Eating Healthy CAN Cost Less
I am curious….If you are not spending your money on healthy foods that improve your health, increase your energy and decrease your belly fat ….What are you spending your money on?
Are you under the assumption that a eating healthy foods is too expensive?
While convenience foods may save some time and lead you to believe you are saving money… think again. The only thing these foods are doing is cutting your body’s ability to burn fat.
Yes you CAN continue to Eat Healthy – even when times are tight.
To Think Outside of the “Box”
Replace the “boxed and bagged” processed carb’s and fake foods (cookies, candy, crackers, bars, instant meal deals) with fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables and a “splash” of real protein.
This is the most simple and best adjustment you can make that in a matter of weeks will lead to a loss of inches ~ not money.
Note: Before I jump into these tips….in order to use them successfully, you are going to want to use ever popular strategy called ~ Plan Ahead ~
Having a meal plan in place saves time, prevents stress and saves money for you only purchase what you know you will use. Our family strategy – Sit down at the dinner table and everyone shares meal ideas. Write it all out and POST it on the Fridge this way Everyone stays on track.
3 Tips To Eat for Fat Loss on a Budget
1 ~ Buy in Bulk
If you have access to a Sam’s Club or Costco -JOIN. The membership cost (about $30 – $40) will pay for itself as you save money from buying unsatisfying junk and pointless trips through the drive through.
Sure – a lot of Bulk items in these types of stores may appear expensive…and some are just not worth it – no, I am not willing to spend $20 on a box of granola bars.
I have however taken the time to scope out my local Sam’s and Costco and found where my money is best spent.
- Fresh Fruits
A Giant bag of apples is about $4
- Fresh Veggies
A huge container of spinach for $3 something – and in my local grocery – a smaller container is $6 – so I would be spending MORE money for LESS food!
- Protein
Whether it be a BIG old package of fresh Chicken Tenderloins for a mere $15 or a giant bag of individually wrapped and frozen fillets of fish – salmon, tilapia, orange roughy. Good quality lunch meats and cheeses are also fantastic – since I pack Tyler’s school lunch and sandwiches are a quick and easy meal for my husband.
- Frozen fruits and veggies
These speak for themselves.
Honestly – just one trip through grabbing just these types of items when compared to shopping in my local grocery would save me well over $20 a week – plus these foods LAST – See Tip 2 – so I am not constantly running BACK to my local grocery replenishing these items.
:: It’s a fact -the LESS time you spend in the grocery store – the MORE money you save.
If you do not have access to stores like these, look for bulk options in your local grocery or seek out discount grocery stores like Aldi – another one of my favorites and known for super cheap fruits and veggies.
2 ~ Cook For Multiple Days
If you want to save money on food – then change the way you cook your meals.
Instead of cooking one meal at a time, think of how you can cook in a way to eat multiple meals. This is also called “Cooking in Bulk”
This is what I do on the weekends for I have the time to get it done.
For example, I may take my $15 package of fresh chicken tenderloins and in 2 batches have it all cooked up in a mere 30 minutes.
Next – based on the meals we mapped out for the week – I separated the chicken into freezer bags with coordinating flavor enhancers – labeled the bags and stuck them in the freezer.
Ex:
1. Mexican Chicken – Chile ready tomatoes
2. Jamaican Chicken – frozen bell peppers, sliced pineapple,
3. Pomodoro Chicken – fire roasted tomatoes and herbs
The night before I pull the bag out of the freezer and allow it to defrost in the fridge. The next night – Reheat, serve with a side of veggies and dinner is served.
3 ~ Track It
Skeptical? Have a hard time believing these tips will help you save you money and help you lose those extra pounds and inches?
Then test it out!
Write down every time you spend money on something that goes into your mouth.
At the end of the week compare and contrast.
- restaurants
- fast food joints
- vending machines
- sodas????
How much is spent at the grocery?
- whole food items
- processed foods
I not only do the same – but I also keep my grocery receipts and make note of what works and what does not.
Just like we all sat down to assess the other expenses in our lives when the economy took this turn…the money you spend on your nutrition plan deserves JUST as much attention as well.
Give these 3 Healthy Eating Tips a try and see what a difference it makes to not only helping you save money on eating better BUT you will also notice how much EASIER it is to LOSE Fat!
What Cost Cutter Tips Do You Have?
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Ha ha ha. I thought this email was personally addressed to me after my previous comment about having no time and all the fast foods not being healthy foods. I try to buy in bulk and freeze where I can but I struggle to cook in bulk – still struggling with time. But it’s worth being reminded of these tips time and again – eventually it will sink in
However my tip is to buy berries in season when they are cheap and stick them in the freezer – no prep is needed and a lot of the time you don’t even need to change the packaging.
Thats great holy thankyou . its all down to planning in advance you save both money and time
Hey, great idea about putting the protein + accompanying flavour enhancers into a zip baggie and then freezing it. What a time saver that will be!! Thanks so much for this tip Holly!
Heidi
I agree buying in bulk..especially organic carrots..scraping & cutting yourself is cheaper. I also shop around as more local grocers are stocking organic..as a ’round robin’ I buy what ever is on sale! (We are fortunate to live very close to these options as well) Our ‘crunch’ at the big game last night were carrots & homemade popcorn (popped in coconut oil)
I am also more aware of ‘cost per serving’ so I am not just aimless eating..it is planned & filling!
