I recently got a question from a reader, Jen. I wanted to give some hopefully helpful tips for her (three frugal overarching tips, a list of frugal whole foods, and Asian Market finds), but I also would love for you all to weigh in and give her some advice. So please, leave a comment and share your tips! Here’s the question.
“Hey Kimi!
I’m a bit of a lurker, but today, I realized I have a question for you. I’m a young single gal, with an extremely limited budget (seriously, $100/a month would more than double my monthly food budget–and my roommate and I share quite a bit of the food that I buy). What advice could you offer someone in my situation? I normally cook for one (and am hesitant to spring my…shall we say developing??…cooking skills on anyone else in the guise of blessing them), and have the aforementioned limited budget, but I’d like to do better for myself than frozen dinners and canned soup.”
Hi Jen, thanks so much for the question. First, let me just say, I am amazed that you can eat on so little! Maybe I have been feeding a family organics too long, but feeding one person on less then $50 dollars a month seems very limited! So kudos to you for being able to make it work so far!
I am assuming that there aren’t other expenses you can cut to up your food budget? One reason we can spend a little more on our personal food budget is by cutting other expenses. But I imagine you already have done that.
So, with a deep breath, here I go with what advice I have to offer!
Three rules of thumb
1-My goal is to always eat as nourishing as I can, and not to worry about the rest. We all have limitations. For some it’s money, for others, it’s time, and for many it’s both. All to say, there is always something more that we could be doing but just can’t-financially or with time limits. Don’t let it bother you, just do your best.
2-Know your own territory. Everyone is going to have different advantages depending on what’s near them. There is one little market down the road from me, who during peak growing season will have wonderful, amazing deals on both local and organic food. I’ve seen organic cucumbers being sold for 25 cents, for example. That really only takes place for a few months, but when it does, I try to jump on it! There’s another produce outlet where I can snag some great deals. It’s a hit and miss type of place, but I have found some wonderful items there. Grocery outlets can also have some pretty good stuff too. There are also farmer’s stands on the side of the road where I can get reasonably priced produce.
If you have a Trader Jo’s in your area, you will find some of their items well priced, you may have to skip the organic stuff however. I don’t think that you would be able to get all of your grocery shopping done there since you are very limited, but you may find some nourishing choices there in your price range.
Obviously that’s a lot of different places that I buy things from, the only way I make that work is by stopping by them when running other errands or when in the area.
3-Eat Simply- Be okay with eating simple meals of whole foods (instead of frozen pizzas) and you will be getting more nutrition, less junk, and hopefully save some too!
So there are three overarching rules of thumb for me, do my best, and know my territory, and eat simply. Here are some examples of high nutrient food that is also fairly cheap.
List of Frugal Whole Foods
Eggs
Even if you can’t afford the best type of eggs, they are a nutrient rich food! Full of very important protein and nutrients, you can’t go wrong with eggs.
Dried Beans
Dried beans expand a lot when they are cooked. They are cheap to start with and then they double or triple in size when cooked! Definitely a frugal girl’s best friend. Use them by themselves to make lovely bean soups, refried beans, taco salads, etc, and also use them to stretch ground beef. And they are full of fiber and other healthy nutrients.
Ground Beef
One of the cheapest meats around. If you see a good price, you can buy more then you need and easily freeze some. Meat is much more nutrient dense then grains or legumes, plus they contain important vitamins, like B 12 that’s hard to get on a vegetarian diet. So try to include some meat in your diet when you can.
Canned Fish
Fish contains important fatty acids, and if you buy it canned it will be cheap too. Canned tuna is a typical frugal choice, but it’s an important one too, in my opinion. If this was the only fish choice I could afford, I would do it! You can even often find canned salmon for a decent price too (and eat the bones, if they are in there. They have important calcium). Sardines have a bad rap taste wise, but they are environmentally friendly caught fish that are super good for you. And you can buy them really cheap too. I find I actually like them. (Surprise, surprise!)
Chicken Liver
Your favorite, right? Well, maybe not, and it’s not mine either (though I am coming around). It’s both cheap and very nutrient dense though. Hide it in ground beef, and you probably won’t even notice it’s there.
Pasta and Potatoes
Yes, they are starches, but truthfully I find I do better with plenty of carbs in my diet anyways. And they are CHEAP! You gotta get full, and they will fill you up. Both pasta and potatoes are versatile, there are so many ways you can fix them. A better choice pasta from Trader Jo’s (if you have one near) is their Organic Rice Pasta which is two dollars a package (12 ounces, I think). It would last you a few meals, I imagine. Get it if you can afford it, otherwise just do your best to get what you can.
Oatmeal
Talking about cheap deals, this is it! We have sometimes had oatmeal almost every morning, and it saves a great deal of money. We like it too. To get more nutrition out of it, soak it like this recipe, and you can sweeten it with raisins instead of sugar for a better, frugal sweetener.
Soups
Make them out of leftover veggies, leftover beans, leftover meats, leftover anything! I notice a huge cost savings when we eat more soups. They are filling, easy to digest, and delicious too! They can also easily use whatever leftovers you have on hand. Don’t try to follow Gourmet magazine’s recipes, because it will cost you more, but instead make up your own soups using leftovers.
Asian Stores
One last important tip, check out your local Asian Markets, seriously! They have some of the cheapest food around. Here are some of the food I buy there that would definitely qualify as cheap and nutrient dense.
Dried anchovies. We eat these little salty fish plain, but there are a variety of recipes out there that make them into all sorts of lovely dishes (I plain on trying some soon!). They are extremely good for you (better then canned), and very nutrient dense (they are dried so they are concentrated nutrition, like dried fruit) and the three ounce package I get (which is more than you think) is only $1.50.
Young Coconuts-I get these for about one dollar and they are extremely good for you. Don’t just drink the juice but make use of the yummy coconut meat “jelly” inside too. This is probably a luxury item on your budget since you may not find them filling, but they aren’t expensive at Asian stores and are very good for you.
Dried Seaweed-In the large Asian store we go too, we can only find two brands that don’t contain MSG in it. Avoid MSG when at all possible. But seaweed is very good for you. We get the toasted kind, which we cut into squares and eat with plain brown rice (often with fried eggs on the side) for a simple meal. You won’t find a better deal than here.
Palm or Coconut Sugar-Very cheap sweetener which is loads better then cane sugar, one of my favorites! Once again, you can buy it very cheap at Asian stores.
Other things to look for: Chicken parts (like chicken feet) to make your own chicken broth. Very cheap here, and you can find odd parts, like the feet (I know, a little gross, but very traditional to put into broth) to make a delicious and very, very nutritious broth. Consider it. Other finds: produce, fresh and dried fish, big bags of legumes and rice, white rice pasta.
So there are some of my thoughts. I hope they prove helpful! Now it’s everyone else’s turn! What advice do you have for Jen?
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Vin - NaturalBias
Wow, that’s a tight food budget! The first thing that comes to mind is that it would be almost impossible to buy pasture raised meat on that budget.
