Nobody have mentioned canned salmon. For 2.50$ a can, you get 600 calories, 80g of protein and 32g of fat that will provide all the omega-3 you need (hence saving on a supplement). I think it comes out to be better than canned tuna.
Get the cheap Costco or BJ’s membership.
Some examples:
Chicken thighs 6 ibs about $16
Eggs 3 doz. $2.79
25ibs of rice $13
10 cans of tuna $9
80% lean ground beef 5ibs. $13.50
Oatmeal, the big cans, are $6
Veggies this time of year are cheap and plentiful.
I was always broke in college. You could always get a fishing pole. Me and my college roomate at a lot of fish when we could make the time to catch them.
[quote]evansmi wrote:
Anyone ever try Aldi’s?
I have a choice between walmart and aldi’s.[/quote]
Aldi’s is the way to go. I’ve compared the bigger bulk stuff other places sell, and aldi always beats it. Only problem I have with them is they don’t sell natty pb or brown rice.
[quote]Evilmage wrote:
if you know someone with a sam’s club or costco membership, see if they’ll let to tag along shopping.
[/quote]
Yeah, when money is tight, one of the best friends you can have is someone with a costco membership.
It’s great to have friends with costco memberships!
Other people have posted good suggestions, but just make sure you get the best value for your dollar. This generally means buying food in larger quantities (such as 1 gallon milk instead of half-gallon and buying the big tub of cottage cheese instead of smaller containers), or buying from the store brand instead of national brand.
If there is a Winco near you, hit that up. I bought Evoo, 4 bags of chicken (about 2lbs worth each), 15 bags of steam ready veggies, and a couple other things for under 60 bucks. it was ridiculous.
I need to go check out wal mart too.
$150 per month or for the whole time?
you are screwed if it’s for the whole time. screw lifting weights, running etc. buy some nuts, some rice and beans and stay as inactive as possible so you can survive on a small meal or two a day.
if you have that amount each month, it should be plenty if you shop smart.
eat beans. they are cheap as hell and cheaply seasoned. a crock pot full of pinto beans, a jalapeno, some onion and pepper will last you a few days.
eat tuna, pre-packaged deli meats, watch for the skinless, boneless chicken breasts to go on sale, eat lots of brown rice, grains and other staples.
fruits and vegetables will be expensive so invest in multi vitamins for now.
check out dollar stores for as much of your pastas, crackers and possible even beans as you can find. some discount stores carry non-perishable food items and steeply discount them.
if you keep training, don’t worry about eating as much as recommended because you won’t be able to afford it. but, you won’t die and you’ll still make gains.
if you can’t afford your lifestyle, make some changes. it’s not fun but you have to do what you have to do.
[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Sorry, I meant about 150 a month. It’s all I really can afford right now. I am in college, and really having to stretch out my meager budget.
I was hoping someone could give some advice, or suggestions on how to eat well on 150 a month. [/quote]
ah. disregard my last post. see about using some of your loans to buy a meal plan at the school. even if you live off campus you can still buy meal plans usually. If you can amass the amount needed for a meal plan rather than financing it, all the better.
you won’t necessarily get quality food, but you will be able to fill your nutrition needs. it’ll be better than scrapping for pennies to eat.
semesters are roughly 4 months long which means you’ll be spending $600 dollars on food with $150 per month.
i’d be suprised if your school’s meal plan was that expensive. in the long run, it should save you money too. say you spend 300 a semester on a meal plan. that would be $600 total for a year, rather than $1200 at your budget. you could use the other six hundred dollars to start paying off your loans.
if you graduate on time in four years, you would have paid $2400 off of your loans before you even graduate while being well fed. most student loans don’t kick in interest rates until after graduation anyways, so by paying part of them off early, you’ll be saving even more money with a smaller principle collecting interest after graduation giving you more money to spend on food and what ever else in the future.
that is just an example of course, but look in to the differences in cost of the schools food program to your budget. it will probably be a better deal.
Can somebody please explain to me what ever happend to College Meal plans? Am I that old that they have dissappeared?