Eating healthy on a budget

[swisscheese]

Right now I buy a combo of ramen noodles, pastas, fast food, etc

I'd like to change to a healthier diet but the thing is I'm poor as dirt right now.
Is there any books or approach you could recommend ?

Do you have any favourite cheap but healthy food that you like to eat?

Thanks.

[Xwetie]

Rice and Chicken,

buy a bag 10 kg bag of rice and chicken breast. my friend is doing it, really cheap and healthy, go with brown rice, if you get sick of it change rice, use some curry or something less indian as more taste

[Beanflicker]

Eating well is for the middle class and above. What, is he too good for microwave pizza and macaroni?

[Spicoli]

Go to a local farmers market rather than a chain supermarket. On the weekends here produce is often marked way down in prep for Monday. Budget brother, budget! This time of year you'll find massively reduced prices on chicken, turkey and hams that stores stocked up on for Holidays. If you have a freezer, enough zip locks and a sharpie..you're golden. If you have the patience and a little bit of free Earth..plant some seeds and do some gardening.

[boyla]

Buy a rice cooker, eat rice.
Learn to cook potatoes.
Do not eat processed food or anything with flour.

[Xwetie]

Another thing i find really good and cheap is Fish, I just found it teh other week, it a fish called basa, and i pay circa 7 dollar a kilo, and to desert i have a large ben n jerry ice cream.

If you can force down food your throat you should make jelly.

[Xwetie]

Jelly only if you're hardcore,

Aeroplane Jelly - Jelly Lite



AVE. QTY. PER SERVE* % DAILY INTAKE PER SERVING AVE. QTY. PER 100G*
Energy 28kJ (7 Cal) 23kJ (5 Cal)
Protein 1.5g 1.2g

[Andre]

Sardines in tomato sauce, 1 dollar.
You can eat what you like while you are shopping.

[SugarBoxing]

Sardines in tomato sauce, 1 dollar.
You can eat what you like while you are shopping.

I prefer IKEA hot dogs + ice cream + soda ULTIMATE UNDISPUTED PACK for 1.0 - 2.0 $ / EU, depending on the country.

[Spicoli]

Sardines in tomato sauce, 1 dollar.
You can eat what you like while you are shopping.

Reminds me of the bad ol days walking into Sams or The Price club near starving and walking out fat and full on samples and tasting displays

[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.