I wanted to mention stew beef as an alternative to ground beef. It’s less processed, is usually higher quality meat, and you can usually buy grass fed stew beef for a reasonable price. You don’t have to use it for stew either. 😉 Organ meats from pasture fed animals are another more affordable option if you are open to it. Eggs are a great recommendation, especially with a budget that won’t allow for much meat.
If you’re not going to buy organic, it’s probably still best to buy from a farmers markets where the produce is likely to have been grown with less chemicals than the mass produced stuff in the grocery store.
emily- www.mplsrealfoodlover.com
great suggestions Kimi. my asian market is the best! i can get good, fresh (though not organic) veggies like bok choy, the cheapest fresh ginger (1.79 per lb vs the food co-op where it is 7.99 per lb), quail eggs at 1.29 per dozen, mangos, papayas and great bown rice for very cheap.
as far as using beans these should be soaked in water and a bit of lemon juice or yogurt whey (like a teaspoon per cup?) for at least 12 hours, then rinsed, prior to cooking, to avoid the gas effect beans sometimes have on our guts.
i grew up eating a lot of beans and rice and veggies. add a 1/8 a lb of ground beef and you’ve got yourself a good meal for 1 person.
onions are cheap and covered in a thick skin so i dont think these are an organic “must”, just buy conventional if it makes a price difference. i use onions in almost all my meals.
make your own yogurt using a bit of commercially made live yogurt or a yogurt starter. there are tons of resources online with instructions. yogurt is super nutrient dense and way cheaper to make then to buy and it has a long shelf life.
annie
I am totally with you on the eggs! We’re lucky that we raise our own b/c the equivalent at the store would be over 4$. Since they arrive every morning in the nest boxes, we take advantage and eat tons of them to fill out our meals. They are indeed packed with nutrients.
My additional suggestions are whole grains (whole wheat berries, barley, etc.), learning to make your own bread products, and frozen spinach. Whole grains are great in soups and they can be made into a nice grain salad, pilafs, or porridge. Making your own bread, biscuits, cornbread, tortillas, etc. is a huge money saver. We mostly eat fresh veg rather than canned or frozen, but it is very expensive. I do buy spinach frozen b/c you get so much more spinach for the money than when fresh (b/c there is so much more in the package), the texture doesn’t suffer as much as other frozen veg, and it’s a pretty nutritious food. You might try adding some small quantities of nutrient dense foods like nuts, sesame seeds, peanut butter to your meals as well.
Something to keep in mind is that it’s not really about what you don’t eat (so don’t worry about needing low fat foods for example) it’s about what you do eat. If you’re focusing on eating nutrient dense foods in their whole form you’re going to be healthy (so no need to count the grams of cholesterol or saturated fat, etc. unless you have a specific problem). So for example, this 14 year old girl I’ve been babysitting this week keeps saying things like “nuts sure are good but they have all that fat…on the other hand my fruit snacks (this is some kind of gummy candy “made with real fruit”) only have 60 calories. And I say to her, “don’t think about avoiding anything (fat and calories) think about what you are including in your diet (vitamin E, etc. in the nuts). Fruitsnacks have no nutrients and nuts are full of them so it doesn’t matter that the nuts have fat and calories, they’re just not a good choice (especially since fruitsnacks don’t satisfy her so she eats 4 or 5 packages at once).
There are some exceptions to this “think about foods in terms of what to include, not what to avoid” rule. We do avoid new “foods” (read fake foods that didn’t exist 70 years ago or which humans never ate) like hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, artificial flavors (even natural flavors), artificial sweeteners, unfermented soy products, gmo’s, canola, cotton seed oil (in fact all the oils that didn’t eat), and high fructose corn syrup. We also try to limit our consumption of sweet stuff generally but when we do make sweets, we use honey or rapadura. This all sounds like a lot to avoid but if you don’t eat prepackaged foods and prepared meals then these fake foods aren’t in your diet in the first place.
Laryssa @ Heaven In The Home
These are great suggestions that I’ll use to help feed my family of four, thanks!
Stephanie @ One Big Adventure
Great suggestions, Kimi.
I would add:
1. If you can grow herbs and some small veggies in a window box, that would add flavor and nutrient value for minimal cost. We grow parsley inside during cold months and in the garden otherwise and love adding it to salmon patties, for example. If you have any kind of a yard or access to a little land, garden! Mel Bartholomew’s Square foot gardening is full of ideas for gardening in small spaces.. and you don’t have to have fancy raised beds or special dirt… the *squares* are the great idea. For soil improvement, lots of places offer free aged manure (take some 5-gal buckets–which you can get for free from many bakeries/donut shops–and a shovel to fill them with, if you don’t have access to a truck)
2. If you know a family that gardens or buys bulk foods, see if you can go in with them on the bulk stuff or help in the garden somehow. While some families may be hardpressed to grow enough for themselves, I bet others would be glad for the help in exchange for some homegrown produce.
3. You might also be able to work something out with farmers’ from your farm market. We sold baked goods at a farmers’ market a few years back and there was lots of trading and some deal-making at the end of the market. If you can bake and sell cookies and bread, could trade for produce. Often we were *given* bushels of items that would have been fed to the cows (but were still fit for kings :*)) (Note: we could sell home-baked goods in MN, but cannot in GA, so check your local laws/limitations)
4. We raise and process our own poultry. I know few folks do, but if we knew you and you came to help out, we’d surely send you home with some whole chickens and all the liver you could want :*)–we eat some of it, but not all of it!
This is probably different from ideas you were looking for, but perhaps they could help someone somewhere! I have lived in a room in a house in San Francisco, apartments in various places, and now, PTL, a place with land in the country! So, your mileage may vary! And, if you can make the time, I, for one, would love to hear how things work for you and what you are able to do!
lizzykristine @ Uplifted Eyes
I can surely sympathize with the low budget. 🙂 Ours isn’t quite that low, but it has been about $80/person/month on occasion.
I would second the oatmeal and eggs — they will hold you over til lunchtime very well! Off-brand oatmeal is very inexpensive; stir in a little applesauce instead of sugar or honey for some frugal fruit, too. I can frequently find eggs for 99 cents a dozen.
If you can find a grocery store with a manager who regularly marks down fresh produce, that would be a HUGE help. Ask the manager, or (as I did) just drop by at different times of day until you figure out their habits. This morning I picked up a 3 lb bag of apples for $1.50. They were bruised, but we cut out the bruises and give thanks for fresh apples. 🙂 I don’t buy moldy produce, but I do buy bruised. Sure, they aren’t at their peak, nutritionally, but they are light-years ahead of the only other thing I could buy in equal quantity for equal price — ramen noodles!!!
