|
Healthy Eating on a Budget:
It Can Be Done!
Do you want to eat better and spend less? Healthy eating on a budget is totally possible, and believe it or not, the
healthy approach can actually simplify the entire thing for you.
Typically, healthy foods are whole foods. When you buy processed and packaged food, you are inevitably buying some not so nutritious
foods. Even the organic alternatives are still filled with "cane sugar" and white flour, and so on. These items sell well, though, due to
the convenience factor.
Here are a few tips to build your OWN "convenience factor" into eating well on the cheap:
- Process your own food!
A. Buy a set of very high quality knives and mount them on a magnetic strip. (As in the picture to the right.) Nice and tidy, quick
to use and put away, and they'll pay for themselves in just a couple months when you stop buying stuff that has been chopped for you and
costs twice as much. Chopping your own fresh, delicious veggies and fruits puts you on the fast track to healthy eating on a budget.
B. Also consider investing in a nice food processor. KitchenAid
makes one that is simple, strong, and streamlined that I quite like. Suddenly,
making a massive dish of ratatouille only takes a few minutes.
- Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store!
When you use our meal
planner and create a grocery list for yourself, you will find that most of what you need is around the outer edges of the store: Milk,
eggs, meat, maybe some bakery items, produce (to supplement what you got in your CSA box)... Every now and then you must venture up an
aisle to grab some oil or some noodles... I almost think of it as "every time I walk up an aisle, I will bleed money".
- Have beans more often.
Not only are they an inexpensive source of protein, but also they are a nice change of pace for your
body and your palate, full of fiber.
Using dried beans requires thinking ahead by a day, but when you are meal planning that is no big
deal. Beans can be used in so many delicious ways, and they are on the list of
power foods as well. Think about having a meal each week
that centers around beans.
- Cook more than you need for dinner.
Create "leftovers" for lunches the next day. In our family, we typically have a health
shake (Greens First and protein powder) for breakfast, so I cook one meal per day and plan to make leftover portions for the following
day's lunch. Yummy, homemade, healthy food is waiting in the fridge for lunch each day. Fabulous. Not only are we achieving healthy eating
on a budget, but also I am not cooking like a madwoman all day long.
- Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan.
If you know what you're eating that week, and you have your nice, streamlined grocery list with
you, your bill WILL go down, and the quality of your diet WILL go up. Way up. Our
free meal planner helps you with healthy eating on a budget! It takes the work
out of this for you. Enjoy!
Sign Up for "Eat Real, Eat Good"
One last thing - Subscribe to my e-zine "Eat Real, Eat Good", which is published monthly, and contains meal planning motivation
and easy recipes to try.
Try Our FREE Meal Planner!
Search for great recipes based on what vegetables you have! You can filter for meals that are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, crock pot, and 5
ingredients or less. You can even enter your own favorite recipes, save meal plans for later, and add special extras to your grocery lists!
|
HOW to Eat Healthy?
This is the most fabulous book about HOW to eat healthfully: Not what, but how. I recommend it very highly.
|
