Eating Well on a Budget

The challenge of eating well on a budget

Eating a healthy diet is crucial to your mental and emotional health as well as your physical wellbeing. It can make a huge difference to your mood, energy, waistline, and how well you think and feel. But at a time when so many of us are out of work, facing an uncertain financial future, or living on a tight budget, finding food that is both wholesome and affordable can be a challenge.

Along with a lack of time, having a limited budget is one the major barriers to eating a healthy diet. When you’re hungry and pushed for time and money, processed and fast food can seem like the best options. Convenience foods are often tasty and filling, designed to trigger the pleasure-centers in the brain and causing you to want to eat more, often to the point of overeating. They also tend to be loaded with calories, sugar, and preservatives, and lacking in essential nutrients. And despite what you may have been lead to believe, eating processed and fast food is rarely cheaper than eating healthy, home-cooked meals.

Eating healthy for less is about more than just the cost of food

The pleasure of eating even the simplest of meals increases when you share it with other people. Whether you cook for the whole family or live alone, you can find ways to make inexpensive meals more enjoyable—and more beneficial to your health and wellness—by making them more social experiences.

Shop with others. Getting your kids involved in shopping for groceries and preparing meals is a great opportunity to teach them about different foods, how to read food labels, and how to balance a budget. Alternatively, shopping with a friend or roommate can give you a chance to catch up without falling behind on your chores. It’s also a great way to share new meal ideas and save money on discount deals like “buy one, get the second half price.”

Make mealtimes a social experience. The simple act of talking to a friend or loved one over the dinner table can play a big role in relieving stress and boosting mood. Gather the family together and stay up to date on everyone’s daily lives. If you live alone, invite a friend, coworker, or neighbor over. If it’s not possible to be physically in the same space as friends or loved ones at a mealtime, try eating together while video chatting. One prepares the entrée, the other dessert, for example.

Cooking with others can be a fun way to deepen relationships. Splitting the costs can make it cheaper for both of you and being in the company of others can also help you avoid overeating out of boredom or loneliness. If it’s not possible to be physically in the same space as friends or loved ones at a mealtime, try eating together while video chatting.
Eat healthy for less tip 1: Plan ahead

Saving money on food involves revising your shopping habits, eliminating waste, and focusing on healthier choices—and that can require a little planning ahead. There are a number of websites and smartphone apps that can help you create and track a budget for food and groceries. Or you can simply start with a well-thought-out shopping list. Sticking to a shopping list to help avoid impulse buys.

Plan on eating out less. Because of $1 deals advertised at many chains, it may seem that fast food is less expensive than cooking at home. But a meal for two at a fast-food restaurant in the U.S., with drinks and a side of fries each, is still likely to cost $10 to $15; for a family of four it’s closer to $20 to $30. Preparing a simple, healthy beef stew or roast chicken with vegetables, for example, can cost a fraction of that and leave you with leftovers as well.

Create your shopping list. As you prepare meals throughout the week, make a note of food and supplies you need. Check your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer to see what you already have and make a note of any upcoming expiration dates. You can even download sample shopping lists so you simply need to check the appropriate boxes (see “Get more help” below).

Keep a supply of staples. These include such ingredients as olive oil, flour, old-fashioned oats, nuts, seeds, frozen vegetables and fruit, dried herbs and spices, pasta, brown rice, stock cubes, and canned tomatoes, beans, and fish.

Find cheap and healthy recipes. Try to think of foods that are versatile yet nutritious. For example, combining foods in different bowls and creating different sauces and seasonings can add variety and interest to your meals. Brown rice topped with black beans, corn, salsa, and chili-lime seasoning or sauce creates an inexpensive and easy Mexican dish. An easy switch-up could be to use the same rice, but with edamame, cubed chicken, and soy or stir-fry sauce for a balanced meal with an Asian flare.
Tip 2: Make smart food choices

Try to eliminate unhealthy foods from your list, such as soda, cookies, crackers, prepackaged meals, and processed foods. These foods are packed with unhealthy ingredients and offer little in the way of nutrition. These junk foods can also often cost you much more than the price on the sticker. A poor diet can take a toll on your health and lead to increased medical and drug bills as well as reduced energy and productivity.

Choose whole foods. Convenience foods can save you time, but will cost you more. For example, buying a block of cheese and slicing or grating it yourself is cheaper than buying processed cheese slices or bags of grated cheese—and helps you avoid additives to prevent caking, etc. Similarly, buying a head of lettuce and washing and chopping it yourself is cheaper than purchasing bagged salad—and will often stay fresher for longer.

Buy frozen fruits and vegetables. Frozen fruits and veggies are just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts and still taste good, but are often less expensive. They’ll also last longer than fresh fruits and vegetables, preventing expensive food waste. If you have freezer room, the largest frozen bags tend to offer the best value.

Purchase generic/store brands. When you shop at conventional grocery stores, the store or generic brand will often be cheaper than the name brand for the same quality product.

Look for simple ways to save money throughout the day. Instead of picking up a morning coffee on your way to work or school, for example, make your coffee at home. Instead of buying breakfast or lunch, prepare your own using leftovers or home-made salads, sandwiches, or boiled eggs.

Buy in bulk. Buying non-perishable items, such as dried beans and canned fish, in bulk can save you money as well as shopping time. If you have the space, you can store bulk-bought grains and cereals in airtight containers and freeze perishable items, such as meat and bread, in smaller portions to use as needed. Alternatively, you can split them with a friend—saving you both money.

Shop for produce in season and buy by the bag. When produce is in season it is at its cheapest, as well as its tastiest and most nutritious. It’s also often cheaper to purchase fruits and vegetables such as apples, oranges, grapefruit, potatoes, and onions by the bag, not by the piece—as long as you’ll be able to eat it all before it spoils.

Look for whole grains. Whole, unprocessed grains such as brown rice, oats, and quinoa are often less expensive than their processed alternatives (sugar-laden cereals, white rice, and white bread) and contain little to no harmful added sugar and refined flour.

Drink water instead of soda. It’s free and you can easily add variety by flavoring your water with fruit such as lemon, lime, or orange.