Healthy Eating on a Budget

So many people tell me they think eating healthy is a lot of work, is too expensive and so on. Teaching people about easy, healthy eating on a budget has become a mission for me! To that end, I have a gift for you today…but first…

For one thing, if you think eating healthy is expensive, just try managing a budget if you get really sick. It just makes sense to me that we all would want to know how to eat to maintain our health. People also think they could never be happy not eating the foods they love. When they tell me this, my response is that eating healthy doesn’t mean you’ll never have fries or a donut again, it just means you don’t eat them all the time. In addition, once your taste buds and your brain get used to eating healthier foods, the stuff you want to avoid doesn’t taste as good (or make you feel as good) as it used to!

Yes, I said “your brain”, as how food affects it really makes a difference in what you crave…but, that’s a subject for another post. Today, I want to share with you a few of my tips to help you eat healthy on a budget.

First, we all need to realize we can incorporate less expensive protein sources into our diets. Lean protein is important, and good sources that won’t break the bank include mackerel, wild caught canned salmon, seeds and nuts. You’ll want your serving of protein to be the size of a single deck of playing cards. Many of us eat too much protein at one time.

Next… avoid processed foods. It may seem they are cheaper, but you really don’t get as much for your money. Think of the value difference between a box of instant brown rice and a large bag of uncooked rice. If time is a factor, and for most of us, it is, get a rice cooker which will allow you to “set it and forget it”. Presto! It’s done with minimum effort and lower cost.

Finally, cook large amounts of food at a time, and use your leftovers creatively. I often make a large vegetarian and bean mixture and serve it over pasta. I make lots of pasta and instead of reheating it in water again for another meal and turning it to mush, I reheat it in a skillet with some olive oil, garlic powder and salt and pepper. It’s delicious, and I don’t have to start from scratch. The leftover mixture I can add to broth with some canned wild salmon, and voila! I have a soup/stew for the next night’s dinner. In the morning, I’ll use the leftover mixture as filling in an omelet for breakfast. It’s delicious, quick easy and healthy. I don’t spend my life cooking from scratch all the time, but the food is delicious…and I save money!

The same is true for vegetables. I often sauté a lot of onions and mushrooms, use what I need and then refrigerate the rest to use later that week. Saves a ton of time, effort and money!

If you’d like more of these great tips, grab the FREE report on my website, 10 Tips for Healthy Eating on a Budget

Helping You Achieve Major Wellness!