This WOE on a budget.. How do you do it?

[1sexy_mama]

With two little ones, a mortgage and other bills I am struggling to stay on this WOE and still maintain our grocery budget. Let's face it--carbs are cheap. I try to plan each month for grocery shopping however still end up going over if I want to maintain some kind of variety of "legal" foods to eat. I also live too far away from my house to go home for lunch so I have to make my lunch each day. I crave shrimp, steaks and other legal foods that go out of our budget. I do eat a salad every day for lunch which I miss if I don't have.

Thanks for any suggestions... :nod

[punkin50]

I'm experiencing the same thing. I'm used to eating boneless chicken breasts so I'm switching to whole chicken baked in oven. The other meats I try to buy on sale in quantity and freeze them individually and unthaw them as I need them. Can't seem to do much about the fresh vegetables except to buy them fresh and more often than buying in bulk because they go bad so fast. :wave

[Effie]

There's a similar topic here: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...ic.php?t=73987

and here: http://atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/v...ghlight=afford

[1sexy_mama]

Thanks Punkin and Effie....

Yeah, my husband always asks why we are having chicken again. I tell him it is because it is cheap.

Have a wonderful day!!!

[not2late]

Look for sales and stock up if you have the room.

Sometimes I'll buy very large chuck roast. When I get home, I cut it in half (or have the butcher in the supermarket cut it in half for me). One half, I re-wrap and freeze for pot roast. The other half I cut in half: one chunk I slice thinly for stir fries. The other chunk I cube for stews. So for one large chuck roast, I'll get at least 3 (sometimes 4) meals.

Same thing for pork shoulder. I have the butcher in the grocery store, slice it into 1 inch slices. When I get home, I cut them into cubes or strips for stews and stirfries.

Ground beef or turkey is relatively inexpensive and you can do so many different things with it.

As for veggies, I look for fresh seasonal veggies. I also grow my own during the summer and fall. I have some space on my patio to grow lettuce and spinach in containers. So I save some money doing that.

I also buy frozen veggies.

[nikki_e]

Tuna! Cans of tuna are cheap. And I love tuna and could eat it every day! I also buy a lot of meats on sale or in bulk and use my foodsaver to package them up and freeze them.

I used to buy bags of the pre cut salad. What a rip off! I can cut my own salad and save at least $2.

[spirittalker]

Do you have a membership to costco? You can get all of your meats for much cheaper. I like chicken thighs as they are so much more moist than breasts. Sometimes you can find sales on fish. Tuna is cheap. Hamburger too. buy the veggies that are in season and you'll find they are cheaper than ones that are not and they taste better too. Water is free so there's cheap for ya. Also canned veggies are pretty cheap.

[earlychildhoodeducator]

Do you have a membership to costco? You can get all of your meats for much cheaper. I like chicken thighs as they are so much more moist than breasts. Sometimes you can find sales on fish. Tuna is cheap. Hamburger too. buy the veggies that are in season and you'll find they are cheaper than ones that are not and they taste better too. Water is free so there's cheap for ya. Also canned veggies are pretty cheap.

Also eggs are really cheap at cosco! I want to say less than 99 cents a dozen. Hard boil them, they last a while. Good deal on raw frozen shrimp too. We bought a deep freezer, it was only like 100 bucks and it is the best thing I ever did I've saved a ton more than that on sales. I hit the sales, divide it up in freezer bags and freeze.

[Effie]

This might sound gross, but I've been shopping the "day old" produce racks lately. Today they had 4 bunches of broccoli for $1.15. Usually one bunch is at least that much, if not more. I also always find pickling cucumbers here... they package them up like 10 cukes in a pack, and sell it for $1. I love to use these little cukes for cucumber salad, so I slice them up right away anyway. So far, I haven't found anything on the racks that look like they're dying or wilting. It's like a veggie gold mine!

