I like eating kids cereal everyday. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Apple Jacks, Lucky Charms, Count Chocula, the works.
I need a healthier breakfast that costs about the same and is hopefully just as easy to prepare.
Any ideas?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
How much healthier do you want to go? Are you trying to get away from all the carbs?
Posted by RivalOfTheRose (Member # 11535) on :
I guess less sugar, not necessarily all carbs.
My friend used to eat plain yogurt with some granola and/or fruit for breakfast... but that sounds more expensive than a $2 box of cereal and whatever milk.
Something that doesn't taste terrible, fills you up, and is cheap and easy to make.
I am not sure if such a breakfast exists.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Some ideas:
Whole wheat toast Soft-boiled eggs* Instant oatmeal (unflavored with salt, sugar, fruit, and milk added) A piece of fruit Yogurt A fruit smoothie Last night's dinner leftovers
*Place egg in pot of cool water. Heat water until boiling. Boil about 4 minutes longer or until whites are completely cooked (trial and error will tell you how long this is). Crack the shell with a knife and remove the edible part with a spoon.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
You could start by switching to a non-sugary cereal. Corn flakes, rice krispies, raisin bran . . .
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
$2 box of cereal? Where are you paying that little?
And yeah, there are a lot of non-sugary cereals out there. Also, you could probably do yogurt and fresh fruit for just as cheap, when fresh fruits are in season.
Posted by RivalOfTheRose (Member # 11535) on :
Shoprite has cereal on sale sometimes or other times I use coupons. It gets a little dangerous when you combine them!
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Porridge (oatmeal).
Posted by amira tharani (Member # 182) on :
Muesli?
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Nothing you switch to will be an adequate substitute for cereal. =(
I substituted oatmeal in the little pre-measured packages. Comes out to about half a cup. It's not much but sometimes it's hard to put it in my mouth.
But I'm losing weight... A big bowl of cereal, even something "good" for you like cheerios, is a ton of calories. Especially once you add in the %2.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
There's always miso soup. That's what people in Japan eat for breakfast. With fish and rice and stuff.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
If I have the numbers right, I pay about $4 for a 13.5 oz bag of plain granola. A little less ($2-3 maybe) for a 16 oz carton of store-brand raspberry yogurt. Sometimes, I'll pay the 1-2 dollars for a little bag of sliced almonds, which I add to the granola. I bring it to work, and mix it myself whenever I need to eat something, and one rendition of this can feed me at least 5 times (exact number eludes me), with the granola lasting slightly longer than the yogurt (and I enjoy a fairly high granola:yogurt ratio). Average price is a little over a dollar, but one small bowlful can fill me pretty well, as opposed to a $5 bag of cereal that, after one bowl, makes me hungry again after an hour (nutritional fluff, basically).
If you *really* wanted to go cheap, you can make your own granola (rolled oats are embarrasingly cheap, and very healthy) but I have not yet found a granola recipe that I really fell in love with.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
In all honesty, it costs more to eat healthy. It's a fact. I have gradually given into this idea because there's not much cheaper than a bowl of cereal and milk -- especially sugary cereal and milk, which often goes on sale or has coupons.
I now eat a wide variety of foods at breakfast, some of which are cheap, some of which aren't. I NEVER eat sugary cereals. If I do cereal, I do raisin bran or Basic 4 (I love Basic 4). I would rather do pancakes than sugary cereal.
Oatmeal is a terrific option. Regular oatmeal (not instant) is cheaper than cereal and healthier. You can actually make up a breakfast with quick oats in a couple of minutes in the microwave or you can do my preference, which is to put milk and oats (2:1 ratio) in the fridge overnight with some dried fruit (raisins or cherries or whatever) and heat it up in the morning. It gets nice and soft and the fruit plumps.
Eggs are very healthy, and a bit of protein in the morning is proven to jump start your brain. They're also not very expensive.
Don't forget the fruit -- fresh fruit is coming into season as we speak. Farmer's markets can often have good deals.
I try to mix it up. I usually have pancakes once a week, oatmeal once a week, something egg based once a week, etc. I try for fun things on the weekend.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Yeah, I forgot about pancakes/waffles. You can make a whole bunch over the weekend, and then freeze them to reheat in the morning. Super easy and much yummier than cereal. Not a whole lot more nutritious, though.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Brinestone: Yeah, I forgot about pancakes/waffles. You can make a whole bunch over the weekend, and then freeze them to reheat in the morning. Super easy and much yummier than cereal. Not a whole lot more nutritious, though.
