12 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget
September 08, 2008
Eating healthy is important for so many reasons we won't go into here. Unfortunately, one of the major roadblocks with a healthy diet is the high cost of healthier foods. Here are my top ten tips for saving money while eating a variety of health foods in no particular order.- Avoid processed foods. True, you'll have to learn to cook if you don't already know how, but it's a wonderful skill that will enrich your life and save you money and it isn't that difficult to learn basic cooking skills. A good rule of thumb is to look for foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Fresh or frozen vegetables, dried beans, small amounts of low cost meat, are all good staples to have in the house.
- Limit your meat intake. You don't have to go all vegetarian to save money, but meat is an expensive additive to a meal. Substitute beans where you can and opt for more meat-free menus.
- Use a menu. Develop the healthy recipes you like using whole foods and low cost meats. Then make a master list of menus you eat on a regular basis and create your shopping list from this. Which leads us to our next tip:
- Make a shopping list and stick with it. Shop the outer aisles and try to avoid the inner ones where all the junk food tempts your waistline and your wallet.
- Buy generic brands. If you must use a processed food (we don't omit crackers, for example), then go for the generic version. Store cuts of meat are often cheaper than name brand packages.
- Use coupons & store discount cards. Serious coupon users have been known to save as much as 75% - 90% off their food bill each week. With just a little effort, I find I can easily trim 25% - 30% off each grocery bill without much time invested. The trick with coupons is to know what your time is worth and balance the savings with the effort. This tip is most useful for those who like name brand foods and can handle a variety of meals. You have to be careful to avoid unhealthy foods with this method, though, because I've found they are the ones that you often get the most deals on.
- Buy in bulk. One warning though: be sure to not buy more than your family can use before it goes bad or you will be wasting more money than you save!
- Grow your own food. Plant a garden, raise a few chickens for their eggs & meat, keep a goat around for her milk. Not only do they save you money, they give you exercise too!
- Shop the sales & use the freezer. When there is a huge sale, buy a larger quantity than you can use at one time and freeze the rest. Make freezer meals or divide it into bags and freeze for later. Be sure to use quality freezer bags and wraps so you don't waste all that extra food.
- Compare prices at different stores. Shop the cheapest store (an Aldi's in our area) for the bulk of your food. Shop ethnic stores for big bags of beans and lentils, for example. Buy your meat in bulk from a butcher and save dollars on the pound. Buying a whole cow in our area costs about $1.99 per pound on beef for cuts of steak, roast, and ground beef and it feeds us for a nearly a year.
- Take your own lunches to work. Save money on eating out and know where your food came from and what's in it by making your own lunches and taking them with you to work. This one, used properly, will really cut your food budget.
- Know when your favorite store does price reductions. Short date stock normally goes on sale regularly, and if you know when the store marks down their items to be sold quickly, you can save as much as 50% on the manager's specials.
, but I've found that you can find great bargains at the local bookstore. If you don't care about the name brand, there is even a very good knockoff at Walmart. There isn't a whole lot of difference in price, but I've taken to getting my pocket sized ones there because of the convenience.
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