All too often people associate eating healthy foods with costing a lot of money, partially because health foods tend to be somewhat pricey when you shop in the health food store. People also tend to believe that healthy foods are only consumed by the wealthy and so they tend to settle for processed foods which are quick to make but are unhealthy due to the ingredients which are added for processing.
The good news is that you can eat healthy on a shoestring budget and, in fact, eating healthy can actually be very inexpensive contrary to what many people believe. A healthy diet consists of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, protein, and lots of water. Keeping this in mind here are some tips for healthy eating on a budget:
1Healthy Eating on a Budget: Fruits and Vegetables
If you think about it, when you buy canned fruits and vegetables you are paying for the slicing, canning, shipping, and the profit that every grocer makes on canned goods. Although the shelf life is longer canned vegetables and fruit cost more and often have ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, loads of salt, and other ingredients that are unhealthy.
On the other hand, fresh produce such as fresh fruits and vegetables are free of unhealthy ingredients, are very inexpensive, and are the ultimate fast food because they are easy to prepare. When it comes to eating fresh fruit what could be faster than peeling a banana as compared to grabbing a candy bar? You can also find some great fresh fruits and vegetables at your local farm stand or farmers market as well as all natural dried fruits in bulk very inexpensively.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Whole Grains
Whole grains are very inexpensive especially when you buy them in bulk. Many health food stores and bulk food stores sell unprocessed whole grains in bulk which you can buy to stock up your pantry. Whole grains can be used in meal preparation, hot cereals, breads, healthful snacks, and many other healthful foods and they are also a necessary staple in your diet. Some examples of whole grains are whole-wheat flour, bulgur (cracked wheat), oatmeal, whole cornmeal and brown rice.
If you buy breads, cereals, and other foods which claim they contain whole grains, more often than not the grains are lower on the ingredient list and sugar and other artificial ingredients are higher on the list. You also pay more money for the foods as well and when you open items such as a cereal box it is only half full.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Proteins
You may yearn for that expensive prime rib steak but the truth to the matter is it is not as healthy for you as lean chicken and fish. Also, other sources of protein are much better for you than red meats that contain dyes and other ingredients which are injected during production. You can get protein very inexpensively through lean chicken, fish, natural cheese, tofu, and beans. All of these items are quite inexpensive and you can rotate them. Beans are the most inexpensive and you can buy them in bulk to prepare with a lot of different recipes and they have a long shelf life. Nuts, peanut butter, and eggs are also inexpensive proteins with an endless variety of recipes where you can use these ingredients for healthful eating.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Water
Drinking a lot of water is part of a healthy diet and you do not need the expensive bottled water that you find in the grocery store. If the water is not that great where you live, invest in a water purifier and then bottle your own water. The money you spend on the purifier will be much less then if you continually buy bottled water in the supermarket.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Start a Garden
If you are handy at gardening, start your own garden and then do your own canning. Seeds and seedlings are very inexpensive and the food is better for you because you know its origin. When you buy expensive food in the supermarket, you never know where it came from or the health of the person that handled it. By growing your own you are assured of healthy eating all year round because you can do your own canning without all of the preservatives and enjoy healthy food all year round.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Grow Your Own Grains
If you are lucky enough to have access to land, start growing and cultivating your own whole grains. This way you cut out the price of the middleman and you are assured of healthful food. Grain is very inexpensive to grow and is mostly labor intensive so if you have the time and the land, consider this option for affordable healthy eating.
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Healthy Eating on a Budget: Look for Chef on a Shoestring Recipes
You can find a lot of recipes online that are created by Chef on a Shoestring which contain very healthy and inexpensive ingredients. If you are not that into cooking, you can set aside time to make a bunch of inexpensive dishes and then place them in your freezer so you can enjoy a healthy TV dinner when you come home from work and are tired during the week. You can also make the food in small portions so you have lunch-to-go during the week and you can avoid those expensive lunches when you eat out.
8Go to the Grocery, Buy Only what You Need, and Get Out
Eat before you go to the grocery store, make a list of exactly what you are going to buy, and then take only enough money to buy those items. Grocery stores are full of temptations with the products carefully placed so you will buy on impulse. This results in you coming home with a lot of junk food and foods you did not intend to buy.
