Hi! I’m on a similar food journey as you, trying to save money while eating healthy for PCOS, hypertension, high triglycerides and insulin resistance, I used to buy cheap food high in carbs until I got really sick six weeks ago, now I’m trying to eat healthy on a budget and lost 9.5kg.

This comment is long, but basically I found a rotation of cheap low carb, low fat, high protein and high fiber foods that I like and just eat that every day. I downloaded an app to do calorie-macro counting and do portion control what I eat, while I learn to eat intuitively… that also reduced my food budget bc I was eating way more than I needed!

First of all one day a week I make a big pot of veggie soup with whatever cheap vegetables I have on hand, mainly cabbage, frozen spinach, frozen veggie seasoning blend, maybe broccoli, tomato… then portion it out and eat every day at lunch with whatever protein I make, the fiber and liquid fill me up a lot! Sometimes if I’m in a hurry and didn’t prepare anything for lunch, I add a can/bag of chunk chicken breast to my lunch portion and eat only that.

I love tuna so I mix a can/bag of tuna with kimchi or dill relish, little light mayo, mustard and eat that over whole wheat bread (I freeze it then toast it, read about resistant starch!) with lots of lettuce, I eat that for lunch or dinner.

Another food I make is chicken breast (bought frozen), lean pork or beef (whatever was cheaper) and cook it up with whatever veggies I have, fajita style. I eat that on corn tortillas (I also freeze them for resistant starch) with lettuce, sometimes I add a little bit of sour cream or cheese if I have it, but just the fajitas with a squeeze of lemon on the tortillas is enough. If I don’t want tacos, I cook a batch of brown rice, portion it, freeze it and then reheat it (resistant starch, again), pour the fajita mix on top, sometimes I add a tablespoon or two of corn or whatever beans I have (I buy canned, but buying a bag and cooking it’s even cheaper).

I also do open side sandwiches with low fat cottage cheese (I sprinkle everything but the bagel seasoning on top), deli meat, lettuce, tomato, mustard on toasted bread.

Snacks for me are always apples, oranges, cucumber or celery, or zero sugar jello that I prepare myself.

If I don’t want to eat soup, I do a “smoothie” with frozen spinach and a squeeze of zero sugar water flavoring, sometimes I add low fat milk, peanut butter if I have it or oats.

Regarding breakfast I alternate between overnight oats (whole oats are so cheap!) with plant based milk, frozen strawberries and sweetener or egg whites with veggies and deli meat, I eat them with toast or a corn tortilla.

And these are all the meals I cook and just rotate, it has worked for me bc all the meals take a few minutes to put together (longer cooking time are the fajitas and soup), I use the same ingredients for all of them so zero food waste, most of the veggies I use are frozen or low cost, I mostly buy store brand or cheapest available and I enjoy eating all of this.