How to eat health on a budget

I often hear that eating healthy is expensive. However, that is not necessarily true. If you learn to shop smart and be strategic, you can easily afford to eat healthy. Below are 24 tips that can take the strain off your wallet and allow you to enjoy foods that will improve your health.

1. Before you go to the grocery store, do an inventory of what you currently have so that you are not purchasing unnecessary items.
2. Do not go to the store hungry. When you are hungry, your cravings can become strong and cause you to buy more foods that are not good for your health or your budget.
3. Make a list ahead of time and have a planned meal or recipe for each item that you are purchasing. If you do not have a plan for the food that you are buying, that food is more likely to go to waste.
4. Plan your meals and cook at home. To save money at the grocery store, planning is critical. Choose one day each week to plan your meals for the upcoming week. Consider your schedule and the time you have available for cooking to keep the meal plan realistic. Look through your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry to use what you already have. This helps cut down on food waste and saves money.
5. Stick to your grocery list. Once you know what you have on hand and your menu is planned, write out your grocery list and then stick to the list. Keep in mind that the grocery store is designed to entice customers to add items to their carts. Be observant at the store and pay attention to "unit" prices.?Most grocery stores will include price per "unit" to help you compared sizes and brands.
6. Skip packaged and prepared foods. I am not talking about processed foods which should not be in your shopping cart, period. Packaged whole foods such as pre-washed lettuce, pre-shredded carrots, or individually portioned trail mix packs which cost much more for what amounts to just a few extra minutes of your time to prepare.
7. Buy some foods in bulk. Purchasing some foods in bulk quantities (if you will use them) can save you a large amount of money. Foods such as canned?wild tuna, wild salmon and sardines help you avoid farmed raise fish while also being very affordable. Other pantry items to purchase in bulk include quinoa, wild rice, chia seeds, canned tomatoes, and black beans. Those canned products are also often on sale so make sure to buy a large quantity when they are on sale.
8. Buy organic selectively. Some organic foods are simply a waste of money. Organic candy, for example? It’s still candy. Skip it altogether. Organic bananas? Do not bother. Most of the pesticide residue is on the thick peel that you will end up throwing away. I am not saying that it wouldn’t be ideal to be on a 100% organic diet, but for most people, financially, that is unrealistic. Pay extra for organic when it counts the most. As a rule, anything with a thick, non-porous skin or rind that you throw away, like citrus (unless you plan to zest it), mango, or pineapple, is not worth buying organic. On the other hand, anything with a thin skin that you eat, like apples, cucumbers, bell peppers, and berries, is worth the extra price to buy organic. For further guidance on this issue, review?the?Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen?(buy organic if you can) and?Clean Fifteen?(conventional is fine if you’re trying to stretch your dollar) lists, which get updated annually to reflect changes in growing conditions.
9. Shop for produce that is in season which is generally cheaper and is at its peak in flavor and nutrition.
10. Shop the frozen section. Frozen fruit and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh, plus they are affordable and available year-round. Stock up when frozen items are on sale and store them in the freezer until you are ready to use them in your meal planning. Shop carefully and read the ingredients to make sure that your frozen items do not also contain any additives such as flavorings or preservatives which is common with some frozen vegetables.
11. Buy foods whole. Many foods are less expensive if you purchase them in their less processed forms.?For example, washed carrot sticks or chips are more expensive than the large carrots you must wash, peel, and cut yourself.
12. Stop buying junk food. I should not even have to mention this one. But…the dollars add up fast when you are paying for soda, crackers, granola bars, cookies and packaged processed food. These foods offer little to no nutritional value, so you are just paying a large amount of money for cheap processed sugar and refined damaged fats. Skip the junk food and you can spend your food budget on higher quality nourishing food – your wallet and waistline will benefit.
13. Buy cheaper cuts of high-quality meat. Protein can be expensive, however some cuts of meat cost less than others. For example, chicken?with the skin and bones are cheaper than the boneless, skinless cuts. Whole chickens are cheaper per pound than the cut-up parts. Organ meats such as liver, kidney, heart, or brain are not only cheaper, but they are more nutritious than?muscle meats.
14. Buy in bulk with other health-minded people. Sometimes the quantities at Costco or other warehouse stores are just too much if you’re purchasing food for just one or two people. Splitting the membership fee and some of the foods with a friend can save you a large amount of money.
