I get food stamps, and they give me a disgusting amount of money for groceries, $630 ish a month for a family of two adults, one small kid, and one baby that is just about to start eating purees and stuff.
I'm pretty young and my parents never taught me about buying groceries, meal planning, etc. Somehow despite having plenty of money we're constantly ending up going a few days with no money for food at the end of each month. It started with us just buying tons of junk and snacks, but we actually are trying to eat healthier and cheaper- but I look up healthy dinners and the recipes end up costing me so much. Anyone have any advice for this? Also, my partner has gotten really sick because we're not eating enough healthy food, they might possibly want to try an alkaline diet (not really sure what that entails) but regardless they just wants to feel healthy again. How do you guys meal plan and shop?
>>7208211
Oh, also, I've tried reading up on it but everything is just retarded Pinterest stuff and bloggers who all say the same vague stuff.
>>7208211
Here are a few tips to start, palie
- Buy bulk veggies, they're cheap and almost always good in quality
- Tin cans are fine, you can do really good stuff with 'em with you have the time and the will to cook well, also their long time of conservation will prevent you from wasting food
- Do not buy too much meat; two times per week and per person is enough
- Pasta, rice and other cereal-based food contain carbohydrates, which cut hunger and has great nutritional potent, plus they're cheap asf
- Only buy a very moderate amount of snacks - they are for pleasure, not for feeding
If you do the following, you should lose less money and have a healthier diet for you and your tribe while enjoying good meals
Also, do not forget that preparing meals by yourself is much more efficient nutritionally speaking and it kills hunger much more than industrially-prepared meals
Also using coupons here and there is another way to save on money.
There's only one website use: http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/
I tend to make mealplans around with it too.
>>7208249
Oh, and, fuck the recipes. Cooking is pretty much like alchemy. If you throw good things in your preparation and do not fuck up the heating, then it can only be tasty.
>>7208249
Thanks a ton. I definitely have the time to cook home cooked meals, as I'm the stay at home parent. So do you mean that you don't have meat with every meal, or you just only buy enough to portion out during one week? Any good snack suggestions? Right now I'm trying string cheese, yogurt (go-gurt for my son because I figure he's a kid and he can afford to have some fun food and the "healthy" kid yogurts cost a bunch more) granola bars and then maybe bags of chips if we just have small servings once in awhile? I don't know. My parents were pretty wealthy and plentiful amounts of frozen food, quick pantry meals and tons of snacks were always available.
I'll never stop being surprised at these threads. Always perfectly reasonable amounts that get squandered somehow.
If you want meat, buy chicken thighs. They're cheap as fuck. You can slice the meat off of them into chunks for any recipe you'd use breast in.
Buy dried rice and beans.
Casseroles tend to be easy, cheap to make, and filling.
READ THE SALES ADS FOR STORES NEAR YOU. You can even get junk food cheap if you're so bent on having it.
I also have no idea how you're getting healthy dinner recipes that cost so much. Something like roasted chicken and vegetables or vegetable soup is extremely cheap. Just google cheap healthy recipes or something.
>junk and snacks
Aren't filling and you'll run out of your EBT allowance quick.
>end up costing me so much
Raw poultry doesn't cost a lot. Dark meat like thighs, wings, and turkey necks are cheapest. Especially if there are specials.
Regarding recipes, pretty much everything >>7208269 said. Salt + spices in meat is always good. Put some rice and bell peppers on the side and you got a meal.
Avoid top ramen and high GI/sugary cereal. Your body will digest them quick and you'll be out fast if you decide to stock up on these.
>Any good snack suggestions?
Peanut butter on whole grain bread.
If you guys are picky eaters, it'd be a good idea to put a stop to that ASAP.
>>7208269
Yeah, I need to figure that out. My partner will ask me to cook and tell me the instructions and say "heat the chicken in a decent amount of oil, put in some chili powder" or whatever and I have no clue what to do with that.
>>7208266
I'll try to look into those. I picked up a coupon book for the one grocery store we have here but it seems like it's the most random stuff.
>>7208289
oh god, we are picky eaters. :/ partner comes from an Asian family and we do eat a lot of bell pepper and rice on the side of stuff.
we kind of dislike the dark meat in a lot of stuff, but I get a six pound thing of chicken for $10, is that a decent deal?
