Discussion Board

I looked up the thrifty food plan cost for a female age 19-50 for March 2012 on the USDA food plans website--and it's $160 per month! How on earth is this possible? I thought I was saving at the quantity I spent, but this is just ridiculous and putting me to shame. If any of you can do it, please explain how...

I should mention that I eat minimal grains at this point in time, simply because I'm worried my reactions will start up again if I start eating grains (refined grains such as cereals seem to be an exception?), but I am willing to do it for a month to experiment. Could someone actually write me a (or their!) budget for $160? I can't seem to make it work on paper, either.

If you have a family and are still under the thrifty food plan values, please contribute, as well.

Here's the data chart: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/F ... ar2012.pdf

I couldn't make it on the "thrifty" plan. We spend about $150-160/wk, for family of 3: based on our ages, that falls into or just above the "low cost" plan.

You are not going to be able to do it. It's the USDA website. You could only do it if you buy all of their processed crap. Which will kill you eventually.

In my case, there is only two of us. My husband and Me. We do have 2 cats as well. I think I spend more on them a month than we do on us.

My staples I always have on hand whenever I can is:
Rice, beans, potatoes, oats.
I get whatever produce is the cheapest on sale. Cannot get organic at this time because it is too expensive on a paupers budget. I make all meals from scratch, no processed.
We go to Costco twice a month to get things like frozen veggies, fresh spinach and greens, apples, bananas, sometimes oranges. They are much cheaper than supermarkets this way.

We had only been spending an average of around $30-40 max a week on food because of severe budget constraints. But lately, believe it or not, spending just $25. We just have to be more creative. I know you cannot do this with children though.
And of course, it's not an all you can eat thing either. My stomach growls more often, and the weight is coming off steadily.

My food budget is $230 a month and that feeds two of us. I had a very hard time doing it when I ate S.A.D. but now I have no problem at all and even afford a good percentage of my food being organic.
The trick? Remember that this is a WHOLE FOODS way of eating. Buy your whole foods in bulk and keep anything that isn't a whole food to an absolute minimum. Fill your belly with cheap whole foods, not expensive, overpriced, unhealthy processed foods.

-Norm

We have some experts here on eating economically. I especially like the idea of stockpiling the starch staples. Also, buying lots of frozen veggies when they are on sale is good if you have space in your freezer for them.

However, I had rather spend my money on food than meds and there are some foods I am very reluctant to omit even when they are expensive.

For example fresh broccoli seems expensive here now at about $1.00/pound and frozen broccoli is unavailable. However, when I think about all of the nutrients in the cup of steamed broccoli I have for breakfast...I think it is cheap.

See

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/veg ... cts/2357/2

I can't remember what spawned my blog post of eating on $3 a day, but I wrote about it. It that piece I did cite some information from Dr. McDougall's Newsletter from March 2008. One of things you must factor in are larger up front costs. I have started buying many things in bulk, potatoes, brown rice, couscous, beans. I works out to your advantage this way. Unfortunately when I started out eating this way I had to put down quite a bit of money to buy things I didn't have. Once I had those foods/spices in my pantry weekly trips to the store were quite inexpensive. I love walking out of Mi Pueblo (local Mexican market) with $10 in veggies and I know I won't have to buy any for a week!

Again that figure does comes from the USDA, not sure how much I would factor that in. Also, there was someone who tracked the price vs food in the Testimonies & Success Stories, yet I can't recall who it was.

by shopping at a discount grocery you should be able to get these foods for $40 a week including tax. this is basically what I eat though I do buy English walnuts and avocado guacamole and fat-free crackers. that would add about another $10 a week. you'll have costs for salt and spices and any beverages. (I buy garlic power, onion powder, chopped dried onions, and spices in the 50 cent bottles.)

1 box oatmeal
1 pkg frozen blueberries
bread, 1 loaf of the cheapest 100% whole wheat
1 jar of fruit spead (or jelly)
1 package white rice
1 package brown rice
tomato sauce or soy sauce for rice
frozen vegetables
lettuce, carrots, radishes
fat free salad dressing
potatoes, 10 pounds
beans to cook or 2 cans of beans

that should give you apx. 2000 calories a day.

