Really healthy eating on a budget

JennyP

suki1964 wrote: »

What's the definition of healthy though ?

Mine is a balanced diet that incorporates all food groups

I'm also more then happy to ear butter, use lard, drink full fat milk, full fat yoghurt and would quite happily eat my own body weight in cheese if I could get away with it not landing on my bum :rotfl:

Some would recoil in horror about the above due to the fat content, I recoil in horror at the added ingredients of a so called healthier alternative

Eating healthily is very subjective

Me too.
I go a lot on what Michael Mosley says.
Personally I think full fat dairy is fine in moderation. I love it too. And because of the drugs I take, it's good for me because I need extra calcium!

I agree it's subjective.

My idea of healthy is:
Lots of veg
Full fat yoghurt and some milk and cheese
Nuts, berries and other low GI fruit eg pears and apples
Oily fish
Pulses

Not keen on eating bread and pasta.

Michael Mosley says better avoid potatoes too but I think that's a step too far at the moment for me.

Husband is veggie so I end up eating little meat. To answer previous questions, I mostly cook one meal but occasionally add meat to mine at the final stage, after I've removed his portion.

JennyP

I am doing most of this stuff already. Buying big bags of things like dates, oats, ground almonds, mostly from a really good cooperative when we're visiting family up north. Prices there are pretty good.

We eat sardines regularly.

I bulk cook and freeze portions. Not as much as I would like as we live on a boat at the moment and our freezer is small. I buy a bag of chillis, use one and freeze the rest and that kind of thing.

Just made a four week food plan to use up the contents of our freezer and cupboards. Even though we have a lot of quorn in (it was on special offer), and some portions of frozen soup and lots of pulses, oats etc, I still calculate using mysupermarket that I'll be spending £20 a week. When you consider that's AFTER using the contents of the cupboards and freezer, it's a lot. I read blogs and the Facebook £1 a day group and think how???

Each week, I'll need to buy a lemon, sardines, small pot of cream, fresh veg to accompany each meal, tinned tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk, milk, eggs, yoghurt, blueberries, cheese and bread for hubby. It's coming out at £15 - £20.

Maybe I am doing ok and I just don't realise that I am?

tori.k

Another help to reduce costs is more seasonal eating, traditional salads food will be expensive in winter.
We eat mostly fresh veg, due to DH being diabetic I don't find it overly expensive I fill a box at the greengrocer each week and plan my meals around that.
We tend to eat a lot of slaw based salads in winter broccoli being a favorite in a lemon dressing rather than the summer leaf salads, try looking at more Eastern European salads recipes for winter.
We also simplified some of our meals, DH doesn't like to cook but will manage jacket potatoes or throw an omelette together for himself on the odd days.
We don't use a lot of bread products but I do like flat breads with a Dahl or curry they are easy and cheap to make and also double up as pizza bases.
I find the winter cheaper then summer to eat healthier with roast dinners and thick stews tend to stop us looking for snacks so much.
If you have a farm foods near you they do good deals on frozen fruits, but going forward if you have the freezer space it's worth buying things like peppers, berries in the summer when cheap and freezing your own, in still using the last of the summer peppers but on tinned & bottled tomatoes until at least June.
Good luck

THIRZAH

T***o do big bags of frozen mixed imperfect fruit which might be cheaper than just blueberries. I tend to use milk in my overnight oats and vary the fruit-sometimes fruit from the freezer, sometimes dried fruit such as dates or apricots (bought when on offer) and sometimes any leftover fruit. We always have fruit instead of pudding in the evening and at this time of year we'll sometimes have something like baked plums or a strawberry and rhubarb compote using spanish strawberries and rhubarb from the freezer. I put any leftovers in my overnight oats.

JennyP

tori.k wrote: »

Another help to reduce costs is more seasonal eating, traditional salads food will be expensive in winter.
We eat mostly fresh veg, due to DH being diabetic I don't find it overly expensive I fill a box at the greengrocer each week and plan my meals around that.
We tend to eat a lot of slaw based salads in winter broccoli being a favorite in a lemon dressing rather than the summer leaf salads, try looking at more Eastern European salads recipes for winter.
We also simplified some of our meals, DH doesn't like to cook but will manage jacket potatoes or throw an omelette together for himself on the odd days.
We don't use a lot of bread products but I do like flat breads with a Dahl or curry they are easy and cheap to make and also double up as pizza bases.
I find the winter cheaper then summer to eat healthier with roast dinners and thick stews tend to stop us looking for snacks so much.
If you have a farm foods near you they do good deals on frozen fruits, but going forward if you have the freezer space it's worth buying things like peppers, berries in the summer when cheap and freezing your own, in still using the last of the summer peppers but on tinned & bottled tomatoes until at least June.
Good luck

We move to a house soon and will have quite a bit of land so I hope to grow some berries and veg too - though in the past, when I tried to grow veg, I spent more on compost and seeds etc than I saved on veg. I guess I have to do that carefully.