>>7208282
not proud to be posting this but I got the recipes from this http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/51-healthy-weeknight-dinners-thatll-make-you-feel-great
We do a lot of rice, one of our favorite dinners for the last part of the month is fried eggs, black beans and rice. but we don't do casseroles a lot, I need to get a casserole dish.
>>7208277
I do my groceries each month, so each time I pick enough packs o' chicken (like >>7208282 said, it's cheap and efficient) to make myself 8-10 meals. The best and cheapest snacks are the one made from base ingredients. I recommend buying things like chocolate tabs, cottage cheese (good source of protein), fruit jams and toasts. Plus, these can always make sweet breakfasts.
>>7208296
>tell me the instructions and say "heat the chicken in a decent amount of oil, put in some chili powder" or whatever and I have no clue what to do with that
Set your stove to low heat, wait for the oil to heat up, throw your chicken, spices, and whatever shit on the oil (if you hear sizzling, the oil is hot enough), cover, wait for ten minutes.
>we kind of dislike the dark meat in a lot of stuff
Well, do you like having food around?
>six pound thing of chicken for $10
Six pound what? Pack of thighs? No, that's a bad deal. You should be able to find thighs at about 79ยข/lb.
>>7208315
we did 7 recipes from this list, some slightly changed, and the pork and macaroni devolved into copy-cat long john silvers chicken and home-made onion rings that came out too greasy to really eat. that plus formula, the snacks i mentioned here >>7208277 and seasonings and baking stuff ate up like $360 I think.
>>7208300
Heh yeah the sales always seem random at times for me too. Its a bit confusing at first, you get the hang of it eventually. The site I linked is super helpful. It lists sales with coupons included and how much it brings it down to.
If your grocery store has a card loyalty program, its not a bad idea to enroll on it either :)
>>7208321
Well what I mean is that I don't know how much oil to add, or how much of each seasoning is enough or too little.
Okay, darn, I always thought I was getting kind of a great deal. That's boneless, skinless chicken breast.
>>7208319
okay, cool. what is cottage cheese like? I've seen some of my super "fit" friends eat piles of it with their food and I always think it sounds and looks gross. everything else sounds good.
Rice and beans are the first things this board think of when we talk about cheap and nutritious ingredients but there's obviously a ton more:
Pasta
Eggs
Bread
Potatoes
Chopped tomatoes (quite cheap and complements the other stuff well)
Corned Beef
Spam
Tuna (maybe, depending on location)
Chicken Thighs like the other guy said
Corn
Oats
Bananas
Some of those might not sound appetizing but if you learn to cook and season them properly they'll be nicer than any fast food and much better for you.
The way I do my shopping is to replenish the staples (I keep the stuff above and other kitchen necessities - salt and vinegar, tea, oils, herbs and spices etc. fully stockpiled), then decide on a couple of new things I want to try and get the specific ingredients for the recipe.
For example, I recently had a nice Thai curry at my mate's so I got his recipe and with my next big shop I got some Thai curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce and chicken breast specifically for that. I already had the rice, bell peppers etc.
>>7208330
Okay, great! I'm hoping to try to get better at using coupons. Yeah, I do have one of those cards and that helps!
>>7208341
Cottage cheese itself ain't a crack of wonderfulness. But as soon as you combine it with a delicious jam, it's godlike. It's like a refreshing thick yogurt with the good taste of your favourite fruit.
>>7208343
That all sounds pretty good, except the SPAM, haha. We buy most of those things every month, but it feels like we run out so fast.
We also don't own a car, so we do our shopping less frequently with a taxi. I wish we had a Costco or something similar so that I could buy more in bulk.
Thanks for the advice!
>>7208352
Huh, I guess I'll have to try it.
>>7208337
Just a small drop of oil should be fine. It'll expand with heat and the chicken will release some fat of its own.
>how much of each seasoning is enough or too little
Taste test once that chicken is cooked. Spices like cumin and oregano should be added in small amounts.
>That's boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Never mind, that sounds about right for boneless breast.
Thighs are more flavorful and cheaper though.
>>7208352
>>7208341
A good, easy and cheap cottage cheese recipe is to make baked potatoes and cut them in half. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl and mix it with cottage cheese, chives and black pepper (or whatever flavours you want) then stuff it back into the skins (top with cheddar if you've got it) and pop them under the grill for a few minutes.
>>7208360
A lot of big grocery chains here in the UK let you shop online and deliver to your door. The cost of delivery is way less than a taxi, just a couple of quid. You should see if you can do your groceries online (like I do).