Jeff has a lot of good cheap recipes on his part of the board. I just made a pot of lentil soup for about $3 for six servings, pretty cheap! Tasty too!

Ethnic markets usually have great prices. I did a blog post a few years back listing what I got for $57 at Lam's (in Phoenix). Prices have gone up a tad on some items (like everywhere else) but you can still find good bargains at most ethnic markets.
http://karicooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/w ... ms-in.html We also shop at Lee Lee's and at Sprouts (though I haven't been to Sprouts in a while).
Another store we checked out recently that has decent prices is WinCo. It's new to our area. If you're in a western state, there may be one near you. http://www.wincofoods.com/about/locations/ They have nice produce and a bulk section. Sometimes I get items at Sam's Club too. Recently they had some nice Brussels sprouts. Mmmmm. I think that's one of the few places I've seen fresh English peas sold.

I know that in Michigan, my mom does lots of her shopping at Aldi because their prices are so much cheaper. I've never been in an Aldi, though.

It would be hard to build a budget menu or shopping list for you. You'd have to go by what you like to eat and the costs of food in your specific area. Food prices can vary a lot by region. What's fairly cheap in one region might be crazy expensive (or not even available) in another.

If you have any ethnic markets near you, check them out.

I love Winco Agnes! Just started buying my bulk there and saving quite a bit. Although I knew bulk buying was better, we just didn't have the necessary storage containers. Thankfully my wife bought some and instead of spending $.88 on a can of beans I usually have a few cups already cooked ready to be added to a recipe. The bulk price per pound, $1.37.

Thank you, everyone! The actual grocery menus and plans are very helpful, since I can't seem to make every theoretical concept I know work in practice.

For example, buying in bulk--the bulk section is not much cheaper than the in-store section, and I can usually find better deals for packaged foods with sales. Hmmm! In terms of buying many items at one time, this would be a fantastic idea. It definitely sometimes pays to buy a 20 lb. bag of rice instead of several smaller packages.

Unfortunately the prices here seem a bit higher than most of the items listed, but I will do my best to find discounts and better deals. Maybe looking into couponing will help me, although I realize most of my items aren't packaged.

The most difficult thing for me is buying cheap fruits and vegetables. These seem to be extremely expensive year round, even frozen fruits and vegetables. Additionally, it seems as though bulk bags of frozen vegetables (especially if they are organic) are not very common in the stores I frequent?

Would it be reasonable to list some grocery items here and the prices I can find for them, to see if someone might help me refine my grocery list? Thank you so much, everyone! This is really helping me understand budgeting issues.

It might help to know where you're located and what stores you frequent and what other stores you might be overlooking that have cheaper items. Or maybe I'm confused and just don't understand what you're asking for when you say you want help to refine your grocery list. Anyway, I'll help if I can. List away.

I have the typical grocery chains (although Walmart/Costco are far away) around me, and here is my list and the prices I found so far. I would love any help with adding to it or refining it. And if these prices are higher than normal, where should I look to cut them down? Food seems very expensive here, compared to previous locations I've lived at.

Lentils 1 lb. $1.89
Rice 1 lb. $1.54
Carrots bunch $1.99
Potatoes 5 lb. $4.99
Additional veg.
Apples 1 lb. $1.70
Citrus 1 lb. $1.49
Buckwh. 1 lb. $1.79
Kidney bn. 1lb. $1.49
Cereals 14 oz. $3.49

This is all I can find that is reasonably low-priced so far. I am not sure which other vegetables I should include, and how much exactly to buy per week!

Thank you.

Have you got a spare square yard or so of garden space to sow swiss chard or mizuna?
I know it is hard for appartment dwellers.
I guess I am spoilt with year round crops of greens out of my garden.
Potatoes, carrots, and rice (my main purchases) along with home grown winter squash and swiss chard and all my dinners are taken care of at little cost..

Unfortunately I don't have the space in an apartment! Your garden sounds fantastic, however. Winter squash would be a delicious meal, if I could even manage to keep it living long enough!