About 70% of our diet is fresh produce (fruits & vegetables). I only buy marked-downs or their sale item of the week. Don’t worry about organic or variety or the top nutritional bang for your buck — just eat lots of produce. You’ll feel a big difference. (And your taste buds will find it thrilling once you’re weaned of MSG and sugar. My husband thinks cucumbers are super sweet now!) We also take a multivitamin a few times a week to shore up any nutritional shortfalls in our diet — and with your budget, I wouldn’t worry about getting the “best” vitamin. They all work to some extent. 🙂
We also eat a lot of beans and rice. I cook up a big potful and then we reheat portions throughout the week. I know the standard advice is to skip meat once or twice a week, but there’s times when we only have it once or twice a week! 🙂
I know it looks daunting, but be encouraged that we truly felt the difference in our health when we switched cheap processed food for bargain produce. You don’t have to buy prime of anything to feel a difference in your health — any produce is better than processed. 🙂 Best wishes as you do your best with little!
Jen
Wow! Thanks everybody! Just to reassure everyone, I’m not really living on frozen foods…I sure do eat a lot of pasta and “Mexican” (homemade burritos). I like the suggestions though! Keep ’em coming. (And yes, I really do spend about $50-60–or less–on food every month.) Kimi, I’ve been loving the oatmeal, AND I just got a huge box of natural rolled oats for 3 bucks. It should last me a month. Score!
KimiHarris
Hey Jen,
Glad to find that you are finding everyone suggestions helpful!
Keeping them coming everyone! It’s great to hear from you all.
Meg
These ideas are great, Kimi! I needed the reminder to shop the Asian (and Mexican!) food stores in our area. We’ve bought from the Asian stores before (my husband is a big fan of Asian food), and I need to get the gumption to go there, ahem, by myself… Oh, and just as a side note – instead of buying juice or anything besides water to drink, we bought fresh lemongrass from one of the Asian markets, and used it to make a DELICIOUS tea (and popsicles 😉 )! So keep your eye out for things that can be an unexpected (and occasionally well-deserved) treat! 🙂
Helen Levashoff
When I go to Whole Foods to buy some fresh fish, I always ask them if they have the leftover fish parts of a whole fish. Before they used to give away for free, the whole skeleton, plus the fish head and tail. It was one big piece. Now they sell the bones for I think $1.00 a pound. These bones have LOTS of meat still attached. I come home and cut the skeleton into 3 or 4 portions. Usually is is fresh salmon that I get. These bones make a wonderful soup. I put all sorts of veggies, like carrots, celery, turnips, parsnips, green beans, chopped up spinach or chard, onions, garlic etc….. This makes a big pot of soup enough for the two of us for at leat 2 or 3 days. The rest I freeze for another time.
I hope this helps! 🙂
:D
I was watching a Korean video (http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/kongnamulguk) and the cook was using dried anchovies to make soybean sprout soup. The cook actually removes the guts before dumping them into the soup. When I acutally saw the package, I couldn’t get myself to buy the bag. Since I read your post on dried anchovies, I’ll give it another try to go back to the Asian store and this time I’ll purchase a package. They come in different sizes (I’m talking about the fishies, not the packaging). I think to cook the soybean sprout soup, the cook was using the larger ones because she actually removed the gut (bitter). When the soup is done, the anchovies are removed from the soup and discarded.
CHEESESLAVE
What a lot of great ideas!
Your budget is anywhere from $1.50-2 per day. Definitely challenging… but you can make it work.
Here are some of my ideas…
1. I agree on the oatmeal. Soak it overnight and eat it with butter and cream for breakfast. You don’t have to buy raw butter and cream — you can get by with grocery store butter and cream. I get my oatmeal SUPER cheap at Costco. If you know someone who has a card at a big box store like Costco you can get Quaker oatmeal for next to nothing. (I can’t find my receipt, otherwise I would tell you exactly what I paid.)
2. Buy one pastured chicken per month — or once every other month if you have to. Do not buy grocery store chickens — much less nutritious and full of pathogens. Buy a whole chicken from a farmer. We pay $4/pound here in LA, so it’s relatively inexpensive (compared to other meats). Especially when you consider how far it goes. Roast the chicken, eat the meat, use the leftovers, then use the bones to make broth. You can use the broth to cook beans and rice (buy dried and soak) which will make those meals more nutritious.
3. Pastured eggs will serve you well. Even if you can eat once pastured egg per day, or one every other day. A pastured egg has 5 times the vitamin D of a grocery store egg. So you’re getting concentrated nutrition. Not sure what you pay where you are but we can get them for $4.50 per dozen. That’s .38 per day if you eat one a day. Cook the eggs with your grocery store butter. Or throw into a kefir smoothie. You can make kefir from grocery store milk (free of bovine growth hormone). Or use the eggs to make a quiche or Hollandaise sauce.
4. Invest in some cod liver oil. The Natural Health Advocates is giving a massive discount on fermented cod liver oil RIGHT NOW. http://www.building-health.com/ Only $29 for a bottle.
One bottle of fermented cod liver oil will provide 237 servings. That’s 237 days worth! Only .12 per day.
If you can find a friend, to go in on an order with you, or if you just invest in 2 bottles, it’s free shipping.
So… let’s do the math for a monthly budget… (using LA prices — it may be cheaper where you are — and I’m assuming 30 days in a month). I don’t have all the prices for everything but here are your big expenses…
1 5 lb. pastured chicken – $20
3 dozen eggs – $3.50
Fermented cod liver oil – $3.60
That puts you at $37.50 per month — at LA prices — you can probably get that down. The rest of your budget you can use on any of the following:
Oatmeal, brown rice, dry beans, grocery store butter, grocery store cream, grocery store ground beef, grocery store whole milk (no bovine growth hormone), kefir grains… all these things are pretty inexpensive — I would consider them staples.
You could also buy some whole wheat flour and make soaked pancakes (use the whey from your kefir to soak) and sourdough bread. These are very cheap to make. Keep the whole wheat flour in your freezer or fridge and it will last a while. Eat your bread with lots of butter. Every once in a while you can splurge on a $5 tin of duck or goose liver pate. Or make your own from chicken livers!
For sweeteners, I would use raw honey. You can often find beekeepers who will sell it to you pretty cheap.
Don’t worry about vegetables. They are pretty expensive and you don’t need them. Not very nutrient dense.
If you are adventurous, the other thing you could add to your diet is natto. Natto is the richest source of vitamin K2 and it’s CHEAP! Only .50 per serving. If you can eat it once a week or even every other week, you will be getting a lot of nutrition very cheap. I posted a recipe for BBQ natto on my site today — but you could just eat it plain or with soy sauce. I think it’s really good — even w/o the BBQ sauce! You could add a little naturally fermented soy sauce, maybe a raw egg yolk, and it would be fantastic.
You can also save money on food by doing frugal things like making your own laundry detergent. I have a recipe for that on my blog. You only need a cheese grater and a bar of soap, and a few boxes of Borax and washing soda. Again, these things can be purchased very cheaply at Costco or a grocery store.
CHEESESLAVE
By the way, Kimi is right. Trader Joe’s is really cheap. I’ve priced them against discount wholesale co-ops and they are within pennies of them.