[sadie147]

Do you have a membership to costco? You can get all of your meats for much cheaper. I like chicken thighs as they are so much more moist than breasts. Sometimes you can find sales on fish. Tuna is cheap. Hamburger too. buy the veggies that are in season and you'll find they are cheaper than ones that are not and they taste better too. Water is free so there's cheap for ya. Also canned veggies are pretty cheap.

I was gonna say this as well...I love costco for meat, I buy the boneless skinless chickent thighs and divide them up and freeze them. I use them in place of chicken breasts in all sorts of recipes. They're great for shishkabobs on the bbq. I also buy their pork chops (this week there was a $5 off coupon for them here!) and divide the pack up and freeze it. I buy bags of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and on sunday nights i poach 2 or three. they' are great and quick for throwing in a salad for stir fry.

for lunches for yourself you can also make meat and cheese rollups with deli meats (watch the carb counts on them) egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad etc. do you have a microwave at work? if you do you can also bring leftovers.

[not2late]

This might sound gross, but I've been shopping the "day old" produce racks lately. Today they had 4 bunches of broccoli for $1.15. Usually one bunch is at least that much, if not more. I also always find pickling cucumbers here... they package them up like 10 cukes in a pack, and sell it for $1. I love to use these little cukes for cucumber salad, so I slice them up right away anyway. So far, I haven't found anything on the racks that look like they're dying or wilting. It's like a veggie gold mine!

Not gross at all. I shop the "day old" produce rack too. I get exceptionally good deals on broccoli, mushrooms (once I found a 2 pound bag of fresh shiitaki mushrooms for only $2.00!). You're most likely going to cook those veggies anyway so a little wilt here or there isn't going to matter that much.

Also try shopping in little Mom and Pop grocery stores. I have a few of them nearby and this week one of them has extra large eggs for 59 cents per dozen!!!!

[1sexy_mama]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. :hug

We do have a membership to Costco and will try that to stock up on things too.

[BreakfastSurreal]

I also have this problem...my BIGGEST problem however is my fiance's spending habbits...when he gets paid every 2 weeks, I know I have to buy enough food to last for 2 weeks, and it is really hard for me to gauge how much food to get...so I usually end up running out before his next check comes in. I would really like to grocery shop every week, it would really help me enjoy the week after his paycheck more...sometimes I am just limited to tuna and eggs I am on induction, and really I don't think the induction foods are what's boring me, its the lack of induction foods that I have. The cheap things I buy at the store are eggs, tuna cans, chicken cans (great for tuna or chicken salad!), fresh tomatos, and fresh onions. All of those foods can be combined into about 20 different dishes, so it helps to not feel like you're having the same thing every day. Deviled eggs, omelettes, tuna or chicken salad..

[spirittalker]

clare maybe if you opened a seperate account for bills and groceries it would help. Then fiance would run out of spending money but the food money would remain untouched. I would definitely talk to your fiance about this because living paycheck to paycheck is really bad and you guys need to have a financial plan for when you get married. JMHO

[BreakfastSurreal]

clare maybe if you opened a seperate account for bills and groceries it would help. Then fiance would run out of spending money but the food money would remain untouched. I would definitely talk to your fiance about this because living paycheck to paycheck is really bad and you guys need to have a financial plan for when you get married. JMHO

Yes I know...I have been thinking of ways to deal with this issue...the reason we are living paycheck to paycheck is because we both have a little bit of debt (not a LOT, around $2500) and we are trying to just get it out of the way in the shortest time possible, thus causing us to have a lot less to live off of. He is always bad about spending the money we DO have on xbox games, computer parts, golf clubs...just basically toys. I can't really say NO to him but I do try to give him advice and bring him back down to earth and have him actually think about these things instead of being impulsive. I don't work at the moment, because we have one car between us. Have been trying to find a job, but it has been really difficult to find someplace that can work with my schedule (I'd have to drop him off and pick him up every day, and work in between those times).