This is one reason I never freeze them...they can be part of a healthy variety of breakfast foods but not if eaten every day. The other reason is that they don't taste very good reheated and I can mix up a new batch in less than 5 minutes. Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
My favorite breakfast is plain, non-fat yogurt, frozen blueberries, and grape nuts or some granola mixture. If you buy the store-brand of all it's no more expensive for a bowl than a fancy brand of cereal & milk, and it's far more filling & healthy. You can add a little sugar or honey too, if the blueberries don't sweeten it enough for you. It's a particularly good meal in the summer, since the frozen blueberries keep the whole bowl chilled. Like sarcasticmuppet, I bring all three things to work and combine at my leisure for a quick breakfast, snack, or lunch.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I have 3/4 cup oatmeal and a glass of orange juice every day. It does the job, and oatmeal is less than $1 a pound, so I spend about $5 every 2-3 months on that. I only buy Tropicana OJ, because it's the cheapest without being Minute Maid (which is disgusting), the large 2 gallon jug is about $7 and lasts me 2 weeks or so.
Posted by Jamio (Member # 12053) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine: In all honesty, it costs more to eat healthy. It's a fact.
Yes, when it comes to food, there's cheap, easy, and good. You can have any combination of two, but you can't have all three. I like to cook, so I usually forego easy.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
I honestly can't think of a more expensive thing to eat daily than packaged cold cereal. Or anything less satisying, but I suppose that's an individual taste thing.
I usually drink a glass of soy milk, then fix a quick breakfast and take it along to eat at my desk once I get settled at work... I'm not much for eating too early in the morning.
My standard breakfast consists of one or more of the following: a toasted bagel with cream cheese a hard boiled egg Fresh fruit Toast Low fat Muffins (I make my own on weekends and eat for 2-3 days) Cottage cheese Scrambled egg and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla yogurt and granola (I make my own granola) leftover rice with a bit of diced spam vegetable frittata (make ahead and eat for 3-4 days)
I usually save leftover dinners for lunch, but they can be good for breakfast too.
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
I admit, I eat cold cereal almost every morning. I hate to cook and I hate oatmeal. I usually eat Kashi Heart to Heart or Trader Joe's Organic Morning Light.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jamio:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: In all honesty, it costs more to eat healthy. It's a fact.
Yes, when it comes to food, there's cheap, easy, and good. You can have any combination of two, but you can't have all three.
Complete and total myth. I can eat healthy on less than $200 a month, easily, with less than 30 minutes total meal prep time per day.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
Me too. I often don't, but I can. It seems more expensive to eat healthily because you are often paying out more up front at the grocery store, when if you eat out (or unhealthily) you seem to be paying less. However, since you have to eat more unhealthy food than healthy food to keep from feeling hungry, you often spend more on unhealthy food over time.
I've fallen back into bad eating habits recently. When I realized I was going to be buying a new car and have to incorporate a car payment into my monthly expenses, I started wondering where all my money was going. I figured it out pretty quickly. Because I've been too lazy to make a grocery list I've been eating out a LOT. I've also been paying a huge amount of money for food that is much less healthy. I've also been eating snacks out of the machine at work, rather than bringing my own (one of the key factors in my previous weight loss). I probably doubled what I need to spend on food. So, at least that monthly car payment (it's so sad, 'cause I've been payment free for several years) is going to have more benefit than just a new car. I won't be able to afford to keep eating the way I have been. I'll have to go back to eating healthier and spending less on food.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
If you just want to move to something a little healthier, frosted shredded wheat retains some of the sweetness of kids' cereals but also packs in some fiber and whole grain. Also there are usually generic varieties available, so one can get economy-sized bags for as cheap or cheaper than name-brand cereals on sale.
Failing that, instant oatmeal is pretty cheap, and it's one of the few cereals I still appreciate (twelve years or so of eating cereal for breakfast every day, I found I badly needed to get away from the stuff.) Mix with a little diced canned peaches and milk, and it even tastes pretty good.
If you have a toaster oven, english muffins with melted cheese are quick and tasty, though a bit high on fat.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac:
quote:Originally posted by Jamio:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: In all honesty, it costs more to eat healthy. It's a fact.
Yes, when it comes to food, there's cheap, easy, and good. You can have any combination of two, but you can't have all three.
Complete and total myth. I can eat healthy on less than $200 a month, easily, with less than 30 minutes total meal prep time per day.
As a matter of fact, I completely agree with you that you can find TIME to eat healthy. I don't always need to prepare meals quickly since I stay at home, but I know how and could.
You may be able to do it for less than $200 a month but multiply that out for a family to see what happens. I have a family of four. We spend nearly $800 a month on groceries when I choose fresh fruits and vegetables and that seems high. When I go with canned, frozen, or processed I can feed the family or closer to $500 a month.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:Originally posted by amira tharani: Muesli?
:pines:
It's so expensive. When I was young and lots of expendable income, I had muesli for breakfast with honey, toast, and quality orange juice.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
I just made my weekly menu so here's the breakfasts:
(Note: Keep reasonable serving sizes in mind.)
