I'm not sure where everybody lives but if any of you live near Palm Springs CA, (our son lives there and we visited him last week), there is a large farmer's market every weekend at the College of the Desert.  In fact, they have many booths set up and sell most anything you want(clothes, jewelry, gadgets etc.)  It would be a great Sat day trip if you are close by.  We could not believe the prices of the fruits and veggies.  We bought strawberries, grapes, asparagus, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, fresh herbs,and they had alot of other things. 

Hi Patti, We eat healthy and frugal all the time. We eat a lot of beans and brown rice. Beans have more natural fiber than any other food. We make all our breads, all whole grain breads.  We cook from scratch but because we operate a daylily nursery, we are super busy April-October. We cook and bake ahead and freeze the items. We have home canned or home frozen beans, vegetables and fruits from our gardens or that we have bought in bulk.  We buy brown rice pasta ( DS has wheat allergies and DD and DH don't like whole wheat pasta). It's kind of expensive but we budget and buy around 60 lbs from the co-op when it goes on sale at 20% off a couple of times a year.  We are vegan so we don't have to worry about the expense of meat, eggs and dairy.  We never buy convenience foods, not even convenience "health foods".  We also don't use margarine. We got into the habit of drizzling extra virgin olive oil on our toast because of the trans fats and just haven't picked up the margarine habit again, now that you can buy it without the trans fats. We also don't buy junk foods like sodas, candy, cookies, etc.  We don't drink juice except on special occasions. We don't drink with our meals and drink water between meals. Much better for one's digestion :) DH  puts juice on his hot cereal because he doesn't like soy or rice milk.  We eat fresh fruits and veggies in season. We also dry them to have for out of season.  Our diet has lots of variety and good food that we enjoy.

In 2007, I spent an average of $300 per month on food, bird seed, dog food, toiletries, household items like light bulbs, bags and wraps, detergent, etc.  This figure also includes the money I budget each month for co-op food and the 20 bushels of apples and 20 bushels of nectarines that we bought from an orchard to can and freeze. We also stored some apples in our cellar. We still have about 1/2 bushel that are still good. Also includes the $43 per month budgeted for citrus fruits that our church sells as a fund raiser for the school. We get naval oranges and red grapefruits--4/5 bushel of each per month.  I expect 2008 to be more because of food prices rising.

 Well, I didn't intend this to be so long. I probably wrote more than you wanted to know. LOL

Daylily 

That's ok!  I enjoyed your post.  You keep busy don't you?  In the summer, I go back home to southern Alabama and get vegatables and fruits to freeze for the year.  I love to make jellies and preserves also.  I don't have any friends who do these things so its nice to find people on this post who enjoy it like me.  The best peaches in the world are from Chilton County AL if you are ever traveling on Interstate 65 between Birmingham and Montgomery.  It is about 3 hours from where I live but I go through there a few times in summer on the way back home just to get the peaches.  I make alot of fresh peach pies so I have learned to cut up the peaches, sprinkle with fruit fresh and a little sugar and put the freezer bag in my pie plate to freeze so the shape will be easy to put in the pie crust if not fully thawed.

What a neat idea to freeze some peaches in the shape of your pie plate!  I'll have to try that!

Yes, we do keep busy :)  We have about 11,000 sq ft of vegetable gardens that we take care of plus the daylilies. 

Buy some Quaker Oats and some raisins.  That oatmeal lasts forever!  You can add any fruit you want - I just use raisins because they keep longer.

Fill up on veggies.  Forget cutting them - just eat green peppers and cucumbers like they were apples!

A canister of oatmeal and a canister of raisins =  Breakfast for weeks

I got my dh to eat whole wheat pasta and spaghetti which i get a good price at walmart. i buy lots of chicken breasts when they're on sale. luckily my dh loves chicken. i only buy fruit when it's on sale. my price point is under a dollar a pound but i haven't seen that in a long while. boo-hoo. well except for bananas, but i miss peaches and nectarines.

i found that skim milk is cheaper than whole milk. weird. but anyway i like the taste so i win. i try to make my desserts from scratch so i can control the fat and the price and the strange preservatives. We also don't eat out very often maybe once a week if we're lucky, but i plan a weekly menu just in case.

I bake our bread , I cook all our meals at home I am a frugal cook I cook meatless meals at least twice a week . I too set a price on meat vegetables , and fruit .

I shop the loss leaders and I am  careful shopper .

digiscrappergirl:

Hi all! I am new to posting here, but have been lurking just a few days. :) I am so glad to be here!

 How do you all eat healthy AND frugal? I am doing Weight Watchers and love it because it's so easy to follow, but I am finding that I am breaking the bank buying things I never normally bought before. I guess I am depending too much on the advertised low fat, convenience foods and snacks, when I know I can eat anything I want as long as I count the Points for it.

These foods really AREN'T healthy if you look at the sodium content, transfats, and the long list of chemical glop that go into them.  Make regualr sized, not jumbo size healthy muffins and cookies from scratch.  It is fairly simple to figure your points.  By doing this you are avoiding all the unnecessary chemical glop that are in processed foods.  Do an internet search for high fiber cookies and similar nutritious recipes.  

I've never really liked to snack on fruits and veggies, but am quickly learning I need to incorporate these each day. I buy mainly frozen veggies for two reasons: 1) I don't like to eat veggies raw, except in a salad, and 2), the price of fresh fruits and veggies here is ridiculously high, and farmers markets won't open until around May.

All you need to eat veggie/fruit wise is 3-5 servings daily.  It is not much at all when you consider a serivng is generally 1/2 cup.  Start measuring it out. You would be surprised at how little 1/2 cup is.

During the Summer months, we get a lot of produce from my Dad and brother who grow a garden each year. DH and I are also considering starting a tiny garden. Tiny because my DH has Ulcerative Colitis and cannot eat many fruits and veggies because they make his condition worse.

 Anyway, I feel like I am going on forever. Any thoughts are very much appreciated, as I think this would make a nice, interesting topic of discussion. :)

 

~DigiScrapperGirl