Cheap but Healthy Meal Plan - What Am I Missing?

Lednamekin on 15/10/2015 - 10:37

Hi All,

Inspired partly by the forum post where everyone's posting their cost of living, I have decided to take the plunge and reduce my exorbitant $800/month spending on eating out.

Things working for me:
-Live 5 mins walk from work: can head home for lunch
-Fewer friends: less chance of social drinks/food

Here's my intended plan, would love your thoughts on whether it is healthy, cheap enough, or can be improved. Going for the whole high protein, high fat, lowish carb plan.

Plan: Buy 3L of long-life skim milk, 3kg of regular beef mince, 3 jars of cooking sauce and 3kg of frozen broccoli/cauliflower florets.
Meal plan: Breakfast 500ml milk, lunch 250g mince + 250g vegies, dinner 250g mince + 250g vegies for 6 days, then one day per week to be on old routine.

Estimated cost: $3 milk, $27 mince, $10 cooking sauce, $15 vegies + $50 one-day binge = $105/week - $455/month

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • cupcake on 15/10/2015 - 11:02

    Can you drink half a litre of milk each morning? That would give me a tummy ache.

    • ednamekin on 15/10/2015 - 12:32
      +1

      I've tested this out, and it's definitely got a laxative effect! But other than that I'm not suffering much. I found drinking the 1st 500ml straight from the room temperature carton is easier than chilled.

      • cupcake on 15/10/2015 - 13:24

        Ok, but who has time to wait for the milk to be at room temperature in the morning? Lucky work is 5 minutes away if you need the loo.

        Also, you must really like mince. How are you going to cook it?

        • ednamekin on 15/10/2015 - 16:00

          I buy the milk from Coles and leave it out so it stays room temp. I picked mince as it's easy - cooking method is dumping all 3 kilos plus the 3 jars of sauce into a slow cooker, stir then leave on high for 5 hours.

        • CrazyMexican on 15/10/2015 - 18:42

          @ednamekin: 5 hours ? Cook all at once and store in the fridge for the whole week?

        • ednamekin on 16/10/2015 - 15:01

          @CrazyMexican: Yes, and nuke it in the microwave each meal.

  • rambutann on 15/10/2015 - 11:07
    +2

    Heres the thing about reducing costs, its not small costs like general day to day eating habits that ramp up your cost of living (unless you eat out heaps..)
    It having a car and living in an expensive place..
    Take these two things out of your life and you will probably still spend less overall even if you ate caviar 24/7.

    • ednamekin on 15/10/2015 - 12:34
      +3

      I've targeted eating out as it's quite a large expense for me @ $800/month. Car's effectively gone, I sold off my fancier car, paid off the loan, and now own a $1,500 basic one. Rent-wise I'm paying $270/week for a shared 2-bed, 2 bath in Melbourne CBD, which is propably on the average end?

  • lupiter on 15/10/2015 - 11:42
    +5

    3 jars of cooking sauce

    I'm assuming this is in the line of "chicken tonight" sauces? These are generally not very healthy OR very cheap. Make sure you read the labels carefully, most are loaded with sugar. Either make simple sauces yourself (tomato paste, soy sauce, garlic, paprika, thyme, would be my most used) or go with spice mixes (cajun, italian, moroccan) and add a little chicken stock, wine, sherry, or plain water.

    Also, you'll want to watch out for your vitamins. Maybe mix up those frozen veg types (mixed veg, spinach, peas). Nobody wants scurvy!

    • ednamekin on 15/10/2015 - 12:36

      Similar, it's the Indian Pattu's cooking sauce. Looking at the nutritional info, it's about 6g carbs per 100ml, 3g protein and I think 7g fat.

      Simple sauces and spice mixes are a great option! Haven't thought of that.

  • pernunz on 15/10/2015 - 13:06
    +2

    Rice is a good way to add KJ with very low cost. What's the special next week, 10kg for $11?

    But, make sure you don't get bored! Variety is important.

