Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month

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Toppingfrmbottom -> Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 1:24:27 PM)
What are your tips on getting enough food for almost a month?

devilishpixie -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 1:42:12 PM)
I am on a tight grocery budget myself, I tend to go to stores like Aldies or other stores of that nature. I also have learned to buy in bulk and break it apart into smaller portions.

barelynangel -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 1:47:56 PM)
Wow i can spend $100 easily in a week, but unfortunately i eat out pretty much daily also. You can do it if you really find the sales and stock up with the sales especially in bulk. The more you buy in bulk the more you will be able to buy fresh because you have staples in your freezer. Look into low-sodiums soups many times they have good sales for buying in bulk, frozen veggies you can sometimes get really good sales, potatoes will probably become your friend i would believe as you can get many for little in price. I would also look into like or health smart type lean quizines as sometimes you can get buy 10 for $10 sales. You should also buy in bulk when you see frozen chickbreasts on sale or sometimes like at our food lion they have some chicken marked down but still good for like 1/2 price and i many times buy and freeze. Whenever i see the frozen chicken breasts on sale, i usually buy 2 bags for the freezer. Look for anything where you can make something bulk with it for left overs for lunches etc etc. Also, scrounge the internet for tips and such. Also, stuff that takes time to make but also has an instant - go with the one that takes time, like oatmeal. Don't buy the instant, but instead get the slow cook and its good for you as long as you don't load it up with tons of junk. Also, many places have eggs for cheap, you can make a whole lot of stuff with eggs. You can take the yolk out of most and use the whites. Also, learn to cook in bulk and freeze left overs. For example, when you make spaghetti with lots of veggies sauce, always make more than you are planning on eating and freeze the rest. I think once you have a staple of frozen foods, it will get easier to buy the fresh stuff on such a slim budget. I hope you are speaking for $100 per month per person. Maybe those with families could give you a better idea, but i am sure with a lot of focus and due diligence, you will be able to eat healthy. angel

angelikaJ -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 1:55:13 PM)
$100./month for 2 people? Can you get food stamps? Make things like spaghetti sauce with canned tomatoes and freeze it. Add a can of cannellini beans and skip the meat. Eat pasta for a couple of meals a week. Chicken legs are usually inexpensive. You can buy them in bulk and freeze them in portions. Take the skin off. Be careful of portion control...For instance most people eat more than one serving of breakfast cereal. Buy the store brand corn flake and 'cheerios'. Peanut butter and jelly is fairly economical Buy brown rice in bulk and cook enough for several meals. Use coupons and make your list based on what is on sale.

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 1:56:35 PM)
barelynangel Nope 100 dollars for the both of us. All though if the months been an easy one we could probably go up to 200 and then it'd be 100 for me and 100 for him. Yes. Staples are very very important, and for example after thanksgiving you can get huge turkeys or even moderate sized ones on sale for quite a great mark down if you go to sales and stuff. I am sure pumpkins and stuff are going to be on sale after halloween if there's a lot left, and I've seen a ton of recipes that call for baking pumpkins, and it seems like it'd be a tasty and kind of cheap option. Coupons help a lot, but I find there's rarely any coupons on things Daddy and I want to eat.

angelikaJ -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:01:00 PM)
I would check into food stamps.

impishlilhellcat -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:10:34 PM)
The other thing you can do too, is if you have the space during the summer months keep a garden. Grow tomatoes, potatoes, beans, squash, corn, sunflowers... etc... You can, can tomatoes, you can freeze corn and squash, zuchinni, and you can, can beans. It saves you a ton of money and really all you have to do is plant the items and take care of them and then you have enough to last you throughout the year. Additionally there are a ton of coupon sites couponworld.com is one that is free which once you learn to navigate the site have tons of coupons and what deals you can get at what store and when. Sometimes buying in bulk at sam's and costco is also the way to go.

pahunkboy -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:11:41 PM)
Watch how they mark down meat. If you hit the store right- you can get meat marked down. For instance- the closest grocer is not open on Sunday- so the meats will be marked down late on Saturday. With potatoes get the 10 lb bag- rather then the 5 lb. I am cooking chicken that was marked down $2. I also have been using the plain coffee- I prefer the mocha - but will wait for it to appear at the surplus store. I have ample plain but dont use it. Whatever you buy beware of the package- the food is not the package. Eggs can stretch things. I like to get nuts from the surplus store. That is a good source of protein. Stores seem to rotate the sales... so once you get into the ruthm you can almost predict the next sale. I shop at 3 stores. Aldi- the surplus and the retail very close grocer. Knowing this- I know where the meat is better- where the milk, bread is better. However the surplus store will burn some gas... but if I get 2 loafs of bread there is my $1 for gas. Aldis is good for some things- but not everything. Particularly if you watch the type of foods you eat. Earth Grains bread is good. It does not have HFCS or white refined flour. On first look it seems alot more expensive- but the bread is shaped differently= if you look at the weight of it and consider that the heals of it are not that bad- then the price is doable. Pop corn can stretch a budget too. But not the prepacked type. Get the regular type and put it in a glass bowl in the microwave. I ahve not bought soda pop in 5 years. Rather then orange juice- I buy oranges. The pop alone must save me $7 a week.

