5 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget

When you’re on a tight budget, grocery shopping and planning your meals can be tough enough, let alone if you’re trying to eat a healthier diet. Whilst it doesn’t seem fair that unhealthy foods are often much cheaper to buy than fresh and nutritious foods, the good news is that shopping and planning a little bit smarter can help you to save money on the cost of eating well. Here are some of our top tips put together to help you eat healthier on a budget.

Tip #1. Plan Your Meals

It’s a simple strategy, but simply planning out what you’re going to eat every day for the rest of the week will ensure that you don’t end up buying foods that you won’t eat when you go grocery shopping. It’s a good idea to do some research into which fresh produce is cheaper at the moment and look at online grocery store sites to try and find the best deals and offers on healthy foods. Armed with this information, you can then put together a meal plan for the week that won’t break the bank.

Tip #2. Freeze Fresh Produce

Fresh produce is both tasty and nutritious, but the cost of buying it can quickly add up. To ensure that you’re getting all the best nutrients in your diet without going over your budget, it’s a good idea to buy fresh produce in bulk when it’s in season, and then freeze it for later use. Or, you could simply buy ready-frozen produce – this is usually cheaper to obtain and will last for much longer!

Tip #3. Find Cheap and Healthy Recipe Ideas

When you’re trying to eat healthily on a budget, coming up with meal ideas can be a bit of a pain. Thankfully, there are many resources that you can use to get inspiration and ideas for your budget healthy meals. For example, pocketchangegourmet.com lists a huge range of both healthy and indulgent recipe ideas that will easily fit in with your tight budget and help you make sure that you get a range of different meals to keep things interesting on your menu.

Tip #4. Fill Up on Whole Grains and Beans

Whole grains and beans such as quinoa, brown rice, freekeh, couscous, kidney beans and black beans are immensely nutritious, and the best news is that they’re usually really cheap to buy. They’re a great way to bulk up meals; rice and grains can be added to stews, salads, and much more whilst beans are a staple in recipes such as chili.

Tip #5. Shop at the Farmer’s Market

If you live in a rural area or have a farmer’s market nearby, then it’s definitely worth a visit to pick up some tasty, organic produce. Typically, the end of the day is the best time to visit the farmer’s market since you’ll often find that stall holders are looking to get rid of the day’s wares as quickly as possible and will put their prices down.

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