How to eat healthy on a budget

Being on a tight budget and preparing delicious, healthy dishes on a daily basis sounds frightening, doesn’t it? With food prices soaring, not only you find yourself sucked in grocery debt, but you also fall into a mealtime pothole, eating the same foods over and over.

Your body needs a balance and a complete series of nutrients that can provide you with a wide variety of vitamins and minerals required for a healthy lifestyle. So, how can you afford to buy healthy food when your budget is constrained? The golden rule is to be in control of your kitchen. If you buy smart, store smart and cook smart, you can offer yourself the first-class meals you deserve.  

Here are some tips for eating healthy on a budget:

1. Buy fresh produce on sale

Fruits and vegetables are vital to any healthy diet, but fresh produce is also expensive. Look for fresh fruits and vegetables on sale so that you stretch your dollar value while eating healthy. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be purchased at least once or twice a week, preferably in season, to ensure optimal nutrition and taste. You can often buy great seasoned produce for a fraction of the regular price.

 2. Buy frozen vegetables

Frozen vegetables are cheaper than fresh produce and have great nutritional value intake. Frozen veggies keep longer in the freezer and give you time to decide on your diet rather than hurrying to cook before the vegetable is exposed to oxygen, heat, and light and loses its vitamins. Typically, big bags of frozen vegetables cost $1 at a bargain price and make handy additions to last-minute meals.

 3. Buy canned fish

Instead of going for fresh fish, buy canned tuna. The point is to get the all the benefits of Omega 3 that you can find in salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, nuts and flaxseed.

 4. Eat lots of soups

Soups are highly nutritional and convenient snacks, particularly if you use canned of packed soups. Then, you can add your meat or veggie leftovers and have a delicious, healthy meal. Try also to experiment with your own spices and herbs.

5. Eat lots of snacks

Have a snack cabinet at home and fill it with low calorie snacks such as home made cookies, smoothies, sugar free puddings, granola bars, pretzels, sunflower seeds and olives that you can eat anytime of the day.

 6. Eat brown rice

Brown rice is a whole grain that helps in weight loss, cancer prevention and heart disease prevention and stabilizes blood pressure. It is inexpensive, but totally healthy as its antioxidants, manganese and selenium, help in energy production. You may use brown rice to eat delicious meals with soup, stew, beans, and many salads. So, not only you have value in your pocket, but also variety of tastes while eating healthy.

 7. Eat pasta

Pasta is quick and easy to prepare and can be matched with meat, salad and vegetables. You can always add muchrooms, herbs and spices to make it more delicious. For a healthier version, choose whole-wheat pasta.

 8. Eat dry beans

Dry beans are low in calories and high in fiber, proteins and iron, and therefore are a great meat substitute. Fiber helps in lowering cholesterol levels in the blood and removes all toxins that may cause cancer. Eating dry beans twice a week helps you digesting better and reduces the risks of acquiring heart problems or cancer. Beans can be cooked with rice, burritos, quesadillas, soups, stews, or served as a side dish.

 9. Eat smaller portions

America is the land of extra-large, but when it comes to eating huge portions, the value you get is outweighed by the money you spend on diets. Get informed from the restaurant menus and read all the nutritional information about salads, fruits and whole grain alternatives. However, when there are no such options watch your portions and get used to small portions.

10. Buy bulk quantities

Shopping large quantities of non-perishable food items will definitely save you money. For instance, spices, marinades, dried herbs, curry powder, vinegars, tomato, soy sauces, ketchup, brown rice and whole wheat flour are goods that you can store for a long time without worrying they will expire. With these foodstuffs you don't have to pick up small quantities every time you go to the super market. In addition, having a variety of options will save you money from going out and saving both on calories and money.

11. Shop local

By shopping local, you can buy fresh vegetables that were picked the day before. Also, you pay a lower price because there is no intermediary charge and no shipping costs and you help local farmers establish their businesses and be profitable. 

Some general money-saving tips

- When you cook a big meal, make extra food that you can keep in the freezer to use it some other time for a quick lunch or supper.

- You can make your own vegetable stock from your vegetable trimmings. In that way, not only you save money, but you have also a highly healthy base for soups, casseroles, and Crockpot cooking.

- Never go out shopping with an empty stomach. When we are hungry, we cannot resist buying delicious food, which is, often, expensive and fattening.

- Before going out, write down a shopping list and stick to it. Many people go to the super market or to the grocery store without a list and they lose control of their budget. Shop once a week and cut out coupons from the newspaper but skip those for processed foods because even with the coupon they are expensive.

In fact, eating healthy on a budget requires good planning, dedication and creativity. Maybe there will be days that you fall back to packaged food for reasons of convenience. However, if you think of the beneficial rewards of healthy eating and how easy you can derive them at a low cost, you will think twice before stopping at your local drive-thru to buy a burger again.