Healthy Eating Frugalers: What are your go to meals?

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

If you eat whole grains, which require more digesting than processed white flour foods, they aren't bad carbs. Same thing for eating whole foods, even fruits like oranges. Your body has to work at digesting the fibers, etc.

I eat a lot of carbs, but I eat whole grains and whole foods mainly now and my blood sugar came back down to the normal range. I was pre-diabetic.

Not all carbs are equal. Snickers bars: bad. Brown rice: good.

So, it's actually pretty cheap to eat well, if you cook beans and brown rice and whole wheat bread and pasta and corn tortillas, that sort of thing - and add veggies. For breakfast oatmeal with sugar substitute and berries.

I normally avoid oil, but tonight I made homemade pesto with homegrown basil I grow in a bin indoors under a grow light. Had it with whole wheat pasta.

I'm vegan now, so it's much cheaper for me to eat healthy because I'm not buying any meat or cheese, etc. Leaves more money for more veggies. I'm not a big fruit eater, but I love my berries in my oatmeal in the morning.

For snacks, pop popcorn. It's really good with nutritional yeast on it. Cheap. Low calorie.

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by CaptainNJ

i can put together healthy meals for less than the $3-4 a dollar menu meal would cost. i think the claim that eating healthy is expensive is just another thing people use to convince themselves to not eat healthy.

i buy rolled oats from costco about 80 cents a pound. that is the cheapest and healthiest breakfast i can put together.

Time is money. If you don’t cook, or work so much that you have time to cook, or just flat out don’t WANT to cook, unhealthy food is FAR FAR cheaper. I know because my BF lives this every day. Drives me nuts. He does not cook. No interest in it. He wants a $1 biscuit at a fast food joint. A 50 cent pack of crackers. $2 for a muffin and coffee. It’s never HEALTHY food because that always costs more.

[Sand&Salt]

Hamburger ($1 lb.), pork loin, canned tuna and street-roasted chicken are my go-to meats.
I use the skin and bones to make broth from the chicken, and also buy beef bones to make broth which is a staple in lots of my recipes. We seem to eat lots of potatoes---mashed or fondant or just boiled.

The chickens are gigantic so I take off all the meat right away and freeze it in 2-portion ziplocks. Then start a broth in the slow-cooker. So chicken can be added to almost anything: Caesar salads, homemade soups, stir-fry.

I make a lot of soups: creamy cauliflower, roasted red bell pepper (so cheap here---could not afford them in the U.S.), broccoli. Carrot or cucumber salad. Limes are really cheap, so I juice them and use in many things. Even a key-lime pie once. No lemons here.

Once a month or so, I make angel-food cake since I accumulate leftover egg whites from mayo, hollandaise or other recipes. Over all, I think we eat pretty healthy, and fairly simply. But I'm not brave enough to try the outdoor markets ---unrefrigerated with extreme heat and flies.

[DonaldJTrump]

Whenever McDonald's has their dollar menu promotions, get a dollar McChicken

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

Time is money. If you don’t cook, or work so much that you have time to cook, or just flat out don’t WANT to cook, unhealthy food is FAR FAR cheaper. I know because my BF lives this every day. Drives me nuts. He does not cook. No interest in it. He wants a $1 biscuit at a fast food joint. A 50 cent pack of crackers. $2 for a muffin and coffee. It’s never HEALTHY food because that always costs more.

this is a joke. so now the person is just eating biscuits and crackers. yeah sure, if someone is eating biscuits and crackers that is a hard thing to come up with the healthy equivalent. that isnt about healthy vs unhealthy; that is just a weird limited diet. i have demonstrated how eating at a high end and a low end is cheaper when you go healthy. so now i have to come up with the healthy and cheap equivalent of a biscuit/cracker/muffin diet.

fine, my lunch these days is 2 greek yogurts from aldi. i believe they are 79 cents, so 2 of them is $1.58 cents. so that and water provides you with about 400 healthy enough calories. that beats your muffin and coffee.

[mitopcat]

I purchase a whole chicken and roast it in my cast iron skillet. Between me and my daughter, this is a lot of food, but a whole chicken is cheap. From this chicken I can make other meals like chicken and rice pilaf, chicken tacos or other Mexican-flavored chicken dish. I can also make leftover chicken soup.

I use the bones later to make broth, so no more buying those boxes of chicken or beef broth. Over the holidays, I acquire other people's ham bones. I combine ham and chicken bones, rib bones, steak bones and make a broth.

A HUGE pot of tomato sauce. The sauce can last quite a while in the freezer and doesn't take long to defrost in the fridge. If you need it quickly, hoist the bag over a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. I also like to grow my own tomatoes.

