How to Eat Well on a Budget

This blog stemmed from a short conversation I had over text messages with my Dad. It went a little something like this.:

Me: OMG DAD WE ONLY SPEND $40 ON GROCERIES FOR SEVEN MEALS THIS WEEK!!! I'M SO PROUD OF US!!!

Dad: Wow, I should start using your shopping list.

My Definition of Healthy: Eating foods that is enjoyable to both my tongue and my guts. (Sometimes this includes ice cream).

Well Father, here it is, with a little Charlotte-y commentary to go with it (as always:) )

The first and easiest step to eating on a budget is to be broke. That way, you don't have an option. If you are not broke but seem to find that food is a sink hole for your money, allocate your pay check/parent's fund money to a BUDGET. These are my categories for my personal budget:

-Utilities

-Rent

-Food

-Gas for car

-Savings (I have my savings in separate specific things because I find that once money has been given to a specific cause, it is a lot harder to take it out of savings to use.)

Food Budget

I'm not really sure how David and I came to this newly formed habit of spending no more than $50 MAX on food for seven meals in seven days ($48 last week and $46 this week), but I do know that I spend a lot of time on allrecipes.com looking for appetizing food. Some people might say, well obviously just buy cheaper foods. No.

Reasoning with Myself: Cheaper may be better for your budget now, but what about all your medical bills when you are 135 years old. It will cost you then and you will be mad that you didn't listen to me. It can be very easy to spend almost no money on food and save it all for something else (David's brother ate PB&J for 6 months and bought himself an iPhone) but the trick is to figure out how to do it in a healthy manner.

Finding a Balance: Eating healthy for cheap is much easier than one might think. If you are looking for whole grain, soy, organic blah blah blah, then no, it will probably be more expensive, but if you are looking to eat Parmesan Chicken with a fresh salad and a small side of noodles instead of spaghetti and meat sauce, then this is all very do-able.

Step 1: Eat more vegetables. A doctor once told me that the more naturally colorful the plant, the more nutrients. She also told me that if I ate the rainbow, I would have all my vitamins covered.

Step 2: Make your own stuff. Have you made home made mac & cheese? It's literally as easy as Kraft and you probably have all of the ingredients in your house right now. This will cut down on chemicals and your body will thank you. It is also cheaper. BBQ sauce is super easy to make in a slow cooker and you can make it taste the way you want, not how the bottle wants.

Step 3: Find healthy cheap recipes that you like and teach everyone in the house how to make them. Pride in cooking is not something to be ignored. And people (David) who prefer the good old kraft standard are more likely to eat say, kale, if they have made it and it tastes good and they are proud of it.

Step 4: Document. Before we go to the grocery store, we write three lists every week. List 1 is recipes that David and I are both willing to venture into. This is an ongoing list from week to week but we add to it. List 2 is the seven recipes for the week, and the ingredients for each dish. Find a balance. If you have steak one night, that will cost more, so head for two nights of different types of salads. List 3 is those same ingredients listed by location in the grocery store (meat, bread, veggies).

Step 5: Pay Attention. Actually look at your documentation. As you shop over time, you will begin to be aware of how much general meals cost. For example, home made lasagna is delicious and with cheeses and enough sauces costs about $30 to make in a large cake pan. Pulled Pork is about $8 with meat and the onion. Salad is wonderfully inexpensive and you can use the same vegetables for other meals during the week.

Step 6: Stick to the List. If you really have no money, walking into a wonderful grocery store full of ice cream and Cheese-Its can be MISERABLE. Having a list of things you can walk in, find, and walk out with, makes the process significantly less painful. We write down the price of each item and add up the total as we go so that there are no shocks at the end. (Extra perfect. When budgeting in the future, I refer back to my lists so I can gauge general prices.)

Step 7: Stock up. Chicken Breast Tenders freeze wonderfully. Just make sure to flatten out the baggies (each with one meal's worth of chicken) as much as possible so that they defrost easily too. There is also no such thing as too many onions in a house, and even frozen veggies are healthier than noodles and meat sauce, so grab some of those next time they are on sale.

Step 8: The Bs of cooking. Another doctor I went to told me that the way I prepare my food will make all the difference in its healthy-ness. When in the kitchen, only use cooking verbs that begin with B. Bake, Broil, BBQ, Boil, and whatever else you can think of. Example, instead of cutting up chicken and Frying it, cut it up, put it on a cookie sheet with some olive oil and a piece of tin foil and set the timer for 20 minutes. (Secret. It tastes better that way too! Perfectly crispy!)

Step 9: Equipment. Last week I found out that blenders are good for more than just tequila! Who would have thought. I now use my blender like a food processor. We have made bisque, BBQ sauce, pesto, and a few other healthy sauces that we have put over chicken and a small amount of noodles. My other pride and joy is my crock pot. A large one cost us $20 at Target and it has already paid off. Chili, pulled pork, soups, stews, sauces. The possibilities are endless. With these two things, I will rule the cooking world. They have transformed our diets 100%.

Step 10: Keep Your Chin Up. Last night we made homemade chocolate cake. So sue me. It was delicious and it was topped by home made frosting. I told myself it was healthier because it didn't come out of the box. Eat what you love and love what you eat and stick to your budget and you will find a way to make it work.

And to cap it all off, a very wise woman once told me, 

“ Just always remember to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full
and you will never go wrong.”

Thanks mom<3 b="b" nbsp="nbsp">


Our shopping list for this week:

Salad
-canned Black beans (.65)
-Corn (1.00)
-Celery (1.99)
-Cucumber (1.00)

Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sauce over Chicken and Pasta
-Chicken (5.19)
-Red Pepper (2.00)
-Goat Cheese (4.00)
-Pasta (1.00)

Burgers
-Meat (3.21)
-Cheese (2.00)
-Lettuce (1.03)
-Buns (3.00)

Sausage and kale Soup of Amazing-ness
-Sausage (5.75)
-Kale (2.00)
-Broth (Free Chicken stock if you buy bone in chicken and then boil the bones for a few hours)
-Potatoes (already had, 4.00 for large bag)

Chicken Brocoli Alfredo
-Chicken (already paid for, 5.19)
-Broccoli (already had, 2.50)
-Alfredo Sauce(2.00) (If I was doing other recipes with cream like bisque, quiche, or carbonara I would buy cream for all 3 for around 2.00)

Pesto Chicken
-Chicken (already paid for, 5.19)
-Basil (2.99)
-Brown Rice (already have, 2.00)
-Romanian Cheese (cheaper than parm., same effect, 2.79)
-olive oil and garlic (already had)

TOTAL: 41.06*
Individual Total: 20.53

* Added Goat Cheese and red pepper instead of 2 cheaper meals for this list.