The Best Easy Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget

While fresh, real food does generally cost more than other food, there are numerous easy ways to eat healthy on a budget. And if you think there’s no way you could ever afford that, think again! Here are my favorite tips to save money while feeding my family healthy meals.

Mindset is the first step. Eating healthy will cost more than junk food, but if it’s a priority, you can make it happen! Many Americans allot minimal portions of their budgets to food, but their medical bills are much higher than they should be. But even if you don’t have any specific health issues, eating healthy will improve your overall health and wellbeing. Isn’t that worth dedicating more of your budget towards? Knowing why you’re eating this way is the biggest key to keep you consistently doing the work needed to eat healthy on a budget.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Hippocrates

Now on to some more practical ideas!

Buy in Bulk

You can save so much time and money buying in bulk! If you have room for it, I recommend investing in a deep freezer – it will save you so much money in the long run! And who likes weekly grocery trips? I love being able to go weeks without doing a big shopping trip. Here are my favorite places to get bulk food:

• Costco – This is my go-to place for starting with buying in bulk! For most people, the membership completely pays for itself between rewards and the money you save.
• Azure Standard – Order bulk organic food online and pick up at a local drop! Some of their prices are significantly cheaper than other places, including Costco, so it’s worth doing some price checks.
• Mountain Rose Herbs – The cost of organic spices adds up quick! However, if you buy in bulk you can save $100s over a few years. High quality spices and herbs also add great health benefits to your meals!
• Locally grown meat – In many areas of the country, you can find a local farmer and buy quality meat in bulk. If you prefer a variety of cuts, a whole, half, or quarter animal is a good option, however, if you’re on a tight budget, I recommend asking for the cheapest cuts (such as ground beef) in bulk. You can use ground beef in so many different recipes that you won’t miss not having a larger variety more often!
• Local fruit, vegetables, eggs, and dairy – This can sometimes be more challenging to source than meat, but it’s often worth it. Visit farmer’s markets and talk to people in your community. You may even find people are producing more than they can personally eat and just don’t want it to go to waste! In these cases, fresh food is often sold almost at cost.

Shop Intentionally

The primarily goal of food is a delicious meal that’s satisfying and filling nutritional needs. Of course we all sometimes want a fun snack or dessert, but intentionality is a huge way to save money when trying to eat healthy on a budget!

• Limit eating out to times when you actually want to eat out. – Don’t just grab food on the way home because you don’t feel like cooking. Keeping a well-stocked pantry and a supply of homemade freezer meals are my biggest keys to avoid this.
• Shop sales. – Now I don’t mean buy something just because it’s on sale. However, if there’s something that you usually purchase and it happens to be on sale (or the sale item can replace something you typically get), if it will keep or you can freeze it, buy as much as you can. At least a few months worth is great! We’re still using coconut aminos I found on an incredible sale a year ago.
• Don’t grocery shop hungry. – When you go shopping, you don’t want to be tempted by every unnecessary snack you see.
• Plan the extra treats and snacks you want and make them homemade when possible. – Moderation is key when it comes to these types of foods! If you can make something at home, it saves money, often tastes better, and is almost always much healthier.

What to Buy

There are so many options at the grocery store these days it can be overwhelming (and expensive)! Narrowing down the types of food you buy can save lots of money over time.

• Focus primarily on nutrient-dense foods (meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc.). – Limit items with little nutrition such as chips, processed cereals, and other junk food.
• It typically costs more to buy premade foods and they’re usually full of not-so-great ingredients. – You can make your own snacks, sauces, dressings, and often find easy substitutes for what isn’t the easiest to recreate, such as canned soup.
• Know when to buy canned goods. – Most canned goods aren’t very healthy, however, canned fish, pumpkin, and tomatoes (diced, puree, and paste) are healthy staples for our family. You can find your own healthy canned goods that work well for your family.
• If you’re unable to buy everything organic, check out the “Clean 15” and “Dirty Dozen“. – This is a fantastic way to limit pesticides while also saving money. Keep in mind that some of the “Clean 15” foods are GMO.
• Try to buy in season as much as possible. – Fruits and vegetables are usually at their lowest prices when they’re in season.

