RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (Full Version)

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LinnaeaBorealis -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 9:43:14 AM)

My Father did a lot of research into nutrition & he found that the whole egg is not bad for one's cholesterol like was touted in the media. There is something in the white that counteracts the cholesterol content in the yolk. The other thing is that quite a few years ago there were studies that showed that there is only a casual connection between the cholesterol content of foods & one's serum cholesterol. So I eat whole egss whenever I eat eggs. But I don't tend to believe that whole fats are bad.

As far as cheap foods go, I am the queen of that, since I raised a child while living most of the time well below the poverty level. One of our favorite dishes is called I Don't Know. I like it made with rice or pasta, but rice is much better for a person. I fry up ground meat, turkey, chicken, or beef & add onions & spices & herbs & sometimes mushrooms & peppers. Cook the rice or pasta, combine everything with milk, sour cream or a low sodium cream soup & put some cheese & some veggies in it, more spices & herbs, et voila!! Food for a week. The last one I made cost less than $10 for the entire dish & I've been eating it for days & feeding it to friends. One time, I bought a pork loin roast on a very good special & put cubes of pork in. Deee-scrumptious!!!



Iamsemisweet -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 9:49:54 AM)

Since you will be cooking more, it is worth it to invest in good cooking tools.  A good knife and a decent set of pots and pans, for a start.



Hillwilliam -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 9:50:26 AM)

When I was in college, I would put a pot of soup beans on monday morning.
Monday afternoon, make some corn bread and have soup beans and corn bread for 2-3 days.
When that was running low, add a half pound of ground beef browned and drained, a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes , chopped onions and peppers and spice and a full crock pot of chili is born.

I could eat 5 days off one pot and it was just a few bucks.



LillyBoPeep -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 10:05:40 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: tj444

Ok, so Walmart haters dont read this post! [:D]

I just found an interesting article (or pre-article since the study will be in Sept 2011 Consumer Reports mag) on which online store gives the best online grocery savings. Online Walmart won (cheaper than buying at Walmart stores)..

http://moneyland.time.com/2011/08/15/simple-way-to-save-over-20-on-groceries-and-save-time-too/


they really do have good prices online, and they're starting to deliver to more neighborhoods.
as much as i can't stand walmart's practices, a smidge of money will go a lot further there than some other places... blech! and yet... reluctant yay. =p



barelynangel -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 11:28:09 AM)

I really wanna become coupon crazy but everytime I take time yo gather coupons I always forget them at home! Blah



impishlilhellcat -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 11:29:30 AM)

I make all my marinades from scratch instead of buying those already mixed in a bottle marinades. It's not that hard and it's fun to get creative and I usually just use ingredients I keep on hand as a staple.



LillyBoPeep -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 11:33:48 AM)

i have one of those little hinged clutch thingies where my ID and cards are, and i keep my coupons in there. it's the perfect size and then i always have them with me. i usually paper clip them and keep them in alphabetical order. =p 



kalikshama -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 11:42:27 AM)

quote:

The best thing you can do to eat an optimal diet cheaply, in my experience, is to buy your main sources of healthy carbs in bulk when they go on sale. Buy a 50-pound bag of oats, a 25-pound bag of brown rice, and 20 or 30 boxes of whole wheat (or other whole grain) pasta. Put all of that in storage buckets with easy-open lids that provide a good seal, like Gamma Seal lids. Now you've got your main sources of carbs for at least four months (probably longer in your case; I'm a big eater) and all you need to worry about when you go on your routine shopping trips is protein, healthy fat, and fruits and vegetables. Any way you go about it, protein and produce are expensive (compared to living on Ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese, anyway), but buying your carbs in bulk when they go on sale, and completely abstaining from junk, will go a long way toward offsetting the cost. ...

Cultivate the mindset that 85% of what's in a typical grocery store simply does not exist in your world. The store exists to serve YOUR discipline, YOUR will.


Great advice!

Local health food stores will often order these bulk bags - my Mom has a 25# bag of brown rice on order right now. Whole Foods has done special orders for me, as have little health food stores in upstate New York.

Making cereal from whole grains is SO much cheaper (and healthier) than buying boxes of processed crap.



kalikshama -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 12:17:36 PM)

quote:

So...got any quick cheap suggestions for a fat chick who is really wanting to eat more whole foods?


Two weeks after meeting me, my new guy has lost 11-16 pounds. I mainly cook for him on the weekends, and he is making healthier choices during the week. The first thing I cooked for him was a Thai chicken and veggie stir fry, and he said one portion contains more veggies than he normally eats in two weeks. (I now think it's closer to 2 months.)

So his formula is: less McDonalds/fast food/soda, more veggies/complex carbs/green tea, probably less alcohol, less TV, more time getting sweaty ;)

The recipes in my "Thai Cuisine - Lemon Grass Cookbook" invariably have much less meat and tend to have more veggies than "Joy of Cooking" recipes, for example.

As I now eat less red meat, the higher cost of meat without growth hormones and antibiotics evens out.



JstAnotherSub -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 4:15:59 PM)

Wow. Great ideas. I did find a local farmers market that is at a church parking lot every Saturday during the summer. I love love love the tomatoes I get there. I have discovered they are great in a sandwich with vidalia onion and a slice of ham.

I can cook, and cook well, I just stopped after the divorce. I do make huge pots of pintos and butterbeans and soups in the winter time. I am going to write some of these down. I have to admit I am going to have to google a few ingredients. I am a suthner, and I can make some greens and cornbread and such, but a lot of the foods mentioned here I have never heard of-lol.

