How do you feed your family healthy meals while staying in a budget?

1. 78

   barbergirl28posted 12 years ago

   How do you feed your family healthy meals while staying in a budget?
   
   Lately I have been noticing that food prices keep rising. So, how do you find meals that are healthy but still within your budget. I am not suggesting everything has to be organic, but the price of meat and veggies and fruits is on the rise. How do you do it?

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2. 82

   nifwlseirffposted 12 years ago

   Do you want to reduce costs or stick to your budget, but still eat healthily? Learn to prepare healthy meals even when grocery prices are rising! read more

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3. 92

   peeplesposted 12 years ago

   We grow almost all our own veggies and some of our fruits. Tomatoes can go a long way since they can be cooked down into pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsas, and added to stews and chilis. Cooking bread saves us because I can cook some every 2 days and make anything from toast, sandwiches, to the bread crumbs I cover some of my meat with before I cook it. Saving money these days requires a little work but is worth it. Between our garden, coupons, cooking from scratch, and asking people (that I know) who won't eat the fruit from their trees if we can take the left overs helps a lot. We mainly just have to buy meats and some extra snacks my husband can't live without.

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4. 61

   BudgetDivaposted 12 years ago

   I cook and buy in bulk and then freeze everything for quick and fast meals. I use frozen veggies when I can. I also don't buy things with skin organic. I find out my grocery stores schedule on marking down meat and shop on those days. Coupons are also a great idea when you have the time. If you don't have the time for coupons and can't get to the discounted meat you can also buy meat when there is a bogo event. The meat listed on the front pages of your grocery stores ads are the ones you should be purchasing. I don't buy lunch meat because I feel it's overpriced. I try to buy in season as well. Just a few ways I try and save.

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5. 63

   ExpressFreeposted 12 years ago

   Here are some of my suggestions so that you can provide healthy meals on a budget:
   
   1. Check and gather healthy recipe's on  a budget.  There are a lot of available resources on the internet that gives you this information.
   2. Create a menu planner for the week or month as your guide for grocery shopping so that you don't end up buying food ingredients that will only end up in spoilage in the fridge.
   3. Make use of grocery coupons or free vouchers to cut down your expenses for foods.
   4. Go for fruits, vegetables and organic foods
   5. Buy in bulk for items that you frequenty use
   6. Avail of special promo on items offered in the supermarket to get a good deal of your money spending.
   7. Be creative and resourceful in learning to prepare meals out of the usual ingredients that you are having in the kitchen to have some food variety.
   8. Go through your overall family budget budget allocation and expenses.  There maybe some things that you can cut down to save money and probably allocate it for spending on healthy foods.
   9. If you like gardening, you can also grown your own vegetables so that you don't have to buy them.
   10.  You can also try to et some options on how to earn extra income to have more money added for food budget.

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6. 45

   DDEposted 12 years ago

   I cook with olive oil  and if not with olive I use sunflower oil,  I enjoy chicken breasts, and good fresh green vegetables, steamed, I avoid cooking fatty and oily foods completely

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7. 72

   fitmomposted 12 years ago

   Although food prices are rising, I find that the unhealthy foods can be more expensive than the healthy foods the majority of the time. I buy fruits and vegetables along with organic meat and eggs. I've found that the organic meat is not that much more than the regular. In my opinion, it's worth it to feed my family meals that are good for them and full of nutrition.
   
   Unfortunately, I rarely find coupons for the products that I buy. I do buy some things in bulk that we eat lots of and save some money that way.

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8. 58

   just cosmoposted 12 years ago

   I don't have a Family as of now but i must say buying some food which is not healthy nor vitamins is considered a poor food. now if u want your family would be eat a healthy as well as coping to the budget make it easy , just buy some vegetables and some pork a little bit seasoning so that the vegetables that they dont like woud not be feel to them make some fruit share..ask them ahead of time for the best recipe they like when it comes in vegetables.

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9. 0

   vinexshopposted 12 years ago

   Actually firstly i prepare the menu for food that makes my family healthy and with this i keep remember their choice. As per this list i take decision what food match with my budget and i prepare that food as myself.

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10. 77

    joanwzposted 12 years ago

    that;s getting harde and harder, what with food prices going up. One way is to buy meats in bulk whenever possible, which lowers the price per unit somewhat. Another is to make good use of leftovers, while creating something new with them. Grilled chicken can be turned into enchiladas, fajitas, any kind of chicken  and veggiecasserole, or chicken salad of some sort.

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11. 70

    mvillecatposted 12 years ago

    I garden but it has been difficult these past two years due to the extreme heat in Georgia. I have canned several jars of tomatoes, peppers and jam so far this summer. I also coupon and stockpile. I began doing that over a year ago and it works! Yes, I have eight bottles of mustard as where I use to only keep one but I got them at .30 a piece. It takes a great deal of time to menu plan and match up coupons with sales but it is worth it I think. I'm no prepper but I do feel more better when my pantry is stocked and the freezer is full.

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12. 60

    Mz Quene Beeposted 12 years ago

    Good Morning! This is a constant concern of mine as I eat vegetarian food (which tends to be more expensive) and I cook for a meat eater so I strive to buy primarily organic meats and vegetables. The key for our family is cooking at home, having a vegetable based diet and finding ways to make those veggies really stretch. I'll be poesting a few economically savy food recipes this week, check them out and see if you can benefit. Hope that helped a little!

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13. 83

    tamarawilhiteposted 12 years ago

    Go shopping for the bulk buy health food. A five pound bag of potatos is $3-5, five pounds of apples for $2-4, five pounds of rice for $2-3, two pounds of bananas for $2, big container of oatmeal for $2-4, five pounds of beans for $2.50, a gallon of milk for $4. Throw in a tub of butter for $2-4, three loaves of bread for $6, jar of peanut butter for $3 and jelly for $2. Get a second type of jelly for variety for $2.
    Now you have rice and beans for dinner, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunches, apples and bananas for snacks, oatmeal with milk or buttered toast for breakfasts. Food for a week for four, for $30-36.

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