Diet and food budget

[Serif]

salads ftw

Just don't eat too much salad.

I remember when my sisters and I were all growing up in our parents house. We would go through 300-400 dollars a week just on food, 5 people.

Now I can usually spend 40 bucks a week if I try, that is including fast food seeing how I work construction.

5 Dollar Foot Longs are the bread and butter though if you don't cook your own shit. Eat 1 6 incher and a some chips and then eat the other 6 inches about 3-4 hours later.

[0ni0n]

Foreman girl and a rice cooker will do wonders. make your own shit.

make enough rice on sunday for the whole week
Defrost the night before,
eggs\oatmeal for breakfast(if u eat it)
grilled chicken or steak for lunch while u get ready in the morning
almonds\yogurt\protein bar\fruit snacks
look into buying crystal light in bulk for drinks

I eat alot of rice lol, mostly mexican and chinese. I will look into eggs and yogurt since they are easy.

4 meals? Are we talking like full on sandwich meals or Breakfast, Lunch, snack and Dinner?

Because I can tell you where you can start if it's the former...

breakfast $4(9am), lunch $6(2pm), dinner $5(7pm) then 4th meal $5(11pm). i usually go to bed around 1, if i don't eat the 4th meal i will wake up very hungry at 7.

Yeah you're in the same boat that I was in for most of grad school. I don't have much time to cook so anything I make has to be quick (and cheap, my first year I way overextended myself on food), I just can't spend lots of time putting something together at 10pm lol.

If you're worried about nutrients etc. I think you'll be ok so long as you don't get into the sort of habit where you're eating the same thing every day. I still do that when I'm lazy, but ideally I'll switch up what sort of sandwich I make for dinner at least once a week.

For lunch I have good ol' cheap philly street carts, not healthy but the price is right!

Yup, precisely. I don't eat fast food at all if you count chinese (gourmet) and subway, which I consider quite healthy. I am having alot of fruits and dietary supplements (vitamins + fish oil) since I dont eat fish that often. holyshit, i am at philly too, but i avoid the carts completely.

[Tyche]

How do you spend $5-6 on dinner if it isn't fastfood? You eat out every night?

[0ni0n]

How do you spend $5-6 on dinner if it isn't fastfood? You eat out every night?

I usually buy dinner from my landlord who happens to be chinese, and she cooks gourmet chinese food every other night. You're right about shopping at walmart, I need to do that soon and start making some tacos and breakfast platter.

[_chuchu]

I usually buy dinner from my landlord who happens to be chinese, and she cooks gourmet chinese food every other night.

I'd be there for lunch and dinner if my landlord were this fucking awesome. This beats the buffet!

[Tyche]

One of the most expensive everyday meals we'll cook is Chicken Florentine. Bertolli makes it prepared. Just heat it over the stove for about 10 minutes and it's just fucking delicious. It has Pasta, chicken, spinach, in a creamy cheese sauce. Costs 6.50 and feeds two. Hell, it'd last you two meals. It takes no effort at all to cook. I'll cook an "expensive" dinner every now and then, but even then, I'm trying not to go over about 8 to 10 bucks a person. Spaghetti is about 2-3 bucks a head depending on the sauce and if I buy the whole grain pasta...won't buy whole grains the week before a race because of the high fiber content. Tacos are pretty cheap, especially how I cook them. About 3 bucks a head. Little dinners (TGI Fridays amkes some good boxed dinner entrees), tuna salad, Manicotti, all pretty cheap. Once you find out what you like, you can pretty much figure out how to make it cheap.

[Atreides]

It's far easier to spend less money on food and still eat healthy if there's a Trader Joe's near you.

My new favorite thing is Bob's Red Mill Flaxseed powder, 2 tbsp on my salad adds an interesting texture (no flavor) and loads of fiber/omega 3s, and it's pretty cheap. For someone like me who doesn't care for fish, it's the best way I can get omega 3s.

[Linliel]

OK having been a poor student for about 11 years now and eaten healthily I feel vaguely qualified to answer here

Firstly, buy a lot of your dry, raw goods in bulk. Buy several kg sacks of rice, pasta, etc. instead of little bits when you need them. Store them properly and they'll last you ages. Other things I liked to do was if I saw something on special at the supermarket, such as meat or more "luxury" things, buy a few at a time and either cook or freeze them so that they will last longer.