There isn't a farmfoods near us currently but there might be when we move.

Was given a spiraliser two years ago which we unpacked this week and used for the first time. I think that will be good for making slaw based salads. We actually spiralised broccoli stalks which I must admit I would normally throw. They made a nice alternative to pasta. Philips just kindly sent me a grater attachment for my food processor free of charge as I lost mine. So that might be good for making salads too.

I am really glad I posted as I feel inspired by all your replies! Thank you!

kathrynha

JennyP wrote: »

Each week, I'll need to buy a lemon, sardines, small pot of cream, fresh veg to accompany each meal, tinned tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk, milk, eggs, yoghurt, blueberries, cheese and bread for hubby. It's coming out at £15 - £20.

Maybe I am doing ok and I just don't realise that I am?

Doesn't sound like you're doing too bad, but comments on that list:
Lemon - what are you using it for? if it's just the juice then buying lemon juice would be cheaper. Or buying a bag of 3/4 lemons is cheaper.
Small pot of cream - not the cheapest or healthiest thing, but if you need it every week a larger pot used over 2 weeks would be cheaper if you can find it with a good enough shelf life
Fresh veg for every meal - frozen is cheaper
Tinned tomatoes - value range are fine. Always go for plum not chopped as the quality is better
Blueberries - cheaper frozen
Bread and cheese - could you go for a cheaper brand?

JennyP

kathrynha wrote: »

Doesn't sound like you're doing too bad, but comments on that list:
Lemon - what are you using it for? if it's just the juice then buying lemon juice would be cheaper. Or buying a bag of 3/4 lemons is cheaper.
Small pot of cream - not the cheapest or healthiest thing, but if you need it every week a larger pot used over 2 weeks would be cheaper if you can find it with a good enough shelf life
Fresh veg for every meal - frozen is cheaper
Tinned tomatoes - value range are fine. Always go for plum not chopped as the quality is better
Blueberries - cheaper frozen
Bread and cheese - could you go for a cheaper brand?

Lemon - for an otherwise cheap sardine recipe. It uses the zest unfortunately or I would use juice which we keep in the fridge. I will give it a go without the zest next time and see what the difference is.
I buy a small pot of cream and use half of it in one recipe and half in another. Also I don't think full fat dairy isn't healthy so it's fine from that point of view. But yes, I could go for a larger pot with a good best before.
I could look at frozen veg but we don't have enough freezer space on the boat.
Bread - we usually get YS bread at Morrisons. Cheese - the one I buy is almost always on special offer!
Tinned tomatoes - I don't buy the value one but the one I buy is only 5p a can more.

kathrynha

JennyP wrote: »

I could look at frozen veg but we don't have enough freezer space on the boat.

I find carrots and sweetcorn are fine tinned as another cheaper option. Other veg isn't good in a tin in my opinion

JennyP

kathrynha wrote: »

I find carrots and sweetcorn are fine tinned as another cheaper option. Other veg isn't good in a tin in my opinion

I don't like tinned carrots but I love tinned sweetcorn. Hardly ever eat it so thanks for reminding me.

Shifting to a new routine is tricky sometimes.

tori.k

JennyP wrote: »

We move to a house soon and will have quite a bit of land so I hope to grow some berries and veg too - though in the past, when I tried to grow veg, I spent more on compost and seeds etc than I saved on veg. I guess I have to do that carefully.
/QUOTE]

Gardening is horrible expensive , but it keeps me in a job so I shouldn't moan
Keep the cost down grow only what you use that's expensive.
I grow a lot of soft fruits, courgette, tomatoes herbs and salad greens and bits but don't give ground to things like carrots, onions and potatoes as they are cheap enough to buy in all year.
I still have to buy in summer raspberries did well last year autumn did nothing but every little helps.
Real seeds.co.uk is a great place for some interesting things they don't deal in F1 so you can self harvest your own maybe find a seedswap in your new area to keep cost down