French toast, bacon, strawberries
Omelet, whole wheat toast
Overnight Waffles (make the night before just heat on the iron in the morning), bacon, fruit salad
Cold cereal and OJ
Breakfast banana split (use yogurt instead of ice cream, real banana, strawberries, pineapple, and chocolate syrup -- kids love it)
Overnight oatmeal (soak the oatmeal in milk the night before and heat it on the stove in the morning), OJ
Apple strudel burrito (mix of apples, raisins, oatmeal, honey, milk, spices on a tortilla)
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
Fiber One and Almond Milk. Really, it's much better than you could possibly imagine --- and VERY good for you.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Wow. We spend about $350 a month or even less for a family of four. Of course, my children are pretty young and don't eat much yet.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Brinestone: Wow. We spend about $350 a month or even less for a family of four. Of course, my children are pretty young and don't eat much yet.
Mine are 1 and 3, and don't eat much yet. Even before I switched to the level of fresh fruit and veggies we do now, I couldn't get it below $500 a month....I've heard of people doing it, but I'm not sure what they eat or if they eat out a lot or if they eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. Coupons tend to be for processed foods rather than fresh, so I don't bother with them.
About a year ago I put myself on a strict $500 a month budget and would scrounge at the end of the month with whatever was left in the house to make it work. I did make it work, but our meals became boring, repetitive, and usually involved frozen or canned produce.
Then a few months ago I tried a new meal planning service that helped me create a more varied menu, with more fresh produce. Two things happened. First, my grocery bills shot up by about $250 a month. Second, my family loves it. My 3-year-old is a naturally picky eater but since we've started offering more variety and more fresh ingredients, he's doing much better. I was fretting about the money after the first month, but my husband said he was enjoying meals much more and that we should just redo the budget to make healthy eating a priority. So we did.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
I do also know that food prices can vary a lot by region. Maybe that's the problem.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
For breakfast today, I had a peanut butter sandwich. That's a fine breakfast. So is fruit and yogurt or fruit and cottage cheese or sliced cheese. And cooked cereal is a good choice, too.
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine: Then a few months ago I tried a new meal planning service that helped me create a more varied menu, with more fresh produce.
You can't tease like that.
More info, please?
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
A lot of these amounts seem very high to me. I'm pretty happy on a $200/month food budget for a family of three. That doesn't count eating out, since that is a separate budget item and it generally only gets funded from gifts. Now, we produce most of our own protein from meat and eggs, so that does help a bit, but even when we had to buy those things that only added about $50/month to the budget. So $200/month for a single person is definitely not cheap to me.
One way to get a lot of produce without spending too much money is to have a cut-off price. For the most part, we only buy fruits and vegetables that are $1/pound or less, but then we buy a lot of them. Most of the time something meets that requirement, and it's always changing, so there is variety. Some things are exempt from the rule, like salad greens and lightweight things (mushrooms, garlic, etc). We buy what we can in bulk, if it's something that will last and we know we will eat it.
--Mel
Posted by Jamio (Member # 12053) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac:
quote:Originally posted by Jamio:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: In all honesty, it costs more to eat healthy. It's a fact.
Yes, when it comes to food, there's cheap, easy, and good. You can have any combination of two, but you can't have all three.
Complete and total myth. I can eat healthy on less than $200 a month, easily, with less than 30 minutes total meal prep time per day.
That's how much I spend on my family of four.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: For the most part, we only buy fruits and vegetables that are $1/pound or less, but then we buy a lot of them. --Mel
You can find fruits and vegetables that are $1 a pound or less? Please, do tell me how! I promise you, I snap up produce that gets that low when it does, but it almost never does around here. We're typically doing morel like $2 a pound.
Also, how many servings of fresh fruits and veggies are you doing? $200 a month for FOUR people and you're eating fresh? I'm a numbers girl, so if anyone is willing, I'd love to hash out some numbers.
Ok, let's assume you live out in the country where my in-laws do (I drool over their grocery stores when we visit) and can get fruit at $1 a pound. The surgeon general recommends AT LEAST 5 servings a day per person (a recommendation that is going up, if it hasn't already).
SO let's say you can get the following produce on sale this week:
Apples ($1 per pound) Green beans ($1 per pound) Strawberries ($1 per pound) Salad greens ($1.5o per head)\ peaches ($1 per pound)
To feed a family of four for 7 days on that particular variety, you need:
28 apples (lets say 3 per pound): $9 28 peaches (3 per pound): $9 14 cups of strawberries (this is about 10 pounds): $10 7 pounds of green beans: $7 7 heads of lettuces: $10.50
And for that, you didn't even get sliced carrots in your salads. That's $45.50 per week in JUST fresh fruits and veggies for a family of 4. And in a city (where I live), it's hard to find fruits and veggies that low.
So let's wander over to the freezer and canned sections instead. A bag of frozen veggies is about $2 and can (tolerably) feed a family of 4 just 1 of their veggie servings. A can of fruit is about $1.50, and has about 3 servings in it. So to get your 5 a day on bags and cans, it still pretty steep.
