How can I eat relatively healthy on tight cash?
I've realized too much of my money has been going towards eating out, buying fast food or convinience store sandwiches etc. it really starts to pile up.
I'm trying to save as much as humanly possible. what are some great super cheap food solutions? preferably slightly healthy, tasty and not ass tasting. >inb4 ramen.
thanks!~
Spagghetti with a jar of Ragu or some shit and ground turkey or beef in there would last me like 3 days costing about 10 bucks and I eat quite a bit. The meat is the most expensive part but still not bad. With that I use s 2 pound package of regular spaghetti.
Rice is also good, rice and beans.
veggies are cheap as shit, especially frozen veggies. brown rice. bananas. plain yogurt. chicken thighs are way cheaper than breasts and taste way better.
Rice and beans make a fairly decent nutritional profile together, and you can buy them in bulk, which drives the price down. There are a number of recipes online for working with different types, so you can get some variation: you'll want more than that, but these will serve you well as a basic staple.
Subs are pretty good, You can buy deli meat and italian bread or something and stuff it with lettuce and tomatoes and cheese and stuff.
You need to think in building blocks. The most money goes out for protein, so make sure you can cover
that cheaply. You should stick to canned tuna (possibly the one in water, not oil), eggs and some chicken breasts occasionally. Those offer the most for your money.
Then, add some veggies. Buy seasonal and aim for filling amd cheaper stuff like carrots, broccolie or zucchetties. Get some fruits for breakfast. Oranges and bananas are on the cheap side, very healthy and yummy. Add in some milk and plain yoghurt. Also, get a fucking lot of whole grain oats!
Almonds for the good fats. Speaking of fats, just get sunflower-oil. It's cheap, tastes good in dressings but can also be used for cooking.
Learn to cook, for REAL!
For carbs, stick to unrefined whole weat stuff. I like stuff lile brown rice. It's cheap, tasty and healthy.
Another important thing is organization. Make a menu plan and a grocery list. Get a freezer so you can bulk-buy when there's a good offer. Make sure to only buy the amount of food you need and store it properly to avoid having to toss it away.
>>16658300
awesome!
>learn to cook
we got this
Cheap frozen foods like frozen french fries and tator tots are personal favorite sides of mine. I bake them also, takes a while but the taste is so much better and easier to, no need to waste oil and not sure if it's cheaper to run the toaster oven or fry though.
>>16658299
this.
tastes great with little to no effort and you can make it so many different ways.
throw it on a stove and grill it for bonus points.
>>16658319
That's good! I use a lot of herbs and condiments to switch up the taste. They aren't all cheap but reasonably so and keep me from getting bored.
>>16658384
Garlic and onions are enough for me. Get some Sazon and you're good to go.
Check a bulk foods store for dried goods. Then you won't lose as much food to spoilage
>>16658388
Nah, step your game up.
>>16658424
I would but not trying to fuck my food up experimenting.
>>16658430
You almost can't. Stick to basics at first. Pepper, paprika, curry, italian herb mixes (rosemary, thyme, majoran, oregano, basil). Can't go wrong with those. Then you can venture into things like cardamom, Curcuma, mixes like ras el hanout or indian spices. I love the insian dal spice mixes. Those are really great! Make sure to not buy those shitty noob ones with added salt and good grace, sugar and glutamate...
Also, fresh ginger and good soy sauce.
>>16658221
If your gonna eat out, know who your gonna eat out
Go to subway more often if you cant buy food at grocery stores. Shop at Aldi, foods cheaper and its healthy pretty much the same stuff u would get at giant or shoppers.
Aldi
Aldi is the best!
Chia seeds make a good paste. I've lived off chia seeds & tap water for almost 2 weeks. Boring but healthy
All you need is basic cooking skills.
Get a big pot and you can make shit super cheap.
First, don't plan on making shit. See what's on sale and go from there.
My cheapest meal is a 8 dollar pot of pea soup. It has ham, carrots, and, obviously, split peas.
It lasts me around 5 days.
Takes two hours to make.
If ground beef is on sale, make chili or spaghetti sauce.
If some pork is one sale, make something that is dependent on that part of the animal.
Cooking is easy. And it saves you money. Nothing I make aside from ribs takes more than 2 hours.
You can go two hours without eating, can't you fatty?
>>16658221
Bananas and tuna
Boneless chicken breast can be bought for $1.99/lb when on sale.
Half a pound of chicken breast with rice makes for a meal that costs under $1.50. Just add some oil and soy sauce to the chicken/rice, fry it up in a pan, and it tastes great too! Rice is dirt cheap, so it'll be the bulk of your calories, but the lean 50g+ of protein from the chicken will help keep your diet balanced.
So, interesting concepts I've learned on working with low budget.
I like to heavily spice my meat (like spicy hot), and have a bowl of rice with it. The rice you can eat to cool your mouth down.
This was actually an idea from some culture (can't remember which one) that had very little meat to work with, but a lot if rice.
Also another concept I've been playing around with, is finding local farmer's that hunt and prep meat from local invasive species. You can get cheap meat while also helping the environment! Its a win win!