It's also way more convenient (no need to go out), there's often a wider selection and you can spend longer doing your shop. I sometimes start adding stuff to the basket days before I place the order.
>>7208384
I wish! We moved to a shitty little town on the coast thinking it would be cool but it just sucks and the one Safeway does not deliver.
>>7208369
Like twice-baked potatoes? My dad used to make those but with sour cream, bacon, green onion and salt and pepper, and then parmesan on top. I love those, is this like a "healthier" version or does it matter?
>>7208402
Harsh. There might be somewhere further out though. Are you in the UK? Have you tried Ocado?
>>7208368
I'll have to reconsider the thighs, my grandmother suggested the same thing but we're so used to breast (we eat probably two chicken stir-frys with rice a week) and it tasted odd. Thanks, the oil/seasoning advice is very helpful.
>>7208405
I reckon cottage cheese is healthier than sour cream and bacon but your dad's recipe sounds way nicer.
>>7208406
No, US. It was a stupid decision on our part, we're moving back to glorious Texas next year and I think HEB is much better for affordable food.
>>7208411
Yeah, it's like the only thing he taught me to cook and it was awesome- we used to eat tri-tip with it at least once a month, now I have no clue how they afforded that.
But I'll try the cottage cheese! That doesn't sound too bad. We also get super cheap potatoes in our state, like 10 lbs. sometimes for under $2
>>7208412
This may be of interest to you:
50+ Places to Buy Groceries Online
http://mashable.com/2008/06/05/online-grocery-shopping/#XJX20yUYEgqq
The delivery cost might vary but I'm guessing you could find somewhere that has a good selection and delivers to pretty much anywhere in the mainland USA.
>>7208418
Awesome! I'll check that out! Thanks.
>>7208408
I can find breakfast steaks for super cheap and it's great in stir frys if you cut it into strips, if you can find them for super cheap like I did, it might be better for your budget.
Shopping multiple times a week can make it difficult to meal plan. Whenever you buy things, make sure you can make two or three different things with the leftover ingredients. Six pounds of chicken should easily be enough chicken for at least 3-4 meals for you. Cut down the amount of meat in your recipes and add more veg.
>>7208423
I'll have to look for those.
Yeah, we used to go every few days and I carried the groceries home on my son's stroller. Now we do the cab we can pick up 12 days of dinner and lunch plans, plus loose breakfast ideas (I try to make a little chart), and then I can usually stretch that out about 20 days. My problem is just the 12 days of food costing more then I anticipate.
Spend more time thinking about your kids formula and diapers and whatever the hell else and way less time on thinking about making variations on fancy food. There's no simple solution to doing price comparisons and making poor people food. Poor people don't eat fancy shit, and if they do, they're living on the edge of having zero money all of the time. That's what living paycheck-to-paycheck, hand-to-mouth means. At the end of the month for poor people, this is what happens to them.
Lecture over. Learn to love your sauteรฉd onions in garlic: cheapest flavor enhancer out there for anything from a pot of lentils to a pot of beans to a pan of stir fried vegetables and chicken chunks. This is what we would eat when we were poor as a kid (now I'm poor as an adult): baked chicken breast, side of rice, and a side of microwaved, unfrozen peas. Put a bunch of seasoning salt all over it and eat. On Sundays, Mom would make a baked chicken in the oven, mash up some potatoes, and stick some carrots in with the chicken as it baked so you'd have broth-boiled carrots. You could even save the chicken stock and the uneaten chicken skeleton to make a pot of soup for the week on Monday. That's where you could put noodles in there, some of those frozen peas, some more carrots, some more god damn seasoning salt, and hey, mushrooms! Never forget mushrooms.
Hey, buy some spinach. Boil it, or eat it in a salad with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Hey, ever eat spaghetti? You can buy a large enough can of tomato sauce for the whole family, buy some cheap ground beef, fucking cook it on the stove and dump the sauce in. Boil noodles.
Peanut butter jelly sandwiches for lunch. Coffee and toast and an egg for breakfast. Eat smaller portions, because it's easier and cheaper than a diet. Drink tea after dinner to curb your appetite.
>>7208460
Thanks. All of those food ideas sound very yummy, actually. We do a lot of spaghetti but it's very acidic and makes my husband's stomach hurt. Other then that, that food all sounds really good, definitely stuff I could incorporate more. "What kind of tea do you drink?