And that's just produce. Dairy is hugely expensive. A gallon of milk is nearly $4 anymore and we typically go through 2 a week. A thing of butter is about $3. Even the cheaper bulk yogurts are pricey, though I can't think what that price is off the top of my head. Eggs are cheap, but those are about the only things that are.
Bread costs about $2 a loaf on a good day. I've made my own bread before, but even that isn't cheap because flour and yeast add up.
I buy my meats in bulk from Sam's and meat is, on average, $2-$3 a pound and my family of four can go through 2 pounds a day. (We also enjoy fish, which is more.) But let's say we just went down to 1 pound of meat a day for $2 a pound....that is still $60 a month in JUST meat.
Oh and cheese! Let's talk about cheese. We buy the big blocks from Sam's because otherwise we can't afford it, but we probably spend $30-$40 a month on cheese.
The reason I'm getting so specific here is that I am really and truly curious how you eat on $200 a month. What are you eating and where do you get it? These are the types of things I eat on a daily basis and they cost me. At the moment, I budget $740 a month for groceries and consumables (toothpaste, shampoo, paper towels, aluminum foil, household cleaners...all that gets wrapped up in our grocery bill).
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by Boon:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: Then a few months ago I tried a new meal planning service that helped me create a more varied menu, with more fresh produce.
You can't tease like that.
More info, please?
Didn't want to spam anyone.
I use a site called meal mixer (www.mealmixer.com). They have a lot of recipes or you can import your own...they make meal suggestions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you can print recipes and lists. I find it useful, given the way I cook and eat. It's not perfect, but they are very friendly and open to site suggestions. There's a free two week trial. (One of those where you have to give them your credit card and remember to cancel in time if you don't want to sign up.)
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
Looking at your prices for frozen/canned fruits and vegetables, you are buying brand name, and not using coupons at least based on where I live. Go to a store like Aldi for canned/frozen fruits and vegetables or buy store brand, not name brand. Store brand canned fruits and veg often run less than a dollar a can, and I don't taste any difference from brand name. Be careful shopping for food at somewhere like Sam's/Costco/BJ's/Price Club also. It seems cheaper, but except for meat products, it's often not. Check the per ounce price v. regular grocery stores. Also, you said you don't bother with coupons, but they can save you a ton of money, if you're willing to sort through or go online to find ones that will work for what you are buying.
Edit: Your family eats 1/2 lb of meat per person per day? (I assume you're a family of 4.) Really? That seems like a LOT of meat to me, and I'm a serious carnivore.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by andi330: Looking at your prices for frozen/canned fruits and vegetables, you are buying brand name, and not using coupons at least based on where I live. Go to a store like Aldi for canned/frozen fruits and vegetables or buy store brand, not name brand. Store brand canned fruits and veg often run less than a dollar a can, and I don't taste any difference from brand name. Be careful shopping for food at somewhere like Sam's/Costco/BJ's/Price Club also. It seems cheaper, but except for meat products, it's often not. Check the per ounce price v. regular grocery stores. Also, you said you don't bother with coupons, but they can save you a ton of money, if you're willing to sort through or go online to find ones that will work for what you are buying.
A couple of things:
First, I know Sam's can be deceptive sometimes, but I know which things are cheaper there and which aren't. I've done the cost comparisons and continue to re-check from time to time. I mostly buy meat, cheese, and a few canned items there. Cheese is a HUGE savings. We got feta cheese there at 1/3 the price we found at the grocery store. Cheddar is about 1/2, and so is mozzarella. (We like to make our own pizzas from scratch.)
Second, when I've tried looking for coupons, spending HOURS looking for coupons, I have not found coupons for things that I actually eat. They are always for processed, canned, frozen, pre-packaged, etc. types of foods. As often as I find a coupon for fresh carrots or strawberries, it just isn't worth the time. I could definitely save MONEY by shopping with coupons, but at too high a cost, IMO. I just don't want to eat those types of foods. If you know where to find coupons for fresh, raw ingredients, please let me know, because I just don't buy much else.
Third, I don't use frozen of canned often anymore, because it's not as good, but when I do there is a HUGE difference between name brand and off brand. Let's take green beans -- if I get them from Aldi it will be half full of stems. Off brand peaches usually have bits of pit in them. Off brand frozen veggies are useful, but even the off brand isn't often less than $2 a bag here and, as I say, I prefer fresh.
This really is an academic exercise for me since I'm not willing to significantly change my diet. It's just that $200 a month for four people seems really low to me even if you do go mostly pre-packaged and with coupons.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Canned fruit and veggies are nutritionally (and taste-wise) seriously inferior to frozen. Assuming freezer space is not at a premium (which is not true for everyone -- it's only recently true for me), frozen is also considerably more convenient.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by andi330: Edit: Your family eats 1/2 lb of meat per person per day? (I assume you're a family of 4.) Really? That seems like a LOT of meat to me, and I'm a serious carnivore.