Slow cookers are really useful too. I cook up a batch of food in sauce overnight then bag up single portions which I can use for lunch and put them in the freezer. All I have to do is remember to get a portion out of the freezer the day before then it’s a ready-made lunch to take to work and heat up in the microwave. I do 16 or 20 chicken thighs in a low-fat, sauce of tomatoes, pepper and chilli for low carb days and take steamed broccoli to reheat with it. Then on higher carb days – chilli con carne made with lean beef and kidney beans for the carbs. If you get blueberries out of the freezer in the morning and put in a container they will have defrosted by lunchtime but still be really cold and are lovely with fat-free sugar-free yogurt or protein freeze.
Great tips! I have a Costco membership through work and have never used it! Now I will.
I only eat out 1 meal a week – I spend $7.00 for a yummy lunch salad. We buy groceries and make the rest of our meals at home. I don’t mind spending money on fresh, organic foods and meats b/c I like to eat healthy and my health is worth it. Despite economic struggles, we don’t skimp on our food. It’s too important.
My supermarket does load of prechopped stir-fry vegetables and prepared stuff which of course is more expensive becuase of the preparation time.
As products get close to the date of expiry, they slap a 35% off sticker on things and basically, I go shopping 3 times a week and scour the shelves for the 35% off stuff. I can get LOADS of chicken breasts, and different cuts of meat that I take hope and stick straight in the freezer. I get the prechopped and mized vegetables for no more than I would pay for the basic unpreapred stuff.
I know people who have a real hang up about eating anything that has gone even 1 day past the best before date and so they throw out huge amounts of perfectly good food.
If it looks OK, smells OK and tastes OK, and you cook it properly, then it IS OK.
Oh and one more thing – make sure your refridgerator is not set too cold. Frozen salad leaves are horrible!! You can inadvertently end up throwing out a lot of fresh stuff if you store it for too long or in the wrong conditions. THis is what makes fresh purchases the most ‘expensive’ for me and I am now much more careful – I rotate my stuff, I design my dinner plans around the contents of the fridge, not the other way around and I keep the ingredients in appropriate sections of the fridge to avoid ruining the fragile stuff.
Great suggestions. It really is cheaper to eat healthy. When my husband(who buys all sorts of processed foods) comes grocery shopping we always spend more for what seems like the same amount of food. We never eat out and get pizza maybe once a month and that really cuts down on money spent(and bad food). I just really wish we had a Costco nearby, the nearest one is at least 2 hours away and in another country, lol!
I sit down every Sunday night and clip coupons from the Sunday paper. Lots of times the grocery stores will have specials linked to those coupons, so I can get an extra dollar off two boxes of cereal that are on special for, say, $4. I plan my weekly meals around what is on special at the store that week, and whenever there is a BOGO on chicken breasts, or vegetables, I buy and put in the freezer.
On occasion my local grocery store will sell 10 cans of beans for $10, or some other item I use frequently and generally costs a little more – I snatch them up and make room in my pantry. I make sure to check out all the grocery store flyers each week to see who has what – Whole Foods will occasionally have BOGO offers on things I ordinarily wouldn’t buy (healthy, organic) just because they are a little pricier. But when they’re BOGO, oh yeah, I’m stockin’ up!
I stop by our local supermarket, Sweet bay in the early a.m. when I am in town. They usually take management markdowns on a bunch of angus meat and chicken. I buy and freeze. I am 35 miles from a Sams, no Costco here either.
Also, I spray the inside of the slow cooker with pam before adding anything to it, this is a great help when cleaning the thing up.
Great tips. The best advice I ever had concerning food is to buy “one ingredient” meals, that is, carrots, tomatoes, beef, etc. Not al the mixtures and sauces. which contains all the hidden fats and sugars and preservatives. You really can’t go wrong with that, unless you add all the junk yourself! It does call for careful planning and longer preparation time, but it is worth it.
I also make sure that I cook enough to feed one extra person each night. It goes into my lunch dish before I serve anyone else and my lunch is ready for me before I even eat supper the night before.
hi, i wish we had a costco or kliens? in Australia, however we do have aldi and they can b cheaper if you look past your nose,lol. sometimes i would like to cook ahead and freeze but as we only have a small freezer i cannot. i am going to take some of the advise of these great ladies and try out a few options, thanx so much for sharing your secrets.
Yeah I also wish we had a Costo or Kliens in South Africa. Though, we have a franchised chain food market called “Fruit and Veg City” – the products are very very cheap.
I usually buy mushrooms, a variety of peppers, pineapple etc – chop/julienne slice it all up and stick them into Ziplock bags in the freezer. When its’ time for a quick stir-fry, voilla!
Time is a real big problem for me, I have a full-time job, get home very late, kids activities at home, washing, cooking etc… so that only leaves enough time for my morning workouts – which I do not particularly want to trade for anything else!
Heres another tip for saving money while eating healthy:
When I make egg whites for myself, instead of throwing away the yolks, I put them in a seperate bowl and mix them with a couple of whole eggs and some milk and scramble them for my kids/husband. I can’t stand to waste so this makes me feel better all the way around.
Thanks for sharing Holly. These are great tips. Costco is a great place to buy groceries, it’s my favorite.