Zikoris--
I think barley is out of the question, unless it's in tiny amounts. Quinoa is OK. TVP is fine; so are oats. For breakfast, though, I eat Fibre One cereal (helps with the digestive system) with soy milk (unsweetened) and a bit of fruit on top and Nutrasweet. For lunch I have a sandwich made with a low-carb (and sadly, expensive-ish) flour burrito shell. Filling is either egg salad or tuna salad, made by hubby. For dessert, I have a half cup of sugar-free instant pudding made with soy milk, or an Oikos yogurt (no sugar).
Chickpeas and lentils should be fine. We do eat falafel sandwiches once a week or so.
When I see others doing so much better with their spending, I wonder what the hell I'm doing wrong.
Honestly you are probably doing okay. Cost of food varies a lot on location and what you eat.
Our grocery bill is going to come out to being about $7000 this year, for a family of 4, but you could consider it more like 3 (10 year old eats school lunch, not included in that amount and 4 year old doesn't eat much).
While I'm a big fan of rice and beans because they are cheap, I'm 46 and hubby is 48 and for weight control reasons, we cannot really eat a lot of them. I basically limit my carbs/ grains to 2-3 servings a day, and hubby limits his to about the same, maybe 1 more.
My daily meals might look like:
Breakfast: protein powder, peanut butter, fruit smoothie. Sometimes a carb like corn tortillas or oats.
Snack: fruit and nuts or cheese
Lunch: salad with veggies, sunflower seeds, feta, olives, homemade dressing
Snack: Veggies and hummus
Dinner: A carb (rice, beans, potato, tortillas), veggies, and protein.
I eat a lot of vegetables. A lot. A few pounds at least. And if you are able to get them for $1 a pound, it's still a lot of money. I probably spend $4 a day on produce, for just me. (We belong to a CSA that is $40 a week, and covers about 80% of our produce needs).
So, how do "do better":
1. Keep a price book. Find ways to get what you currently eat cheaper. Example:
- 10 oz bag of broccoli florets = $2.29
- 1 bunch shrink wrapped broccoli = $1.89 (and is 2x the amount of the bag)
- 1 pound broccoli (different store) = $1
- 1 head broccoli (99 cent store) = $1 (and about 1.5 pounds)
2. Figure out what foods you like and eat that are cheap, and increase the frequency of rotation.
3. Don't waste food.
4. Stretch with soup.
5. Figure out where the bulk of your money goes (produce, meat, cheese, eggs, ?) and work on those FIRST.
6. Figure out your non-negotiables. For some, it's only free-range meat, or organic eggs, or organic produce if the dirty dozen. Nothing wrong with making those decisions. But recognized it won't be apples to apples comparison to others. (Also, check the USDA website.)
7. Figure out how to make the stuff you currently buy. (Yogurt, hummus, etc.)
8. Calculate the cost per meal. What is killing you, breakfast? Snacks? I love Kind bars but a handful of nuts is cheaper.
My grocery budget doubled the year I cut back on carbs. From $5300 to $10,500. The following year, I cut it back to $5600 but it was a lot of work, and involved shopping at multiple stores every week. This year we are going to be closer to $7000.
In any event, for me, I found that fats are cheaper than protein, and are as satiating. So, I've cut back on protein and increased fats. Peanut butter, olive oil, per calorie, are cheaper than chicken.
Yeah, I could probably cut our bill even further this year, but I'm not willing to cut back on my produce intake. So there you are.