Eating Healthy on a Starving Artist’s Budget

Let’s face it.  I’m a starving artist.  I won’t complain.  I chose this life, and I enjoy every day that I can create.   Yet earning a living often comes to be a system of strategy and hustling.   As I’ve settled into this life I’ve chosen, I have become quite the chess player.   I thought I’d share with you how I budget meals each week.  I mix it up.  I’ll share with you all again next week so you can see.

  This week’s budget was $20.00.

Oh how I do love the Grocery outlet.  They receive the rejected loads of groceries from the big chain grocery stores like Wal-Mart, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Fred Meyer, etc. at cost so their prices are considerably lower.   Did I mention they have an amazing organic section.

I imagine a society where the food we eat consists of what we can personally make and barter in our neighborhood (I bake yummy pies and sweet breads for your wonderful cucumbers and ripe red tomatoes.  I go straight to the local wheat farmer’s society in my city to buy flour and grain for my baked goods.  See where I’m going here?), but for now, I happily skip through the aisles of the G.O. 

Here’s my menu for the week:

I bought some bran muffins.  One for each morning to have with tea.  $1.79

2 Bags of Kidney Beans .99/each – 1.98

1 – onion .50

already have at home, garlic and seasoning salts

Throw in crockpot overnight, let them cool, divide them out into 5 separate containers, put about a cup for each person.  Then freeze. Put the rest in the refrigerator the next couple of days.  If you have a little extra for your budget, a loaf of french bread cut into 7 slices, gives each of you a slice to go along with it.   I try to keep my carb consumption low, so I only get bread occasionally.

For lunch and day time eating, I bought salad fixings. I like mustard greens.  I like the spicy tinge to them.   They add their own flavor. 

1 Bag of Mustard Greens – $1.99

I immediately empty it into an air tight container to keep it fresh longer. 

For the salad -

1 – box of white mushrooms – $1.59 (I will also use these to make stuffed mushrooms with some left over cream cheese from last week that I need to use up. Pop out their stems, mix up some cream cheese with finely chopped onion and garlic salt and pepper, and you have yummy mushroom poppers!) Put them in an air tight container as well.  They will stay fresh in the fridge longer.

4 – Zucchini – 4/2.00

2 – Yellow Squash to fix during the week to give me a little more substance and fiber in my diet.  2/1.00

1 – box tomatoes – 1.59

1 – bag of carrots – .99

2 – limes for dressing with some EEVOO and smashed raspberries 2/1.00

4 – Avocados – 4/2.00 – a little unripe, but with a few days sitting will ripen on their own and become soft and ready to eat. worth the wait – great for a mid-day snack. Cut in 1/2, pop out the core, and scoop with a spoon. Yummy!

Oh! and eating with chopsticks is fun, and great to slow down your eating.  We tend to wolf our food down, instead of savoring it. 

All in all, my grocery bill came up to 18 and some change, and I have good, nutritious food to eat.    You can also couple the beans with rice if you want more substance.  A bag of rice is about .99 cents.  

Drink a lot of water and enjoy tea!

and there’s how to eat healthy while being a starving artist. 

Love you!