. . . when the cupboard is bare & my budget is $6

How is it already Saturday?? Did I really go an entire week without a post?? Oops. . . . my bad.

   This has been a very interesting week.  This Friday was "pay day" meaning Monday-Thursday were extremely tight.  "How tight?" you ask. Let's just say that I checked the pockets of all of my jeans, all of my purses and under the couch for coins and dollars.  Since moving to N.C., while I have gotten bigger and bigger, my wallet is looking downright runway model skinny these days.  Which brings me to the subject of my post: Sometimes it's not a state-of-mind that makes eating healthy seemingly impossible, $$$ can also play a huge part.  How can you eat healthy on a budget???

   I've been looking on the Internet for tips on eating healthy on a budget.  It seems like Rule Numero Uno is "Plan, Plan, and Plan ahead".  Take the time to plan your meals ahead of time so that when you get to the grocery store. . . . blah, blah, blah.  We've read this a million times. I hope that one day I am organized enough to be THAT girl in the grocery store to walk in with a monogrammed coupon case and a grocery list that could be easily confused with Martha Stewart's, while cartoon birds flutter around me while I hum a happy tune and twirl in my Stepford wife dress. 

   Chirping birds, humming and twirling aside, I'm pretty good about buying my chicken breasts, brown rice, frozen veggies, etc.. . . AFTER PAYDAY.  That's not too hard.  What IS hard is finding something to eat that doesn't require pulling up to a drive through window on those 2-3 days BEFORE payday when the cupboard is bare and my budget is about $6 . . . or less

  Now, we all know we can get a "Five dolla - five dolla - five dolla foot-long" from Subway.  But since I'm not eating bread at the moment, that is not an option. Here are just a few ideas that got me through the lean days without having to deviate from my food options.

1. Celery ($1.99), Starkist Tuna Garlic and Herb packet ($2.35 for one packet): take the tuna and pack it in the middle of a few cut pieces of celery.  It's already flavored so it doesn't need anything else to be tasty (not just edible. . . but tasty).

2.  Edamame ($2.50 or less).  If you ever have a french fry craving and feel the Golden Arches luring you into their trans-fat filled web, hit the grocery store for some yummy Edamame goodness.  If you've never heard of them, they are green soybeans in the pod that are picked before ripening (according to Wikipedia). You eat them like you would peanuts in the shell or sunflower seeds.  They are perfect for movie nights instead of buttered popcorn.  You can find them in the veggie frozen section.  No. . . they aren't a meal.  But they got me through the movie Shutter Island without taking a bite of popcorn, so I had to give them a "shout out" so to speak. 

3. Eggs ($1.99 for one dozen) and spinach ($1.25 in frozen section).  I like them scrambled together personally.

   I'm sure some of you may have 30 more ideas of how to eat healthy for under $5*. Yeay for you. But in case you didn't. . . hope my little ideas got you thinking.  Here's a website that I found that's really inspired me and my grocery store selections: http://www.5dollardinners.com/

   On a final note, while it should be an oxymoron that the impoverished areas of the country are also the fattest... it's not.  Fast food is cheap food but FAsT food is mostly FAT (see what I did there?).  There are options besides a cheeseburger and fries when you only have quarters and dimes in your wallet. Trust me, I paid for my lunch of cucumber ($1.29), brown rice ($1.49) and a banana (.69 for one) off of change I found in my car (Guess it came in handy that I haven't cleaned my car out after all!)


* I did not forget about Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers frozen dinners. While those are low on calories, they are filled with (tasty?) chemicals and sodium.  My fingers blow up like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man after eating one.