Balanced diet on a budget

[jlamontagne]

As an 18 year old student I can't have an extravagant diet, and since i've moved out have been mainly using frozen food and ready meals . However, I do want to move onto a good balanced diet, so I feel better in general and improve as a cyclist. I am generally in good health and not overweight so it should be fairly easy to transfer onto a good diet.

What would be good items to have on my weekly shopping list that would keep to my budget?

 

[mark st1]

Salad fish fresh vegetables brown rice noodles white meat chicken turkey (maybe not turkey at this time of year) are all good foods and very affordable even on a budget mate. I just like adding things to bland foods to make them tasty but still healthy. a jar of low fat salad dressing or balsamic vinegar is a must for me plain salad is awful ! a pot of curry powder is always in my cupboard makes tuna and plain chicken more bearable to eat lol

There is alot of what seem to be Master Chef style cooks on here that can probably give you full menus some of stuff that gets made and posted about sounds delicious.

 

[Nearly there]

A can of stella in one hand and a kebab other =balance

 

[Rob3rt]

How can we advise you within the constraints of your budget if you do not tell us what your budget is?

TBH, if you don't piss your money away on booze, there is no reason you can not eat a normal healthy diet without cutting corners.

 

[mark st1]

The man is right if you only have enough to buy a pot noodle everyday then your kinda in shoot street.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

How can we advise you within the constraints of your budget if you do not tell us what your budget is?

TBH, if you don't **** your money away on booze, there is no reason you can not eat a normal healthy diet without cutting corners.

Tis the magic of Health,Fitness & Training

 

[Nebulous]

I'm not an 18 year-old student, as will become apparent from my story. I spent 20 years or so buying sandwiches and fizzy juice from shops at lunchtime. Spending about £3.50 a day. Then I started a lifechanging journey, which led to losing 5 stone and a cycling obsession with an ambition to compete.

You know the single biggest factor in my changed diet, other than willpower? The Spar shop local to my previous job started selling a bag of 5 items of fruit for £1. The main difference I made to my diet was substituting a £1 bag of fruit for my previous sandwiches and Dr Pepper. With that I lost a pound a week for 14 months.

That worked for me, it might not be right for you, but it shows that healthy options can't always be measured by cost.

 

[bicyclos]

I make a big pan of curry sauce with everything in except the chicken and bag it up into portions and freeze. All you have to do is cook some chicken fillets and add the sauce, many meals to be had and not just curry. you dont need ready meals, learn to cook and experiment its great and you can do it on a budget........

 

[vickster]

Turkey is much cheaper than chicken (unless you buy the really basic battery stuff) and very versatile. Rice and pasta are inexpensive and filling. Potatoes are cheaper if you buy them unwashed. Cook with housemates if you can, will work out much more economical than meals for one

 

[Saluki]

For pasta, couscous, noodles etc you can get great deals at www.approvedfood.co.uk if you are not to fussy about sell-by dates as a lot of the items are pretty close to the dates. However, noodles (so I have discovered) don't 'go off' like cheese etc does.

running a fledgling business, I get a lot of stuff from them. I wish that I had know about such companies when I was a student.

 

[jlamontagne]

I'm budgeting food at £25-30 a week, thanks for the ideas so far.

For pasta, couscous, noodles etc you can get great deals at www.approvedfood.co.uk if you are not to fussy about sell-by dates as a lot of the items are pretty close to the dates. However, noodles (so I have discovered) don't 'go off' like cheese etc does.

running a fledgling business, I get a lot of stuff from them. I wish that I had know about such companies when I was a student.

How have I not heard of this before, it's great

 

[adamangler]

Protein is the expensive part, carbs are cheap, oats, brown rice, pasta
broccoli, green veg are grat, take a multi vit and say a fish oil tab each day

cottage cheese and potatoes is a good cheap meal, as are various beans

i buy the really cheap bags of frozen chicken and have that with rice and broccoli with a bit of olive oil.

Dont disregard quality fats, olive oil, flax seed etc..lot of cals and better for you than lot of refined carbs.

 

[Sara_H]

As an 18 year old student I can't have an extravagant diet, and since i've moved out have been mainly using frozen food and ready meals . However, I do want to move onto a good balanced diet, so I feel better in general and improve as a cyclist. I am generally in good health and not overweight so it should be fairly easy to transfer onto a good diet.

What would be good items to have on my weekl

As an 18 year old student I can't have an extravagant diet, and since i've moved out have been mainly using frozen food and ready meals . However, I do want to move onto a good balanced diet, so I feel better in general and improve as a cyclist. I am generally in good health and not overweight so it should be fairly easy to transfer onto a good diet.

What would be good items to have on my weekly shopping list that would keep to my budget?

y shopping list that would keep to my budget?

I have a fab cook book called The Vegetarian Student Cookbook. It's fantastic for tasty, quick, easy meals on a budget. there's a non veggie version, but eating veggie is lots cheaper.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Feed-Zo...0767/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356353918&sr=8-1

Full of stuff to make and lots of it uses leftovers from other stuff to make more stuff,from the stuff leftover from making the stuff.

There figure that out

 

[Rob3rt]

£25-30 a week to feed one person is not a particularly tight budget!