Healthy Eating Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune
Food is medicine, health, energy and life. Eating well is vital to good health and a quality, energy-full life, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either.
With enough time and money, anyone can eat healthy. All one has to do is buy fresh, organic whole foods. But these organic products can be costly, when compared to the processed, packaged food products available on the market.
So I set out determine if I could eat healthy on a budget. I’ll give away the ending and let you know I was able to buy my monthly groceries-all organic and whole foods, absolutely nothing processed–and spent only about $30 more for the month than I normally would. To do this, however, I did have to put a little time and effort into the planning part of shopping and making a menu.
Let me share with you some of the tricks I learned along the way so you too can buy healthier foods, without taking too much more of your time and without it costing any more money than you’re used to paying for less healthy alternatives.
Stop Buying Fast Food
When wanting to eat healthier on a budget, you have to put all of your budget money for food into buying the healthier, organic, whole foods, and not sabotage your healthy eating with fast food. While that burger at lunch for two bucks might seem like a bargain, when you throw in the fries, the soda, and the burger, and then you eat that several times per month (or for some people even per week), you’re spending a huge chunk of your grocery budget.
Stop buying fast food, and instead, put that money into your grocery budget. Make your lunches ahead of time, grab those to go. Keep snack foods like fresh crunchy veggies and pieces of fruit around for those snack attacks. These quick foods will be better for you than fast food, and you will have more money to spend for the good stuff.
Plan, Plan, Then Plan Some More
The key to eating healthy on a budget is planning. Sit down and work out a mostly functional menu of what you plan to serve during the week. There are multiple ways to plan your menu and shopping list.
Buy in Bulk
Buy healthy in bulk, whenever possible-especially with high-use items and dry items. Mix meals so that you’re cooking one item that can be used several times. For example, if you plan to eat chicken as the main meat ingredient for a week, you can buy your chicken in bulk for cheaper, and then cook it once on one day and have it ready to go for your menu all week long. Bake it, pan sauté it, boil it or broil it, and then store it in the fridge or freezer and take out the finished chicken and simply reheat it. Cook once, save time, and save money.
Creative and Saucy
Learn to love sauces. Vegetable sauces, wine sauces, cream sauces all can make a huge difference in how something tastes, but can use the same basic ingredients. If you have quality, whole grain pasta, you can have a tomato sauce with chicken pasta one night then have a creamy alfredo sauce with garlicky chicken on another night and it will be like two completely different dishes, but you buy the pasta and chicken in bulk to save money.
Local, Farmer’s Markets
Buy local whenever possible. You will save money by purchasing your vegetables as organic from the grocery store. Now, not all local foods are going to be organic, but you’ve got a better chance of getting healthy organic or near-organic foods when you buy at your local farmer’s markets. I’ve saved tons of money by buying food on special at the farmer’s markets, and you can mix the first advice about buying in bulk here too. Some items like potatoes and onions can be purchased locally in larger quantities.
Coupons and Deals
Search for coupons and special deals at your favorite grocery store. Get the grocery store’s flyer or circular before shopping and plan your shopping list before you go. Make a shopping list based on your pre-planned menu for the week and then buy only the things necessary to make your menus-being certain you include some snacks. Coupons and sales will save you money and stretch your grocery budget.