Eating healthy on a budget

[palmerq]

I am pro frozen vegetables... I am usually in a state of poorness for many various reasons :S so I am also on a budget, I think bags of frozen veg is a bit cheaper than fresh stuff and you can store it for longer, I do believe I read an article on frozen vegetables being fairly good for you,obviously fresh off the branch or out of the ground is the way to go but there's no guarantee that the stuff on the shelves is really that fresh so I guess frozen can sometimes be better(I think you would have to investigate which brands are best for preserving the nutrients).. and like the other fellow said chicken and rice are pretty good and cost effective and you can jazz up the rice pretty simply, with a tin of baked beans/mushroom soup or my favourite, scooby doo pasta shapes :S...i think that might be pretty hard on the salt intake though but I really do sweat a lot !

Porridge/oatmeal is good and filling too, but it is easy to go crazy with adding salt and sugar to that

[Andre]

Frozen mixed berries in the porridge then cook it is so nice,dob of mixed berry yogurt on top.

[brocktonblockbust]

Frozen mixed berries in the porridge then cook it is so nice,dob of mixed berry yogurt on top.

i agree that would be divine! I used to like to put peanutbutter into my porridge, with a drizzle of black strap molasses

[Gandalf]

Pasta, bread, potatoes and rice. Also maybe try to buy your fruit and veg in bulk online and eat lots of it. It is a fact that life is getting more expensive and I think it is a myth if one says otherwise.

[Beanz]

Depends what you mean by poor and healthy. If you are really struggling your local market at the end of the day is good because they will often throw out quite edible vegetables and fruit that though bruised or damaged can be cut around and used. Ask and they may let you have it for free or a greatly reduced price. If you really want to eat healthy try and avoid too much pasta,potatoes and rice (unless it's brown rice) and keep your protein content up because it will not mess with your insulin levels like too many simple carbs will, and will actually leave you feeling full without ruining your waistline. Not just meat, beans, nuts and legumes. You can eat a lot of complex carbs in vegetable form, something like Green Beans

We have never had much money but always manage to eat well.

[Gandalf]

I think that's what they do with fruit I buy online. It's much cheaper than the markets, but an apple might have a bruise or what have you, but it's only superficial damage. It's cheap and at the end of the day, it will give your body the same goodness.

Greenbeanz, why are you against potatoes and rice? Aren't these just regular staples? I can understand potatoes being bad deep fried, but surely simple boiled potatoes are fine and won't do much harm. Also, rice? I can understand it doesn't have a whole lot of nutrition, but half the world eats it as their main staple. I find I need a bit of rice, bread, or potatoes in my diet otherwise I would feel permanently empty. I wouldn't know what I would do without them now I am eating less meat. Fruit and veggies give the body a lot nutritionally, but you can feel hungry. A lot of mass and chewing, but you would have to eat like a cow to get full!

[Beanz]

I think that's what they do with fruit I buy online. It's much cheaper than the markets, but an apple might have a bruise or what have you, but it's only superficial damage. It's cheap and at the end of the day, it will give your body the same goodness.

Greenbeanz, why are you against potatoes and rice? Aren't these just regular staples? I can understand potatoes being bad deep fried, but surely simple boiled potatoes are fine and won't do much harm. Also, rice? I can understand it doesn't have a whole lot of nutrition, but half the world eats it as their main staple. I find I need a bit of rice, bread, or potatoes in my diet otherwise I would feel permanently empty. I wouldn't know what I would do without them now I am eating less meat. Fruit and veggies give the body a lot nutritionally, but you can feel hungry. A lot of mass and chewing, but you would have to eat like a cow to get full!

I am not against Potaotoes and Rice, and of course if you are very poor and hungry there are worse things to eat. They can taste lovely and nearly everybody includes them as staple in their diet but the reality is that nutritionally they don't do a lot for you. They contain very little fibre and contain relatively short chains of sugar molecules so your body takes very little time to convert them and you end up with an insulin spike. Your blood sugar rises and you are not going to be as healthy as someone consuming more complex carbs and fibre where the sugars will be released at a more consistent level throughout the day rather than in massive peaks and troughs. Changing white for brown rice and using wholewheat pasta is a good start but reducing your simple carb portions and increasing you complex carbs is even better. So two and not five spuds and MORE GREENBEANZ