I hope the thread keeps going, it can not be hijacked. I am going to read it more carefully when I haven't just got home from a 12 hour day on the second day of kids being back to school.



kalikshama -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/16/2011 5:31:13 PM)

There are also lots of tips throughout the other thread: http://www.collarchat.com/m_3807079/mpage_1/tm.htm

When I was working in an office, I did shopping on Saturday and a massive amount of cooking on Sunday which would carry me through til Thursday or Friday, at which point I'd usually make salmon salad with canned wild salmon (much cheaper than tuna.)

Now I'm working from home and am able to throw food in the oven.

I haven't had a meal at a traditional fast food place since watching Food Inc a few years ago. I do eat at Chipotles - love their Food with Integrity philosophy http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fwi/fwi.aspx



playfulotter -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 11:17:47 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: hausboy

I also do lots of "scrambles" with egg-beaters in the wok (I just don't like egg whites.  I keep trying.) I found the trick was to add equal parts veggies and egg


Well, egg beaters are 99% egg whites and the rest looks like sugars, spices, vegetable gums and the vitamins that would be in an egg yolk....I used to only eat egg beaters but found I do like the egg whites best but you have to cook them very fast.

Ingredients in egg beaters:

Egg Whites, Less than 1%: Natural Flavor, Color (Includes Beta Carotene), Spices, Salt, Onion Powder, Vegetable Gums (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum), Maltodextrin. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Sulfate, Iron (Ferric Phosphate), Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol Acetate), Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Mononitrate), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D3
 
 
I like to cook up a pound or so of beans in my slow cooker with other ingredients in there and make my own bean and cheese burritos...Here is a good recipe for that.

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/08/not-refried-beans-275-recipe-031.html



Toppingfrmbottom -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 1:54:32 PM)

I was recommended dried beans and stuff like that for using for streatching foods ability to feed a lot reasonably healthy. They stay fresh a good long time cause they're dried, and then you can make a lot of things out of them.


And sometimes tortilla's are better than bread, like I found this one brand of tortilla's carb smart, they have 21 grams of fiber, and only 10 carbs, and you can make tuna fish sandwiches with them, and come out on top better than bread, cause bread has a lot of carbs. even the special stuff still has like 16 carbs instead of the 34 of non special stuff.


You can get a bread machine and make your own bread fresh every so often if you like bread.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JstAnotherSub


So...got any quick cheap suggestions for a fat chick who is really wanting to eat more whole foods?





LillyBoPeep -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 3:58:52 PM)

man... i want some greens now...

dang it.
at least they're cheap! ^_^



soul2share -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 5:54:30 PM)

Here's a tip for using 80/20 hamburger.  When I'm using it in recipes,  I actually boil it first.  Then I strain the fat and water from it, rinse it and toss it in my recipes.  The fat is gone, but there is plenty of flavor left.  My sister started doing this when my bro in law had his gall bladder out.  The grease used to just eat him up. 

I pretty much just eat chicken breasts, boned.  it's a bit more expensive, but if I buy the bulk pack, it's not too bad.  I marinate my chicken in different things....Ken's Asian Ginger/sesame dressing is excellent!  And we were using Italian dressing on our chicken before people even knew about it.  I also eat fish, marinated the same way.  And I really need to get my butt downtown to the Farmer's Market. 

And tj, I second your Dollar Tree suggestion!  I LOVE my Dollar Tree.....it has the frozen and cold foods in it.  I buy the strawberries to have on hand, and I get my bread there, and alot of my basic staples.  Right now, I'm stocking up on mushrooms on the jar......these are the bigger jars that sell upwards of $3-$4 bucks, even at WalMart.  And their chicken and beef broth is the only thing I use for soups.  They have a pretty good variety, considering they aren't very big places for the most part.

One place I do miss is Aldi.  I used to shop there alot when I lived in Illinois, they even have one in the town my parents live in in NY.  I believe they are actually a German company, or a derivitive of a company in Germany.  No Frills, just alot of generic foods that are as good as the labels and other generics you find elsewhere.  They are sort of hit and miss here in the US so far, some areas have them, and others don't.  But if you have one nearby, check it out!



LinnaeaBorealis -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 6:09:11 PM)

We have Aldi's here in Chicagoland & I find it to be a bit like Costco, in that if you know what the prices are in regular stores, you will know which things you can get at Aldi's cheaper. Sometimes not much cheaper, but still, sometimes every penny counts. In general I really like them.



NuevaVida -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 6:24:46 PM)

 I love this thread but it keeps making me hungry.  [8D]



DesFIP -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/17/2011 7:13:46 PM)

Instead of egg beaters which are pricey, use one egg yolk to two whites. It will taste like regular scrambled eggs or omelets.

Brown rice instead of white, sweet potatoes instead of white. Add an extra vegetable to the meal.

We eat about three pounds of food a day. If you have half the plate vegetables and only a quarter of the plate carbs and a quarter meat, you will be healthier. Since we eat the same volume of food in order to feel full, make sure more of it are fruits and veggies.



0ldhen -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/18/2011 7:29:26 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: LillyBoPeep

man... i want some greens now...

dang it.
at least they're cheap! ^_^




OMG.....cooked all day with a hamhock...served with corn bread and lots of the pot likker.

When I worked doing in home visits, I used to visit this little old Southern lady. When she knew it was me coming to see her, she always cooked this. It was the best greens I ever had. Cracker Barrel does some that are good, but not like that.



kalikshama -> RE: OK tell me how to eat well for cheap (8/18/2011 8:19:42 AM)

I just LOVE pea soup made with ham hocks, nom nom nom! (Split peas are very cheap and yummy.)



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