So the past few weeks we've been living off little money and I never realized how much cheaper bad food is...I had to slack off my NUT diet and feel bad but bills had to be paid...

Does anyone else notice how having less money has influenced your eating?

When I had a great job I was able to buy organic fruits and veggies and eat low carb specialty breads but I'm making 25000 less a year than I did 3 years ago...I love my new job though and I hated the old one

First of all, congratulations on finding a job you love. A lot of people aren't that lucky. You're right, it can be a lot cheaper to eat trashy food. Ramen and mac and cheese cost a lot less than tilapia and fresh produce. But the cost to your health is tremendous. Try compromising. Maybe regular fruit instead of orrganic. Frozen steamer bags of veggies can be pretty cheap but provide quality.

You may not be able to buy premium products right now, but you can still make healthier choices. Best of luck to you and hang in there!

Yes! I always wonder if this is part of the reason that college freshmen gain the "freshman 15". Without mom and dad's $$, they eat cheap stuff - fast food, ramen noodles, etc. But, more than just being cheap, it's also easy.

You can definietly make healthy food on a tight budget. It just requires a lot more work. Unforuntaely, those who are on a very tight budget are also often tight for time. Learning a few healthy recipes can save you money... but it will require much more prep time than just nuking a cup of ramen.

Congratulations on having a job that you love - that is awesome!

I understand totally!!! I'm trying to budget and finish paying off bills and stuff.. I started preparing meals I can recycle so to speak.. If I can't buy fresh fruits and veggies, I get frozen (mainly due to waste)... I make casseroles, prepare chicken in my crockpot and use it for omelets, Soups, salads, etc.

And of course it helps that I don't eat nearly as much as I used to.. Have you tried some of the discount grocers in your area?? I love Aldi.. they have good products.. I also clip coupons sometimes....

I am a full financial aid student so I have no extra money. I make about $400 a month at work and spend it very wisely.

I buy things like:

Yogurt (not always greek) -- $10 for 10 if I chose the store brand

Frozen meatballs/chicken patties/chicken breasts etc -- under $10 for about 3 weeks worth

Cottage cheese -- bigger cartons are much cheaper!

It is easy to buy healthy and cheaply you just have to search around a bit. I also use coupons and shop around for certain items.

I buy the frozen veggies as opposed to fresh post op because they won't spoil in the freezer. Sam's or Costco are much cheaper on certain items if you have enough money up front to pay a larger bill for a larger amount of food. I try and stagger my Sams purchases so I am not buying everything each month but every 2/3 months.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit. I bought a small crock pot for about $15 and use it to cook a cup or two of beans at a time, then I eat bean for a few days. Today I used the crock pot to cook a small, mark-down pack of back ribs to meltingly tender and had them with some broccoli in cheese sauce (frozen, single serve). The broccoli will actually be part of my lunch tomorrow. I don't feel too badly about spending $3 for a 4 pack of them, especially when I get 8 servings out of it. Bonus, my puppy gets a beef bone to chew on, athough the bone is nearly his size! LOL

This is what is wrong with America, all the good healthy food- fruits and veggies- are to expensive to buy. So many people have to eat cheaper which means bad choices...this is one major reason for the rise in childhood obesity. If a family has $12 to.eat dinner, they can either all eat off the dollar menu at mcdonalds or buy like a few apples and potatoes. Sorry I went so deep...haha

I am an extremely picky eater and dont eat red meat or pork only chicken/turkey breast...fruits and veggies...with my braces it's hard to eat things like carrots and celery and I don't really like them cooked unless it's a stir fry...

I don't eat hamburgers and fries...I'll eat turkey breast burger and fruit and a few baked chips...

That is when I have the money...I'm honestly thinking of getting some chickens for eggs and getting a windowsill herb garden and planting fruits and veggies somehow lol

The soil here in western Wa isn't the best to grow with..maybe I'll get some big planters

look into bountaful baskets in your area is is $10-15/week fo ra HUGE baskets of fruits and veggies for my family I get it every other week. The basic basket fills a laundry basket.

I agree that less money is harder to be healthier on. However, even with less money, if you cook at home, you can still be healhier. Are you grabbing fast food or cooking at home? It's just a challenge in the change from watching every dime to whenever you have a job that pays much more you can spend and not worry. Hang in there, you will overcome this - and from the sounds of loving the new job, you'll be much happier as the end result.

Some cheap healthy options in addition to the above mentioned include:

canned tuna

all legumes

nuts

oats

Peanut Butter (oatmeal with milk, PB, raisins and chocolate Protein powder = amazing)

yams

apples

bananas

Someone up in the thread mentioned that those who are on a tight budget are often also short on time, which makes eating healthfully doubly difficult. This is so true, I've recently started employing "austerity measures" in my life and when I looked at my account activity for a week where I thought I was being a major frugalista, I still spent an unnecessary $80 - and it was all on food! Granted, about $25 of that was dinner for my boyfriend's birthday so that is arguable but that's still over $50 that didn't have to be spent, dangit!! I did go shopping at the food outlet and spent $48 on a weeks worth of groceries that normally at my expensive organic food co-op would have cost me well over $100, so that's good.

I like the axiom, "failing to plan is planning to fail". By taking 3 minutes on a Sunday afternoon to pop a tray of discount chicken pieces into the oven, I have cooked chicken for the week, that can be made into hot or cold salads, sandwiches, soups or just inhaled with some mustard if I'm that tired. Right now I am trying to "shop my pantry" as long as possible before buying groceries, I discovered a box of protein shots, am making protein shakes from the last of the tubs of powder, and will explore some black rice made in chicken stock this weekend.

here's a good resource for eating out:

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2010/01/strategies-for-eating-out.html

(this is a really great website btw for reference!)

I know, why don't we just have eggface pinned as a link in the food section of VST?

I know, why don't we just have eggface pinned as a link in the food section of VST?

IKR! eggface rocks

here is another link i found via the eggface site:

http://www.dietfacts.com/fastfood.asp

so whenever you go out to eat, you can plan.