How to Eat Healthy Foods Without Spending a Fortune

Natural, fresh, healthy foods can often be expensive. You may have heard people jokingly rename Whole Foods Market -- they call it Whole Paycheck. But it is possible to find good healthy foods at a decent price, if you're a reasonably savvy shopper. Here are some tips:

1. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, definitely check it out. They specialize in healthy food at near-bargain prices.

2. Buy produce in season. It will usually be less expensive. It may also come from a location closer to you, which means less transit time, which means it will be fresher. If you buy something out of season, and it's grown in a hothouse or imported from another hemisphere, not only will you have to pay more, but you will also lose out in taste and nutrition.

3. Stock up on healthy non-perishables when they are on sale. Whole grain pasta is healthier than the regular kind, but it can be a lot more expensive. Watch out for sales. Whole grain pasta will keep for quite a while, so when it goes on sale, buy some extra boxes. Do the same for canned tomatoes (one of the few kinds of produce which may actually be healthier when canned), bottled organic juices, frozen berries, etc.

4. If you have farmer's markets or roadside stands in your area, do go. The produce will be much fresher than what you can buy in the supermarket, and the fresher the produce, the more nutritious it will be. In many markets, the prices will be quite a bit lower as well.

5. If you go to a farmer's market near closing time, some sellers may drop their prices in order to clear out their remaining perishable items before they leave. I've seen big bags of fruits or vegetables selling for as little as a dollar.

6. Also, look for merchants who may be selling produce at a lower price because it is not very pretty. At one farmer's market that I know of, there's a stand that sells apples that are very small and sometimes misshapen. Some even have wormholes. They are a far cry, visually, from the big shiny apples you see stacked in pyramids in the supermarket. But ugly as the apples in this particular farmer's booth are, they are super fresh and they taste a million times better then their handsome supermarket cousins -- and at a fraction of the cost.

7. If you have the time, interest, and land, consider growing some of your own produce. If you live in a city apartment, see if your city has any community gardens, which give you the opportunity to work on a small plot of land and to keep what you grow.