If you have access to Trader Joe’s I would buy their milk and cream and butter. Make sure you kefir the milk — otherwise drink cream diluted with water.
aurelia
If you have an Aldi’s in your area, go. I get excellent prices on canned fish, fresh fruit and veg, canned tomatoes, and ground turkey ($1.19/lb). I don’t buy beans due to carb restrictions so I can’t attest to the price at Aldi’s.
I would choose dried beans over pasta if my budget was as limited as yours. Pasta will fill you up but beans are cheaper and far more nutritious.
Another idea for fresh produce. Look for the old folks with big gardens. Many of our seniors have been growing big gardens all their lives and haven’t cut back even though they don’t have as many mouths to feed any more. Introduce yourself. Explain your situation. Ask if there is anything you can do for them in trade for some fresh produce. It may be weeding the garden or mowing the lawn or helping clean a basement or garage or doing some outside painting, or, or, or. . .you get the idea.
emily- www.mplsrealfoodlover.com
sorry if this is off-topic but I have a question for Cheeseslave regarding the comment about vegetables. Dr. Thomas Cowan also states that vegetables are not te most important food and that for children, especially, they are hard to digest and assimilate the nutrients in them. This seems so counter the whole “five a day” idea that the USDA pushes and the general idea is usually “eat more plants” it seems. do you have any more information about vegetables not being important? for example, did our paleolithic ancestors eat much veg?
Milehimama
Although we haven’t made the transition to organic yet, I feed my family on a similar budget ($500 a month for 10 people). I’m just starting being more NT friendly. One of my children can’t have food colorings, MSG, artificial sweeteners, or lard substitutes so we (usually) do avoid convenience foods.
The best for our budget is to eat meat sparingly. We have 4-5 meat meals a week, and at home lunches and breakfasts are almost always vegetarian. We usually eat oatmeal for breakfast, or homemade waffles (with rice and oats instead of wheat, soaked overnight.)
Another key is to make it ourselves. Yogurt (and then, yogurt cheese and whey), bread, oatmeal in bulk, not from little packets, dried beans instead of canned, and so on. We also eat fruit or fresh produce almost exclusively for snacks.
The Mexican market is tops for cheap produce. They don’t always have organic, but their prices are often a quarter of the major groceries plus they have a bigger variety. I’ve found eggplants for $1 a PIECE, cucumbers 4/$1 (peel them, the wax is impossible to wash), thick rind melons such as cantaloupe for under a dollar, and more.
You can see my grocery list/menus on my website under Food Stamp Challenge, BTW.
Rachael
One thing I do is make chicken broth out of a whole chicken (cooked for 24 hours), re-use the meat for another recipe, give the bones (very soft) and veggies to the dogs, and have TONS of high quality nutritious broth for CHEAP soup. The meat is great in enchiladas! I get my recipes out of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. I have been cooking exclusively out of her cookbook for 6 months now. Definitely a change in lifestyle but oh so worth it!
Brown rice, dried legumes, eggs, fresh produce, and natural sweeteners round it out. If you can add raw milk to it you are pretty much set and honestly it is cheaper to eat healthier, especially in the long run.
I ditto the cutting out expenses. We do not eat out, spend very little on entertainment (but rather choose free venues & deals), use cheap but very effective cleaners (like vinegar and baking soda and homemade laundry detergent), and choose to do it ourselves instead of hiring someone else to do it (doesn’t matter the job, there is a book that explains how to do it). It really is a lifestyle and choosing priorities.
It is so awesome that everyone is so helpful! I am sure you will find some wisdom in all the words.
Nancy
I just want to encourage you. I spend $100/week on 6 people. This includes all household items, dog food and diapers. It does not include going out to eat once per week. That’s not much more than what you are spending. When I first read Nourishing Traditions I thought there was no way I could make all those changes with my budget. Over the last 6-9 months I have been making small changes that have been adding up. My first goal was to eliminate all processed food to avoid high fructose corn syrup, all the soy products and other chemicals added to food. Since I couldn’t afford the organic versions, I learned to make things on my own. I was amazed at how easy it is to make spaghetti sauce, ketchup, mayo, etc. I buy big cans of tomato sauce, olive oil, cheese and honey at sam’s. I use the honey for all my baking so since it’s heated anyway it’s not worth it for me to buy raw honey right now. If I have the money I’ll buy raw honey to top pancakes. I’m growing tomatoes this year so I’m hoping to have my own organic tomato sauce soon. For Christmas I asked everyone to give money towards a new bosch. This helps me cook/bake in bulk and freeze it. It can knead up to 6 loaves of bread at a time. This saves time and money. After I made those changes, I found a farmer who sells grass fed beef. I pretty much only buy ground beef and sometimes I stretch it by mixing in beans (that I bought dried and cooked in bulk and divided into can portions and froze.) After that, I found an egg farmer. And lastly, I signed up for a cow share lease for raw milk. I saved this for last because this was the biggest price leap for me. Right now I buy 1 gallon of raw milk and 1 gallon of whole milk which I then turn into Kefir. I am starting to buy more and more raw cheese as my budget allows. I used to be a coupon fanatic. I still use them for the compromise foods left in my menu. For instance, when I saw that I could get whole wheat pasta for free, I bought 60 coupons off of e-bay for about $3 and stocked up on free whole wheat pasta. I have done the same thing with oatmeal and frozen veggies. Sure, rice pasta, freshly flaked oatmeal and fresh organic veggies would be better for us but I feel like these are good compromises. I save all leftovers. If we are tired of them I put them in the freezer for later. I also make my own laundry detergent and deodorant and use baking soda for shampoo and toothpaste. I clean with vinegar and cloth rags. I try to get tp, toothbrushes, razors, etc. for free or close to it with coupons. I wash most of my ziploc baggies. You get the idea. I am currently saving up for some free range chickens. They are only available in my area in the summer so I really want to stock up. I think I have enough money for about 20 5 lb chickens. That is certainly a start. We have or are planting blueberries, blackberries and fruit trees this year. Next year I hope to work on some veggies. I feel like I have a long way to go but I am amazed at how far we’ve come. The leader of my co-op gave a lecture and basically said invest in nutrient dense foods and fill in with the rest. The top 3 nutrient dense foods are organ meats from free range animals (you can mix small amounts in with your regular meat and soup), raw milk and free range eggs. Good luck!
Deb
I’d have to absolutely agree with the asian market tip. When I was a single mom with two little kiddos, I often had a budget of $25 per week for groceries. I took the kids to the “smelly grocery store” (with a wonderful fish section) and walked out with two large bags of groceries for under $20. Produce like mangoes or lychees are often incredibly cheap compared to the traditional grocery stores.
KimiHarris
Hey Everyone,
This has been great! I am so thankful to everyone who has shared so far as I love the advice you have been giving and the stories you are telling. How encouraging!
And keep them coming! This is exciting
Lauren B
Hey Jen!
I’m a “poor student” who eats according to the nutritional guidelines and studies compiled by Gary Taubes in Good Calories, Bad Calories. Depending on your nutrition philosophy, you can totally get by eating well on your limited budget. I try to eat as much like a caveman in terms of macronutrient levels.
