I was not sure where to place this ... and since this is most food related I figured it couldn't hurt to place it in the Nurition section.

I know many people live on a tight budget and have to find ways feed their families. My budget just got tighter, so I was wondering if anyone here had some tips for frugal shopping?

I will have probably no more than 125 bucks a month to feed myself and one other (my fiance). I have the usual expenses (Rent, phone, electric, insurance, water, cable, Non-ADD meds and so forth) and some extra (hospital bills, and now a car note), so I am extra strapped to get food on the table.

I know I can't be too picky, but I want to eat as HEALTHY as I can. I am mostly a veggie kinda gal, but my fiance loves his red meat.

I am open for suggestions, so PLEASE go ahead and make them.

Thanks for your time,
- Ane -

Doesn't anyone have any ideas?

Maybe I am just impatient. Sorry if I am ...

There are several websites that can help. Do a search for frugal grocery shopping. Some that I found were Stretcher, The Frugal Shopper and Better Budgeting. I would post links but I don't think I am allowed to yet.

We are a frugal lot here! We have a big garden and put away a lot of our own food. We pick berries for jams and such. But by far in the way most important savings come from learning to cook from scratch.

Complex carbohydrates are cheap. Beans, peas, lentels, brown rice, have huge value as good quality food. Fresh veggies and fruit are important and they are expensive. I don't know how to get past that one!

Processed foods often contain things that don't really qualify as food. The year I was the poorest was the year I discovered that food was much different than I thought it was and that my Mum had prepared me well for living for cheap with basic scratch cooking.

Bags of flour are cheap and there is a lot of food in a bag of flour.

The problem comes with the simple carbohydrates being cheap and simple carbohydrates like sugar, white flour, pasta, white rice all are empty calories.

To me "empty calories" means that they are fuel yes, but they are void of nutrition.

"Nutrition" to me means a food content that is going to help my body to restore it's myriad depleted resources.+

So many frugal folks suffer with weight problems and most of that comes from too many simple carbs like sugar and the white foods and not enough protein. Protein is expensive. Combining foods like corn and beans is how the Mexicans have been getting enough for centuries. Many cultures have similar combinations that don't rely so heavily on the animal protein which is not all it's cracked up to be anyway. Fats are where toxins are stored and eating high on the food chain like when we eat animal products is a good way to get lots of exposure to concentrated toxins from the animals and our common environment.

I hope some of this has given you some ideas how you might stretch your dollars a little farther.
Cheers! Ian.

Here are some cheap and healthy foods-

Cabbage- can be used to make coleslaw or eaten all by itself

Oatmeal- Beans- Any type of raw long grain rice- potatoes are usually cheap- Plain frozen vegetables- in season fruit and vegetables- bananas- carrots- celery- lettuce ( romaine is slightly more expensive than ice berg but still pretty cheap and more nutritious)- peanut butter- canned tuna or canned salmon- ground turkey- eggs- whole wheat flour

Milk is a great source of protein and calcium- it may seem expensive at 3-4 dollars a gallon but per serving is still much cheaper than meat. You could try dry instant milk but around here the savings is very little and it does not taste nearly as good as fresh.