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:15:12 PM)
neither of us qualify, I've thought about that before but he works full time and my SSI disqualifies me from getting stamps. Also a lot of those programs are being cut with the way things are right now. In just 6 months they lowered my SSI 4 times. quote: ORIGINAL: angelikaJ I would check into food stamps.

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:18:03 PM)
My dad currently have a garden all though it's not well looked after, but one year we got so many tomato's off the 4 plants he had honestly most them went to waste. We seriously could of stocked an entire mini mart with tomoato's. He also has fruit tree's and he grows onions and bell peppers and carrots and squashes, And it's a huge boon to the kitchen You're right.. Daddy wants a membership at cosco but there's none really close by, but we're looking into it. quote: ORIGINAL: impishlilhellcat The other thing you can do too, is if you have the space during the summer months keep a garden. Grow tomatoes, potatoes, beans, squash, corn, sunflowers... etc... You can, can tomatoes, you can freeze corn and squash, zuchinni, and you can, can beans. It saves you a ton of money and really all you have to do is plant the items and take care of them and then you have enough to last you throughout the year. Additionally there are a ton of coupon sites couponworld.com is one that is free which once you learn to navigate the site have tons of coupons and what deals you can get at what store and when. Sometimes buying in bulk at sam's and costco is also the way to go.

pahunkboy -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:21:21 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Toppingfrmbottom neither of us qualify, I've thought about that before but he works full time and my SSI disqualifies me from getting stamps. Also a lot of those programs are being cut with the way things are right now. In just 6 months they lowered my SSI 4 times. quote: ORIGINAL: angelikaJ I would check into food stamps. That is odd. Food stamps were bumped up temporarily. Reduced SSI should mean you qualify at some point. My friend tho quit the food bank. Many counties have a food bank....

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:24:16 PM)
I don't drink soda,or coffe or juice, I just like plain bottled water, aquafina, or a generic brand is ok, I used to put crystal light in it, but not any more so much. but Daddy loves soda he'll go through a 24 pack in one week, and thinks nothing of having a soda at 11:30 and going to sleep, and then of course his breath stinks because of the soda lol. We have stores like food maxx and Winco and belair we also have a safeway and a raleys and a belair, which is just another raley's. One time they had my favorite canadian waters buy one get one free, so stocked up big time. Safeway is a bit of a discounted store if you have a membership card which is free, One time a 90 dollar bill was cut to 70 because we have a card. What do you mean, Whatever you buy beware of the package- the food is not the package Is that simply be aware of things that you're paying mostly for packaging? quote: ORIGINAL: pahunkboy Watch how they mark down meat. If you hit the store right- you can get meat marked down. For instance- the closest grocer is not open on Sunday- so the meats will be marked down late on Saturday. With potatoes get the 10 lb bag- rather then the 5 lb. I am cooking chicken that was marked down $2. I also have been using the plain coffee- I prefer the mocha - but will wait for it to appear at the surplus store. I have ample plain but dont use it. Whatever you buy beware of the package- the food is not the package. Eggs can stretch things. I like to get nuts from the surplus store. That is a good source of protein. Stores seem to rotate the sales... so once you get into the ruthm you can almost predict the next sale. I shop at 3 stores. Aldi- the surplus and the retail very close grocer. Knowing this- I know where the meat is better- where the milk, bread is better. However the surplus store will burn some gas... but if I get 2 loafs of bread there is my $1 for gas. Aldis is good for some things- but not everything. Particularly if you watch the type of foods you eat. Earth Grains bread is good. It does not have HFCS or white refined flour. On first look it seems alot more expensive- but the bread is shaped differently= if you look at the weight of it and consider that the heals of it are not that bad- then the price is doable. Pop corn can stretch a budget too. But not the prepacked type. Get the regular type and put it in a glass bowl in the microwave. I ahve not bought soda pop in 5 years. Rather then orange juice- I buy oranges. The pop alone must save me $7 a week.