Limit Food Waste

What if you were told that you could cut 30-40 percent of your food budget overnight? That’s the percentage average Americans waste of their food! Minimizing food waste can make a big impact on your budget.

• Know what’s in your fridge and freezer. – It can be so easy to forget about something in the back of your fridge or freezer, but it’s important to always have an idea of what you have on hand. Make a point to check the back of the fridge often and occasionally look in the back of your freezer as well. You’ll often find food you completely forgot you had!
• Freeze leftovers if you can’t eat them fast enough. – Not only is this a way to avoid unnecessary food waste, it’s also so helpful to have frozen meals on days you don’t feel like cooking!
• Store food properly and quickly. – Make sure food isn’t left out too long, and then store it in the proper location. Food storage containers are a wonderful investment to make this easier!
• Learn how long foods keep. – Some foods only keep a very short amount of time while others can stay good for weeks in the fridge! Certain foods are even still safe past their best by date, while others may go bad even before that date. Learn how long your usual food staples last and to recognize signs of spoilage.
• Find ways to cook foods that are reaching the end of their lifespan. – Sometimes you may not be able to enjoy older fruits and vegetables fresh, however, they may still be perfectly safe and delicious baked or cooked in certain recipes. Anytime we have apples that are getting too soft, I make fried apples for a healthy and tasty dessert!
• Finally, it’s always better to toss food than get sick. – If you forgot about something and it goes bad, it’s always better to be safe. It’s not worth the risk of getting sick just to avoid wasting a little food. You can try again next time!

Cook From Scratch

This is my biggest tip for how to eat healthy on a budget! It’s pretty amazing how much money you can save if you cook the majority of your meals from scratch. You don’t have to be a professional chef or even love spending lots of time in the kitchen to be able to put good meals on the table most nights.

• Learn basic ways to make cheap cuts of meat delicious. – I’m not talking about anything complicated here! Ground meat can often be made into tasty tacos, hamburgers, casseroles, and a number of other meals, and a crockpot can make most other cuts delicious. If you’re new to cooking from scratch, challenge yourself to learn one new thing a week!
• Get creative, and don’t rely too strictly on recipes. – Often beautiful Pinterest recipes include multiple ingredients you don’t have and would have no use for after making that one recipe. Experiment with substituting ingredients you know your family loves. You’ll make some mistakes in the process, but you’ll also come up with delicious new recipes that turn into some of your favorites!
• Figure out the planning method that works for you. – Some people thrive off of meal plans. If that’s you, embrace it and take time to create your wonderful plans! But that’s certainly not me. Instead of making meal plans, I try to keep a stocked pantry, some fresh fruits and vegetables on hand, and thawed meat in the fridge. If all else fails, ground beef can be quickly thawed under cold running water for some quick tacos!
• Freeze leftovers for easy freezer meals. – If you’re going to cook a meal that could be easily frozen and thawed (think soup, chili, or certain casseroles), try to make extra and freeze some leftovers. This way, if you get in a tight spot, you have a delicious home cooked meal ready to be pulled out of the freezer and heated!
• Make big batches for leftovers! – While some meals, such as fresh fish, aren’t the best as leftovers, many meals make delicious leftovers. If you make enough for dinner, you should have enough left over for lunch the next day. Lots of breakfast foods can be made in advance and reheated if necessary such as pancakes, granola, healthy breads and muffins, and breakfast casseroles.

Find Healthy Budget-Friendly Recipes

• Easy Sweet Potato Cottage Pie Recipe
• Simple Salisbury Steak Recipe – Gluten & Egg Free
• Easy Roasted Carrot Fries Recipe
• Oven Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash Recipe
• Homemade Maple Granola Recipe with Nuts and Cranberries

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Those are my tips for how to eat healthy on a budget! What are your favorite ways to do this? Leave a comment with your own ideas!