15. Shop sales and compare prices at multiple stores. If you are lucky enough to have multiple supermarkets within a reasonable distance of your home.?Review?their weekly sales fliers before you go. You might find that by shopping at a different store than usual, you can get much more of what you need on sale. For example, a jar of natural, unsweetened almond butter at Trader Joe’s is significantly cheaper than it is at Whole Foods. It is worth your time to shop around, learn where to get the best deals, and alternate your shopping trips between these stores.
16. Check online prices for frequently purchased items. Ordering groceries online can also help you avoid some of the impulse purchases in the store. I utilize?Thrive Market?for many of my staple items such as marinara sauce, mayonnaise, avocado oil, and canned fish.
17. Buy from your local farmer’s market. When you buy locally either directly from the farm or from your farmer’s market, you will often get amazingly low prices and very fresh and natural produce. Focus on the vegetables and fruits as many farmer’s markets now have plenty of items you should steer clear of, namely desserts. On the other hand, if you get to know your farmers a little bit by buying regularly from them or if you go near the end of a "farmers market day", you will?often be able to negotiate a better?price. This is especially true at the end of the day when everything unsold would go to waste. Don’t miss that chance.
18. Grow your own produce. Growing your own small garden can be a very therapeutic and rewarding experience. You get to spend time outdoors, exercise, get fresh air and sunshine and get close to the earth all at the same time. You will also learn a great deal about food by growing it yourself. Some vegetables or fruits are so easy to grow that you will not even have to think about them. My blackberry tree?produces?pints of berries daily during the season and it was only a one-time investment. How many times have you purchased a container of fresh herbs and at least half of them went?to waste? If you do not have access to a yard where you can start a small garden, your county might offer a?program where you can get a small piece of land?to grow your own vegetables. If those two options are unavailable to you,?you can grow your?own fresh herbs indoors.?
19. Pick your own produce. There are specific times of the year at local farms where you can go in their fields and pick fresh berries or pick apples directly off the tree for a very low price. You can of course enjoy them right away, but you can also preserve and freeze them, which leads to my next tip.
20. Preserve, ferment and freeze. Instead of eating all your produce at once, afraid that it may spoil, preserving and freezing are great ways to benefit all year long from?delicious fruits and vegetables. Berries, for example, are easy to freeze and enjoy at any time, or turn your excess tomatoes into marinara sauce and freeze it. Pesto, when fresh basil is plentiful, is also very easy to prepare, freeze and enjoy later. Another great way to preserve produce is to ferment it. It is a process called lacto-fermentation and almost any fruit or vegetable can be fermented that way. The most well-known version is fermented cabbage, or sauerkraut. Lacto-fermentation is not only a great way to preserve produce for a longer time, it produces natural lactic acid producing bacteria that is really good for your gut health and should be part of all healthy diets.
21. Make your own dressings. Most commercial dressings contain polyunsaturated fats, sugar, artificial ingredients, and preservatives. Not only does making your dressings make your meals healthier, but it also saves you money. All it takes is some olive oil, an acidic like lemon juice, apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar and your favorite blend of herbs and spices. About 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, whisk, taste, adjust, enjoy! Much better and much cheaper.
22. Consider purchasing part of an animal to save money. Check out www.eatwild.com to find local farmers. Mary’s Land Farm and Elliot Oaks Farm are two local farms to Columbia, Maryland.
23. Participate in farm-shares. Farm-shares allow you to buy a share of the farm’s production before the season starts and then you then get a steady flow of very fresh, seasonal, and natural produce as the farming season progresses. Food is either delivered in a box right to your door or at a nearby pick-up location. This is a very good way to get fresh, local, and seasonal produce for a fraction of the regular price. You pay a higher fee up-front, but then you save a large amount down the road.
24. Cut out the middleman by joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). There is no better way to know how your food is grown than by buying it straight from the farmer, or from a service that works with the farmer. When you buy from the supermarket, food has passed through many distribution channels?from the farm, and every person at every step of the process must get paid. That means extra costs built into the price. The closer to the source, the fewer middlemen who need to be paid, so the cheaper your food should be. CSA's may not look cheap at first glance, since many of them require an upfront cost but can be very economical in the long run.

Remember, the cost of eating healthy requires a little bit more upfront expense than the Standard American Diet, but there are plenty of ways to make it doable. Consider it an investment in yourself and your future! Remember: pay now or pay with your health later.

Contact me to find out how you can save money in your household while still improving health. Email me at [email protected]