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by CaptainNJ

this is a joke. so now the person is just eating biscuits and crackers. yeah sure, if someone is eating biscuits and crackers that is a hard thing to come up with the healthy equivalent. that isnt about healthy vs unhealthy; that is just a weird limited diet. i have demonstrated how eating at a high end and a low end is cheaper when you go healthy. so now i have to come up with the healthy and cheap equivalent of a biscuit/cracker/muffin diet.

fine, my lunch these days is 2 greek yogurts from aldi. i believe they are 79 cents, so 2 of them is $1.58 cents. so that and water provides you with about 400 healthy enough calories. that beats your muffin and coffee.

I'm not making any jokes. I am saying, that for many people that basically eat "on the road" - healthy food is MUCH more expensive that unhealthy food.

My breakfast is ONE greek yogurt with a 1/4 cup of Kashi in it. Or, a packet of Oatfit with skim milk. Or, eggbeaters with a slice of cheese.

It's not MY muffin and coffee hon, it's HIS. I don't have any problem at all eating healthy - but I make all my meals at home - I rarely EVER eat out. He does eat a lot of different things, but he hates cooking or preparing anything - drives me NUTS. He'll eat Cheerios for dinner rather than warm up some delicious leftovers that I made. He'll eat Cheerios every single night if left to his own devices. But during the day, it will be fast food - every time, or crackers. Cheap and fast - that's his mantra.

[tarragon]

macaroni with stewed tomatoes

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

I'm not making any jokes. I am saying, that for many people that basically eat "on the road" - healthy food is MUCH more expensive that unhealthy food.

My breakfast is ONE greek yogurt with a 1/4 cup of Kashi in it. Or, a packet of Oatfit with skim milk. Or, eggbeaters with a slice of cheese.

It's not MY muffin and coffee hon, it's HIS. I don't have any problem at all eating healthy - but I make all my meals at home - I rarely EVER eat out. He does eat a lot of different things, but he hates cooking or preparing anything - drives me NUTS. He'll eat Cheerios for dinner rather than warm up some delicious leftovers that I made. He'll eat Cheerios every single night if left to his own devices. But during the day, it will be fast food - every time, or crackers. Cheap and fast - that's his mantra.

yikes, sounds like a lot of 'processed' food on the go.. I feel sad for BF... Be sure Life Insurance is paid up and you are beneficiary

Alternatives (for frugal 'healthy' eaters on the go).
(I travel 50% + of the year)

1. Grocery Produce person... Ask for Culls (Damaged produce) often free.
2. Farm stands (of production growers, not hobby farms $$$)
3. Gleaners (volunteer or ask)
4. Homeless shelter (volunteer to help cook)
5. Backpack stove (for cooking your $0.5 of steel cut oatmeal (Lower Glycemic LOAD, not Index)

https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/ty...glycemic-load/

I was kinda thinking...
Fresh fruits, veggies, raw grains, water,

I do digress at times... $0.99 Wendy's burger / Lettuce Wrap, no bun, no condiments.
Taco Bell $.099 Tostada

Never rice / noodles / refined flour baked goods, Baked potatoes, or Soda (pop). I cannot remember the last time I had a processed cereal, yogurt (ick), or pastry / commercially baked good.

Bit of Cheese, plenty abundant eggs.

Eat AFTER noon, and before 6PM.
Fast (don't eat) and exercise (a lot) between 6PM and noon the next day. (all the time you are not eating)

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

I'm not making any jokes. I am saying, that for many people that basically eat "on the road" - healthy food is MUCH more expensive that unhealthy food.

My breakfast is ONE greek yogurt with a 1/4 cup of Kashi in it. Or, a packet of Oatfit with skim milk. Or, eggbeaters with a slice of cheese.

It's not MY muffin and coffee hon, it's HIS. I don't have any problem at all eating healthy - but I make all my meals at home - I rarely EVER eat out. He does eat a lot of different things, but he hates cooking or preparing anything - drives me NUTS. He'll eat Cheerios for dinner rather than warm up some delicious leftovers that I made. He'll eat Cheerios every single night if left to his own devices. But during the day, it will be fast food - every time, or crackers. Cheap and fast - that's his mantra.

okay, so we have narrowed it down to eating on the road for someone who doesnt prepare for his upcoming meals/snacks.

so he is grabbing some muffins and biscuits. now, in this circumstance where we are trying to replace muffins and biscuits with theoretical healthier options, what are the healthier alternatives that are more expensive? it seems to me that its more about limited options for that type of eating period than there are even expensive options.

also, for an overweight person; just reducing calorie intake is the most important thing. people want to believe that they can throw in some vegetables and those vegetables are going to make them healthier. thats not really accurate. he could be perfectly healthy if he just ate smaller portions of biscuits and crackers.