>>7208211
If you get $630 a month for your spouse and two small children and they're going without fresh veggies and meat/hot bread ANY DAY out of the month, you are doing this about as bad as you could be doing it. Just don't be a complete asshat.
-a 23y/o who receives $197/month and eats chicken breast/rice/fresh vegetables every day
>>7208473
I know. I feel pretty fucking embarrassed, I swear I've tried several different approaches, but it's only recently that we decided we need to quit eating like retards.
As for eating healthy and cheap, learn how to cook with cheap fruits vegetables. Things like tomatoes, spinach, green beans, grapes, and berries are expensive per pound. However, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, beets, onions, melons, and bananas are dirt cheap and go a long way.
For butternut squash, try this http://allrecipes.com/recipe/55451/butternut-squash-bisque/. To maximize value, use milk instead of cream and bouillon cubes instead of broth.
Make sweet potato tacos by sauteeing black beans and sweet potatoes with onion, oil, cumin and hot sauce.
One of my favorite things to make is veggie pasta. Sautee whatever vegetables are cheapest at the supermarket, throw it in a pot of spaghetti sauce and put it over wheat pasta. Its a way of adding nutrition and substance to a simple meal.
Always look for reduced bakery items. Often they'll throw fresh bread on clearance a day or two after it's made. Stock up because they freeze well.
For a snack/breakfast, make banana and peanut butter smoothies. Peel and freeze bananas. Throw one in a blender with 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1/3 cup of milk and a tablespoon of peanut butter.
>>7208489
I'll definitely try the butternut squash, we just had some in curried chicken and liked it alright. I hate sweet potato, that's got to be the one healthy food that everyone seems to love but I can't stand it. That's good to know which produce is more affordable, I've been buying lots of tomatoes, spinach, green beans and grapes- no berries 'cause they're ridiculous. Do you think canned tomatoes are a better deal then fresh?
I make homemade bread, not sure if it's more affordable or not.
That smoothie sounds great, we were gifted a nice blender this year so I'm excited to try that out.
>>7208489
I forgot to mention cabbage. It's super cheap. Chop up a head of cabbage, 5 carrots, 2 onions, chicken if you want, sautee with soy sauce, fresh ginger (30-50 cents for a good sized chunk), garlic and hot sauce. Serve over rice. That should last you at least 2, if not more, meals.
>>7208497
for something like tomatoes, you're best off to just eat them when they're in season. They taste like shit in the winter anyway. Look at farm stands for tomato seconds (the uglier looking ones that are half prices) and use that to make and freeze tomato sauce for the winter.
>>7208502
Sounds good!
>>7208497
>Do you think canned tomatoes are a better deal then fresh?
tomatoes are in season right now, so they should be cheap depending on where you are.
also, if your spaghetti sauce is too acidic make sure you aren't buying jarred/canned tomatoes with citric acid added. it's a preservative but makes it overly acidic most of the time.
avoid buying beverages, juice and sodas are designed to make you buy way more than you need. milk is okay because it's more filling. if you do want juice, add a splash of juice to a glass of water to flavor it. most people suck down juice because they want the sugar, which also makes them thirstier.
cheese has more calories and is more filling than meat, if you can find a decent quality cheese that doesn't cost more than meat, try to use that more often. spaghetti with tomato sauce and ricotta cheese is fairly nutritious and filling, and the cheese will cut down on the acidity.
>>7208211
If you're on a budget (which you are, even though you get plenty of money), the best way to learn how to grocery shop is to start by planning your menus for the week. Then, go through and make your grocery list based on what you will need to make those meals. It's how my mom taught me to shop for groceries, and she was both a culinary arts instructor, and a vocational cooking teacher.
That way, you will not overspend on food you don't need, and will have less compulsive buying. At the end of the month, if you still have a bunch of money left, and it's about to turn over, you can go and splurge on some items to cook and freeze for later, or really nice dinners, etc.
>>7208513
Thanks, I will have to check the labels from now on! I buy the cheapest brand so they might be more likely to be more acidic?
My husband was super addicted to soda when we first started dating. Luckily he doesn't drink soda anymore but he still likes juice or vitamin water that he tries to drink sparingly because he craves a sweet drink. He's bad at remembering water and says he "doesn't like the taste", but since we have a blender I am hoping to make him healthier fruit smoothies to deal with that craving.
Huh, very interesting to know about the cheese! I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!
>>7208497
Just buy some regular potatoes then, those are really cheap as well. Where I live they often go on sale for 10 pound bags for 3 bucks.