My staples:
Kroger meat roll–it’s a pack of 5 lbs of ground beef for $8.50
3 1/2 dozen medium eggs–$2.50 at Kroger, and I probably eat 5 per day scrambled with the beef
Cabbage (green)–69 cents per pound, stir fried in organic butter or beef fat
Greens–Kale, collards, whatever is cheapest–simmered with sea salt in water or with a boullion cube
Sea salt–$1.50 for a giant box
Stevia–$8.99 for 1 0z, which has a TON of servings since you only need 1/8 tsp for a cup of coffee
Store brand coffee–$3.50 for a pound
Heavy cream–hormone free at Whole Foods for $2.19 a pint, which I use in my coffee (1-2 tablespoons per day), or as a stevia-sweetened frozen treat (1/4 cup per serving)
And there you have it! Along with a package of bacon, or pork ribs on sale, that’s pretty much my daily diet. Some nuts every now and then are a rare treat, and whole milk Greek yogurt is my ultimate indulgence. And since this plan is grain- and sugar-free, I eat less calories, which saves money. Beans/rice/oats/whole grains can backfire on you if you get constant cravings from them, so you don’t have to include them in a frugal diet if you feel best on a more “primal” eating plan. I save so much money (and feel AMAZING) eating these whole foods. Best of luck finding what works for you, Jen!
Helen Levashoff
I can’t seem to find natto that does not have MSG in the ingredients! 🙁
Jessie
I don’t know how much I can add to the already good comments – but here are two ideas:
1) If you can’t buy a whole chicken, maybe you could get chicken bones or chicken feet for making stock. I can often get about 6 pounds of bones or feet for $3. That’s a whole lot of stock!
2) I have heard that Trader Joes in my town will put out their expired food & sit it next to the dumpster. And lots of people come by & take it. Now the food is only just expired – so it’s still good. I actually have seen a video somewhere of people doing this at a Trader Joe’s (though in that video – they looked into the dumpster & pulled out stuff). But in the video they took out a TON of stuff. This won’t be the approach for everyone – but I’m just saying . . . .
c
I would check for any kind of ethnic store in your area. I get spices, seeds and shredded coconut at great prices at a local Lebanese store. For me spices make a world of difference in eating on a budget. I try to always have garlic, onions and ginger around . I got a bottle of chopped ginger at an Asian store for about $1 and have used it for over 8 months, cooking for two people. Another thing I do is save all my vegetable peals, the ends of the onion, the stems of fresh spices (which I grow in a pot), the tops of tomatoes, you get the idea, in the freezer and use them to make my chicken stock. I often freeze the stock in containers and ice cube trays so I have some for cooking and for making soup. When you’re on this tight of a budget it’s all about not wasting anything. Try using half water half milk to make it go farther in baking. Save the grease from bacon, chicken, and other meats to cook with. You might also look for opportunities to do things like gleaning. A couple of years back at the end of the straw berry season my mom and I were able to pick anything left in the fields for free, and then we used them to make simple sun preserves. Sweet potatoes are inexpensive here in the south, and I eat them with a little salt, pepper, butter, and cheese or whatever else I have on hand. I was listening to an interview with the author of nourishing traditions, and she said that the Weston A. Price foundation had a shopping guide and that things like SPAM were even on it, since they were trying to help people at all budgets eat better. I have to say that SPAM surprised me. I haven’t seen the shopping list but you can buy a copy for $1 from the Weston A. Price web sight. Scroll down to almost the bottom of this link and you will see it listed: http://www.westonaprice.org/membership/orderform.html
Stephanie
Hi Jen,
I’m a single Mum (I live in Oz) on a tight budget as well….when my sons go to their dad’s house 2 days every week I go into single girl/single meal mode.
One of my all time favourite meals is incredibly inexpensive, really simple, healthy and delicious. I swear I never get tired of it!
For this meal I keep a staple of the following in my cupboard…
– A packet of soba or udon noodles (wholemeal) (from asian grocery stores or asian section of supermarket),
– a 10 pack of miso powder sachets,
– a bottle of sweet chilli sauce,
– a can of coconut milk
(I buy all of these things organic and fairly cheap from my local organic co-op, but if necessary just substitute for versions of what you can afford at your local store).
Then weekly I buy different veggies to add to the noodle soup, like various kinds of chinese greens, cabbage, spinach, broccoli, corn, pumpkin etc…take your pick of what you prefer, but choose veggies that don’t need much cooking time.
I pre-chop my veggies. Then in the three minutes that it takes to cook the noodles (in 2 cups of water) I grab a large soup bowl. I put into the bowl 4 tablespoons coconut cream/milk, a sachet of miso powder, a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce, and all the thinly sliced and diced veggies. Once noodles are done, I pour them (and the hot cooking water) into the soup bowl, stir and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then just eat and enjoy!
Each bowl costs me no more than $1.50 (aussie dollars!).
Cameo
Jen’s dilemma and request reminded me about a story I heard about sometime back where a couple challenged themselves to live on $1 a day! They were able to do it, barely, and found that in doing it, they were limited to foods that were not nutritious. They continue to blog now that their initial experiment is over and if you are interested, it’s at http://www.onedollardietproject.wordpress.com. There may be some ideas there.
I wanted to suggest what Kimi said and recommend buying in-season produce. Things that you can buy at Farmer’s Markets, those grocery outlet stores, or from the farm directly that you can buy in bulk now and freeze easily to get you through the winter: peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and any other freezable fruits & veggies. Through a fundraiser last fall, I was able to get boxes of apples & pears for $12 each. I spent many hours peeling and foodsaving/canning and enjoyed “fresh” fruit all winter.
Other than that, I can’t add any more without just repeating what others have said already. Buying things in season has been huge for us this year. If you think of supply and demand. When foods are “in-season” the supply is abundant so price goes down and if you can get it direct from the farm, you eliminate the cost of transporting and stocking store shelves and feel good knowing you are supporting a local farmer. Good luck!
Jen
OK, you guys blow me away. 😀 lizzykristine: Oh! I love the applesauce idea–I never even thought of that. Much cheaper than maple syrup (which I also love). Plus, I live in a prime apple area, so I can probably get good local deals. Lauren: by “Kroger meat roll” do you mean ground beef (affectionately called “tube-0-beef” by myself)? That’s one of my once ever other month staples. 🙂 One month, it’s a big bag of frozen chicken breasts, the next month it’s a 3LB tube-o-beef. Kimi, I’ve completely forgotten, is there a recipe/how-to for refried beans here? Anybody else got a refried beans recipe? I really like refried beans and am slooooowly working on enjoying the non-refried version (soups, etc.)
Chris Kerston
When my wife and I first got married we lived on a very similar budget. We made all of our meals from scratch which saves tremendously. The other thing we did is buy in bulk. It sounds hard at first because you’re already strapped for cash but when we found a good deal we jumped on it and bought all we were able to afford. That way we could get something in season that was cheap like those cucumbers Kimi mentioned and we could freeze stuff can it to enjoy it all year. Having a big chest freezer was a huge help!
