Eating Healthy on a Budget

With the ever-increasing cost of living - eating healthy can be a real challenge with nutritious foods often being expensive.

Eating a healthy balanced diet can go a long way when it comes to longevity and keeping us healthy as we age. General guidelines in how to eat healthy are eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, choose wholefoods over processed foods, reduce salt and sugar intake, choose healthy fats, and consume a variety of protein sources. Simple right. But is this simplicity reflected in the price?

Well I am here to tell you that healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive, and I will show 10 tips on how you can eat healthy on a budget.

Read on for more details.

1. Stick To Your Grocery List

Once you have planned your meals for the week and written out your grocery list on your phone it is super important that you stick to it.

This is important for saving money but also you don’t get distracted with other foods and offers that could be on in your supermarket. Getting distracted by other products, or not having a list can cause unwanted purchases, and less money saved.

This will be surprised of how well this tip works.

This tip can also help with weight loss and limiting the purchase or certain foods that are not ideal for weight loss. Also not buying those high calorie and high sugary foods will mean not having them at hand in your kitchen, which means not fighting temptation in wanting to eat them in the first place.

2. Plan Your Meals

When it comes to eating healthy and saving money then planning your meals in good time is vital.

Make a shopping list for the week ahead with meals in mind that you have planned. If you haven’t done this before start of small, and when I say this, I mean just plan for one meal you’re going to make in the week. As you begin to get more confident of planning a week ahead of what you’re going to eat then just add another meal at a time. Over time this will keep increasing until you can safely say you know what you’re eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Only planning to purchase what you know you’re going to use in the week. With this you will throw less food away as waste and save yourself more pennies to spend on other things.

As well as money saving this is a great tool for weight loss as you stop buying those foods that can be tempting but are not ideal for weight loss.

Money saved and summer body ready.

3. Cook In Bulk

Planning your meals flows nicely into cooking in bulk.

This means cooking more portions that you could eat in one sitting, but have portions let over for different meals during the week.

For example, you make chicken wraps one evening. You have one chicken breast chopped up in one wrap. You would cook four chicken breasts at one time having enough for lunch the next three days. Cooked chicken usually lasts for 3-4 days in the fridge.

You now know what lunch you’re having for most of the week, you save money by planning ahead and save money by not buying lunch every day.

Freezer leftovers into individual portions can be a great idea, and something I tend to do. You can take a frozen meal out in the morning and by the evening it has defrosted and ready to heat through.

4. Try Different Protein Sources

Consuming a wide variety of protein sources isn’t just good for health but also can offset the high price of meats for more affordable options.

Consuming beans and lentils instead of meats will save you money, keep your protein intake good, and increase your fibre intake. Beans and lentils are both super nutritious and provide many other vitamins and minerals.

Bean and lentils also can be kept for a good length of time in your cupboards which would avoid any waste.

Protein is good for maintaining lean body mass and many more things in the body. Read my protein article if you would like to learn more.

Fibre is great for keeping the gut healthy and reducing the incident of many adverse health outcomes. Again, I have written an article of fibre so take a read if you would like to know more on the health benefits of fibre.

Eggs are another great protein source packed full of vitamins and minerals that are not super expensive.

5. Tinned Foods

Consuming tinned foods is another way to save money.

Tinned fish is a great option and super nutritious. Anything from tuna which is to go to for tinned fish options, or tinned sardines.

Why not try tuna mayo and salad wrap for lunch and for dinner a Scandinavian delight of sardines on toasted rye bread.

Tinned fish are a great source of protein, omega 3’s, vitamin D and also calcium.

Tinned tomatoes are super versatile and can be used for pasta sources or other tomato-based dishes like a beef chilli. Tinned tomatoes have many of the health benefits of fresh tomatoes but can keep more much longer.

As I have already mentioned legumes, pulses, and beans are another great tinned option that will add protein to your diet and many other vitamins and minerals.

6. Use Frozen Fruits and Vegetables

Buying frozen fruits and vegetables can save you money and also cut down any waste. They are just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts as well.

Super versatile they can be used for many meals. Frozen blueberries in a smoothie. Frozen peas warm through in a curry to add some green colour and another one veggie to top up your 5 a day.

Frozen fruit and vegetable can be kept in the freezer for months which leads to no waste and more money saved in the long run.

Frozen fruit and vegetables are usually much cheaper than fresh. For example, frozen blueberries at Sainsbury’s are £2.50 for 400g, whilst fresh blueberries are £4.50 for 500g.

Overall, I think frozen fruits and vegetables are super underrated and a must for anyone looking to improve their health and save money.

7. Make Your Own Lunch

Instead of buying your lunch out then why not try and make your own lunch. This can take a bit of time and planning but well worth it for saving money. Buying lunch out or at work can be expensive over the course of a month, or even a year.

Another benefit of making your own lunch is you have complete control over what it contains and how nutritious it can be. This can be great for weight loss and improving health.

Tip number 3 – cooking in bulk can help with this tip. Making enough food in the evening so you can take some for lunch the next day can be another option.

In the long run this should save you money and help you to be more creative with lunches.

8. Bring Your Own Snacks

This is very similar to point above but bringing snacks from home will save you money in the long run, and will help you to stop spending money at work or outside of work.

This point again takes planning and possibly some preparation time depending on the snack. But most snacks will need a little bit or no planning at all.

Bringing in a small container of cashew nuts and an apple could be considered a good snack. The cashew nuts are high in fibre and monounsaturated fats, and both help to feel you up. The apple is there for a sweet tone, to help reduce those sweet cravings, and again high in fibre.

There are many other options out there as well – carrot sticks and hummus, Greek yoghurt, seeds, and fruit, or if you’re a fan, why not try some cottage cheese. The list is endless.

Snacking can help between meals and especially in the afternoon and energy levels drop. Consuming a healthy snack could tie you over to your next meal by reducing hunger. Healthy snacks could also be an effective tool for weight loss by replacing higher in calorie snacks.

9. Buy Supermarket Own Brands

This point can help you save some money on your shop by choosing supermarket own brands rather than recognisable named brands.

Supermarket own brands are usually just as good as named brands and would follow similar standards of food safety. I would always recommended reading the ingredients list of any product and comparing them to one another. If you see unwanted ingredients in the supermarket own brand then opt for the named brand, and vice versa for that matter.

There are some foods when buying the supermarket own version that is shouldn’t make much of a difference like oats or rice. You could probably buy a lot more for the same price as a named brand, or even less.

10. Look For Special Offers and Stock Up

This might be an obvious point but buying healthy foods when they are on offer can save you money over the long run.

I usually buy dark chocolate when it’s on special offer and sometimes even double up and buy more. In the long run I will save more money, as long as I can control the dark chocolate consumption.

Stocking up on foods you use a lot is a great idea as long as they have a good shelf life, and they don’t spoil too easily.

Another one of my favourite sales in buying two packs of frozen fruit and getting the third for free. This is so good and saves me money.

Final Points

As you can see you don't have to break the bank to eat nutritious foods to be healthy. I hope these 10 top tips can help you and make eating healthy more affordable.

If you would like more information or help with your nutrition please get in touch through my message form on my homepage.

Until next time.