Healthy foods on a student's budget (1 Viewer)

[MissyBella]

I find that I spend ridiculous amounts of money on food. Most weeks I spend around $100 buying fresh fruit and veggies, tofu, chicken and fish, bread with grains in it, etc. My diet is pretty okay. However, that amount of money is not really fitting with my budget. Ideally I'd like to only spend around $50 per week on food - that is cheap, filling, healthy and NOT full of fat and carbs. I don't really eat out very often and I like variety in my diet. I don't know if my aims are completely out of whack or what I'm doing wrong.

I do tend to waste a lot of food - it goes off before I can eat it, or goes stale or I'm sick of it. I also don't have the time to cook a lot.

How much do you guys spend on food weekly, on average (if you do not live at home, or if you live at home but have to buy your own groceries)? and what types of food do you eat? Do I have unrealistic expectations that I can eat nutritious, healthy foods on a strict budget?

 

[Hagaren]

I buy those frozen single serve steamer packs of vegetables they are really convenient and you don't have to worry about using them quickly.

I keep a fair few bananas and cucumbers in my fridge to snack on & a small variety of other fruit, remember you can always go back and get more rather than have it expire.

Adding rice or pasta to a meal is a cheap and easy way of adding substance to it.

buy the woolworths grain bread it's like $2.30 a loaf.

Buy cheaper milk stuff like lite white is a rip off.

mi-goreng is cheap as hell and easy to add stuff to.

Pick up meat on special and if there is to much in the pack when you get it home divy it up into single serve portions in freezer bags and throw it in the fridge.

eggs are also quite cheap.

 

[MissyBella]

That's for that

how long does meat last, uncooked in the fridge?

 

[untitled....]

Go to Flemington markets. You can buy like an 8 kilo. carton of (half rotten) apples for 2 bucks!

Ohhh and campbells vegie soup; healthy as

 

[MissyBella]

Why would I want half rotten apples? >.<

 

[untitled....]

Because the other half is edible and its better than paying double the amount PER KILO.

 

[MissyBella]

ah! okay! I understand now! I read that like each of the apples were half rotten, rather than half the box being rotten! Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Hagaren]

That's for that

how long does meat last, uncooked in the fridge?

5 days max.

 

[dieburndie]

Make large servings of meals, and eat them over 2-3 days.
Even longer if you divide them into portions and freeze them.
Avoid buying some vegetables that are expensive fresh (although still get the cheaper ones if you want). Remember frozen vegetables have very close to equivalent nutritional value.
Eat a lot of rice, and noodles. Rice is especially cheap.
And try and cook as often as you can. You may say you don't have the time/energy, but the cost saving will surely be worth it.
Also, shop at Aldi.

As a single person, If you are cost efficient you shouldn't be spending more than $50-70 a week on food.

 

[undalay]

You should try not to buy fresh foods from supermarkets, as they don't always have the cheapest prices (in fact they can be quite inflated)

 

[PattieBoi]

Follow what half the members have said in this thread.

Also why not try shopping at Aldi? They're all pretty much the same and plus it's cheaper than Woolies or Coles.

 

[Uncle]

You can start by crossing off alcohol and marijuana.

Follow what half the members have said in this thread.

Also why not try shopping at Aldi? They're all pretty much the same and plus it's cheaper than Woolies or Coles.

The quality is mediocre though.

 

[melsc]

Try to shop at places like Aldi (most of their basics like bread pasta etc are very cheap) or markets (fruit and veg is much cheaper)

Also when you cook why not freeze left overs for another night or buy in bulk (e.g. meat) and separate into individual portions and freeze.

Also cook on the weekends and pop it in the fridge or freeze and just reheat, it takes pre planning.

When shopping have meals in mind and only buy what you need.

The quality is mediocre though.

Most of the food is actually quite good and even if you just buy basics like pasta and stuff it saves heaps

 

[scaredytiger]

buy meat on special, and freeze it.

dont buy lots of fruit & veges if you wont eat them. 2 apples are cheaper than the big bag you wont finish. buy your fruit & veges from a fruit&veg store/markets.

buy everything you can on special. this means stockpiling rice&pasta if you like specific brands.

cook meals that you can eat over several days. if you have a habit of getting sick of eating the same meal over several days, invest in plastic containers and freeze them in meal sized portions - easy meal.

you seem like a faux-vegetarian. if you arent, roasting lamb/pork/beef on a weekend will give you sandwich meat for a week. Even cheaper - silverside will do the same job.

if you are buying $5 juice(you know, the nice stuff), try not to.
alternatively - choose one brand. and only when that specific brand is on special are you allowed to buy juice.

buy thigh fillets, not chicken breast. they taste almost the same, but are heaps cheaper.

yay essay.


oh yeah - water is free. if you dont like your tap water, invest in a filter, not in more water.


also, im pretty sure $50 a week is a fairly small budget.

 

[boris]

i spend over $100 on food. i go through periods of cooking dinner everynight and making samiches at work and shit but it becomes tedious and quite expensive. i like the continental pasta stuff at coles that you can get 4 for $5. 4 days lunches for $5