Also we tried to eat only 2 meals a day that were more nutrient dense. Usually this means a big breakfast of either eggs or oatmeal which are both affordable and give you energy for the day, and then a sensible hearty dinner.
Another tip that is often overlooked for people on a budget is cull cows. You can often buy an old cow from any rancher for literally pennies on the dollar and have a local butcher come slaughter the animal there on the ranch. Ask around but a lot of ranchers don’t feed their cows any grain. These animals were intended to have calves year after year not to be sent to a feedlot so you don’t necesarily have to go to a strictly grassfed operation to get this. Sometimes you can get a younger one that is either infertile, or maybe its a bad feed year and the rancher is just getting rid of them. Even if they are older animals you can still make great ground beef and stew meat. I always ask the butcher to put at least 20% fat back into the ground. He often complains because the fat on older cows is yellow but I tell him I don’t care, its just from all the beta-carotene in the grass she’s been eating. In the end it’s not the best meat you will ever eat in your life but it makes good hamburger and its much healthier than what you are getting in canned soup! Best of all if you can afford to pay for it all at once its a really really cheap way to have meat year round. You can also split the cost and share it with a few friends.
The best thing though that we found we could do though was grow our own food. Depending on where you live you can almost always grow a garden even if its just herbs in a window box, and almost all dwellings can grow rabbits which can produce a lot of meat in a year and are very simple to butcher yourself. Three or Four rabbits over a year can rival the amount of meat a steer will produce with their multiple litters. If you have more land you can plant a bigger garden which will provide tons of wonderful vegetables over the summer. Hogs and chickens also take up very little space and can provide you with meat and eggs from your table scraps and garden waste.
If these aren’t an option usually you can find a local community farm or a CSA farm that will trade labor one day a week for a weekly share of fruits and veggies.
With a little practice and some trial and error it gets really easy and pretty soon you won’t even need to go to the grocery store.
BEST OF LUCK!
Jessica
Hi! There are a lot of great ideas here…
I do have to say that I don’t know about the veggie comment. I have read so much that says veggies are so good for us. Not all raw, but cooked.
Jessica
gojigirl
I’ll try not to repeat all the great suggestions already made. 🙂 My goal this year has been to feed my family of 4 (DH, pregnant me, 4yo, 2yo) for $50/week. I don’t always make it, but I’m usually close. 🙂
What works for me:
–Along the lines of ethnic stores – shopping at Amish/Mennonite/Country stores. I can get bulk pantry items for cheap! example: steel cut oats for under 50 cents a pound. I also purchase: flour, grain, sugar, spices, in season produce
–Buying as close to the source as possible. Every few months I get cheese & butter from a cheese factory (yes, I live in WI, not available everywhere). I’m able to get good quality cheese for 1/2 the price the grocery store is charging. I also buy potatoes & onion in bulk from a potato farm (this winter I got 100# of potatoes & 50# of onions – all high quality – for maybe $35. They held great in my basement. I get eggs from a local man for $1.25/dz, and organic raw milk for $4/gal. Once our growing season gets under way I’ll visit farmer’s markets (get to know a vendor & they’ll often discount for you) and buy produce in bulk at farms for preserving. Ditto with apple orchards. In the fall I’ll help butcher/process pastured chickens & get them for $6 each! Also buying beef & pork in bulk (splitting with friends or family) from a farmer.
–When I find something on sale I spend as much as I can on it. This is possible by having my bulk staples.
–Do you know anyone who enjoys hunting? A pastor that we visited while on a missions trip was able to feed his family quite well on very limited income b/c his coworker (he still had to work a secular job) loved to hunt but didn’t need all the meat & fish. If you’re willing, it’s easy to cut up a deer – takes an afternoon, and provides you with 70-100# of meat.
–I try to cook nutrient/calorie dense meals that will provide us with leftovers. This is what we eat for lunch most days – much cheaper than having to buy separate food.
–Along the same lines, I often prepare extra & freeze it before cooking. This might work best in your case, since you are single – prepare a meal for 4, and divide it, putting 1/2 in the freezer for another time. Now you’ve got tonight’s supper & tomorrow’s lunch, plus a buffer for another week when you bought a great sale item. 😉
–I’ll repeat this one – look for a CSA or farmer who is willing to trade your labor for produce/food items. One of my friends just told me this morning that she & her husband will be helping on a farm and will receive all the organic produce, eggs, & chicken they want in exchange. Sounds like a great deal to me!
–Learn to make as many things yourself as you can. I noticed you said you eat a lot of mexican meals – have you ever tried making your own tortillas? Unless you have a great mexican store near you, it is definitely cheaper to make yourself. Flour tortillas are pretty easy too! Other things to make – bread, kefir, granola, soup, breakfast burritos, pretty much any frozen convenience meal.
–A couple nourishing meal ideas (prices are what I paid in the midwest using tips above, could be substantially cheaper in many cases if I hadn’t chosen organic) from my meal log last week: Cheesy scalloped potatoes & ham $5 total for 6 servings; chicken alfredo $5.50 total for 7 servings; sweet & sour pork $4.50 total for 5 servings. While these don’t freeze the greatest, they can easily be scaled down.
I’m so used to shopping this way that when I do need to buy prepackaged items (to contribute to a set meal plan for a larger group) I find I spend a lot more money than normal.
Kael
While we’re on the subject of frugality, I am wondering if anyone has researched cost-effective water purifiers? All the “good” ones I’ve found are very expensive, and all the reasonably priced ones aren’t “good enough” (for example, the Brita filters out little to no fluoride). Any suggestions?
Karen Baldwin
I didn’t have time to read all the comments so I apologize if this is a repeat of another comment. My biggest money saver is to make a menu of all 3 meals I eat each day and to stick to it. I have found if I take the time to think through my meals and use parts of one meal in another I can save time too, ie: if I cook rice for dinner one night have something with leftover rice the following day for lunch.
Good Luck!
tina
Kael-
I have six one gallon glass jars that orignally had apple cider in them. I drank the apple cider and then over time used the empty glass jars for water. I get the water at my local health food store (Vitamin Cottage.) The water is reverse osmosis. I then add Concentrace mineral supplement to the water. It costs me $.25 per gallon for the water. I’ve been doing this for three years and works out perfectly. It’s cheap and I only use glass so there is never any worry about the water being stored in plastic or run through a filter that’s made of plastic.
Michelle @ Find Your Balance
Wow, what a great topic and so many super tips! My favorite nourishing, cheap-as-heck foods are: Organic quinoa, red lentils, sunflower seeds, and bok choy! Maybe not all together, but these are all nutritious, shelf stable (besides bok choy), quick to cook and versatile. I buy the grains, beans and seeds in bulk at the co-op or Whole Foods.
Paula
If you want a very inexpensive source for meat, I highly recommend leg quarters (the leg/thigh still attached with the skin on). Where we live, they can go for as low as .29 cents/pound. No, they are not organic, but they are far more flavorful than breasts and can stretch over many meals, plus they have the bones/skin.
