Changing the way you eat and shop doesn’t usually happen overnight. If it feels like an over whelming feat, start small. Make the changes incrementally and keep an open mind about new dishes while finding ways to shift more money over to your food budget. It is an investment, but I promise you, it is one worth making.
Finding creative ways to make eating healthy convenient and affordable can reduce your risk of disease without breaking the bank, and it’s easier than you might think.
Eating healthy isn’t about exclusively shopping at Wholefoods, in fact, I recommend you do not shop there unless you find high value or unique items. Everything you need can be found in your local supermarket.
In 2018, The Harvard Medical School published a study confirming that eating a healthy plant based diet is in fact less expensive than a meat based one. On an annual basis, it will save you about $750.
To help you out, here are my top 5 tips for eating healthy on a budget:
#1 Go Meatless As Often As Possible
Eating less meat is a good way to save money. If you haven’t cut meat out of your diet, you can start by eliminating it a couple days a week or incorporate meatless Mondays into your weekly routine. Beans, lentils, peas, edamame, nuts, seeds, and whole grains contain an impressive amount of protein and are cheaper than beef, nutritious and easy to prepare.
Most of them have a long shelf life too!
#2 Plan Out Your Meals and Meal Prep
As always, start small. Plan out a few healthy meals a week and shop with a list – always have a plan.
If you look ahead in your schedule and see that you don’t have time one week, try to cook ahead and freeze meals. I’m a big fan of cooking meals in bulk once, and eating them several times over.
#3 Buy Frozen Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh fruit and vegetables are in season only a few months a year, and can be expensive.Most frozen fruit and vegetables are flash-frozen, which maintains their nutrient integrity and makes them very inexpensive and available all year round.
#4 Avoid Processed and Convenience Foods
Healthy foods are expensive when you your go for the convenience of pre-cut and pre-washed vegetables, bagged salad mixes, and processed foods. Despite how nicely packaged they are, it’s an unnecessary expense if you do some simple planning to prepare the foos yourself.
#5 Go Organic With The Filthy Fifteen
Focus on replacing these known dirty foods with their organic counterparts.
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines
7. Grapes
8. Peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries
11. Lettuce
12. Kale
13. Cherries
14. Pears
15. Tomatoes
About Sarah
Sarah Dade is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, and received her Certified Integrative Nutrition and Health Coach designation and training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (“IIN”) in 2012. Sarah is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and received her training from Yoga Vida NYC.
Sarah studies include holistic nutrition, preventive health, dietary theories, hormonal imbalances, supplement therapy, food psychology, one-on-one counseling, lifestyle management techniques, relationship coaching, innovative coaching methods, yoga, and many spiritual practices from around the world.
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