Heather Johnson is a freelance finance and economics writer, as well as a regular contributor for forex trading, a site for currency trading and forex trading information. Heather welcomes comments and freelancing job inquiries so contact her by email.
Ramen noodles may be cheap, but they sure don’t offer much in the way of nutrition. In fact, it seems that all the affordable foods in the grocery store are pretty bad for you. However, there are ways to maintain a healthy diet for less. It takes some commitment and a little creative cooking, but the 10 tips below should help you out.
- Stretch Your Meat – If you are indeed a carnivore, then you know how expensive meat can be. However, you can stretch your poultry and beef out by using healthy fillers like tofu and grains.
- Make a Shopping List – By planning meals ahead of time and sticking to a shopping list, you will avoid any unnecessary (and unhealthy) impulse purchases.
- Avoid Processed Foods – Starting with raw materials is not only cheaper, it will cut many preservatives and additives out of your diet. This can only improve your mental and physical well-being.
- Drink Only Water – Your soda/coffee/juice/alcohol dependency isn’t doing your wallet or your body any favors. Water is the only liquid you will ever need to drink. So, put a filter on your tap and drink without guilt.
- Buy In-Season Produce – A seasonal produce chart may help you do determine what will be cheapest at the store right now. Buying your favorite fruits and vegetables during the off-season can really cost you some major dough.
- Shop at the Farmer’s Market – Are you paying gouged prices at your local health food store when you could be getting your food direct from local growers? Check out the local farmer’s market before heading to the grocery store.
- Know Your Healthy, Cheap Staples – These include oatmeal, beans and rice. Foods that are filling, inexpensive and healthy should always be readily stocked in the kitchen.
- Start a Vegetable Garden – Growing your own food is not only a cheap alternative, but also it offers many physical and mental benefits. Gardening is great exercise and helps to reduce stress, so there are many reasons to take up the hobby.
- Avoid the Drive-Thru – When trying to save money and your life, the drive-thru can be your worst enemy. Dollar menus exist, but they are usually filled with deep-fried horrors. If you can find a 99 cent baked potato, however, knock yourself out.
- Clip Coupons – This is an obvious way to save some money on food. However, be sure to only save coupons for healthy foods, no matter how much those Oreos are marked down.
Believe it or not, there are actually healthy foods that won’t cost an arm and a leg. You should also consider the ways you indirectly save money by eating well. Being healthy means having a higher immunity and making fewer trips to the doctor, for example. Whatever the reasons for making wiser decisions in your diet, you don’t have to spend a fortune at the local health food store to do it.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi David – just wanted you to know I tagged you for some meme sheepery (see the link). You lucky guy you
This is an extraordinary good post. I think everyone should think of buying the correct type of food
-Mike
Lise: I will try to get to it but I’m going to be busy for quite a while with family matters….
Mike: Agreed. Saving money is almost a side benefit even though this is a PF blog!
My favorite frugal food used to be lentils soup.
Lentils – 50 cents
Tomato can/s – 40-50 cents
Seasonings, some vegetable oil, electricity – 50 cents
Total: around $1.50
Total servings – 8-10
Saving Money: PRICELESS
I used to eat that for several months, until I was sick of eating it.. But it was nitritious..
Great tips, thanks for sharing, especially about making a shopping list.
One of the things I found most interesting when I read the “Millionaire Mind” is that a majority of “everday” millionaires made shopping list and some even mapped out the stores. Their maps had each isle and what product they needed from those isles.
The reason behind this was so that they would spend as little time as possible in the store. More time spent in a store equals buying stuff you don’t need.
it is a wise idea to purchase fruits that are available in a current season ,becoze they come cheap and as far as nature is concerned they are made for the season by it,specificially.
Great ideas. Its really important that people are educated and informed on how to become smarter shoppers. Its a skill that not everyone gets. PIC Current wrote a similar post about eating healthy for cheap: http://current.pic.tv/2008/10/06/simple-ways-to-eat-for-less/. Check it out they have some links for recipes. Again thanks for sharing these healthy money saving ideas!
A few more things
1 – buy store brand. Our rule – if there’s less than 5 ingredients, the store brand will taste the same.
2 – buy spices, oil, honey, rice and tea at an ethnically-oriented grocery store – the spices will be one quarter of the price of a chain grocery store
3 – Lately I’ve noticed that coupons tend to be for processed food and 2-for-1 deals. So coupons never really help us. But I do make my grocery list around the items on sale in the grocery store weekly circular (I shop often enough to know whether or not it’s a “real” sale!)