If you have a university or a hippy sort of area near you there might be a food co-op. Join up and you can get good, usually organic, staple foods & fruit & vegies for reasonably cheaply. Farmers markets can also be good locations for buying delicious cheaper produce. If you have a market look out for a bread maker: when I lived in Canberra I used to go to my local market on Sunday and buy a AU$2.50 loaf of fresh hot bread and it would last much longer without going mouldy than the crap you buy in the supermarket, and not have awful preservatives etc. in it. Fresh sandwiches for the first half of the week, and delicious toast with jam the second half!

Also cook up meals that will last a few meals. One of my favourite student dishes was a tuna pasta bake, because that would last me like 3-4 meals and cost maybe about AU$7-8 to make to start with. Other things that are good and last for several meals and taste good when heated up for lunch are asian stir fries & noodle dishes, curries, stews, soups, pasta, etc. Most of these are pretty cheap to make up front, and will use some of the staple bulk-bought dry ingredients, like rice or pasta.

Good luck! If you want any recipes let me know ^^/

[Atreides]

As for yogurt, it's actually a fair bit cheaper (and healthier) to make your own using honey and large tubs of plain lowfat, I usually throw in some walnuts and about 1/4 cup of whatever berries are on sale.

Brussels sprouts are also extremely cheap, and you can roast them @400-450 for 20 mins with a little olive oil and salt for a nutritious side-dish that costs less than 2 bucks per pound. I make mine in batches of 3-5 lbs and have them all week, but I'm weirdly obsessed with them lol.

I don't eat a lot of processed sugar/flour (really clean) and I've been to a nutritionist recently to go over my diet so I'd be happy to share the tips I got from her.

Oh and as someone else said almonds ftw, preferably raw, they're pretty cheap in large quantities from whole foods (surprisingly) or trader joes.

[Elesirdur]

Oatmeal, brohan.

Word, but just not any oatmeal. Look for scotch or pinhead oats, and stay away from the rolled and "instant" types. Those two are so processed they have very little nutritional value left, not to mention tasting much like library paste.

If you can find it in your area, look for Red River cereal. It's mostly scotch oats and cracked flax seeds and is very tasty. I like to add in yellow cornmeal grits and some ground flax for some extra taste and texture. I think a box of Red River is like $4.75 a box and it'll last me about a month eating it 3 to 5 mornings a week. Add milk and brown sugar, yum.

[Jefe]

As for yogurt, it's actually a fair bit cheaper (and healthier) to make your own using honey and large tubs of plain lowfat, I usually throw in some walnuts and about 1/4 cup of whatever berries are on sale.

Yeah, get cultures and let it decompose it. My mum used to make yogurt. Mix it w/ your favourite fruits like strawberries and bananas. Man that was tasty, cheap, and hella healthy. Which reminds me, I'm gonna ask one of my neighbours for such cultures.

I'll say it again, buy your stuff from Sam's and prepare your own meals. You can get a lot more bang for your buck if you stick in your kitchen than eating outside.

I'd avoid rice, ramen, and cup o noodles types because that shit doesn't have enough nutrients to keep you going.

[Kanzo1]

Alot of good advice so far especially the yogurt suggestions. What I like to do is have some semi healthy cereal for breakfast with some fruit or a low fat yogurt. For Lunch, sandwich's (no mayo), fruit, protein bar, yogurt, salad (no ranch), etc. Then for dinner I generally will have some homemade teriyaki chicken (any chicken will do) with rice + salad or some salmon etc. The trick is portion control and I usually make enough for dinner that I will have leftovers for lunch. I have lost about 30 pounds in last 8 months doing this and if you buy in bulk, you wont spend anywhere close to 20 bucks a day.

[Kanzo1]

Try and stay away from things with alot of preservatives, like the instant microwaveable stuff. The Ramen noodles and all that junk are pretty bad and almost forgot drink water. Coffee and soda alone will ruin your diet, quitting caffiene can be as bad as crack ...

