What are your cheapest food cheats?

[BlueOak]

I'm saving money where I can, and I'm down to one meal a day. A good meal but I want to save anything I can.

What are your go-to cheap vegetable options for a balanced diet? Do you have YouTubers that budget well to recommend?

Thanks.

[Schizophonia]

-Milk.

-Beef heart.

-Eggs.

-Bananas.

-Parboiled rice.

-Pasta.

-Zucchini.

-Broccoli.

-Your neighbor and her dog .

-Legumes.

 

[Whitney Edwards]

1 hour ago, Schizophonia said:

-Milk.

-Beef heart.

-Eggs.

-Bananas.

-Parboiled rice.

-Pasta.

-Zucchini.

-Broccoli.

-Your neighbor and her dog .

-Legumes.

 

You gotta be kidding me. You mean to say that you don't like milk, eggs and banana. What? 

[Whitney Edwards]

@BlueOak how do you survive on one meal dude? 

[BlueOak]

2 hours ago, Schizophonia said:

-Milk.

-Beef heart.

-Eggs.

-Bananas.

-Parboiled rice.

-Pasta.

-Zucchini.

-Broccoli.

-Your neighbor and her dog .

-Legumes.

 

Thanks for the ideas. 

27 minutes ago, Buck Edwards said:

You gotta be kidding me. You mean to say that you don't like milk, eggs and banana. What? 

That was his recommendation for foods.

27 minutes ago, Buck Edwards said:

@BlueOak how do you survive on one meal dude? 

 Making it work. Don't feel hungry often. I have a coffee mid-day, and sometimes a slice of bread with it which gets me to about 2 pm, where I have a big meal. Real financial pinch at the minute and i've tried for 10 years unsuccessfully to lose weight, even at the height of my exercise 4 days a week, I never lost more than half a stone over the year, muscle gain is easier but the opposite is not so much for me.

I want my food bill below 40 pounds a week, including any water I drink.  So if anyone else has good ideas for cheap foods, i'd appreciate them. I've watched one guy on youtube try to eat for as little money as possible, and it seems a fun approach to try, but the more healthy foods I can get in that 40 quid the better.

[FourCrossedWands]

You can literally just live on oatmeal. It costs like $2 per kg and has all important nutrients including protein.

Edited November 25, 2023 by FourCrossedWands

[BlueOak]

2 hours ago, FourCrossedWands said:

You can literally just live on oatmeal. It costs like $2 per kg and has all important nutrients including protein.

This is a good idea for a budget. I've been having a couple of oat milk in the diet as it's got a lot of nutrition in for the price, but the porridge is going to give me more than cornflakes when I do have it. Sometimes I'll make cereal half the meal for carbs in place of potato, couscous, pasta, or rice. It's a good pick.

[Applegarden8]

Ye, just oatmeal, linseed oil or a supplement, and rotate some fruits every so often. 

[lostingenosmaze]

17 hours ago, BlueOak said:

Do you have YouTubers that budget well to recommend?

Sasha aka How to Cook Smarter. Pretty much my favorite budget cooking channel and they all strive to go cheap on top of making health a priority as well

 

 

 

[Schizophonia]

8 hours ago, Applegarden8 said:

Ye, just oatmeal, linseed oil or a supplement, and rotate some fruits every so often. 

 

16 hours ago, FourCrossedWands said:

You can literally just live on oatmeal. It costs like $2 per kg and has all important nutrients including protein.

Certainly not, you want at least 100 grams of protein if you are young and active otherwise you risk losing sporting and intellectual performance, you also risk quickly being deficient in fat-soluble vitamin, choline, vitamin b12, B6, O3 EPA/ DHA (unless you consume tons of ALA). And above all this diet is filthy.

 

[Starlight321]

Go to a asian shop and get original thai full grain rice or sticky rice(this one has to be steamed). Both of them are cheaper in those stores than in your ordinary supermarket. You can also buy there different masala powders with which you can make masala. You can look if you find there cheap dried beans, peas, lentils,or look in a normal store.  

When you cook, add to onions, tomatoes and the veggies of your choice (might as well frozen broccoli and carrots) and some tomatoe paste.