Also, there is a program called Angel Food Ministries that buys food in bulk and sells it at a reduced rate for anyone and everyone. You start with a basic box of food and can “add-on” packages of veggies, meats, etc . . . . I think the basic box starts around 29.00. If you google them, you can see their menus. I am thinking about participating in this so we can spend the remainder of our money on good milk, butter and eggs. Don’t forget salvage groceries either! They are a great source for staples and canned goods. I scored about fifteen cans of salmon for around 1.25 a can!
gojigirl
I’ll try not to repeat all the great suggestions already made. 🙂 My goal this year has been to feed my family of 4 (DH, pregnant me, 4yo, 2yo) for $50/week. I don’t always make it, but I’m usually close. 🙂
What works for me:
–Along the lines of ethnic stores – shopping at Amish/Mennonite/Country stores. I can get bulk pantry items for cheap! example: steel cut oats for under 50 cents a pound. I also purchase: flour, grain, sugar, spices, in season produce
–Buying as close to the source as possible. Every few months I get cheese & butter from a cheese factory (yes, I live in WI, not available everywhere). I’m able to get good quality cheese for 1/2 the price the grocery store is charging. I also buy potatoes & onion in bulk from a potato farm (this winter I got 100# of potatoes & 50# of onions – all high quality – for maybe $35. They held great in my basement. I get eggs from a local man for $1.25/dz, and organic raw milk for $4/gal. Once our growing season gets under way I’ll visit farmer’s markets (get to know a vendor & they’ll often discount for you) and buy produce in bulk at farms for preserving. Ditto with apple orchards. In the fall I’ll help butcher/process pastured chickens & get them for $6 each! Also buying beef & pork in bulk (splitting with friends or family) from a farmer.
–When I find something on sale I spend as much as I can on it. This is possible by having my bulk staples.
–Do you know anyone who enjoys hunting? A pastor that we visited while on a missions trip was able to feed his family quite well on very limited income b/c his coworker (he still had to work a secular job) loved to hunt but didn’t need all the meat & fish. If you’re willing, it’s easy to cut up a deer – takes an afternoon, and provides you with 70-100# of meat.
–I try to cook nutrient/calorie dense meals that will provide us with leftovers. This is what we eat for lunch most days – much cheaper than having to buy separate food.
–Along the same lines, I often prepare extra & freeze it before cooking. This might work best in your case, since you are single – prepare a meal for 4, and divide it, putting 1/2 in the freezer for another time. Now you’ve got tonight’s supper & tomorrow’s lunch, plus a buffer for another week when you bought a great sale item. 😉
–I’ll repeat this one – look for a CSA or farmer who is willing to trade your labor for produce/food items. One of my friends just told me this morning that she & her husband will be helping on a small farm and will receive all the organic produce, eggs, & chicken they want in exchange. Sounds like a great deal to me!
–Learn to make as many things yourself as you can. I noticed you said you eat a lot of mexican meals – have you ever tried making your own tortillas? Unless you have a great mexican store near you, it is definitely cheaper to make yourself. Flour tortillas are pretty easy too! Other things to make – bread, kefir, granola, soup, breakfast burritos, pretty much any frozen convenience meal.
–A couple nourishing meal ideas (prices are what I paid in the midwest using tips above, could be substantially cheaper in many cases if I hadn’t chosen organic) from my meal log last week: Cheesy scalloped potatoes & ham $5 total for 6 servings; chicken alfredo $5.50 total for 7 servings; sweet & sour pork $4.50 total for 5 servings. While these don’t freeze the greatest, they can easily be scaled down.
I’m so used to shopping this way that when I do need to buy prepackaged items (to contribute to a set meal plan for a larger group) I find I spend a lot more money than normal.
Rachael
Jen, I am a single young woman who is also on a budget. I will be entering college this fall, and I will not be using a meal plan (which means I will be making all of my meals on a very tight budget), and college dorms have very limited cooking space! I should also mention that I’m a vegetarian, so I try my best to get my nutrients from other sources. Here are a few things I have learned (though I still have lots to learn about frugality!):
-Limited budget means scrimping on a great many things, but not on fruit and veggies. They are a must for me, so I like to buy whatever fruits are cheap and/or in season. Enter bananas–they are delicious, extremely frugal, and help to add more fruit to my diet. I use them in oatmeal, on sandwiches, in a bowl of granola and yogurt, or just dipped in peanut butter. Oranges are also a frugal fruit, and peaches can be, depending on the time of year.
-Kimi made a wonderful point with potatoes and pasta–they are cheap, filling, and healthy! A simple baked potato with a tossed salad is one of the easiest, most inexpensive meals I can think of. And you can use leftover vegetables to make a pasta primavera.
-Peanut butter. I love peanut butter. Anytime, anywhere. There have been weeks when I wasn’t sure I could afford to feed myself, but peanut butter was there! I buy organic peanut butter from Costco (it is a great deal!), but you probably don’t have a Costco membership, so any kind of natural peanut butter will work (it costs more than the hydrogenated stuff, but it sure is worth it). It is rich in protein and just a couple of tablespoons goes a long way in keeping me full! Try it spread on a tortilla with honey and banana slices. Or, on a homemade oatmeal muffin, or in a frugal smoothie of milk or yogurt, bananas, PB, and a bit of honey (it makes a very filling breakfast!).
-Yogurt is probably one of my most frequently enjoyed foods. I make my own using raw milk (but you could use storebought milk), and it is one of the easiest ways to save money. It is so much cheaper than storebought yogurt, and you can make in large quantities (it keeps for a long time!). Most of the time I use the crockpot method, which you can read about here: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html. Yogurt has both protein and calcium, but it is also full of healthy bacteria, so I like to eat it for breakfast to get my digestive system off to a good start. Accompanied by the aformentioned fruit and granola, it is simply delicious.
-Granola. Another one of my favorite foods. Storebought granola is waaaay pricey, and I’m not sure why because it is both simple and inexpensive to make. I have tried a whole bunch of recipes, but my hands-down favorite is the soaked granola recipe from Passionate Homemaking: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/07/homemade-granola.html. This recipe makes quite a lot of granola, so it lasts me for about a month. Whenever I see a good deal on rolled oats, I always snatch them up. I have found those enormous cartons of Quaker oats for $2 each.
-Beans are so versatile and so nutritious. I have recently been enjoying “sloppy lentils” (sloppy jo’s made with lentils instead of meat). I buy lentils for about $1.50/bag, and use about 1/5 of the bag for this recipe. I use homemade buns, but you could buy some, or just use pita, tortillas, or sandwich bread (whatever you have on hand). This meal ends up costing me less than a dollar (a bit more if you add the cheese, but yummier)! Here is the recipe (again, from Passionate Homemaking): http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/05/f-n-sloppy-lentils.html. I also enjoy making black bean burgers (there are lots of recipes for these on the internet), which are another extremely frugal meal. Or a 3-bean chili is always good, with some canned tomato paste, spices, and leftover vegetables thrown in. Add some homemade cornbread, and voila! A meal that will supply enough leftovers to last several days (the leftover chili could also be frozen). Dried beans, by the way, are by far the most frugal route. Even though they involve more preparation, they will save lots of money in the long run!