It's hard to say, because we have a varied diet, but why can't you believe that? The recommendation is 2-3 servings of meat per day. A serving of meat is, depending upon the meat 3-4 ounces. A half a pound is 8 ounces. So that is not at all high. It's not all for dinner...it will usually be some lunch meat (which is very high priced but we eat a lot of Ham...Black Forest ham from Sam's it the best nutritionally, tastewise, and pricewise...great stuff), maybe a piece of bacon, and a serving of chicken or whatever at dinner. Some days we go vegetarian, others we have a big hunk of steak, but definitely on average the four of us will eat 1-2 pounds of meat a day. That's 16-32 ounces or 4-8 ounces per day per person.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine: The recommendation is 2-3 servings of meat per day.
No. Of protein, maybe.
Edit: yes, protein. The 2-3 servings includes fish, eggs, legumes, etc.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: The recommendation is 2-3 servings of meat per day.
No. Of protein, maybe.
Not really, because meat and dairy are separated out and both are sources of protein. The "meat" group does include nuts and eggs, though. ETA: Specifically, the 2-3 servings is of meat, fish, nuts, beans, and seeds. Mostly, we do meat and fish, though today at lunch it was beans and at breakfast it was an egg. The only actual meat today will be chicken at dinner -- 4 oz per person.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
As well as fish and legumes, both of which are healthier than that much meat. Poultry (which I'm not sure if you're including when you say meat) is also healthier. Red meat should be eaten sparingly -- for the sake of your wallet as well as your health.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
Why on earth did you assume I meant red meat? I eat a VARIED diet. I eat everything. Red meat is on the menu 2-3 times a week, as is poultry, chicken, fish, nuts, beans, eggs, etc. I never said I ate half a pound of beef every day.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Because I misread and thought all your examples were red meat. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine: Red meat is on the menu 2-3 times a week
From everything I've read, that's still too often. Especially if you're worried about heart disease -- or your budget.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
Ah, ok. Well, a lot of American do the red meat thing, so it's an easy assumption to make at any rate. But I actually pride myself in providing a healthy diet for my family. Heck, I pay through the nose for it! Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by Christine: Red meat is on the menu 2-3 times a week
From everything I've read, that's still too often. Especially if you're worried about heart disease -- or your budget.
From what I've read, red meat is demonized more than it deserves to be. It's a very good source of iron (granted, so it a lot of fish). The trick is to pick lean cuts of meat. We only buy 92% lean ground beef, for example. The 80/20 or the 70/30 goes on sale all the time but I won't touch it.
The trouble with red meat is not eating a 3-4 ounce portion 2-3 times a week, it's eating an 8-16 oz steak several times a week, or a double quarter pounder...um...ever. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Sorry, I think my explanation of why people were reacting to the amount of meat y'all eat turned into a lecture. Not my intent. Which is good, because I'd have to blatantly ignore the fact that while we eat very little meat, there are definitely nights like last night, where it's frozen pizza. Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
The only non-frozen vegetables we use are items for salad, carrots for munching, and those few vegetables that don't freeze well, like onions, celery, mushrooms, and the like. That helps our budget tremendously on produce, and there's very little quality difference if you're cooking 'em via stir fry or casserole. Plus, with only two people in the house, frozen vegetables tend to be much healthier, since most fruits & vegis lose nutrients within a few days of being purchased.
Indian dishes feature a lot of different beans and lentils - that's the majority of what my MIL cooks for dinners when they're on an extended visit here. They're very quick dishes to make, very cheap, and, along with brown rice/roti, and a vegetable side dish, about as healthy a meal as you could wish.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jhai: The only non-frozen vegetables we use are items for salad, carrots for munching, and those few vegetables that don't freeze well, like onions, celery, mushrooms, and the like.
With a few exceptions for seasonal produce and things my kids will take in lunches, ditto.
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
I feed a family of five on just over $450 a months, and we eat tons of fresh produce, and that's with boxed cereal.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
For the most part, I dislike frozen and canned vegetables. I buy fresh, as local as possible, and only what I know I can eat, two or more times a week. Very little goes to waste. I know that I have the luxury of having both the time and money to do that, though, and that it's not realistic for many people. I keep the cost down by buying in season, on sale, and from the "scratch & dent" bin when it's just cosmetic damage.
The one thing I don't understand (that no one has done here) is people who say they can't afford to shop at Farmer's Markets. Around here, produce at Farmer's Markets is incredibly cheap, much cheaper than buying fresh produce anywhere else and for some things cheaper than buying frozen. I do the bulk of my shopping at Farmer's Markets in the summer, and it really keeps the bill down.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Oh, also, I rarely eat meat at home, so not buying meat often balances out the buying fresh produce a bit.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
It sounds like your prices are considerably higher than ours. Milk was $1.66 a gallon last time I went to Wal-Mart, and I never buy meat that costs more than $2 a pound if I can help it (sometimes I have to, but not often).