  • anglais on 15/10/2015 - 13:19
    +5

    You're likely to damage your health if you stick to that diet for too long. 500g of red meat per week is plenty, especially cheap meat like mince. You need to mix it up with chicken and fish and add a wider variety of vegetables. Best to avoid meat completely one or two days a week, but I do acknowledge this is pretty uncommon in Australia. Also having a single set meal for lunch and dinner probably isn't sustainable, you'll be bored in no time. Finally although carbs might not be ideal, they are going to make your meals a lot cheaper and more sustaining.

    • cupcake on 15/10/2015 - 14:41
      +3

      I agree. Make that chicken mince. I love buying the fresh seafood marinara mix at the supermarket and pan frying it with vegies too. Mix it up a bit.

      Maybe a piece of toast with a cup of tea in the morning. Or even two boiled eggs. I would feel hungry by 12.30pm on just milk.

      Try weetbix for breakfast or even oats with banana. All of that won't cost a lot. You'll be full and won't have to grab a morning tea snack while out.

      $800 a month on eating out is a lot!

  • nerdycat on 15/10/2015 - 14:21
    +2

    Regular Beef mince is also not the healthiest as they bulk it out with some fat.

    You could buy less like anglais88 suggested and buy some better quality beef. Chicken/Turkey Mince are sometimes on special at woolworths and they can be a little healthier, mince freezes pretty well as well.

    Hopefully you are eating fruit from somewhere to ensure vitamin intake is ok - supplements are not the cheapest thing on earth

    Looking at the specials (eg close to use by date) can be really handy when shopping at supermarkets.. and also having fruit and veg that are in season and in surplus can make it cheaper than frozen, with some fruits you can even freeze the extra that you buy yourself.

    You can eat cheaply and still eat well, by portioning correctly and bulk cooking. Have variety or the new plan wont last very long.

  • mobius on 15/10/2015 - 16:28
    -3

    Please don't buy caged eggs, non-free range meat products, any of the major milk brands the savings in your pocket are directly at the cost of animal welfare.

    Not only should you try to eat free-range/organic but you should you try reduce your meat intake and replace with cheaper vegetarian options such as lentils, chickpeas, etc.

    Here's my "budget eats" tips
    Buy home brand oats $2 a kg
    Rotate between soy, oat, diary milk
    Always buy free range eggs
    Buy and eat fresh seasonal (cheaper) vegetables over frozen veg.

    • podiacide on 15/10/2015 - 22:10
      +3

      Umm, your quite contradictory here mate.

      Here is where you went wrong:

      1. Organic is not only more expensive but they are far less sustainable for the environment. They have no more nutrition or health benefits than conventionally grown food. (and if you are going to disagree with me on this please reply with peer reviewed research from established notable scientific journals).

      2. Frozen vegetables have just as much nutrition as fresh vegetables. The freezing process ensures that the nutrition is captured and kept from the time of initial freezing.

      3. Free range labels are often very misleading. Countless ACCC investigations have found that they are pretty much fraudulent when it comes to their claims on animal welfare.

      4. I guess if you were really concerned about animal welfare you'd be asking the OP to not buy mince from cattle slaughtered to Halal certification. But I'll leave that rant to another day.

      • mobius on 16/10/2015 - 12:35

        The free-range/organic comment is not about sustainability, it's about making a point about not supporting antiquated factory farming practices.

        Frozen veggies aren't that cheap, buying in season vegetables works out better in my opinion, but whatever.

        So your logic is because you can't trust a "free range" label and you're too lazy to do research into the product you're buying you might as well get the cheapest thing on the shelf? I agree enforcing food labelling is weak, but just doing a little research is not that much to ask.

        My concern isn't Halal, don't know why that came up?, it's about factory farming and the reality is eating cheap meat is not sustainable.

  • Diji1 on 15/10/2015 - 18:40
    -4

    Please buy caged eggs, non-free range meat products and any of the major milk brands because I have a pet cause that I think is important enough to ask you to do stuff that I think is best because I think I'm a better person than you.