-To echo everyone else, eggs. I buy free range pastured eggs for about $2.50/dozen from a local farm. Since the farm is a bit of a drive, I buy four or so dozen at a time. That way I only have to make the trip every couple months.
-Lastly, bread stuffs. Making yeasted breads can be a time-consuming process, so if you do not feel you have the time or money to invest in doing so, I would advise making your own tortillas. They can be a great alternative to sandwich bread at any meal, and they are very simple and inexpensive to make! I have had great success using this soaked tortilla recipe: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/04/whole-wheat-tortillas.html. They will keep in the fridge for several weeks, or you can freeze some of them with no problem.
Well, I think that’s all I’ve got for now. I hope all this has been helpful to you. There are so many great suggestions from other readers that I have learned quite a lot just by reading comments!
crazy4boys
This has been good motivation for me to use our grocery money more wisely and to look for more nutrient dense options.
I’m not sure if it was mentioned previously but fried rice is a great meal for using whole grains plus a bit of meat and whatever veggies you have on hand. Lo mein type dishes also work well – saute some veggies and a small handful of whatever meat then add the cooked noodles and some sort of seasoning.
Rosita
If you can find a farmer who sells lamb, see if they have an older sheep. We were able to do this this past spring. We asked about buying a whole lamb and he said sure and then asked if we would be interested in a 1 yr old sheep he had for 1/2 the price of the lamb. There isn’t much market for older sheep. So we got more meat, at 1/2 the price.
Jessica
Kimi, I have an unrelated question. I remember awhile back you talking about being on the Body Ecology diet. What was your experience with it and was it hard to do? I am considering it for my children, but for everyone overall. One of them is developmentally delayed and one is showing signs of adhd. Anyways, I am due with another baby in August, plus we have three year old as well, so I’m not sure how we could do the diet change.
If you’ve written a previous post on it, point me in the right direction 🙂
Jessica
Jessica,
With all you have going on & baby due…for now it may just be easier to really watch your childrens diet. Meaning make sure they only eat whole grain, raw milk, veggies, good meats & so on! I would say NO sugars, dyes, processed foods & so forth on that road! I would give them a good source of probiotics as well.
I have several little ones too & I can see such a difference in my kids when we eat good & when they don’t behavior wise so I have gotten very strict on their nutrition. If we have a fun food I make sure I make it & it has good ingredients in it!
Hope that helps
Jessica
CHEESESLAVE
Rachael –
You have a lot of great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing them.
I agree with you on the beans, potatoes, eggs, etc.
However, peanut butter is something you might not want to eat often. Peanuts are super high in phytic acid — which prevents mineral absorption and causes cavities and bone loss.
If you can buy peanuts and soak them and make your own, then I think it’s fine, but I wouldn’t eat a lot of peanut butter from the grocery store.
Courtney
Kimi,
I was searching for information about kefir grains and sourdough starter, and I’ve come across some websites that are basically listings of people all over the world willing to share their kefir grains for little to no cost. I found a lady about 15 miles from me who said she’ll give me free kefir grains if I’ll come and get them. I also found a place that will send me a sourdough starter if I send them a SASE. Do you think these are legit? They sure seem so, just people who want to help others be healthier, and who want to see these cultures remain alive and useful. If this works, it’d be an excellent frugal way to get started making sourdough bread and kefir. Also seems like a great way to get to know people who have been making this stuff for awhile. Should I have red flags here? Just wanted to get an expert’s opinion. You know that saying about “if it’s too good to be true…” 🙂
KH: Courtney, I think that a lot of people have used websites like this with good success, but you would definitely want to feel comfortable with the people running and giving samples away! I don’t have any personal experience using one. Does anyone else have anything to share about these types of places?
Brooke
Our favorite cheap and inexpensive meal is to make a HUGE batch of chili. (Either vegetarian, or with ground beef or turkey.) All of the ingredients are very inexpensive, and my favorite recipe is as follows:
1.25 pounds ground beef or turkey (if using)
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans of organic beans of your choice (black, navy, kidney) – or equivalent in soaked and cooked dried beans
32 oz salsa of your choice, you pick your heat! 🙂
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
Heat the oil in a medium pot, then add the onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add the meat, if using. Add spices and simmer for a moment, then add the beans and salsa. The salsa eliminates the need to buy peppers, chiles and tomatoes, and we can often find great organic bottled salsas on sale at our coop!
We stretch this meal by using the chili as a topping on baked potatoes. We buy organic baked potatoes…conventional are HORRIBLE pesticide harborers. I pierce six or seven large potatoes after I’ve cleaned them, then add the to the bottom of my slow cooker. No water, no extra ingredients needed. Cook the potatoes on low heat in your slow cooker for 8 hours or so, they come out perfectly done. We use the extra potatoes to make fried potatoes the next morning, or to mash up the following night. Cheap and filling!
Amy
Just want to respond to the water filter request – I think the gravity water purifiers (Berkey, Aqua Rain, etc.) are supposed to be the cheapest per gallon and also the best. They will make water in India or Afghanistan pure and supposedly, missionaries use them for that reason. I think it’s something like a penny per gallon or maybe it was 2-cents – very, very cheap! I also saw a site that showed you how to make your own using the special filters and some plastic buckets! Will find the link if someone wants.
Milehimama
Water filter- I recommend the Berkey. It’s expensive at first, but it makes so many gallons that it is actually CHEAPER. I paid $200 – it will make 6000 gallons! I initially got it for our hurricane supplies, because it will purify (not just filter) any water, even creek water for drinking! Also, we have so many people around here, we’d need 2-3 Britas just to keep up. With the Berkey, in an emergency, one should allow 1 gal. per person per day for drinking/cooking. I have 10 people in my family, and the Berkey will keep us in pure water for 600 days! I was in Ike and when the electricity went off, all of the water supplies were contaminated (at the treatment plant, since the pumps went offline).
Refried beans – heat a tiny bit of oil in a pan. Add a poblano or jalapeno (depending on how much heat you like) and cook until it starts to blister. Remove chile, add onions and garlic, saute until soft, add beans and mash. You can peel and chop the chile to add, too. Salt to taste!
Margaret Perry
Someone may have said this already, but if you don’t have a black thumb, like I do, then you should grow herbs and lettuce at least. Both grow quickly, produce a lot, and are easy to raised from seed. Plus, they will add a fresh and flavourful punch to any meal, no matter how bland (pasta+a drop of oil, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped herbs is basically the simplest quickest, most delightful thing one can cook).
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship
I have a refried bean recipe at my site that might help you (it could be made less fancy – and less expensive – by taking out the lime juice and the cheese): http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/04/07/recipe-connection-homemade-refried-beans/
I would also caution you to price check the Angel Food boxes – I found them to be more expensive than most sale prices in my area. ??
What an amazing resource this post is becoming! Kimi, I can’t WAIT for Pennywise Platter Thursdays!