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:25:41 PM)
I hope we;re not so tight we need a food bank lol. Maybe the reduction will allow me to qualify, when I tried the first time SSI was a round healthy amount since things were well economically. quote: ORIGINAL: pahunkboy quote: ORIGINAL: Toppingfrmbottom neither of us qualify, I've thought about that before but he works full time and my SSI disqualifies me from getting stamps. Also a lot of those programs are being cut with the way things are right now. In just 6 months they lowered my SSI 4 times. quote: ORIGINAL: angelikaJ I would check into food stamps. That is odd. Food stamps were bumped up temporarily. Reduced SSI should mean you qualify at some point. My friend tho quit the food bank. Many counties have a food bank....

Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:28:06 PM)
You can also make soups out of veggies and stuff, and it's cheaper and less sodium and calories than the store bought V8 brans of soup in those little containers that soy milk can come in. Suppose that'd be a nice cheap option? Specially since we do have a garden. quote: ORIGINAL: barelynangel Look into low-sodiums soups many times they have good sales for buying in bulk angel

angelikaJ -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:31:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Toppingfrmbottom I hope we;re not so tight we need a food bank lol. Maybe the reduction will allow me to qualify, when I tried the first time SSI was a round healthy amount since things were well economically. quote: ORIGINAL: pahunkboy quote: ORIGINAL: Toppingfrmbottom neither of us qualify, I've thought about that before but he works full time and my SSI disqualifies me from getting stamps. Also a lot of those programs are being cut with the way things are right now. In just 6 months they lowered my SSI 4 times. quote: ORIGINAL: angelikaJ I would check into food stamps. That is odd. Food stamps were bumped up temporarily. Reduced SSI should mean you qualify at some point. My friend tho quit the food bank. Many counties have a food bank.... I looked it up online... there is an exception to foodstamp supplementation. In CA, where the OP lives, the state sends an additional payment to people who are on SSI which excludes them from foodstamp eligibility. You may want to check it though based on your combined incomes.

barelynangel -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:33:36 PM)
quote: I don't drink soda,or coffe or juice, I just like plain bottled water, aquafina, or a generic brand is ok, I used to put crystal light in it, but not any more so much. YOu may want to switch from cans to 2liters on the pop. I hate to tell you this but tap water or even a britta thing for your faucet will cost you a lot less than bottled water. If you seriously have only $100 for two people this may be one of your enjoyments you will have to forgo as well . Maybe since Christmas is coming you may be able to ask for a britta or such thing for your faucet and simply deal with the faucet for now. And hell yes, if you have access to FRESH veggies and stuff for Free take FULL advantage, start making stuff and freezing it etc utilize it like you are buying in bulk. Fresh is always better than frozen. angel

LanceHughes -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:36:39 PM)
Nobody mentioned rice. Take the chicken, boil it to get the meat to fall off, then get a frozen veg of your choice on sale, and stir fry the chicken with veg, (really - just a skillet is okay) Add some soy sauce from packets you saved up - doesn't every one have a gadzillion of those? And you have a nutricsous, filling meal - probably with left overs for lunch.

LanceHughes -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:39:01 PM)
I didn't see the garden option - scratch the frozen above - strips of bell peppers and strips of tomato - wow - my mouth is watering.

LaTigresse -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:47:34 PM)
Another thing to consider when money is tight, look at other protein sources like beans, rather than meat. They are very filling and very healthy. The bagged, dried beans are very inexpensive and easy to cook. Surf the net for recipes. Rice in bulk is also cheap eats. A lot can be done with it to create a meal. Love love love dirty rice and beans, add some sauteed veggies and you have a healthy and filling meal for very little money.

DomKen -> RE: Healthy grocery shopping on a budget of 100 dollars a month (10/24/2009 2:54:32 PM)
There are a lot of fairly easy ways to save a lot on your grocery bill but they almost all require spending more time and effort preparing your meals. For instance, always buy whole chickens and cut it up into pieces your self. It's easy and the price difference is huge, even save the backbone. Then when you cook the chicken don't throw away the bones, freeze them along with teh backbones and necks (if the whole birds come with necks some do some don't). Once you've got the bones of a whole chicken or two its time to make chicken stock. Good homemade stock is yummy and can be used to flavor all sorts of things that are otherwise fairly bland, rice for instance. I even make mashed potatoes with chicken stock in place of the milk/cream. Buy staples in the biggest quantity you can. rice, beans, potatoes etc. all get subtsantially cheaper the bigger the amount goes but make sure to double check there will be an occasional exception. Buy fresh vegatables and fruit in season only. You'll get the best prices. For instance root veggies and apples are in season right now and the prices are rock bottom. It's too late in the year now but if your finances stay tight next spring get serious about planting a garden. Plant more than you can use and can the excess. The investment in a several of boxes of mason jars and a cooker will easily pay for itself in one year. Any vegetable that you can buy in a can can be put up yourself. It's hot and fairly unpleasant work but it will save you lots of money. Get a little experience and you can put up stuff like home made pickles which are way better than the ones you can get in stores. Hope that helps.

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