you can get a big bag of oats for next to nothing. I find a cheap way to get vegetables is to buy a big can of tomato juice and drink that often. if you get a big can, it’s really cheap per serving.
alos, if you have farmer’s markets/outdoor markets near you, check those out. they’re often cheaper than the store, and mostlikely healthier and better for the local economy.
I understand where this kid is coming from - when someone is new to shopping, they don’t know all the tricks.
If your mom always bought a certain kind of fresh sausage, you may not realize that sausage in a different form (frozen, dried, etc) may be cheaper. Suggestions get you started and give you ideas.
People usually eat the same brands of the same foods year in and year out. Just to show my own stupidity for the sake of argument, when I first got to college I didn’t realize that frozen concentrate would be cheaper than liquid. It’s not that it isn’t painfully obvious, my parents had just always gotten a certain brand of liquid, so I had never considered getting another kind before.
I used to go shopping with a kid whose mom supported three kids on 10,000 a year. Learned a ton from him. I could have figured it all out eventually (maybe), but probably not all of it and probably not before college was over.
I’m in pretty much the same situation, being a university student. I make sure I get bumper jars of fish & flax oil on discount with my multivitamins. Also, here’s a recipe for a home made protein shake which I like to use:
www.eis2win.co.uk/gen/nutrition_makeshake130104.aspx
(I’d like some opinions on that too, I only found it recently and don’t know what to make of it). Cottage cheese is also really great for protein and cheap, as is oat meal (yummy!). I also like to eat dried prunes which where I live are really cheap if you buy a big bag of them.
You can buy boxes of macaroni and cheese for .33 cents a box, and ramen noodles for ten cents a package.
It seems like that healthier a food is, the more expensive it is. Seriously, fruits and vegetables are sky-high, but processed carbs can be had for nothing.
Check into chicken leg quarters. They can be had for about 4.00 for ten pounds. you might throw away 2 pounds in bones, so that is still around 50 cents a pound for meat.
Another strategy is to snag a paper, and look through the adds, and then get massive amounts of whatever is cheap. Grocery stores normally have good sales. Wal-mart doesn’t.
Also, I have been to an Aldi’s a couple of times. Things are cheap there, but NOT their fresh meat.
Meat is so damned expensive that I am seriosly considering going to a butcher shop to get my meat. It wont be too much more expensive, and I will be supporting the little man.
I manage an Aldi’s and the quality is definatly on the upswing while the prices have remained level. You can get a whole frozen chicken there for about $3.00. Not that much a deal with the fresh meat but check out the freezer for ground beef and turkey.
Bulking on a budget…
Heh it’s funny (well not funny actually cuz it pisses me off) I am in the same position as far as trying to eat good cheaply as I am also a college student with limited funding. I use water and some koolaid or lemonade type powder mix (w/ sugar) for protein powders. Tastes good with the “gold standard” brand vanilla whey I get that is cheap as well (<20$ for 1-1.07 lb container anywhere).
Poor life sucks dick…
Also for the immune system maybe try the orange juice varities that are specialized for just that. Usually one of tropicana or minute maid is on sale and they each have their own blends of “immune system boosting” OJs.
Whoever asked about cottage cheese being good, yes it’s awesome. Great pre-bed snack for instance. Top quality protein with slow digestion rate.
It’s expensive where I live but if you can get it cheap, that is great.