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Cheap Food to Buy When Broke
Wondering how to eat healthy on a budget? Is that even possible?
When money’s tight, the goal isn’t just “cheap”—it’s cheap, filling and versatile so you can stretch meals across days. Here’s a solid, real-world list of budget foods that give you the most bang for your money.
*This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure here.
Cheap Healthy Food
Let’s first begin with some money saving tips, followed by cheap foods to have in your pantry.
1. Never stock up
I know you often hear, it’s best to stock up. But when I say never stock up, what I really mean is don’t buy things assuming you might need it – when you actually don’t. You may need to waste it if it never gets used and goes past its expiry date. Buy only what you need, and can go without.
2. Long shelf life
These are foods that will last you a long time, like canned or tinned food, lentils, pasta, rice and cereal. If you find them on sale, go ahead and buy them in bulk.
3. Use Cashback
I can’t recommend this enough! There are many cashback and coupon sites that you can use for your shopping. You are putting money back into your wallet and can use this money for your next purchase. If a store offers loyalty cards, it’s not a bad idea to get one.
4. Buy in-season
In-season produce is cheaper and of good quality.
Cheap Spring Produce:
- Strawberries
- Cherries (late spring)
- Apricots
- Pineapple
- Mango
Cheap Summer Produce:
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Plums
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
Fall Produce:
- Apples
- Pears
- Grapes
- Pumpkins
- Figs
- Cranberries
Winter Produce:
- Oranges
- Grapefruit
- Clementines / mandarins
- Apples
- Pears
- Pomegranates
- Kale
- Cabbage
- Brussel sprouts
5. Earn from Shopping Receipts
Swagbucks is a free app that allows you to scan your receipt and earn rewards! Swagbucks allows you to make money in more than one way.
6. Meal Prep to reduce stress
Not only does this save you time, but also saves you money. Since you have planned your meals for the week, you limit the ingredients you buy. There’s fewer takeaways and impulse buys when you choose to meal plan.
7. Avoid pre-cuts
Buying a whole chicken is always cheaper as compared to cut chicken. Same with cut pumpkin or any other fruit and veg. Try and avoid this as much as possible.
8. No packaged meals
Pre-packed meals like a rice and chicken tikka masala or a tasty noodle and stir might sound nice. But putting this together on your own would cost half as much. Packed meals are also an unhealthy option as most of the ingredients used are not fresh produce.
9. Leftovers (Little Hack)
If you have odd ingredients left over and not sure what to make from it, use Supercook. This free to use website lets you put in the names of the ingredients and it will show you the recipe to use with those ingredients. Saves us brainstorming what to cook!
10. Buy marked down
Most grocery stores mark down produce either late in the evening or early the next morning. Visit your usual supermarket and once you know when they mark down their products – buy them! But keep in mind that you use it before they go off.
Cheap Grocery List
Root Veg
These are veggies that grow underground, like carrot, sweet potato, turnip, parsnips, and beets. These vegetables can keep longer, and you can decide which ones suit your family better when buying.
Meal ideas:
- Mash potato
- Roast root veggies
- Potato salad
- Sweet potato fries
- Baked potato
- Leek and potato soup
- Gratin
- Potato curry.
- Pot pie
Lentils
These stay good for months when bought as a dry ingredient instead of the tinned ones. If you soak them in water for a couple of hours they cook quicker. They are protein dense and are quite filling. Perfect for hungry kids in the house.
Meal ideas:
- Lentil soup
- Lentil stew with your favorite veg or a lentil curry that go well with rice.
Eggs
Again another powerhouse of protein, this is an all-rounder. You can easily create a breakfast, lunch or dinner recipe with it.
Meal ideas:
1. Poached eggs
2. Pancakes
3. Fried eggs
4. Egg fried rice
5. Omelette
6. Egg curry
7. Frittata
8. Quiche
9. Shakshuka
Meat
You can go without this if you are feeling like having a vegetarian week. But if you do buy your choice of meat, make sure you only buy how much you will use. But if you do buy more than you need, you can always freeze them.
Meal ideas- From roast, grills, curries or burgers.
Oats
Oats again, have a long expiry when stored in a cool dry place. They make an excellent breakfast and are handy to have if you want to make some oatmeal muffins or oat biscuits for tea.
Meal ideas- Breakfast porridge, overnight oats, pancakes or even oat bars which make a healthy snack on the go.
Whole grains
This is a staple for us at every meal. We consume it in the form of rice or bread, so we buy this in bulk. This also reduces our food bill because smaller packaging costs a lot more than when we buy in bulk.
Meal ideas- Steamed brown rice with your favorite meat or veg, wholegrain pasta salad. If you love garlic (the way I do:) you can boil your rice with a couple of cloves and add a little butter to the cooked rice. This is a great side for your roast veggies or meat.
Beans
You can either choose canned beans or the dried ones. I find the dried variety cost a lot lesser than tinned beans, but you can buy whichever is more convenient for you.
Meal ideas- Beans and rice, chili, black bean soup, bean salad, veggie bean burger.
Flour
This can save you in times of crisis. While it’s not exciting on its own, but it stretches far and turns into a lot of actual food. You can do flatbreads, pizza bases, naans, dumplings and wraps.
Meal ideas- Naan pizza, wholewheat wraps.
Snack & Dessert
Bananas
One fruit that is available all year and available in almost any country. They are the healthiest and easiest fruit on the go and good for bouts of sugar cravings or hunger pangs.
Keep in mind that if its summer, you need to make sure you are not buying them too ripe as they can go off real quick. But don’t worry if you have a couple of overripe bananas – you can just freeze and blend to make a “nice cream” ( a healthy alternative to an ice cream).
Greek yogurt
I like to buy plain yogurt instead of the flavored ones because you can play around with the flavors.
You can add a fruit or honey which are great natural sweeteners. Top it with some roasted nuts or granola for some added crunch and energy boost. They make a great snack and a lot better than any sugar-filled dessert.
Popcorn Kernels
A pack of popcorn kernels can stay for months. Just add some butter and toss the kernels on the stove top to make some homemade popcorn for the family.
A fun crunchy snack that tastes even better when its warm and not out of a store bought pack.
Bag of nuts (your choice)
When its 3 pm every day, my mind is ready for a snack, and the most filling healthy option I found were some trail mix. You can get super creative and throw in whatever you can get your hands on. Dried cranberries, raisins, apricots, figs, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecan nuts or even date fruit. And if you are confused on how to decide, look what’s on sale and buy them.
Mix them up together and put them in zip-lock pouches. I keep a few of the bags in the car, at home and in my handbag, as they can be really useful when out and about. Saves spending money on a snack bar right?
There you go. It might sound like simple ingredients, but they are a better option to expensive takeaways or pre-packed meals in the supermarket.
It can be hard to swap your routine habits. But give it a try for a week or so and once you see the amount you save, it will motivate you to stick with a budget-friendly grocery list.
