Eating Healthy On a Budget

Eating healthy on a budget is doable, just stick to locally produced basic foods, cook simple from scratch and do your homework on where and when to buy the best foods.

Here’s how to do it:

Eat in Season

This is one of the top things you can do to reduce your food budget. Buying foods in season is good for your health, the environment and your pocket book too.

Start by learning a little about what you should eat when – a lot of it is common sense – starchy vegetables in the winter and water-retaining vegetables and fruits in the summer. Of course, there is an array of options in between but you get the idea.

Listening to your body and giving it what it needs will make eating within the seasons easier with time.

Another option is to shop at your local farmer’s markets. This not only supports the local economy and keeps rural farming communities alive but also helps to save you money.

Farm shops can afford to lower the prices on seasonal foods as they tend to have an over-supply of them – often times freezing the leftover fruits and vegetables. Farm shops also tend to apply ethical farming methods and reduced pesticide and chemical use.

Cook from Scratch

Cooking from scratch doesn’t have to be difficult. There are plenty of nutritious meals you can whip up before that pizza deliver has time to arrive on your doorstep!

If you keep things simple and use only a few ingredients per meal then your whole family can eat a healthy, value-conscious meal – and you’ll save lots of money in the process as it’s always cheaper to cook from scratch than buy pre-packaged meals.

An added bonus is that your kids will be eating better quality ingredients.

Shop Around

It pays to shop around when buying organic, healthy food. If you have time you can visit a few local markets and pick and choose or buy certain items from the supermarket and a few at the farmer’s market.

People are often surprised that meat and produce can be cheaper at the farmer’s markets than the supermarket. Not to mention a much higher quality in most cases.

The trick to saving money at the farmer’s market is not to be tempted by the array of artisan breads, pastries and homemade jams and chutneys. Stick to the basic staples and you’ll do just fine.

The bottom line is eating healthy on a budget is possible just follow these easy to do ideas. Eating is fun and with a little thought can also be healthy and suit your budget.

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