5 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget

If you have ever even browsed the grocery store shelves, you will surely notice that the organic options are almost always more expensive than the conventional options, that the all-natural options have much less product than those that are packed with preservatives, and that fresh items require more energy and time to prepare and store than packaged ones.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have an unlimited grocery budget, all of these things will undoubtedly make you slightly adverse to packing your fridge and pantry with health foods. You know that it will make you feel better about what is on the inside and on the outside, but your wallet doesn’t seem to agree.

You get it – eating healthy seems to be expensive, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to be. You just need to be a little creative, invest a bit more time, and be willing to take some risks.

Here we offer you five great tips for eating healthy on a budget.

Cook! And the Slow Cooker Is Your Best Friend---

These days, few people can say they don’t lead busy lives. Between school, juggling multiple jobs, or being at one job more hours in a day than you should, you are probably someone who does their best to eat healthy on the go, but still finds no alternative but to pop into that burger or sandwich joint. Choosing the salad is more expensive, and you know it probably won’t satisfy your hunger. Choosing the burger and fries will leave you feeling full, but you know you won’t feel so hot afterwards.

It takes commitment and a bit more organization, but you can save tons of money, not to mention also saving calories and cutting out unwanted trans and saturated fat, by cooking at home. You don’t need to pay for the processing, storage, and profit restaurants will charge you for. As you cook, you know exactly what foods are going into your body. You will be able to see when enough butter, sugar or mayonnaise is enough. You will save on ingredients and on the detrimental effects of too much of one of them.

If you are really and truly too short on time to even think of spending an hour at the stove, then I would like to introduce you to the slow cooker. The slow cooker, also known as the crock pot, allows you to throw in all of the ingredients in the pot in the morning before you go to work, and it will be done when you get home that evening. Not to mention, your house will be smelling absolutely wonderful.

Buy What’s in Season

When fruits and vegetables aren’t available locally, your grocery store will import them or transport the cross-country to make sure they are available. Each of these steps increase the price. Ask your local grocer, or even better, go to your local farmer’s market, what is in season and what to expect regarding the length of the season and price fluctuations.

Bonus tip: Buy local. Buying locally-produced foods helps to save on transport costs. You will also feel good knowing exactly where your food is coming from, and which people’s economy you are contributing to.

Meatless Mondays (and Fridays)

Meat, poultry, and fish is usually the most expensive thing on the plate. The price goes up even more if you choose grass-fed free-range and organic options, as well. Cutting it out of your diet at least two times a week, and replacing meat with legumes will help you save tons over time.

Try using beans, lentils, or other legumes as a base instead. This is great opportunity to use your crock pot for vegetable stews and chilly.

Use The Whole Vegetable

When I go to farmer’s markets and see farmers break of the beet leaves off beets to throw them away, it breaks my heart. All I can think about is how many vitamins and minerals are literally being wasted, and how delicious they would taste in a beet and potato cream soup (seriously, is delicious! Boil the potatoes, then the beets, mix with broth, and blend. Yum!)

Interestingly enough, the tops of many vegetables that are usually thrown away can be used, and they are much more delicious than you would think.

Besides the beet soup mentioned above, my other favorite recipe is carrot top pesto because it’s not only almost indistinguishable from basil pesto, it is also super easy to make. Rather than throwing away the carrot tops, put them in a food processor with some fresh parmesan cheese, olive oil, and whatever nuts you have at home. Blend until it is the right consistency and toss together with pasta or spread on a piece of toast. Super easy!

When you are about to throw a part of a fruit or vegetable away, do a quick google search first to see if there are any creative recipes for avoiding food waste.

Plan Your Weekly Meals

This tip might seem a bit boring, and maybe even irrelevant to eating healthy. You’d be surprised how much fresh food gets wasted because it goes bad before people get a chance to use it. 1.3 billion tons of foods are wasted every year, which amounts to $1 trillion of wasted or lost food. That is a A LOT of food and A LOT of money wasted.

Planning your weekly meals, making a shopping list, and sticking to it, can help significantly reduce your grocery store bill. You won’t buy food that won’t be used, you will be less likely to buy junk food or extras on impulse, and you will be much more likely to meet your food and diet goals.

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Eating healthy doesn´t need to be expensive. Planning ahead, spending a little extra time preparing meals at home, and choosing foods by season and place of production can make your body and spirit feel lighter and your wallet heavier.