I am on a very tight budget, I am not working right now and we are in really bad debt. I only have aproximately $15 a week for food and hubby will not eat good foods.. $15 is hard to spread so we usually get things like Ramen Noodle Soup, Pot Pies, cheap things but not the healthiest. Just seems I always have a set back somewhere along the way, and no matter how I try to ration it out for healthier eating, it just doesn't work

Hi

Beans are very good for you AND very inexpensive. You can eat them alone or over rice which is also inexpensive, especially when you buy it in bulk form.
Do you use grocery outlets? You can get significant savings at outlets on canned items and bulk food items.
Breakfast grains such as oatmeal are inexpensive as well as bulk cereal.
There's really little mercy on meats/chicken, but tuna is still available at very reasonable prices, and in an outlet you can probably find it at .30/can.

If I think of any other options I'll post back. I wish I was familiar with Hanover but I'm not so I don't know what your shopping options are, but in Chambersburg, PA we have several grocery outlets such as Ollie's and Aldi's.

Donna

1) Rice runs about 2 cents and ounce
2) Beans 16 oz for 89 cents they can be cooked in a crockpot with an onion & chicken bullion cube.
3) Canned veggies when on sale 3/$1 or 4/$1
4) dried pasta for 16 oz for a $1
5) Add your own seasonings to $1 a can pasta sauce.
6) get away from the ramen so much salt and msg.
7) potpies are are 1/2 fat
8) I took a bag of frozen brocolli, 2 cups of chicken broth ( you can use water), 1 can of condensed milk, 1 cup of milk, and made brocolli soup. I got 6 1 cup servings for about a cost of $3

Look out for those ramen noodles ... i looked at the back of mine yesterday and was horrified ... 410 calories for the one serving.

There are several cookbooks out for eating on a budget ... check them out at the library.

Another idea, is if you have a girlfriend or relative who you can share with, or pitch together to buy large boxes of things you do not use often. When a friend and I were both struggling, we pooled some of our grocery money together, and then prepared all the food on one day, and froze it. We made casseroles, bread, cookies (between us we have 8 kids) and other freezable meal items. Other things we would buy a case of, and split up. It was cheaper than if each of us bought the cans individually.

Even if you are in an apartment, look at growing as much produce as you can. When we lived in one, I had the balcony lined with 5 gallon buckets filled with soil I got from a vacant lot, and grew lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers.

This is a bit embarrasing, but the produce market in my town, used to give out "pig boxes" ... they were free, but were meant to feed to your chickens or pigs. The produce was wilted, or a bit bruised, but generally usable. The also gave out free bags of "horse" apples at an orchard I knew ... they were bruised, or poc-marked, but made great applesauce.

Home can or freeze as much as you can when it is in season ... it costs extra at the time, but really makes a difffference later on in the year.

When you have a few extra bucks, like income tax returns, or other windfalls, look into getting a side of beef. It costs a few hundred dollars usually, but you get about 500-800 lbs of meat, and it usually works out to the price of hambuerger, yet you get to eat steaks and roasts as well.

Alfalpha sprouts are cheap to buy and even cheaper to buy a pack of seeds and grow your own. You get them at a health food store, and some supermarkets). Put about 2 tbs in a mason jar, and put a peice of cheesecloth or old (clean!) nylon stocking over the top. Put the rim on, but not the lid (so just the netting is over the top, but it is held in place by the rim). The first night, you put about half a jar of water in, and let it sit overnight. Then at least 4 times a day, you drain the jar, fill it and drain it 3 or 4 times, then let all the water drain out. Other than the first soaking, you do not want to leave water in it between rinsing. The rinsing takes away the hulls, waters the plant, and cleans it. It takes 4 to 5 days before they are ready to eat, so after 3 days, start a second batch, so you will always have one just starting, one almost ready, and one at the stage you can eat.

I have more ideas, and will right them later, as I must go to the docs and get wieghed ... first time in ages I am not dreading it!

Hope this has helped.

Thanks those are all great ideas hubby is just so picky. He doesn't eat beans, tuna, oatmeal, nothing really that is good for you.. That is why its so darn hard

But thanks, maybe our money situation will improve some and I can get those good foods for me and something he will eat too

If he is so picky, one thing to do is take him shopping with you, or have him do the shopping for you. Worked for my guy ... when he realized how really expensive the things he wanted were, he both accepted what I could make better, as well as loosened the wallet a little, and gave me a bit more to work with. Some men just do not have any idea how much money it costs to eat even half decently.

