Nutrition when can’t afford to follow a plan

amother

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 2:55 am

I know I need to be more careful about what I eat.. my cholesterol is high, my blood pressure is high, I have fatty liver, pre diabetes, arthritis , POTS, and a couple other things.
That being said, money is really tight. To the extent that sometimes we have plain pasta or rice for a meal. I know I need to cut carbs and increase fruits and veggies but how to do that when there is no budget for it?
We get produce each week from a food pantry.
One meal a day is leftovers from my kid’s school (husband is a rebbe and gets to take food home)
have been to a nutritionist before, but a plan like I was given is totally impractical on our current budget, I would probably need another $300 a month to eat like she recommended .

Looking for cheap healthy food ideas that are also filling.
Examples are brown rice instead of white rice (which I do already). Just throwing out an example of the type of ideas I want.

Thanks!

teachkids

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 3:27 am

Frozen veggies are a cheap way to add nutrients- steam a bag of frozen veggies to mix into that rice (I don’t mean expensive broccoli, I mean cheap non jewish brands of peas carrots and corn). Canned veggies could work too.
Even just adding beans to your rice is good.
Tofu is another cheaper protein source- it’s like $1.50 and you can blend it with skim milk and some seasonings to make a nutritious pasta sauce.
Focus on healthier seasonings like salsa instead of ketchup.

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 8:21 am

A good grain is Farro. It has protein. You treat it as if it were barley. Barley is good too.

The 'mixed soup beans' are healthy and cheap.

If you want to be bothered with such a large amount, this is a good deal:

https://www.webstaurantstore.c......html

The GOYA section in the store has good beans and grains, not expensive.

Yes to eggs.

And powdered milk.

Yes to canned fish, for protein.

Lentils are great and cheap. Just rinse and boil.

Beans need to be soaked, then that water thrown away, and cooked in new water.

Farro also, unless it is 'pearled.' But it usually is.

If you get grains, store them in a sealed plastic box, to avoid mice.

Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Thu, Jan 04 2024, 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 1:58 pm

Beans only need to be soaked for an hour. Rinsed first, in the mesh strainer. Discard the soak water and boil them in new water. Beans are very healthy. Also chick peas, which are not a bean and don't need soaking.

Hummus - a can of drained GOYA chick peas in the blender, with oil, bottled lemon juice, garlic powder. A can of olives, drained, can be thrown in. Good with bread.

Cabbage is a great and cheap food. Eat it cut up small, raw, for most vitamins, with some oil and vinegar on it. Red or white, doesn't matter.

Use iodized salt.

The restaurant supply websites can be useful for food ordering. Many of their foods have the OU hechsher.

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 2:34 pm

Making yogurt is good for gut health and your health in general.

Using normal full fat milk is much, much cheaper than buying yogurt.

It can be made in a slow cooker overnight:

https://www.ayearofslowcooking......html

Your starter is a cup of "active cultures" yogurt from the store. Bought once. After that, you use some from your own previous batch.

More discussion, somewhat more fussy:

https://downshiftology.com/rec.....gurt/

"Heat the milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. (You need a food thermometer.) This kills whatever unsavory microbes may be lurking in your milk and ensures you’ve got no remnant bacteria, pathogens, mold, or spores. When you create an environment for bacteria to multiple, you only want the good bacteria (which you introduce to the milk) to multiply. Heating the milk also creates a thicker yogurt by changing the protein structure.

Cool the milk to 112-115 degrees Fahrenheit. After you’ve made the milk inhospitable for the bad stuff, you want to make it hospitable for the good bacteria – your starter mix. Use the same instant read thermometer you used when heating your milk, to know when it’s cooled to 112-115 degrees.

Add your yogurt starter – the good bacteria. Pour out one cup of warm milk and stir in either a yogurt starter (I use Yogourmet) or 3 tablespoons of pre-made ACTIVE CULTURES PLAIN, UNFLAVORED, nothing-added yogurt."

Yogurt can be drunk as a drink, if it's thin. That's still jut fine for your gut. It can be sweetened after it's made. It can be a salad dressing. Some put dried mint in. In summer, it's a cold soup, with other stuff in it and two ice cubes.

Acidophilus pills also provide good gut heath, available at any drugstore.

Gut health, good biome in there, good bacteria, really, really matters. This affects everything. Health, mood, everything.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 2:41 pm

Lots of good healthy recommendations on this thread. But also - reduce calories and portion sizes. Less input is more weight loss. I'm doing a diet on a budget, for health reasons rather than beauty, I'm still eating a lot of pasta and bread because it's cheap, but overall I eat a lot less than I used to, and I have managed to shed nearly 20 lbs.