And I definitely do not use as much fresh produce as you do. In one week, I think I buy
1 lb. of carrots 1 head of lettuce 2-3 types of fruit at 3 lbs. each 1 green pepper 2 onions Maybe another vegetable if it's on sale
Probably one thing that helps me is that Jonathon really doesn't get anywhere near his five a day of fruits and vegetables, and my kids are still young enough that their serving sizes are considerably smaller than ours.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by ElJay: The one thing I don't understand (that no one has done here) is people who say they can't afford to shop at Farmer's Markets. Around here, produce at Farmer's Markets is incredibly cheap, much cheaper than buying fresh produce anywhere else and for some things cheaper than buying frozen. I do the bulk of my shopping at Farmer's Markets in the summer, and it really keeps the bill down.
Our farmer's market costs almost exactly the same as the grocery store so it is utterly pointless to go. I really wish it were cheaper. In fact, this summer I joined a local farmer's co-op in hopes of getting the cost down, but our first week really disappointed me. I expected much more than I got for my $16 a week. They claimed the produce would feed a family of 4 for a week but if so, they aren't eating nearly enough veggies.
But I'm like you -- I know that what I do is not realistic for all families and I also know that if I had to (my husband lost his job or something) I could cut costs quite a bit...I don't see $200 a month but definitely down to $400-$500 no problem.
quote:Originally posted by Brinestone: It sounds like your prices are considerably higher than ours. Milk was $1.66 a gallon last time I went to Wal-Mart, and I never buy meat that costs more than $2 a pound if I can help it (sometimes I have to, but not often).
$1.66 for milk! Wow. I get all excited when I see it for $3 a gallon here. As for meat -- I have to say that even at $2 a pound, it's not the bulk of my grocery costs, because a little bit goes a long way. You can make a dinner for 4 out of 1 pound of chicken or ground beef. Fish is more, but you don't tend to use a whole pound of fish for a meal. I spend much more on dairy and produce. My vegetarian days are some of the priciest.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine:
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: For the most part, we only buy fruits and vegetables that are $1/pound or less, but then we buy a lot of them. --Mel
You can find fruits and vegetables that are $1 a pound or less? Please, do tell me how! I promise you, I snap up produce that gets that low when it does, but it almost never does around here. We're typically doing morel like $2 a pound.
We're in eastern Ohio, and produce prices are much higher here than they were in Arizona. I miss Arizona produce prices. Still, there's almost always something, and things like apples and carrots will last for several weeks, so I can safely stock up on things that aren't too delicate.
Sam's Club is the best place for greens around here. Sometimes I get the spring mix, sometimes I get the romaine, but either way it's much cheaper than Walmart or the other grocery stores.
I also don't have a problem with frozen fruits and vegetables, since they have the advantage of having been harvested and processed when ripe, rather than having been harvested unripe and transported the way much fresh produce has been. Likewise, canned tomatoes have more lycopene than fresh ones, and again the flavor is better than fresh (from the store) for any cooking applications. A #10 can of diced or crushed tomatoes at Sam's Club is only a couple of dollars, and I figure I typically go through one can of each per month.
ElJay mentioned farmer's markets, but most places also have some sort of wild food available if you know where to look. The alley behind our house has tons of black raspberries, blackberries, wild grapes, and black cherries, and nobody else bothers to pick them. Our freezer still has several gallons of raspberries and blackberries from last year. There are also edible wild greens. In Arizona we harvested prickly pear cactus fruit.
quote:Also, how many servings of fresh fruits and veggies are you doing? $200 a month for FOUR people and you're eating fresh? I'm a numbers girl, so if anyone is willing, I'd love to hash out some numbers.
Well, our family only has three, and one of us is four years old, so she doesn't eat much. I also have to admit that we don't always meet the serving suggestions for fruits and vegetables. Still, there are some luxuries that we don't need in our food bill, so I suspect that even if we really focused on hitting that goal every day, we could probably still do it on the same budget. It wouldn't ALL be fresh, though.
quote:And that's just produce. Dairy is hugely expensive. A gallon of milk is nearly $4 anymore and we typically go through 2 a week. A thing of butter is about $3. Even the cheaper bulk yogurts are pricey, though I can't think what that price is off the top of my head. Eggs are cheap, but those are about the only things that are.
Most of the time, I find that milk goes on sale often enough that I never spend more than $3 a gallon (I guess it's a good loss leader). Most of the time it's more like $2 to $2.50, and I stock up. I have an entire shelf in the refrigerator dedicated to milk, and can store up to seven gallons at a time (although I generally don't go any higher than four or five gallons). I rarely run out before there's another sale, and I rotate them properly so I almost never have a problem with spoilage. We probably go through about two gallons a week as well, more if I'm making kefir and yogurt regularly.