ONe cheap meal is a stir fry. Use one small steak(sliced really really thinly), or stewing beef, or a bit of hamburger, brown it, then add an onion, 2 carrots, a bit of cabbage, and any other veggies that you have. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, and soy sauce.

Using a lot more seasonings can make up for lack of flavorful ingredients. Get some garlic powder, italian seasonaing, or some of the combo spice mixes, like cajun or asian. Even a hamburger hash, with mashed potatoes can be a bit better with a splash of salsa added to it.

1) Big lots has 50 cent seasonings in my town
2) hnyack don't be embrassed. not helping yourself is what I would be embrassed by, not making due tiwh what you got.
3) hnyack you also had an excellent point about letting people know how much food cost.

how about when whole chicken go on sale? roast the whole chicken for the first night's meal, and eat the breasts, then the next nite cut up the rest and put it on top of salad or in a casserole mixed with pasta, then the third nite, simmer the carcass for chicken soup that you have added some carrots and rice to, and any other veggies you can get...3 meals from 1 chicken...

sooz did you grow up with my Mom too? That is what I do cuz that is what she always did.
Sixy

sooz ... i was going to add the chicken bit, but was rushed for time (was typing between clients at work). Thanks of mentioning it. I do the same with a roast with the bone in. Night one, roast beef, night 2 beef with gravy on bread, night 3, lefovers and bone simmered with veggies to make a stew.

lisad00~ I wasn't that embarassed at the time; I was too hungry to be. I just mentioned it, as some people would have a hard time going in and getting something for free from a store.

My husband got sick, and has been off work for 5 years. It took 8 months for me to get work, so we went without for a long time. The little bit of money we got in, all went to bills, so I had to learn to be very creative with the meals. A few weeks I had absolutely no grocery money.

One big thing I learned was cooperating, sharing, and bartering. By working together with friends who had similar needs, or ones that I was able to barter with, we ate very well for next to nothing.

Bartering: trading something you have, or can do, for a different item or service.

Some ways I bartered for food:

1. Babysat a friends kids for free in turn for a side of beef (they were farmers, and she had to work, but could not afford daycare)

2. A friend in a wheelchair had a huge yard and wanted a garden. She bought the seedlings, and hubby and I did all the work: planting, weeding and harvesting, and we split all the produce 50/50. (we had the space at home, but not the money for the seedlings).

3. Did housework (one hour twice a week) for a bachelor friend for 2 months in turn for 20 dozen cobs of corn from his mom's cornfeild, which I froze, and lasted most of the winter. Basically I just vaccumed and dusted his place; he did the rest.

Also, I "sold" my skills locally to get a bit more grocery money. I did things like mending, washing clothes for bachelors, typing, housework, baking (they provided the ingredinets), running errands for seniors, etc. These I did in the times when unemployed, and on days off even when I did have a job. Put a sign up in a laundramat, or other public place, offering your services in whatever way you are able to.

Talk to your friends, church members, and family. They may have a task to hire you for, that would help them out, and you.

Originally posted by lisad00
1) Big lots has 50 cent seasonings in my town


Ok, I saw the words, Big Lots and it made me realize how much I miss going there!
Yes, Big Lots has super cheap foodstuffs.
I think up north (saying up north from where I'm from: TN)
They call it Odd Lots?


And Angelmommy, if I were you ( I sometimes do this to my husband): Look, I'm fat, you're not. You either eat what I eat, or you make food for yourself, or don't eat at all. But, as long as I am doing the cooking, mister, then I say what we are gonna eat and what we aren't gonna eat...

If that doesn't work... then just :withdrawal all imitmate relations...:)

Potatoes are cheap enough to buy and they are so versitale!
MMMmmm, taters and onions... ( though I have no idea how one could make them the non tradtional southern way)

What about switching your butter,mayo,cheese to lower fat or lower cal? Would that work money-wise for you?

Well first I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. Its hard enough when you have to spread $20 across one week. This week we have no money for groceries, but hopefully next will be better. I think I could buy hubby the potpies and me rice and beans if I make it my whole meal and eat it up everynight. That might work. Potatoes I am not suppose to have, and if I have them here they are a huge weakness for me..

I truly appreciate everyone's suggestions

Thanks
Jeni