How to feed a family healthy food on a budget

 

One of the biggest misconceptions about eating healthy is that it has to be expensive. Granted, you can get more calories with $20 spent on junk food than you can with $20 spent on healthy food, but those calories also come with tons of added sugar, fat, etc. I decided to take on a challenge for my family of 5 and see how low I could get our food budget. Now, taking into consideration that this family consists of: 1 baby, 2 picky children, 1 nursing mother and 1 large husband with a hearty appetite, this challenge was no easy task! Here, I will break down my process and explain how I was able to feed my whole family for roughly $400 for a month’s worth of food.

Now I will preface this post by saying that this isn’t a gluten- free, organic, paleo, whatever trendy, expensive diet is out right now. This is simply feeding regular family normal, healthy foods. Yes, I would love to be able to buy some of those things, but unfortunately, shopping at Whole Foods isn’t in this budget. Neither is price shopping and going to 15 different stores looking for the best deals. Did I mention I had 3 kids??? Going to one store is difficult enough! So I narrowed it down to the two stores where I could get the best deals; Sam’s wholesale and Aldi.

First, I explained to my family what we were doing. I also told them that we may not be buying some of their favorite foods for a little while, and that we would be buying more plain items. You know all those little adorable, pre-packaged snacks for kids’ school lunches? Yep, no more of those. Oh, and the 5 different flavors of peanut butter that we usually have? Yep, that’s gone too! If you want chocolate flavored PB, you’re gonna have to melt a damn Hershey’s kiss in a bowl! I also explained to the kids that they may not always like what I cooked, but tough cookies. I was cooking certain things each week for a certain reason and that was our meal plan. Period.

Second, I assessed my pantry. I already had several items such as eggs, tortillas, some canned beans and veggies, shredded cheese, potatoes and a bag of onions. Then, I looked online for recipes that would incorporate meals with items that I already had. Next, I made my meals and grocery lists. Here are some of the meals I found that work the best:

 

 

Turkey Chili

·         Chilis, soups and stews are the best! They are a catch all for everything you already have lying around. I put things like ground turkey, potatoes, onions, Rotel, my canned beans and veggies, chicken broth, etc in them.

·         Stuffed bell peppers, using the eggs and cheese that I already had

·         Chicken salad using grapes, honey and light mayo that I already had. All I had to purchase was the chicken.

 

·         Sliced up fruit to snack on

·         Protein cookies for sweets

·         Hummus is very cheap to make yourself. It’s about $1 for a can of garbanzo beans, and I pretty much always have the other ingredients on hand (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic cloves, etc ) Hummus can be used as both a dip or a spread.

Chicken Salad

·         Some cheap protein sources are eggs, tuna, and beans

·         Cheap fruits and veggies= bananas, grapes, strawberries, apples, canned veggies, zuchinni and peppers very cheap at Aldi, including organic options, onions, garlic cloves to flavor

·         Added corn and beans are great to make recipes stretch further

·         My baby doesn’t drink formula or eat regular baby food. These two factors make a HUGE difference in our budget. She is 10 months old and still breastfeeds. For her food, she either eats small finger foods of whatever we’re eating or food purees that I blend up for her. Her favorite foods are Veggie straws, which are about $1.75 at Aldi.

·         My children eat my chilis and soups with melted cheese on top and crackers in order to add more carbs for them, as well as make it more “kid friendly.”

·         Skinnytaste.com and Pioneerwoman.com are two of my favorite recipe sites. Skinny taste has excellent low calorie options for those trying to eat leaner. Pioneer woman has more hearty recipes if you’re trying to feed a lot of people at once…. Or my Husband.

Homemade fruit purees for the kids

 

 

Here are some examples of what my grocery lists look like:

Sams

·         Dry Oats

·         Bottled Waters for my husband to take to work

·         Milk

·         Shredded cheese

·         Fruit

·         Peanut Butter

·         Eggs

·         Meat in bulk

·         canned fruit for kids

·         muffins for the hubs

 

Whole wheat waffle with apples and cinnamon

Aldi

·         Meat, ground turkey, chicken strips and breasts (they have hormone free, low fat, and no antibiotic meat options)

·         Milk

·         Fruits and veggies (they have organic options)

·         Stevia

·         Nut butters (that are priced about half of what the grocery stores charge!)

·         Cookies, sweets, and ice cream for desserts (because we are a real family who likes treats sometimes!)

·         Canned goods

·         Dry dressings (an excellent, cheap and easy way to add flavor to any recipe)

·         Whole grain waffles, cereal, muffins

·         Squeeze applesauce and fruits

·         Crackers, yogurt, string cheese for the kiddos

·         Juice, water bottles

·         Salsa (also an excellent, cheap, and low calorie way to spice up any meal!)

·         Nuts

·         Rice cakes

·         Cheese

·         Bread, whole grain tortillas

·         Spices and herbs (a calorie free way to add lots of flavor to your food)

 

 

 

So you see, our grocery list and foods are pretty simple. In general, when you’re cooking for your family at home, you are making meals that are going to be much healthier than eating out (whether its fast food or restaurant food). My family rarely eats out, and whenever I’m running errands with the kids, I pack my up my big Thermos food bag with drinks and snacks for all of us. I’ve found that this not only saves us tons of money, but also tons of calories as well! The biggest key to saving money on food is planning!!! Planning your meals, planning your grocery trips, being tedious about what you purchase and keeping a well thought out list! :-)