>>7208524
I do that, but I will end up adding extras to the cart as well. Even when I stick strictly to my menu plan, I spend too much, so hopefully some of this advice and more practice/research will help me with that. Do you plan just for three meals a day, any extras, or less?
>>7208530
>He's bad at remembering water and says he "doesn't like the taste"
Has he tried drinking it room temperature? I can't stand the 'taste' of water when it's cold, but I enjoy it room temp. I don't even remember the last time I had a glass of cold water.
>>7208533
Oh, okay! My midwife was trying to get me to eat healthier and said "potatoes are not vegetables, don't eat potatoes". We get very cheap potatoes here, too.
>>7208530
no problem! the cheaper brands might have more citric acid for shelf life, yeah.
a lot of people say they don't like the taste of water after getting used to soda. if you're drinking it straight from the tap, try putting some water in a pitcher in the refrigerator. cold water tastes better and is more palatable to some people. a fruit smoothie would be good too, and more filling than soda.
by the way, ricotta actually has slightly less calories because it's a fresh cheese, but an aged cheese like cheddar will usually have more calories.
heavy/sour cream are also good things to learn to cook with.
>>7208537
He actually prefers it icy cold, will throw out any water that's been sitting out. But we don't have an ice maker or anything, just shitty ice cube trays from the dollar tree that are always snapping. He's obsessed with making sure that his water is clean, he wants to just buy bottles but that's too expensive and hard to transport.
>>7208540
Well they're not going to be great for you if you go full retard and dump a gallon of butter and cheese and salt on them. People say potatoes aren't good for you and seem to ignore the fact they slather them in shit.
>>7208535
I plan for three meals a day, plus healthy snacks, plus a couple of desserts for the week (I have a family of four, and inevitably at some point during the week, they are going to ask if they can have dessert).
If there's a week where I know we're going to be out a lot, I plan for less full meals and more lighter fare, like sandwiches and snacks that we can eat on the go.
Meal planning is a constant work in progress, but it's important when you have a family, and don't want to overspend or overbuy.
>>7208543
Thanks, these are all really helpful tips!
I'm going to try to get one of those filtered water pitchers for the fridge, I think.
I can get a pound of cheese for $7.99, is that too expensive? That's the store brand, too.
>>7208547
Is a little bit of butter and salt alright? Haha. Probably not... We do them different ways. We recently started doing wedges in the oven with herbs and olive oil.
>>7208549
Mind sharing some of the healthy snack ideas? My oldest is 2 and likes to snack a lot during the day, we do cheerios, goldfish crackers, yogurt and those veggie-style applesauce pouches. I definitely want to be a great meal planner for my family, I just want to be one of those moms whose really good at that stuff. But it's really overwhelming, sometimes.
>>7208553
Yeah, that's fine, just don't go overboard. I'm talking about the people who put on half a stick of butter, a tablespoon of salt, tons of bacon bits and sour cream then have the gall to say it's the potato that's making them fat.
>>7208556
Oh, yeah, no we don't eat them that crazy.
>>7208555
Well, two year old are usually still pretty receptive to trying new things. When my son was that age, he loved snacking on raw snow peas, cubed and cooked sweet potatoes or butternut squash (which I would season with just a bit of salt for taste), pretty much any kind of berry, bananas with some almond or peanut butter on them, yogurt with fresh fruit added to it, unsweetened applesauce, raw green beans, carrot sticks (not baby carrots, because they're just about the right circumference to choke on), sliced turnips.....I also would make batches of sweet potato pancakes and freeze them, so I could just pull one out of the freezer and reheat it as a quick breakfast or snack, which they still love today, even though they're older now.
Right now, your son is at just the right age where his palate is very open and he hasn't form too many solid opinions about food yet. Try giving him all sorts of vegetables and fruits. If he doesn't like one, set it aside for awhile and then offer it again. Most kids will eventually change their mind about foods if they keep being offered to them. My son wouldn't eat any white potatoes, eggs, or cheese when he was a toddler, but now he loves all of those foods. And keep them away from fast food as long as you can. They''ll have some eventually, but once they get a taste for it, it's hard to cut it off.
>>7208530
>I buy the cheapest brand so they might be more likely to be more acidic?
Of spaghetti sauce? If so, it's most likely Francesco Rinaldi which had a lot of lemon juice.
