More and more people are trying to eat healthier, but with prices on everything skyrocketing, it can be difficult. It’s hard to believe that a bag of apples used to cost just a quarter. But nowadays, you don’t have to break the bank to buy healthy food.
Of course, it all begins with planning. A little forethought when it comes to grocery shopping can go a long way in helping you reduce your bill while stocking up on healthy fare. That said, here are five ways to eat healthier without spending a fortune:
Cook Your Own Food
One of the key elements to eating healthy is planning and preparing meals in advance. Healthy doesn’t necessarily mean cooking every meal from scratch, but it does mean cooking your food instead of just heating something frozen or buying something that is already made.
Cooking your meals is often cheaper, healthier, and, most importantly, more convenient. This way, you’ll know what’s in the food you’re putting into your body. When cooking for yourself, make enough to eat three times a day. If you make something one time and don’t want it again — freeze it for future meals.
Do Grocery Shopping Weekly
Write a grocery list of everything you need ahead of time before going shopping. This way, you won’t forget anything, and it can help you buy only the necessary items at the store. Plus, when you only go shopping once a week, you won’t come home with loads of food that could spoil in your refrigerator before you eat them.
So, consider buying your fresh produce every week. That way, you can get the freshest ingredients to cook with. Vegetables and fruits that are in season are also usually cheaper, so be sure to check out your local Farmer’s Market.
Pack Some Snacks for Work
Make snacks for work to bring with you. It will help save money because you will be less tempted to buy that extra lunch or snack somewhere else on your break. You can eat fruit as a snack, such as an apple or orange.
Also, try to pick up some hard-boiled eggs on your next grocery trip and pack those in your lunchbox. Hard-boiled eggs last almost two weeks in the refrigerator, and they’re perfect for snacking on throughout the day. Plus, the protein in eggs will help to keep you full until dinner time.
Snacking on healthy alternatives is important because it will prevent you from craving unhealthy food. However, you should still make sure that your snacks are healthy and low in calories so you won’t defeat their original purpose.
Consider Meal Prepping
Often, when people cook, they cook too much or not enough. That’s why you could try prepping your food for the week beforehand. This will help you stay on track and not turn to pizza or fast food, which can be very expensive and unhealthy.
You can typically find healthy, pre-made food at grocery stores, so be sure to check out the prepared foods section. Additionally, you can buy boxes of frozen vegetables. They are more expensive, but they last for months in the freezer and are already prepped for you.
Aside from those, you can also try buying meals in bulk to save money. Buying chicken, rice, and vegetables will help you make multiple healthy dinners throughout the week. So, when you do your weekly grocery shopping, consider buying larger sizes to stock up on instead of buying single-serving-sized items that will expire in a few days.
Be on the Lookout for Good Deals
Look at flyers of different stores in your area to see which store gives you the best prices on what you need or want. If there’s more than one supermarket close by, you can get their flyer so you can compare over who has the better prices.
For instance, when you’re stocking your pantry essentials, it might be worth it to buy in bulk, especially because you can buy larger quantities at a lower price. Plus, you can also consider purchasing your pantry essentials online. A good example of this is to buy nut butter online because it’s usually cheaper than the grocery store.
Eating healthier doesn’t have to be expensive. There are several ways to eat food that is nutritious and will benefit your body without spending a ton of money. Cooking your own food, buying produce in bulk, packing snacks for work, meal prepping, and shopping around at least once a week are just some of the ways you can save money while eating healthy.