Staying healthy on a budget?

~Chameleon~

Widelats wrote: »

For the basics of healthy food shopping, per week, is this: 7 chicken breasts 1 a day, skimmed milk and cereal in morning, eat rice with the chicken breast, have tuna salad sandwiches for tea, buy fruit for snacks.

Not a healthy breakfast option. Ditch the cereals and always use full-fat milk/dairy. Better off eating eggs - scrambled eggs on wholegrain/seed toast would be my preferred option. Or, if you have a little time to cook then eggs (poached or scrambled) with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, spinach and avocado is one of my favourites

stir_crazy

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Not a healthy breakfast option. Ditch the cereals and always use full-fat milk/dairy. Better off eating eggs - scrambled eggs on wholegrain/seed toast would be my preferred option. Or, if you have a little time to cook then eggs (poached or scrambled) with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, spinach and avocado is one of my favourites

I've found a new love for porridge in the mornings, I eat breakfast at work so i usually end up having fruit salad with natural yog, microwaved eggs or microwaved porridge.

~Chameleon~

stir_crazy wrote: »

I've found a new love for porridge in the mornings, I eat breakfast at work so i usually end up having fruit salad with natural yog, microwaved eggs or microwaved porridge.

Ahhh yes, porridge! Great winter warmer. I make a porridge "mix" into which I shove various seeds, nuts, dried coconut and fruit, and flavour with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc depending on my mood

stir_crazy

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Ahhh yes, porridge! Great winter warmer. I make a porridge "mix" into which I shove various seeds, nuts, dried coconut and fruit, and flavour with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc depending on my mood

Sounds lovely, I think I'll be trying that.

lee111s

Pfft carbs in the morning? A nice bit of meat or eggs and some fats is what you want.

We're much more insulin sensitive when we wake up than in the afternoon and are more likely to store fat if we eat carbs early in the day.

With regards to eating healthy and people saying meat/fish is expensive...find out when your local supermarkets put out the reduced meat. I go to Asda every Saturday morning around 10am and buy a bunch of meat. I save around £20-30 each week compared to paying the full price. I freeze most of it for that week. So much so I had to buy an extra freezer to put in the garage!

I go to the local wholesale butchers and get 5kg of chicken breast for £19.99, half the price of chicken breast from the supermarket. 36 eggs for £2.50. Sirloin steak at about £2 per steak and they're a decent size.

When tuna is on offer for £1 a tin I buy a boat load, it keeps for ages.

Aldi or Lidl for fruit and veg, quite cheap and I find it lasts much longer than that from big supermarkets.

paulineb_2

Idiophreak wrote: »

No, that's true...but the OP didn't say anything about not eating meat or fish...

This could turn into a very long thread

Poster 1: !!!!!!!s are a good natural source of energy and potassium".
paulineb: "Not so good if you dont eat bananas"

Poster 2: "Lentils are a good source of protein and excellent for bulking out smaller quantities of meat".
paulineb: "Not so good if you dont eat lentils"

Poster 3: "Switching from semi to skimmed milk is an effortless way of cutting out a couple of grams of fat from your diet"
paulineb: "Not so good if you dont drink milk"

And so it goes on...

I think, actually, it would be easier if we just take it as a given that if someone suggests something that isn't suitable for your particular dietary requirements you could...just...not eat/drink it?

Actually, I dont really think that there was a need to call me out for the post I made.

One post, a few lines and people comment on this forum all the time about all sorts of things.

Some people do have allergies as well, I do, which means I cant eat certain products, we dont know anything about what the OP eats and what I said was one comment, lots of people dont eat meat.

Maybe we could take it as a given that if you dont like someones post you walk on by rather than nit picking it for no apparent reason

culpepper

Well blaming the government doesn't make you any fitter sadly or we would all be superhuman .

I wish swimming wasn't so expensive but most exercise doesn't have to cost anything.
workout at home on the floor.
Skip with a piece of rope or old electrical flex(indoors or outside if you make a space for it).
Run outside.
Don't smoke or drink too much alcohol.
Make your own weights ,there are lots if internet sites about it.
You can borrow library books about workouts.

Food wise keep it simple and have fruit instead of chocolate and biscuits.
Drink water more than tea or coffee .
Miss out the fat type spreads when you have sandwiches.
Make some carrot sticks to munch on as a snack for in between meals.

If you want to cycle and cant afford a bike, keep your eyes peeled on freecycle as there are often adult bikes offered.

carl1967

"You are your own gym"-thats the one i do but theres a fair few others on the internet -Prison workouts -bodyweight excercises etc.
All free-ish and dont require any equipment.
If you have a smartphone the YAYOG app is about 60p and keeps you motivated otherwise the books a couple of quid on Amazon.

thunderbird

some good free workouts here - http://www.bodyrock.tv/2013/09/28/30-day-i-real-time-challenge-instructions/

you do have to be a bit creative if you don't have the equipment

stevesb52

I bought a book for about £3 on Amazon called 'How to feed your family on £5 a day'. Most of the meals use wholefoods, a fair amount of veg and cheaper cuts of meat. They do work out to be cheaper and are filling, and, frankly, I think it's better than Jamie Oliver's glossy book that I bought at the same time for about 4x as much. Though I doubt the title is quite accurate.

Wrt fitness, I use 'the Gym', which is £15.99 a month where I live and then there's running/cycling/footy which, with the exception of footy, are free (although there is the initial investment...).