As far as butter, four pounds is around $7.50 at Sam's Club, so you can save significantly there. I only buy plain yogurt, since we mostly eat it with savory meals anyhow. Our big dairy weakness is cottage cheese, so I buy five pounds of that at a time at Sam's, and that will last about two weeks.
quote:Bread costs about $2 a loaf on a good day. I've made my own bread before, but even that isn't cheap because flour and yeast add up.
Sandwich bread is expensive, and used to be a huge addiction of mine. If you do a lot of baking, you can buy yeast in bulk at Sam's for much less than at the grocery store, and it will keep indefinitely in the freezer. However, most of the time I meet our bread needs with unsweetened cornbread or biscuits, or pasta. When my husband was taking a sandwich to work for lunch every day (because as a truck driver he didn't have hands free for much else), we probably spent almost as much on his lunches as for nearly everything else put together.
quote:I buy my meats in bulk from Sam's and meat is, on average, $2-$3 a pound and my family of four can go through 2 pounds a day. (We also enjoy fish, which is more.) But let's say we just went down to 1 pound of meat a day for $2 a pound....that is still $60 a month in JUST meat.
Wow, that's a lot more meat than we consume. We generally only would have meat with a main meal, and I would make something like goulash where a pound of ground beef would combine with tomatoes and macaroni for probably 10 or 12 servings of food. Lentils are only about $.70/lb, and the other legumes aren't any more than $1.50 for the most expensive. During Lent this year, a common meal for us was black-eyed peas cooked with mustard greens and cornbread. That's a cheap, easy, tasty way to get a lot of nutrition. Add a big salad, and you meet most of your vegetable/fruit needs for the day.
Also, I mentioned that we produce our own eggs. Right now, we have so many eggs that it is our biggest source of protein, hands down. It's interesting, because I've found that I've had almost no craving for meat the last several months, and I think it's because I have been eating more eggs than I ever had before. It's not uncommon for my four-year-old and I to together eat a dozen scrambled eggs for breakfast. Our chickens are on pasture, so it's roughly equivalent to those expensive omega-3 eggs you can buy in the store, only so much tastier.
quote:Oh and cheese! Let's talk about cheese. We buy the big blocks from Sam's because otherwise we can't afford it, but we probably spend $30-$40 a month on cheese.
Yeah, not much room for cheese in our budget. I would love to eat more cheese than we do, but it would be prohibitive. I compensate by buying the sharpest cheddar I can get, so that I can have a good cheese flavor while using less. I make good-tasting macaroni and cheese using about half of the cheese the recipe calls for. Sharp cheddar also seems to last a lot longer before getting moldy, probably because it is dryer than many cheeses. Counting the cottage cheese mentioned above, I probably spend about $15-$20/month on cheese, on average. One of our luxuries (so to speak) is American cheese slices for my daughter. I don't buy Kraft, though, but the bulk slices at Sam's. A box of those will last a couple of months. I wrap each stack in plastic wrap and store it in a ziploc bag, and it keeps fine.
quote:The reason I'm getting so specific here is that I am really and truly curious how you eat on $200 a month. What are you eating and where do you get it? These are the types of things I eat on a daily basis and they cost me. At the moment, I budget $740 a month for groceries and consumables (toothpaste, shampoo, paper towels, aluminum foil, household cleaners...all that gets wrapped up in our grocery bill).
Oy. I budget $50/month for non-food grocery items: household cleaners, toothpaste, etc. Again, a lot of it is bulk from Sam's, like toothbrushes, windex, and floor cleaner. I don't know if you're including diapers in that budget; before my daughter was toilet trained I had to spend more like $75/month.
I freely admit that quite a lot of our food savings come from producing and gathering our own food, but that falls under the "easy, cheap, or good, choose any two" rule. I was a bit flabbergasted that eros thought that $200/month for one person was cheap. I'm sure that compared to a lot of people it is, but it kind of blew my mind.
--Mel
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: I don't know if you're including diapers in that budget; before my daughter was toilet trained I had to spend more like $75/month.
Cloth diapers here -- one time up front expense and a lot of savings. Plus, environmentally friendly. I actually saved a ton of money by choosing cloth diapers, breast milk, and home made baby foods. I have to buy a few disposables for Mom's Day out, but that's just 3 diapers a week.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
Even buying a lot of pre-made meals like Lean Cuisine, I easily eat for about $150/month (it is just me) or less. In fact, the only months I probably hit $150 are months when I buy a lot of spices. Otherwise it's probably closer to $125. I don't eat meat but once a day, I rely on other protein for my remaining servings. Frankly, I don't think more than one serving of meat a day is very healthy, even if you are using the really lean stuff. I hate to say that, because I'm a meat eater but the problem is not that things like fish or really lean meats are unhealthy in themselves. I could eat a lot of fish, but you have to balance the need for protein and the desire for a meat product to fulfill that protein need against some of the other problems with eating fish.
The biggest problem with fish is mercury levels. While there are some fish that have lower levels of mercury than others, you still shouldn't consume huge amounts of fish because of mercury.