[Kaylia]

http://twobites.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=281&h=249
33cent. 66cents if you're hungry.

Eat that for a month and you will lose weigth too! True story.

[Ensam]

How do you spend $5-6 on dinner if it isn't fastfood? You eat out every night?

Not directed at me but

(Good) Steaks, like New York Strip, run for 11 dollars a pound (and I eat about a 0.75 LBs steak, so that's 8+ dollars for dinner).

Salmon is 9 dollars a pound

ect ect

And that doesn't than include a carb/starch and a vegetable, though given those are cheaper.

I'm poor, but I like food, and only buy high quality shit. No reason to deprive yourself of same tassssssty shit. I'd rather eat good food then buy something pointless like a HDTV or such. I've bought meat from Sams Club in the past, didn't like it. I try to bulk buy when stuff is on sale (i.e. when Salmon is on sale, It's only 7 dollars/lbs), bought a huge freezer to stash it all in, but sometimes I have to buy at full price.

It also balances itself out though since I eat oatmeal everyday (literally) for breakfast, which is only like 30 cents a pack? And I eat Tuna for Lunch a lot, which is only like 75 cents a can. And my dessert/final meal is normally a bowl of cereal and peanut butter, which isn't much either.

[Odesseiron]

You know those 5 dolla foot longs are full of tons of calories? Even the healthiest ones. After you add you add all your cheese, dressing and that insane amount of bread, you're up to at least like 1100 calories. The FL meatball is like 1300. Once I found that out, I stopped eating them right away. It would make all my work at the gym for naught. Instead I go to walmart or whatever grocery store and buy the healthy choice/jenny craig/lean cuisine stuff. It's wayyyyy less in calorie intake, and they really help you learn about what portion control is. You just need to remember what it is when you're not eating those meals. Those meals are anywhere between 2.75-3.99, so it's cheaper than any food I used to get when I went out to eat every day.

[Tyche]

Not directed at me but

(Good) Steaks, like New York Strip, run for 11 dollars a pound (and I eat about a 0.75 LBs steak, so that's 8+ dollars for dinner).

Salmon is 9 dollars a pound

ect ect

And that doesn't than include a carb/starch and a vegetable, though given those are cheaper.

I'm poor, but I like food, and only buy high quality shit. No reason to deprive yourself of same tassssssty shit. I'd rather eat good food then buy something pointless like a HDTV or such. I've bought meat from Sams Club in the past, didn't like it. I try to bulk buy when stuff is on sale (i.e. when Salmon is on sale, It's only 7 dollars/lbs), bought a huge freezer to stash it all in, but sometimes I have to buy at full price.

It also balances itself out though since I eat oatmeal everyday (literally) for breakfast, which is only like 30 cents a pack? And I eat Tuna for Lunch a lot, which is only like 75 cents a can. And my dessert/final meal is normally a bowl of cereal and peanut butter, which isn't much either.

I'll fix a nice meal and cook a nice steak or an expensive pasta dish every once in a while. Like me, I doubt you're cooking New York Strips daily. The OP (I think?) was spending almost as much as you everyday. Dropping $20 or so on a nice dinner once a week or two is fine, but the thought that you cannot prepare a healthy and delicious meal on a nightly basis for less than $5 a head is silly.

[Obev]

Porridge.
3 kg rice.
24 rashers of bacon.
1 cabbage.
6 peppers, chilli, bell, whichever.
a load of mushrooms.
3 onions.
3 things of garlic.
Miscellaneous tins of fish, tomatoes, etc; whatever I feel like. Maybe some eggs.

This does me a little bit more than a week, costs me less than £12. So, less than $18. I am a student though, so it's not like I'm eating anything tasty, interesting, or that costs more than a pittance. It's reasonably healthy though; should enough carbs, vitamins, vegetables and protein in there somewhere.

[Elites]

The new 4 dollar 13inch Torpedo from Quiznos sounds tempting and a budget saver. Anyone tried that yet and considered it better than subway's 5 dollar FL's?

[Norelco]

You can buy chicken and beef in club packs (aka bulk). They are less $ per pound. Freeze the extra and thaw as needed.