>>7208570
I need to just bite the bullet and give some of that a try. I had started out giving him corn, peas, carrots, broccoli and green beans but he won't eat any of it. I asked his doctor and he said to just give him fruit. So he gets bananas and apples diced up with cinnamon, and I make him frozen banana mini pancakes that he eats with breakfast. He also likes pineapple and mandarin oranges, pretty much any fruit. But the only veggies I can get him to eat are more mixed up meals, like soup, stew, pasta, etc. But I haven't tried many other veggies- I might as well try because my younger son is 6 months old and I was just about to start making him purees. I guess then it won't go to waste if he won't eat it.
>>7208579
Yeah, I do buy this brand a lot. That or Safeway's brand, or sometimes a big can of Hunt's tomato sauce goes on sale for .99 and I just had herbs and diced onion and red bell pepper if I can afford it.
>>7208589
There you go! Yeah, just keep trying. You want your kids to have as broad a palate as possible, so they won't be picky eaters later in life and will be willing to try new foods when they are older too. My oldest son is damn near a food snob now, even though I didn't teach him to be one, but he's tried so many different foods now, he KNOWS the difference between good food and crap, lol. (He's also a teenager, which accounts for the snobbishness too).
But, yeah, it can be frustrating teaching new foods to toddlers, but the reward will come later when they'll happily eat all kinds of foods. But like you said, if you can make purees out of the vegetables for your other son, then you might as well keep trying to get the older one hooked on veggies.
>>7208590
You can also add diced carrot and celery to spaghetti sauce if you're looking to up nutrition. Mushrooms too if you can get them cheap.
>>7208593
Yeah, that's a very good point! As it is he's one of those kids that just wants chicken, bread and cheesy stuff. I'll probably start with sweet potato at the beginning of next week.
>>7208597
Interesting, I'll try that!
OP, you sort of sound like a dumb bitch since reading about your husbando and you've managed to trick all of us into being way more helpful to you than your Texas bimbo brain deserves.
lurk moar. i bet this is the first time you've even visited /ck/.
There are seriously starving skinnyfags on here that eat nothing and here your husband is complaining about the ice cubes that go into his water and not being able to have sugar drinks. I'm sorry you're chink husband is sucking off the government's teat and can't get enough. maybe offer him some of your milk and forget about your baby? he sounds like the real baby.
>>7208612
I was wondering when this good thread would end.
>>7208211
soylent
>>7208211
BUY WHAT'S ON SALE
There's always sales on vegetables. There's always sales on meat. Just buy the stuff and figure out a recipe for it later. Also buy in bulk.
>>7208614
You were wondering when she would stop getting desperate attention from anonymous men who know how to support themselves nutritionally, feeding the gaping hole of missing love in her marriage to her Punjabi husband she met in Texas and ran off with to make her rich, conservative Republican father jealous? fucking disgusting. she has two children and a working husband and is asking 4chan for advice on how to feed her family.
awful.
>>7208626
Try harder anon. We can't feel the venom yet.
>>7208623
Oh another piece of advice, most brand name stuff isn't any better than store brand. Your kid likes go gurt? Just get a tub of plain yogurt and add fruit to the kids portions instead. Fuck the tube.
>>7208623
>>7208634
Trying to work on getting better at that. I've gone to the grocery store before, forgotten my list, and had to wing it and it's always kind of stupid, but I've gotten some good ideas from this thread so we'll see how the next shopping trip works out. I do like the store brands at Safeway, usually they come in bigger quantities and taste yummier in some cases, so that's no problem.
Yeah, the main reason I don't give my kid regular yogurt is because he sucks at eating with a spoon and gets it everywhere, but I have heard of some reusable pouch things that you can make your own baby snacks with, so I might try using those. Or alternatively just working more on the utensils issue.
>>7208623
But the things that are on sale are usually on sale because those things are close to their expiry date. Fine for meat which can be frozen. Not so great for vegetables and fruit. So buying almost-stale things in bulk is pretty bad advice because you'll end up throwing most of it out.
>>7208551
>I can get a pound of cheese for $7.99, is that too expensive? That's the store brand, too.
is that from the deli? if so, everything is more expensive there. go to where the butter and milk is, look for uncut blocks of cheese. much cheaper.
>>7208656
No, it's Lucerne and it is the uncut block, although as far as I can tell it cost the same amount regardless of whether it's shredded or a block. Maybe I'm mixing up the sizes, but I don't think so.