    • CrazyMexican on 15/10/2015 - 18:45
      +2

      what?

    • try2bhelpful on 15/10/2015 - 19:01
      +1

      Nothing about pet causes mate, it is about ensuring that animals are treated in the most humane way possible. I'm not a vegetarian but I make sure I only eat free range eggs, free range chicken and pork. You may not give a stuff about torturing animals but it makes me sick thinking about chickens crammed into cages all their lives. If this makes me superior to you, then maybe you need to wear that hat.

  • try2bhelpful on 15/10/2015 - 19:08

    There is an enormous number of recipe websites out there that don't cost you a cent to use. I suggest that you have a good look around and build yourself up a repertoire of recipes you can go to almost in autopilot. Keep adding to the repertoire when you have time to do a bit of exploratory cooking. Things like frozen vegetables work very well in stews so you can dial back on the meat a bit. Get yourself a set of good quality knives, saucepans, baking trays, a good food processor etc. It really helps having tools that work. It also helps to do batches of things, e.g. stews, soups, etc that you can take to work or defrost in the evening when you are too stuffed to cook. (You might be able to balance this out with a nice salad). Best of Luck.

  • altomic on 15/10/2015 - 19:32
    +2

    Lentils and Dahl are your friends.

    You live in melb CBD then get to the Vic market & towards closing time can score some cheap fruit & veg

  • grasstown on 16/10/2015 - 00:08

    Too much milk and meat. Way too much. For your health, morals and the planet.

  • Live Dimension on 16/10/2015 - 08:44
    +2

    You need to mix things up waaaaaaaay more. For example, buy some salads and make sammies. Maybe make some extra spag bol one night and have it as leftovers for lunch.

    Eating the same thing day in and day out is NOT healthy!

  • ednamekin on 16/10/2015 - 15:00

    Whoa so many responses, thank you all!

    I'll try respond to everyone in general over here:
    -Heavy red meat: yes I love meat, for variation I've thought of swapping out 2kg beef mince with chicken or turkey mince instead.
    -Mince: Since I'm starting the move from eating out to cooking, I've taken the laziest path - dump ingredients into a slow cooker, stir, and let cook for a few hours. Mince to me is the easiest to process this way; also once cooking's done and i put the cooked stuff into tubs for the fridge, it's quite easy to measure out the portions for each meal (divide tub by quarter etc).
    -Carbs: I've kept this low-carb, but appreciate the oats and rice: I'll adjust so that I have 2kg meat, and swap 1kg of the meat out for 1-2kg of rice.
    -Fruit: Yes this is missing. I thought of supplementing with a multivitamin but that 1. makes it expensive, 2. just makes my pee bright yellow. The office serves fruit, I'll pick off a banana/orange every two days.
    -Mixing it up: having dieted before to lose weight, I found a single meal multiple times is more effective for control.
    Health impacts: I've left one day "off" per week to feast on whatever food, be it cakes, fruits, rice etc. This was going to be my way of balancing out things, and also retaining some variety in what I consume.
    -Free-range etc: Admittedly I was actually peeved when they started taking away caged eggs, only because they're much cheaper. Yes I support you choosing to purchase free range eggs, but I would like it if it's not forced upon me too.

    Will adjust the meal plan over the weekend and see if I can publish it, along with prices and estimated macros next week. Thank you again!

    • phocus on 16/10/2015 - 15:26

      Your plan is very similar to mine. Get yourself a webber and you can cook chicken breast really easily and without going down the mince path.

      On a regular day im eating same thing for lunch and dinner and that usually consists of choice of meat(seasoned with salt/herbs/tomato paste), frozen veg and rice. I also mix in some fruit and yoghurt to bring up some calories. Boiled eggs are also in there somewhere too.

      Cheap eats and seems to be fueling me ok

  • cupcake on 16/10/2015 - 15:29

    Read link:

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/214450

  • Hirolol on 16/10/2015 - 20:46

    Wow 500ml of milk for breakfast….
    Now that is what i call cutting costs

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