Eating Healthy on a Tight Budget

With grocery prices soaring, how do you eat healthy on a tight budget? The best place to start is at your computer. Sound strange? Well, by doing your homework, you can make an eating plan that is nourishing but will not bust your budget.

Look for ideas on wholesome meatless meals. Dried beans are an inexpensive way to provide protein, fiber and other beneficial nutrients on a tight budget. They are easy to cook and freeze well, so they can be prepared in advance and stored for future meals. To add nutrition to your menus, experience with different types of dried beans. For example, Christmas Lima Beans are a delectable, meaty bean. Yellow split peas have a sweeter taste than green split peas and are a novel addition to soups and stews. Try them chilled as a unique salad topping. Beans of all types are a key component of cooking on a tight budget. Puree them with a little garlic for a tasty cracker topper.

Spices add flavor and seasoning. Many Dollar Stores and closeout stores offer spices as low as $1.00. Concentrate on spices that offer healthy benefits like cinnamon, turmeric, garlic, and ginger and get the most nutrition for your money. An excellent resource book is The World's Healthiest Foods: Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating, by George Mateljan.

Learn to cook healthy meals using tea. Drinking tea is an accepted way to add nutritious antioxidants to your meals, but what if you do not like tea? Tea can be used just like any other dried herb. Just open the tea bag and add the tea to your recipe. You can also brew the tea first and use the tea leaves for seasoning. Store the brewed tea liquid in the refrigerator and use it to prepare hot cereals like oatmeal, soups, puddings, and pasta. This liquid is also excellent for poaching meat or fish, and cooking rice. Milder teas will give you the antioxidant benefits without overwhelming a dish with tea flavor. Fruit flavored teas are perfect for adding a unique flavor note to cooked cereals and puddings. Think of it as drinking your vitamins!

Buy some vegetable seeds--this is a good time of year to find seeds for pennies a package. Look for vegetables that will grow well in containers or window gardens. With some seeds and a few empty whipped topping containers, you can grow your own salad or other greens! Healthy herbs can be yours for just pennies per serving.

Invest in some flax seeds or ground flax meal. Flax seed is a nutrition powerhouse. By utilizing it, you can add protein, fiber, antioxidants, B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, and omega-3 fatty acids to your meals. All this for only $0.01 per serving! Flax has a high fiber content, so you will feel more satisfied. It can be added to cereals,, casseroles, breads, baked goods, and smoothies. At a cost of a penny per serving, flaxseed meal is a wonderful find for a tight budget.

Be sure to include nonfat dry milk powder to your tight budget arsenal. You can boost the calcium and protein count of many foods by adding just one tablespoon of nonfat dry milk. Try this inexpensive additive in casseroles and baked goods. Puddings will taste creamier and be more nutritious.

In summary, look for low cost ways to boost nutrition and create healthy meals that will not strain a tight budget. You can boost the nutrition of your meals by learning to include the most nutrition for the least cost.