>>7208480
No need to feel embarrassed. Wages these days aren't enough to get by, and you just went overboard with the snacks. It happened to me for my first few months receiving assistance. I don't care for the line of thinking saying people with foodstamps should be ashamed for buying sugary sweets on occasion. My main motivation for wanting to eat healthily is so I can keep a clear head and stay open to opportunities to improve my quality of life, and I'm also a proponent of children getting a lot of yummy nutrients and building healthy habits as youngsters. One thing that I feel could help you would be to think of sugary foods as a way to surprise the kids and reward them on occasion. They also need to be trained to enjoy fresh veggies if they aren't too picky at this age. Try making large batches of soups with fresh veggies and lentils, and whatever meat you find on sale. If you have to make it seasoned with a lot of salt and whatever else will encourage them to eat it, well i think that's better than not having them eat veggies at all. I'm 23 and my teenage sister lives with me, but I don't know if I can get more benefits to help feed her since my mom claims her as a dependent on taxes, and I try to make sure that she stays fed and happy, so I'm always making large batches of things and experimenting. Its especially hard because she's averse to meat and cheese, and I have done a lot of cooking for myself before she moved in that relied on meats and cheeses for a lot of flavor. I'll put some ideas together tonight and post them later.
OP, if there's a Mexican supermarket in your town, then I recommend buying produce and meat there as they tend to have better prices.
>>7208665
I've definitely started to wonder why they don't teach these things to kids in school anymore.
I'm going to try to get my kid more veggies starting this next grocery trip, he's not terribly picky, but the most random things he just won't eat. I only just got my first big soup pot so I'd definitely appreciate any of your ideas.
>>7208668
I wish! Not a lot of variety here. I'll keep that in mind for when I move, though.
>>7208663
i can get cheese for about half that price, but it depends on your store and where you live.
and this anon >>7208668 has a good point. some stores are more expensive for the same product. sometimes just going to a store that's a mile away from the one you currently shop at can save you money.
>>7208673
I would think that we'd have cheap cheese because there are a lot of farms in our state, and one major dairy farm that produces awesome cheese, but I guess not. I usually buy 2 cup bags of shredded cheese for 2.99.
>>7208670
Getting the kids involved is a good way to encourage them to eat the foods you prepared. Even something as simple as washing vegetables might be enough.
Also "just try a bite. You don't have to finish it."
as well as serving as the best role model.
>>7208677
Good tips, I'll try them all.
>>7208341
>what is cottage cheese like?
Delicious. Salt and pepper are all you really need for it, although it can accommodate MANY different flavors.
I wonder why USA's economy is up shit creek.
>>7208707
It's okay, soon Trump will save us.
>>7208720
Who are you to tell him how to get fulfillment out of his own life?
>>7208720
Quickly jump in and save the Internet!
>>7208211
Go to the store and see what cheap ingredients you think look interesting or tasty (look in the vegetable section mostly). Then research some ways you can make it. Visit different stores to see what's cheapest. After a while you should have the ability to just buy a bunch of cheap vegetables and cook it up, no need for any sort of recipe, you'll have the general idea of how to make things taste good.
Doing this you can eat both cheaper and healthier than 99% of people.
>>7208744
Thanks, I'll work on that! We only have one store in town right now, but when we move we'll have a lot to choose from.
>>7208744
Oh yeah, here's a good one: vegetable stir fry. Frozen or fresh ingredients, seasoned with oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, etc. and sesame oil(use to season, not to cook). It's pretty healthy, takes seconds, can be made with vegetable scraps, and I couldn't imagine how someone couldn't like it.
You can just cook it in a little water if you don't want to eat so much oil.
>>7208759
> oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce,
I meant any of these btw lol not all at once though it probably wouldn't matter since they all fulfill about the same purpose (savory/salty flavor).
>>7208768
Best advice I can think of is to try and like offal. Cheapest meat there is. Liver and onions, braised oxtail, stuffed lambs hearts, all that stuff tastes good (to me) and is crazy cheap. Plus, if you don't like it, you won't have wasted much money.
>>7208788
Oh god, I don't think I could do that, haha.
>>7208804
Trust me, don't knock it till you've tried it. You'll either love it or hate it. Oxtail is probably the least extreme flavour
>>7208808
Someday I'll get around to giving it a try. I think it's definitely the texture that I have the biggest issue with.
>>7208211
I'm so glad my hard earned money goes to feeding retards like you
