These five simple steps will guide you in eating healthy on a budget. Created by a registered dietitian and mom.
Eating Healthy on a Budget
Eating healthy on a budget may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s definitely possible! And I am here to show you how.
But first, let’s start by defining what the word “healthy” does NOT mean. Unlike what many popular “wellness influencers” tell you, eating healthy is not complex or overwhelming. It also does not, and should not, involve extreme eating patterns where entire food groups are eliminated and cleansing drinks are consumed! (If you only remember one thing from this blog post, please, let it be this!!)
Rather, eating healthy means striving each day to find simple ways to meet your individual body’s nutritional needs. It means eating in a way that will help you feel your best both physically and mentally.
For most people this involves:
- adding more whole grains to meals and snacks
- eating a colorful array of fruits and vegetables each day
- looking for simple ways to reduce the amount of sugar consumed
- replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats
- adding protein rich foods to each meal
- cutting back on high sodium foods
- drinking adequate amounts of water
- focusing on developing a healthy relationship with food
If you are struggling to figure out your own individual nutritional needs, meeting with a registered dietitian is great place to start! Many health insurances cover this benefit.
5 Steps for Eating Healthy on a Budget
Eating healthy on a budget can be broken down into five easy steps:
- Choosing Budget-Friendly, Nutrient-Dense Foods
- Planning a Menu on a Budget
- Finding Good Deals on Healthy Foods
- Making Food Last Longer
- Easy Ways to Use Leftovers
Below is an overview of each of these fives steps. Within the next month, I will be creating in depth blog posts on each one of them. These posts will be filled with valuable tips and free printables to make applying them to your life a breeze.
Step 1: Choosing Budget Friendly, Nutrient-Dense Foods
Budget-friendly, nutrient-dense foods are those that provide multiple nutrients for your body’s needs and are also affordable. Learning to recognize these foods, find recipes that use them, then incorporating them into your meal plans is key to eating healthy on a budget. Doing this will help you meet your body’s nutritional needs while still living within your budget
2. Planning a Menu
One of the best ways to save money on your food budget and simultaneously eat healthier, is to start planning a weekly menu. Did you know research shows that people who plan menus are more likely to eat a healthier diet and prevent obesity? Pretty cool, right?!
In addition to the health benefits of menu planning, it will also help prevent frequent trips to the store to buy last minute meal items and reduce the number of times you eat out. That’s a lot of money saved!
In my blog post, I will teach you how to plan a menu that revolves around your own unique health needs, resources, abilities and schedules. I will also guide you in implementing the budget-friendly, nutrient-dense foods from step 1 into your menu plans.
3. Finding Good Deals
A great skill for living within your food budget is learning how to find good deals on nutrient-rich foods. Let me ease your mind though. When I say learning to find good deals, I am not talking about extreme couponing or shopping at 12 different stores. No one has time for that! Rather, it’s learning to recognize good deals when you see them, knowing when to stock of up certain items, and simple tips for finding deals you normally would not see.
4. Making Foods Last Longer
Another great way to reduce the amount of money you spend on food is to learn the tips and tricks that make food last longer. There are a lot of ways you can make your food last days, weeks and even months longer. Learning these tricks prevents you from having to throw out food before you even have the chance to use it. It also prevents last minute trips to the store to buy more ingredients. That’s even more money saved! Bonus: making food last longer prevents food waste which is great for our environment.
5. Using Leftovers
Using leftovers is an excellent way to save money on your food budget! One thing I encourage you to do in step 2: menu planning, is to make one night of the week a “leftovers” night. If you do this once a week for a whole year, you will be saving the cost of 52 meals worth of food! Crazy, right?!
Do you hate leftovers? In my blog post I will also be teaching you ways to store food so they taste fresh and ideas to liven up your leftovers so they don’t feel so much like, well . . . leftovers.
Following These Steps
With all things in life, I am a big advocate for taking one step at a time rather than applying everything all at once. This often leads to the greatest long-term success.
The best part about these five steps? You don’t have to follow them in the exact order I have them listed if you don’t want to. Start with a step that feels the most doable to you and master that one before you move on to adding another.
And remember…..even the small changes make a difference for your health and finances! You’ve got this!
