How to Eat Healthy on a Budget

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Feeding yourself healthy food is one of the best things you can do for you and for your families health and wellbeing. Of course, if you are on a tight budget, it can be more difficult to ensure your family gets the right balance of nutrients in their diet. More difficult, but not impossible.

Below you will find some simple tips to help you eat healthy on a budget right now:

 

Cook at home

Eating home-cooked food is almost always going to be cheaper than eating out and not only that, but when you cook your own food, you can control how much salt, fat, and sugar they contain. So, it really is a no-brainer to eat at home if your budget is tight and you want to be as healthy as possible.

Cook ‘peasant’ dishes

There are lots of amazingly healthy and flavorful dishes like this easy french onion soup in crock pot and this Som tam that are packed full of flavor and goodness without breaking the bank. Learn to cook as many of them as you can and you will always eat well no matter how tight your budget may be.

Buy in season

Buying produce that is naturally in a season where you live is a great way to lower the cost of your grocery shop due to basic supply and demand. If oranges are in season, they will also be abundantly available which means they will be cheaper than those strawberries that are out of season and therefore imported in.

 

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Buy frozen produce

Another way to ensure you get all of the vitamins and minerals you need from fruit and veggies is to buy them frozen. Many people think frozen produce is inferior, but actually, when it is frozen right after picking, it retains more of the nutrients it contains than fresh produce which is shipped to the store and sits there losing nutrients by the second. It is also much cheaper and saves more time when cooking. Especially if your in a time crunch when you get hungry.

Meal plan and batch cook

Planning what you will eat every day of the week or month may seem like a real chore, but once you get into the swing of things, it is really easy and it will save you money because you won’t be so tempted to buy less healthy extras.

Batch cooking will also save you time and money because you can take advantage of bulk buying healthy ingredients and spending one day a week or month cooking everything. It’s also a real-time saver and means you don’t have to worry about cooking a healthy recipe every night after work. Give it a try and see if it works for you. 

I am huge on taking one day out of the week to plan for myself. Whether its healthy snacks to grab while on the go or dinner to have ready to eat when getting home from a long day. It keeps me on track for eating a healthy lifestyle. The more I meal prep and have healthier available options to choose from the less of a chance there will be of me getting my hand stuck in the cookie jar (if you know what I mean).

Buy whole foods

Buying whole food staples like oats, rice and potatoes is generally cheaper than buying processed food like frozen fries or pre-packaged soups, and it’ll help keep you from consuming preservatives, additives, and other problematic chemicals too.

So, there you have it, eating healthy really doesn’t have to be a struggle for your bank balance!