Eating Healthy on a Budget

Your doctor tells you to do it. TV ads come on telling you to do it. News reports, articles are telling you the benefits of doing it. What's "it"? Eating healthy. And of course it's definitely a good thing to do and you WANT to do it. But let's face it, eating healthy is darn expensive.

People figure well, I can get this non nutritional meal or junk food for so much cheaper than if I were to buy a 'create your own salad' from some deli. Fast food restaurants bombard us every minute of every day with their value meals at bottom basement prices while having a healthy sandwich, soup and/or salad can cost you twice that fast food meal.

So how can you eat healthy on a budget? Here's how:

PLAN AHEAD + CREATE A LIST. If you have an idea of a meal or meals you want to prepare for the week, figure out all the ingredients you need and create a shopping list. Create a shopping list, period. It helps to reduce the need to impulse shop when you get to the supermarket. You know how that goes...you walk in thinking "Ok, I ONLY need milk, eggs and some bread", but you walk through those aisles and pick up things you now feel you need too, mostly because you are hungry at that moment. Make a list to help you stay on track of what you really need.

LOOK FOR STORE SALES/SPECIALS. I always pick up a store circular and browse through it for specials on the items I'm purchasing. At Whole Foods, I always get their circular because it will have coupons for various items and I usually find a coupon for at least 1-3 items I normally buy.

AIN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH STORE BRANDS! Yes I know that statement isn't grammatically correct but it's straight to the point! (smile) Store brands are usually a few dollars less than name brand items. Oatmeal, condiments, frozen vegetables are some items that you can almost always get the store brand for much less.

BUY FRUITS + VEGETABLES IN SEASON. This is something that I am doing more of lately. In season fruits and vegetables are cheaper. Some in season items: SUMMER - melons, corn, tomato, peaches, berries •• FALL - pumpkins, squash, apples •• WINTER - oranges, grapefruit, apples, grapes •• SPRING - strawberries, pineapples, broccoli, asparagus.

BUY FROZEN OR CANNED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Frozen fruits and veggies are less expensive and if you are purchasing an item that is not in season, this is the way to go because you'll spend less. Canned fruits are great; just be sure to purchase items in their natural juices or water because they can contain a lot of sugar. Canned vegetables are cool too but contain a lot of sodium (not cool for folks dealing with hypertension) so if you buy canned veggies, rinse them. It will help to remove about 30-40% of the sodium.

USE BEANS INSTEAD OF MEAT. Beans/legumes are very inexpensive, can be stretched beyond one, even two meals and are filling. Oh and of course they are nutritional great for you - lots of protein!. Use them instead of meat once or twice a week. It will help to cut down on your grocery bill.

BUY MEAT IN BIG PACKAGES. I'm sure everyone can remember their mom doing this; buying big packages of meat, chicken, splitting it up into several portions and freezing it. This definitely saves you money. My mom did this all the time with ground turkey and chicken and we'd be good for what seemed like weeks!

PURCHASE FOODS FROM A FARMER'S MARKET. Fruits and vegetables are almost always less expensive when you buy from the farmer's market. Here in NYC, there are quite a few set up and they offer more than reasonable pricing on their produce. And just think how you are 1) contributing to the growth of local farmers and 2) contributing to the reduction of energy used to transport and store produce from elsewhere.

SKIP THE BOTTLED WATER. Trust me, tap is just as good and safe and less expensive! If you don't trust your tap, then buy a filter...still saves you money.

Happy shopping! Be well!