How to Eat Healthy on a Budget
Tips for a Healthy & Affordable Lifestyle
You might believe that eating healthy food always costs a lot more. This is especially a concern these days, with higher food prices making it tougher and tougher to fill your fridge and make ends meet. However, even if you are on a tight budget, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat nutritious foods.
Here are some tips that will help you eat healthy on a budget.
Cook at Home
Cooking at home won’t just save you money, but it’s also almost always healthier. Restaurants and fast food establishments often put a lot more salt, sugar, and unhealthy additives to your food than you would ever use at home.
Many people avoid cooking meals at home because they feel like they don’t have time. The reality is there are many healthy recipes that aren’t incredibly costly or time consuming. Search online or look in cookbooks for simple recipes that you’ll be able to put together quickly.
Plan Your Meals
One of the best ways to save money on groceries while still eating a healthy diet is to plan your meals. Pick a day each week to go through what you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry, then think of what you’ll need to buy to make meals for the week.
Planning this way will keep you from buying more than you need and wasting food. Plus, it also makes it easier to shop sales and fit discounted items into your meal plan to save money.
Use Leftovers
Your leftovers from dinner can be used for lunch tomorrow or they can be frozen and used another day. You can also reuse leftovers from one night’s dinner into your next meal, such as using leftover chicken in a soup the next day.
Stick to your List
If it’s not on your list, don’t buy it. It’s easy to be tempted by store displays which are designed to get you to more, but keep your focus on your list. If you want to eat healthy on a budget, you’ll need to only buy what you need.
It’s also important not to be tempted to buy more than you’ll use in an attempt to save money. For instance, if one head of lettuce is $2, but you can get three for $5, you might be tempted to buy three. However, only do this if you’re actually going to eat them before they go bad.