How to practice eating healthy on a budget?

Eating healthy on a budget? Is it possible? Why not?

You hear it everywhere,”Healthy Food is expensive!” For most people, it has come to represent only going for the “organic aisle” in the grocery store section.

They are wrong!

Allow us to show you how, eating healthy, does not mean breaking the bank. You can still stay healthy while eating on a budget.

Check our helpful tips below to learn how.

14 Tips for eating healthy on a budget?

Here are a list of our 14 helpful tips for eating healthy on a budget.Read on to learn how….

Meal Planning

When it comes to saving dollars at the grocery store, nothing says it better than meal planning ahead for the entire week/fortnightly/month.Read all about meal planning and how it saves you time, stress and money in our blog post here.

Take one day in the week or the weekend to plan your meals. Jot down your grocery list accordingly and only then step out to do your grocery shopping.

Make this a regular habit and very soon it will be routine for you to follow a pattern. If you want help with tracking your new habit till you master it, our FREE Habit Tracker will do it for you. Click here to get your for free now.

When you do this you are only going to buy what you need and what you are sure you will use for cooking that week, instantly saving you dollars on food going waste.

Check out both your pantry and refrigerator before you go grocery shopping, so you know to bring home only what you need and what you are running short off.

Stick to your Grocery List

Now that you have gone through your pantry and refrigerator, you have a grocery list ready to go. The important thing to remember is to stick to your grocery list when at the store.Do not get side-tracked into unintended , expensive purchases.

To make life easy for you, we have made a complete grocery list for Indian cooking required in a month.Check it out here, so there are no, “I just forgot to put it on my list” moments for you, when you go grocery shopping next.

One Hot Tip : Shop the perimeter of the store first, that is where the whole foods are at. The middle of the store contains the unhealthy and most of the processed foods, with the most expensive ones placed at eye level. Get the picture? Be a smart grocery shopper!

Use Grocery List Apps

Are you someone who wings it, we mean grocery shops on you way back from work? Have you often forgotten your list at home, during these “wing it” moments? No worries!

We live in a tech savvy world, where there is an app for almost anything under the sun.Grocery List apps are nothing new.You can have the list handy on your phone and even keep a score of your most shopped favorite items each week.

Some of these apps also help you remember what you already have in store at home, while saving the list for you.

Using an app is also a great way to make sure you don’t forget your list at home.

Cook your meals at home

Cooking at home is not only healthy, it is economical too.

You know exactly what goes into your food, when you cook it yourself.

What’s more you can try new recipes and add variety to your meal when you meal plan ahead.Pick a day in the week or a few hours on a weekend to plan your meals, grocery shop and cook for the whole week.

Use leftovers

Add a bit of creativity in your cooking.When you cook in large amounts you can get creative with your food.

You can use left overs in your stir fries, wraps, stews or curries and create a new dish out of it, to take to work for lunch or freeze it for later.What better way to budget than this neat trick.

Pack your lunch to work

In the long run, taking your own homemade lunch to work, will save you dollars. No standing in line at the drive throughs, no impulse buys of grab and go’s , just plain healthy home cooked meals for you is good.

Eating out can get very expensive, so watch your wallet and pack your lunch to work.

Never shop when you are hungry

Have you noticed that when you shop hungry, you invariably pick unhealthy processed foods ? Your grocery list goes out of the window when you shop hungry and you end up buying on impulse?

Not a good thing if you want to stay on budget. Simple solution, have a fruit, or a healthy snack, maybe even some yogurt before you step into the store.You not only will make wise choices with your shopping, you will not impulse buy for sure.

Buy whole foods

Whole foods are often less expensive than their processed counterparts. A bag of brown rice will cost you much less than processed food.You will also get a larger quantity for the dollar amount.

Avoid junk food as much as you can.They not only are unhealthy, but are also expensive. Next time think before you grab the box of cookies, soda or any processed foods.

Shop for seasonal produce

Local produce that is in season is generally cheaper. It is not only abundant when in season, it is also usually at its peak in both nutrients and flavor.

Read all about the benefits of shopping seasonally in our blogpost here.

Our E-Book : The 12 Monthly Seasonal Produce Guides, has the entire list of fruits and vegetables available each month of the year, which will help you meal plan ahead by making your grocery shopping experience a breeze.Get it here now.

If you live in an area where seasonal produce is not available at all times during the year, buying frozen fruits and vegetables is a safe and inexpensive bet.

Grow your own produce

If you have a green thumb, an interest and a little patch of a garden or even a large container, you can grow your own veggies like tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and even herbs. Read all about how we grow tomatoes in our little patio garden here.

With a little time and effort, it is easy to grow your own produce. They are more delicious when home grown and seeds are so easy to find.

Growing your own produce not only becomes your hobby but also saves you much on shopping, when you have a steady supply at home.

Balance your protein sources

It need not be meat or seafood everyday of the week.

Incorporating other rich sources of protein like legumes, lentils, beans, hemp seeds etc is a wise choice.They are not only nutritious and easy to prepare, they also have a long shelf life and are inexpensive.

Stock up on sales

Every store comes up with sales during different times of the year. If you have a particular product or a staple food that you use frequently, stock them up when they are on sale.

Buying in bulk and storing them in airtight containers, helps keep for a long time.

Make sure to check the expiration date on each of these products when you buy them, so you know to use them before the date. No point buying extra if you are not able to use them within the expiry date, since you will only be wasting precious dollars.

Put online retailer store to good use

Some online retail stores like Thrive market often offer products for 50% less.It is a very good online retailer that focuses exclusively on healthy and unprocessed foods.What’s more they deliver goods to your door!

By registering, you get access to daily discounts and deals.

You can save a lot by buying as much as you can through such online retailers.

Use coupons wisely

Using coupons to stack up on cleaning products and healthy foods is always a wise choice.

Coupons are a great way to save money. Make sure you don’t end up buying junk food with coupons coz most coupons are for unhealthy, processed foods.

The Bottom Line

There are many ways to eat healthy even on a small budget, pick yours from our list above.

Our helpful tips on meal planning, grocery shopping and home-cooking will save you dollars in the long run, apart from you keeping you healthy.

Unhealthy food choices will cost you more on medical bills and even reduced work capacity, so why choose that?

Armed with the knowledge now on eating healthy on a budget, now it is your turn to make wise choices!