Eating Healthy on a Budget

Whether you have a sweet tooth, a few unwanted pounds, or a strong love for tater tots, I think it's safe to say we all would like to eat a little healthier. I have, however, heard the line before: "I would eat healthy, but it's so expensive! Have you seen the prices of food these days?"

Now, I would agree to this to some extent-as you see specialty diet products popping up left and right for outrageous prices, and we all know organic products are more expensive than non. However, I think with a little creativity and more effort than popping a lean cuisine into the microwave, a healthy diet can be sustained on a modest budget.

Some tips:

First, stop shopping at the premium grocery store. We have 4-5 different grocery stores in my area, and the one I shop at has dirt-cheap prices (however still quality food). Do some research. A couple favorites I can think of are Save-a-Lot, or ALDI. Who can beat a bag of spinach for $1.49?

Next, you have to determine what is worth the money. A bag of potato chips, in my opinion, is not worth the money even if it costs $0.50. There is no nutritional value, and will sustain your hunger for about 5 minutes. A tub of cottage cheese? Absolutely worth it. Low-fat is obviously the healthier choice, and though it may run you $2.29, it has protein and calcium (and doubles for a healthier salad dressing substitute).

Also, only buy produce in season! Yes, of course this may limit your recipe selection a bit, but it will cut your costs substantially. Do a little research, figure out what vegetables are on their way in advance and gather your recipes accordingly. Or try growing your own veggies or herbs.

Eat more beans. Yes, the musical fruit is a great low-budget healthy staple. Incredibly versatile, beans are non-fat, high-fiber, and protein-rich. They may not taste like a juicy steak, but they can be prepared in many delicious ways. Try putting them in tacos, salads, or making hummus (served with baby carrots or cucumber slices to make it a little healthier). I made my own hummus substituting plain, non-fat yogurt for the tahini-which not only meant I didn't have to track the tahini down in a specialty store where it would be quite overpriced, but also eliminated quite a bit of the fat.

Keep things simple. Salads, for example, don't need to have 16 ingredients. They also tend to be healthier if you keep it to the basics. Don't add cheese if you can. Cheese is pricy and unneeded fat (assuming you're getting enough calcium elsewhere in your diet). The simplest dressing is a mix of olive oil and vinegar (of which there are multiple fun varieties). These will last you quite a while, and are much better alternatives to bottled dressing.

Steam veggies, and buy frozen ones. They wont go bad for a long time, which prevents you from throwing them out. They are generally cheaper as well. Usually I would advocate buying fresh, as I believe it healthier. However, for my wallet's sake I buy frozen if I'm going to be cooking the veggies. I love to throw steamed veggies into pasta. I try to buy whole wheat pasta when I can-it's worth the extra few cents. Stick to inexpensive marinara sauce. The specialty spaghetti sauces are usually high in fat and sugar, and much more expensive.

Start dining out less, and cooking more. The cost of eating at a restaurant is absurd compared to cooking at home, both financially and nutritionally. You see what goes into your food when you prepare it yourself. At a restaurant, you have no clue how much butter and sugar goes into everything (and I work at a restaurant, I do! It's pretty scary!) Furthermore, cooking at home can be a fun activity-- be it just yourself, or a family affair. Dinner parties are also a fun way to save money on food and entertainment.

My last bit of advice? Don't spend your money on special cookbooks and dieting magazines. The public library usually has copies of all of the popular magazines you could think of. Check it out and see if they have your favorite, and read it for free. If you need to, use the copy machine to make copies of your favorite recipes or workouts, or copy them by hand and save a dime. They also have a plethora of low-fat cookbooks that you can check out and take home! So why spend the money?

Happy eating!