Affording atkins with the credit crunch?

[London_chick]

With the rising costs of living/food any tips for affording Atkins thesedays

My budget is down to around £7-15 a week for food, previously £20-£25 pre credit crunch! Can be tricky

So far have found low cost frozen stores: Iceland for UK handy, also using poundstore(dollarstore) for getting water, splenda etc.

Otherwise its getting very tricky indeed to afford to stay well fed and watered.

Sure this would be handy for lots of us..ideas most welcome!

[Misnagid]

Why are you buying water? Is your tap water not safe? A filter pitcher is much cheaper than buying bottled water.

I eat so much less now that it's costing me less money. It's also easier to meal plan and food gets used up and not wasted. Bread in the US is incredibly expensive now, almost $4 a loaf. Not eating that saves a lot of money. Eggs are one food that we consume a lot of in our house, but they are one of the cheapest forms of protein. Not eating out or having even the desire to, not impulse snacking, not going to coffee places -- all of it is saving us money.

What kinds of food are you buying?

[liv]

Good topic London chick- it is getting harder to afford things.
I watch flyers and newspapers for sales and stock up when I find good deals. That helps a lot. (Last week I found some cheap canned pumpkin - YES I love that stuff). I try find out when grocery stores rebate their meat (if they overstock and need to sell out quick) so that I can buy some meat half prize for the freezer.

[London_chick]

I do boil water for tea, but drink bottled at £1 for a months worth, thats worthwhile. With the flooding we have had the past 1 year, theres a lot of times when the water is deemed unsafe to drink(let alone the other problems with London water--no thanks!).

oOOh yeah keeping an eye out for coupons/offers

They have fruit/veggie offers each week at Supermarkets, without these I couldnt manage! I check online before going each week--may be handy for UK guys, Sainsburys, Asda + Tesco have their offers listed on the websites-- handy to check which one has the best deals for the week ahead!

[momtomany1]

I find out when they are tossing produce going out of date, I am not proud! They let me fill a box for a dollar.

I have tortoises to feed and some of it goes to them, but I always end up with mushrooms or salad fixings or pico....

[sallyseachange]

Originally Posted by Misnagid

... Bread in the US is incredibly expensive now, almost $4 a loaf. Not eating that saves a lot of money...

It's the same here, but with pasta... it's getting really expensive and I'm very happy not to be eating that!

[Petra Star]

I hear you, London Chick, even from the other side of the world. I live in Foreclosure Capital, USA. My fiance and I have been struggling with our adjustable rate mortgate for 2 years and he has to drive 490 miles a week for work. With gas prices the way they are, that really cuts into our grocery budget and makes living on ramen noodles 3 time a day awfully tempting.

I'm just re-starting, but I know which specials my local supermarket (Safeway) runs and when to stock up. I can get Bumblebee tuna in oil 10 cans for $10, or cartons of 18 eggs buy-one-get-one-free. I'm lucky to live in farm area so veggies are always plentiful and cheap (as long as I don't buy too much at one time and lose them to spoilage).

Meats I don't buy unless they have a "30% off" sticker or better yet, the "50% off" sticker (meaning it's the last day the store can sell it, which is safe if, the same day you buy it, you either cook it thoroughly or freeze it).

I also plan on buying the "family sized" packages of meat/poultry/fish, cooking it all at once, then portioning it into zip-lock baggies and freezing them. The per-pound cost is much less that way.

Also, resist the temptation to pay for the convenience factor. Sure, the pre-cut jicama sticks in the deli section look tempting, but if you price it out by the ounce, it's a helluva lot cheaper to buy a whole jicama root then go home and burn a lot of calories skinning that sucker!

Hope this helps!
~Petra~

[eclectikat]

I cook low carb casserole type meals in large quantities and use the small 8 oz glad/rubbermaid containers to freeze them it. Intitially there may be an investment for these containers but I can cook three nights in a row and then have a bunch of ready made meals perfect for the pocket book and for convienience. I don't personally use a microwave but use a toaster oven. but either way these little mini meals have served me well.
I will fry up some ground beef, with a variety of veggies with a variety of seasonings... pop them in the containers and shred a bit of cheese on them...
I will bake some cheap chicken or pork cuts, chop it up... ad some sauted veggies and thow in a low carb cream sauce... bingo... prefect meals for the busy broke atkiner!

I also have small ziplocks with one tea bag and one splenda each and keep them in my bag... always being prepared keeps me from straying both away from atkins and from spending cash I don't want to spend.

I too am saving ALOT of money on atkins. Not buyng pre--pared foods has allowed me to buy more fresh and at times more expensive cuts of meats...
I tend to spend alot of money on vitamins and supplements but recently due to "CAR BILLS" have had to rethink this... so I am taking a relatively low cost prenatel multivitamin... it has some things in it I am needing and was taking separately. SO time will tell if this is a good thing!

I also buy my oils and vinegars in bulk... smaller bottles of olive oil are always SOO expensive. I keep a smaller bottle on the counter and put the rest in the fridge so it does not go bad.
Buying spices in bulk is always cheaper. and I find I am useing more spices for variety and can get fresher and smaller quantities for pennies sometimes.
Consider getting to your grocer the morning after a holiday where the store has been closed. YOU can be guaranteed to get meat and veggies at a reduced price.

thats my story and I am sticking to it!
kath

[Barb1965]

I've found that shopping the day a new sale starts to help out. I learned that after several weeks of going shopping on the weekend (day 4 or 5 of the sales flyer) and they were out of many of the sales items. And since I already had my menus for the entire family for the entire week made before I walked in the store (I too check the sales flyer online), it forced me to buy the more expensive brand name items that were not on sale to complete the meal/recipe.

I also buy in bulk when I can for non perishables, and try to plan meals that use common ingredients throughout the week to stretch ingredients. Its hard when shopping for a family of 7.

[determined2shrink]

*Eat alot of eggs
*go to walmart on a monday or tuesday and you can get a large roasting chicken for less than 4 dollars or they have alot of other meats with reduced prices too.
*frozen veges. Fresh red and yellow bell peppers are crazy expensive(unless you consider $4 for 1 yellow pepper cheap) I can get a bag of birds eye pepper stir fry for $1.50 that has red, yellow, and green peppers and onions all chopped up together. I can get a bag of frozen broccoli for $1 or cauliflour for $1.50.
*I only buy meat that is on sale for $2.50 a lb or less and then stock up. If it is a tougher meat then i throw it in the crockpot.
*when the price of fresh tomatoes goes up i buy a large can of tomatillos in the ethnic foods section for 1.88 and make salsa verde instead of salsas that use red tomatoes (im a salsa junky)