by David B Hitchcock

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: May 27, 2009

Groceries on $21 dollars a week

7 tips on eating healthy for $3 a day

Times are tough. You have little to no money in your pocket. How are you going to eat? How are you going to survive? Well, you can eat on just $21 of groceries a week. Read on to find out how.

No matter how you slice it

If you eat 3 meals a day for 7 days, that's 21 meals. If you eat that way that would be $1 a meal to meet your goal. You might choose to have fewer and larger meals, or more frequent and smaller meals. That choice is yours, but it's easiest to base things on 3 meals a day, and $1 per meal per person.

#1 - Know the food groups, and follow them

It's easy for anyone to live on nothing but macaroni and cheese for a week, but that won't do you any good. You need a balanced diet or over time you will suffer for it. Without enough vitamin C, you'll get scurvy. Without enough calcium your bones will get brittle from osteoporosis. And this list goes on and on. While you can live on noodles alone for a while, a prolonged diet of that kind will land you in a hospital with a host of problems. Better to eat three squares,

#2 - Vegetarian meals are cheaper

You need protein, no matter what kind of diet you are on. Not only does it help maintain muscle, it also makes you feel full. Without it, you will have cravings to snack. Vegetarians can eat a number of different sources of protein, depending on the sort of vegetarian. A can of beans, half a can of tuna, or a couple eggs are all good sources of protein and are about as cheap a source of protein as you can get as well. A can of beans can be had for 50 cents, a can of tuna for under $1, and 2-3 eggs for less than 40 cents. Dried beans are even cheaper in bulk, but take more time to prepare as a trade off. So there are half of 3 meals for the cost. Peanut butter can easily cost more but is also a good source of protein and can be used in many recipes to improve the flavor. Milk is also a good source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D. The vitamin D in milk is added, and helps your body absorb more protein. The cheapest source of milk is skim milk powder.

#3 - Lots of choices for starch

The best sources of starch are natural and unprocessed. They give you a host of other nutrients in addition to the starch. Potatoes are a wonderful example, and different peoples throughout history have lived almost entirely on potatoes due to the trace amounts of protein, vitamins C and B complex, iron, and many others. Beans also have a lot of

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