I remember when I shocked one of my friends on how little I spent for food. I had just moved to an apartment and needed to shop for a lot of basics and get as much of my monthly food as possible. I told her I wasn't going to spend more than $150 at the grocery store and she laughed at me. But despite the size of my list we walked out of the local Bi-Lo under my budget of $150. I think we were around $125 and that's because I had to buy a bunch of spices which significantly upped the price. She couldn't believe it, but it was because I shopped carefully, had coupons (and I clip and collect weekly, or online) and bought nothing that wasn't on my list.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
Yep, I did cloth diapers (and breastfeeding) when my daughter was an infant. I had to switch to disposables for the two months we lived with my in-laws while we searched for real estate and waited for our Arizona house to sell, and then when I tried to get back to cloth diapers I used a very bad detergent and was completely demoralized by the results. So I bought disposable diapers and pullups for about a year and a half until she was potty trained. I'm definitely going back to cloth for baby #2! It's all already set up and I won't screw it up with the wrong detergent this time.
--Mel
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christine: In fact, this summer I joined a local farmer's co-op in hopes of getting the cost down, but our first week really disappointed me. I expected much more than I got for my $16 a week. They claimed the produce would feed a family of 4 for a week but if so, they aren't eating nearly enough veggies.
It will get much better later in the season.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
quote:Originally posted by andi330: Even buying a lot of pre-made meals like Lean Cuisine, I easily eat for about $150/month (it is just me) or less. In fact, the only months I probably hit $150 are months when I buy a lot of spices. Otherwise it's probably closer to $125. I don't eat meat but once a day, I rely on other protein for my remaining servings. Frankly, I don't think more than one serving of meat a day is very healthy, even if you are using the really lean stuff. I hate to say that, because I'm a meat eater but the problem is not that things like fish or really lean meats are unhealthy in themselves. I could eat a lot of fish, but you have to balance the need for protein and the desire for a meat product to fulfill that protein need against some of the other problems with eating fish.
The biggest problem with fish is mercury levels. While there are some fish that have lower levels of mercury than others, you still shouldn't consume huge amounts of fish because of mercury.
I remember when I shocked one of my friends on how little I spent for food. I had just moved to an apartment and needed to shop for a lot of basics and get as much of my monthly food as possible. I told her I wasn't going to spend more than $150 at the grocery store and she laughed at me. But despite the size of my list we walked out of the local Bi-Lo under my budget of $150. I think we were around $125 and that's because I had to buy a bunch of spices which significantly upped the price. She couldn't believe it, but it was because I shopped carefully, had coupons (and I clip and collect weekly, or online) and bought nothing that wasn't on my list.
I don't find $125-$150 a month for a single person shocking. In fact, that sounds very much like what I spent when I was single and eating a lot of frozen lunches.
There are some varieties of fish that pretty much need to be avoided due to mercury -- large ocean fish are the worst. Mahi Mahi is basically right out. Something like tilapia is very safe, though, and also very cheap. There is a lot of information out there about which types of fish are ok to eat all the time, which you should avoid, and which you could maybe eat once a week (like canned tuna). I did the research when I was pregnant but continue to follow the same basic advice.
I don't see why eating 2-3 servings of meat a day is a problem, though I heartily agree that it is best to choose nuts, beans, or eggs for some of those servings as variety is, IMO, one of the keys to a healthy diet. The other key: stop over thinking it. Enjoy eating and don't let people drive you into an unhealthy obsession.
[ May 22, 2009, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Christine ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*bump*
Today I was on the opposite side of this argument. I was told that I don't actually like meat; I just like the spices. So I had a lovely rare steak, made sans spices, and said nuh-uh. Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I should note that an interesting argument has been made that it isn't red meat itself that's bad for you, but the way we usually raise it in the U.S.- in tiny, unclean living spaces in feedlots, given pounds of antibiotics to make up for their poor living conditions, eating animal protein (including animal protein that comes from their own species), and, specifically, eating corn. Cows in particular are ruminants, and their digestion is not well suited to feed that consists largely of corn. Corn-fed beef is well-marbled (a trait much prized in U.S. beef), and corn allows cattle to quickly be brought up to a slaughtering weight, but the resulting meat isn't very good for you.
Conversely, grass-fed- or at the very least, grass-finished- beef is often high in the same omega-3 fatty acids that are so prized for their health benefits these days. And just to add to the perversity, grass-fed beef may be better for you in many cases than farm-raised fish. Which is, again, often raised on corn-derivatives.
Most of this comes from what I've read in Michael Pollan's books ([i]In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma.) It's a pity grass-fed beef is so hard to get near where I live. You can get grass-fed ground beef if you look hard enough, but anything more interesting you basically have to find a specialist cattle-rancher and make a deal not unlike a farmshare.
(sigh) I do like a good steak, but I try not to eat red meat more than a couple of times a week.
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