How to Eat Healthy and Save Money on Food

Believe it or not, if you know how to eat healthy, you'll also save money on food when you shop. For some reason so many people think that you have to spend a lot of money on food to eat healthy, but this simply is untrue. Don't get me wrong, you can spend a lot of money to eat healthy if you really want to '" it' not that hard '" but I don't know why you would. Eating healthy is all about making good choices. Saving money also boils down to making good choices. In this article I'm going to teach you how to eat healthy and how to make the right choices so you save money on food.

Whole Foods

No, I'm not talking about the grocery store; I'm talking about actual whole foods. Whole Foods, the supermarket, is not the place to shop when you're trying to save money. Although, there are some items you can get a good deal on there, but I'll get in to that more later. For right now, I'm just gonna stick with actual whole foods.

What are whole foods? Well, I think that's easier to explain by answering the question: what are not whole foods? Whole foods are not manmade foods. It's that simple. If it doesn't exist naturally in the wild, it's not a whole food. Period. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, eggs, nuts, etc -- these are all whole foods. We don't have to make them and they're ready to eat just the way they are. The opposite of whole foods are processed foods. Foods, like donuts, cereals, pizza, breads, sausages and so on --

Whole foods should make up most of your diet, if not all of it. Now, I know that suggesting you eat nothing but fresh fruits and veggies is a lot to ask, so that's why I'm saying "most" of your diet. But honestly, if you wanted to eat as healthy as possible, the way to do it would be by eating nothing but fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. Whole foods are so much healthier than processed foods simply because they are more nutritious. When you change the natural structure of a food by processing it, it loses some of its nutrients. When you process it too much, can lose virtually all of its nutrients.

Now, the reason I'm talking about whole foods so much is because I believe that understanding that whole foods should make up most of your diet takes a lot of the confusion out of eating healthy. I've read dozens of other articles on this subject and they always break down food groups and talk about specific foods you should and should not eat. In my opinion, it's much simpler than that.

Here's a list of some of my favorite inexpensive whole foods:

Bananas '" bananas truly are a super food. They're super cheap and super nutritious. Anyone can afford bananas. They usually cost about 69 cents a pound, which is about three to five medium sized bananas. They're filling, taste good with other foods and you can eat them on the go.

Black Beans '" dried, not canned. I'll get into that soon.

Brown Rice '" ridiculously inexpensive, very filling and very nutritious. One lb. of brown rice costs about 99 cents and it makes a lot of brown rice. One cup of brown rice will yield ½ when it's cooked. You can't beat it.

Farm Fresh Eggs '" Farm fresh eggs are a bit more expensive than normal eggs but they are more nutritious. The birds are not treated as badly either. They're not treated great, but still not as badly. They cost a little more, but they're still cheap. The way I see it, $3.50 for a dozen comes out to 29 cents per egg. That's a pretty good deal for the best all-natural protein you can buy. If you eat two farm fresh eggs and a piece of whole grain toast for breakfast, your meal only cost you about 70 cents.

Sunflower Seeds '" Seeds are an excellent source of protein and healthy dietary fats. I always buy a pound of shelled, unsalted sunflower seeds when I'm at the grocery store. It costs about $2 and it lasts for weeks. I usually eat a handful of them per day. They're also good for adding to salads, stir-fry's and trail mixes.

Mixed Nuts '" Mixed nuts are another great source of protein and healthy fats. At first glance, mixed nuts don't seem cheap, but if you breakdown the cost per serving, they are. Mixed nuts can range a great deal in price, based on the brand, the quantity, whether or not they're on sale, etc -- For simplicity's sake, let's say 1 lb. of mixed nuts costs you $10. A serving is 1 oz., which is about one handful. One serving contains between 250 to 300 calories. You really don't need more than a serving per day. It comes out to 63 cents per serving. I like to make trail mix with my mixed nuts by mixing them with raisins, sunflower seeds and occasionally granola. I just mix equal parts of all the ingredients and I find that it lasts me several weeks.

As you can see, there are several whole foods you can buy at the grocery store that will give you a lot of bang for your buck. I only listed a few of my favorites, but there are many others. Now let's move on to some other tips.

Don't Eat Canned Foods

Canned foods are not good for you and they're not that great of a savings. You're always going to be better off going with the fresh or frozen version. Let's take a look at the difference in cost between canned beans and dried beans. A can o/f black beans costs about 69 cents. The can says there are 3.5 servings but most people will eat the whole can in one sitting, so it's really more like one serving. On the other hand, one lb. of dried black beans costs around 99 cents. When the beans are cooked, they produce roughly five to six cans worth of beans. So for almost the same price you're getting more than five times the amount of food and it's better for you.

Make Good Choices

As I said earlier, eating healthy is about making good choices and saving money is also about making good choices. It's true that an avocado might cost you $2 or $3 at the grocery store but your late at Starbucks is going to cost almost twice that much money. So, do you want to spend $2 on a healthy fruit that is loaded with essential nutrients, or do you want to spend $4 or more on a late you could make at home for ¼ of the cost? Did I mention the late isn't nearly as good for you?

Health Foods vs. Healthy Foods

I feel like this needs to be discussed. Part of the reason (a large part) people think eating healthy is so expensive is because "health foods" are expensive. I'm putting "health foods" in quotes because they are not real; they are different than healthy foods. This goes back to the whole whole-foods-processed-foods thing. Most "health foods" aren't healthy. They are highly processed with typically less calories and fat than other similar foods. I'm talking about things, like low-fat cookies, Boca Burgers, reduced fat peanut butter, Lean Cuisines -- They may be healthier than their counterparts, but they are not healthy. It's the lesser of two evils in most cases.

Know Where to Buy Certain Items

Don't buy all of your food at the same store; you just won't save money that way. Let me give you some examples: if I'm going to buy all-natural peanut butter, I'm going to get it at a typical grocery store, like Publix, because it will only cost me $2 to $3 dollars. However, if I'm going to buy tofu, I'm going to the Asian supermarket or Whole Foods. They always have a better selection and I know that I'll find a brand that is on sale and end up spending half as much for it. So you need to shop around at a lot of different places for the healthy foods you like until you get an idea of where the best places to buy certain foods are.

Don't Eat Out

If you want to eat healthy and save money on food, you just shouldn't eat out. It's okay once in a while, as a treat, but you should try to avoid it. For one thing, eating food at a restaurant will never be as healthy as cooking it at home, with very few exceptions. Second of all, eating a prepared meal will always cost you more money than buying the ingredients and making it yourself. Always. I don't see the point in spending more money to have less control over how my food is being prepared and what ingredients are being used. Don't get me wrong; dining in a restaurant is fun. I enjoy doing it on occasion; I just don't want to do it all the time.

If you stick to these basic principals, you'll always know how to eat healthy and save money on food. You already know the common sense stuff to avoid, so I'm not going to get into it. You know, things like candies, soda, ice cream, cupcakes, cookies, fast food, etc --