You can also cook thai food. It's very cheap if you have the three soy sauces they use. Just cut down some cabbage or soy sprouts, add thin soy sauce and mushrooms soja sauce and a little sugar. You might add other veggies (might as well frozen ones or what you'll find if you look on the internet). 

I recently started baking my own bread because it's cheaper and far healthier and keeps you longer saturated. I'll use cheese to eat with it.

You can also connect to people who do foodsharing or collecting mushrooms. I sometimes go in the forest with a friend who is an expert and he teaches me always.

Cheap veggies are always carrots, cabbage, coliflower, besically all members of brassica, pumpkin. 

Lentils and beans are a good source of protein and you can use various kinds for variation. 

@BlueOakhow much money do want to spend every day realistically?

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Starlight321

[Jannes]

2kg of carrots. At about 700g I get stomach pain, below that is fine. 

[Hojo]

just buy a vegetable and eat it raw. Chew food longer

Edited November 27, 2023 by Hojo

[FourCrossedWands]

On 26. 11. 2023 at 4:08 PM, Schizophonia said:

 

Certainly not, you want at least 100 grams of protein if you are young and active otherwise you risk losing sporting and intellectual performance, you also risk quickly being deficient in fat-soluble vitamin, choline, vitamin b12, B6, O3 EPA/ DHA (unless you consume tons of ALA). And above all this diet is filthy.

 

Of course he shouldn't eat just oatmeal on its own. Have one healthy meal with meat, eggs and vegetables, then 2x oatmeal with berries/banana.

Edited November 27, 2023 by FourCrossedWands

[gettoefl]

my breakfast for the week is less than a fiver - oats seeds raisins milk, greek yogurt, 2 slices of bread with peanut butter, coffee and tea

lunch is mostly fruit an avocado, beans, cheese, dinner a few vegs, couple of eggs

snack is nuts, chocolate

weekly cost is negligible in the grand scheme

[Applegarden8]

People these days mostly eat too much and eat too much refined carbs, fats, processed foods and eat too frequently.

Acctually if you don't drink alcohol, coffee, tea, don't cosume any drugs and refined carbs, red meat, you will be just fine in stuff like groundnut and banana for a very long period of time. Similar would go for oatmeal, but maybe less, maybe you need more supplement if especially if you are very physically active.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Applegarden8

[undeather]

Tasty. Healthy. Cheap.: Budget-Friendly Recipes with Exciting Flavors
An amazing cookbook from the youtuber KWOOK, who specializes in making cheap, healthy and delicious meals for students! 

Check out his videos:

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by undeather

[UnbornTao]

1 hour ago, undeather said:

Tasty. Healthy. Cheap.: Budget-Friendly Recipes with Exciting Flavors
An amazing cookbook from the youtuber KWOOK, who specializes in making cheap, healthy and delicious meals for students! 

Check out his videos:

 

I cook legumes (bought pre-cooked) very similarly, without the eggs. Fried eggs on another pan.

Edited November 28, 2023 by UnbornTao

[BlueOak]

Thanks all for a wealth of ideas and responses. I've started putting a few into the budget.
@Applegarden8 | @lostingenosmaze | @Schizophonia | @Jannes | @Hojo | @FourCrossedWands | @gettoefl | @undeather | @UnbornTao

It was very helpful, and I hope given the financial pinch to more people than just me.

I'll definitely keep this bookmarked if anyone else has any ideas or food channels to view. Appreciate it.

@Starlight321

As little money as possible. Given different countries and regions, the pricing is going to be different but the sentiment the same. I am trying to budget to eat as cheaply as possible as things are going to get very tight from this month on. 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by BlueOak

[MarkKol]

On 27/11/2023 at 4:48 PM, Jannes said:

2kg of carrots. At about 700g I get stomach pain, below that is fine. 

Are you trying to get a tan?

———

Organic Chia seeds are cheap and come in large quantities.

warning that occasional cheat meals don’t really work, all unhealthy food has the same negative effect. It could mean your sleep quality drops by 20% for example, just by eating a few slices of pizza.

Edited November 28, 2023 by MarkKol