretzels with it, but they really don't taste bad at all. Much cheaper than the canned chunk chicken breast.

You would be surprised when using Plain Yogurt as substitutes for Sour Cream, mayonnaise, etc... I have even used it to make Ranch Dressing w/ veggies, Homemade frozen yogurt, definitely in Waldorf Salad instead of salad dressing, etc.... The Possibilities are endless and it is inexpensive. You will have to experiment a little, but you will be rewarded. :tucool:

Wholesale stores like Sams and Costco's Frozen meats and nuts.
99% boneless skinless chicken breast (6lb $12), salmon, catfish, cod, orange roughy, talapia, and tuna steaks :eat:
very convenient and easy to use thaw when trying to eat properly. Also, the fish is usually cheaper frozen then fresh. I know taste isn't quite as good as fresh, but most of the fish is flash frozen within hours of capture. Most are <$4 a lb.
3lb of Almonds or Walnuts $8 :tu:

Luncheon meat (+98% lean turkey) is a must and great for snacking. <$2 a lb in bulk.

Kashi GoLean $2.51 a box at HEB if you are in South US.

Oatmeal lasts forever. Veggies are cheaper in bulk at Sam's also. 3lb <$3.

Frozen vegetables at WalMart (1lb California Blend $.97). Actually, frozen can have more nutruents than fresh b/c frozen within hours or picking and veggies lose nutrients over time.

Turkey or chicken tacos with Lowry's taco seasoning. (Lean turkey is cheaper than lean red meat).

Chicken stir fry. Take out sugar, but follow cheap store packet instructions. 1lb stir fry veggies at Walmart ($.97), and chicken breast. Over brown rice, you won't care whether you go out to eat chinese again. :drool:

Turkey burgers from Sam's. <$1 a patty.

Seasonings:
Lemon pepper a must on veggies
cayenne pepper, Oklahoma Joe's Yardbird rub (awesome for grilling chicken), lemon juice and fiesta fajita seasoning (fairly high sodium, but great for chicken), Kitchen Essentials blackened seasoning (great on fish even in convection oven, garlic, etc....

The list is longer, but this is a good start. Take favorite recipes and modify them to fit your budget. Turkey can be substituted for ground meat in a most dishes. Frozen foods (not processed) give convenience and can also give cost savings in bulk. Not to mention you can thaw most breast or filets in cold running water in <20 minutes. In a dorm or apartment, you can cook in a convection oven to save electricity and space. For one or two people you can get good results with a little practice. Keep food interesting and cheap. :eat:

Luncheon meat (+98% lean turkey) is a must and great for snacking. <$2 a lb in bulk.

I have never found luncheon meat to be a bargain. The cheapest ones are full of fat. Lean turkey is about $20/kg where I shop. :eek: Roast your own turkey pieces, and slice it for snacks.

TVP is a great source of cheap protein. Add it to beans for chili, with or without other ground meat. I always mix it in with my meatballs too, it makes them go further with cheaper cost. See this thread. (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=68317&posted=1#post68317)

If you have a food processor, it's probably cheaper to make your own peanut butter.

COSTCO is my savior.

You can get a 6 12oz Canned Chicken breast for 10 bucks
A 6lb bag of frozen chicken breast for 12 bucks
And 12 cans of premium chunk light tuna for 5 bucks.

I second the oatmeal as the cheapest good carb for meals.

:tu:

Definitely Costco chicken breast..

*Sweet Potatoes
*Rice (huge bag, cook it up in a rice steamer) I didn't even know they made canned rice...scary!
*Eggs...always the 2 1/2 dozen carton
*Frozen Broccoli (Huge bag)
*Frozen Spinach boxes .50 each
*Whey and Dextrose (online)

And to top it all off....ALWAYS several bottles of Frank's Hot Sauce Chili Lime Flavor!! This stuff makes anything taste good. Tough to keep in the house though as my wife is from Mexico and puts it on everything!

I agree with the previous posts of buying chicken breasts in big bags in the frozen foods section. And the Wal-Mart stir-fry veggie bags are one of my absolute staples as well. I especially like the asaparagus stir-fry mix.

EAT YOUR VEGGIES!! :tucool:

I also like Wal-Mart's frozen bags of berries. They combine well with cottage cheese or yogurt purchased in larger tubs. Much less expensive than buying individual yogurts.

I also have started making my own nut butters by purchasing various nuts in bulk. Much MUCH less expensive. Probably 1/3 the price. And it's hard to beat homemade almond and/or cashew butter!

Here is what I usually get about every two weeks.

Fat Free Milk
Penn Maid Fat Free Pineapple Cottage Cheese
Chicken of the Sea Pink Salmon
Star-Kist Tuna
Smoked Turkey Breast
Sweet Potatoes
Frozen Broccoli
Frozen Spinach
Brown Rice
Special K
Fiber One
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake Mix
Plain Fat Free Yogurt
Frozen Bags of blueberries and strawberries
Tons of Fruit

Bulk @ BJ's:

100% Whole Grain Quaker Oats
Salmon
Chicken Strips
Chicken Breasts
Shrimp
Tons of Water

... and some minor things here and there.

These are excellent sources of protein.
I get Hungry Jack's Organic variety from Tesco, made with whole wheat too.

All good stuff!!!

I was going to add that Costco has some great deals:

3 lbs Cottage cheese for $3.96
1 Gallon Skim Milk for $1.88
48 Oz bag of unsalted, raw almonds for $7.50 (3 lb bag)

Beef Jerky is pretty cheap there, too. So are Quaker Oats. Beef and other stuff is slightly cheaper if you are willing to buy a lot of it and freeze it.

I have never found luncheon meat to be a bargain. The cheapest ones are full of fat. Lean turkey is about $20/kg where I shop. :eek: Roast your own turkey pieces, and slice it for snacks.


The only place to get those deals are the club stores like Costco and Sams. Luncheon meat in the Grocery store is high.

Tuba is a huge staple of my diet, and I'm tellin' you, there's no way I can eat it without putting in celery seed. Not celery salt, celery seed.
F.

I enjoy sardines as an afternoon snack, but they are very expensive, UNLESS you get out of the canned fish section and into the Mexican section and get the Goya brand, twice the fish half the price.

I can't stand the option of either high priced or low quality luncheon meat, so once a month I cook a whole turkey breast. Then I have Turkey and everything (sandwich, stir fry, eggs, etc.) for a week. It changes things up from the usual Salmon,Tuna,Chicken Breast routine.

Last, also cheap bags of frozen orange roughy and whiting. Or Smelt quickly cooked and on a salad.

See the thread on Eating big cheap; tips (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=15235)

For Fresh Fruit and Vegitables DO NOT shop at big name supermarkets such as Albertson's, Safeway, Vons, or Ralph's. They're rip offs!

If you don't have a farmer's market nearby go to an Asian supermarket, the fruits and veggies are like 40cents to to the dollar.

But things like canned fish or bread are better bought at the big supermarkets.

Tuba is a huge staple of my diet, and I'm tellin' you, there's no way I can eat it without putting in celery seed. Not celery salt, celery seed.
F.

Do you mean tuna? And what is celery seed? or celery salt?