Eating Healthy on a Budget

I was one of those people that used to think I couldn’t eat healthy because it was so much more expensive and it takes way too much time to prepare it. Well I have been converted. I had a surreal moment when I came in from groceries tonight, over half my bags were filled with fruits and vegetables and the only bad thing I had bought was a pizza for dinner tonight. The best part is I did it all for under my weekly grocery budget.

A year ago I started a new budget based around this Canadian tv show called ”'Til Debt Do Us Part” and when it came to groceries at first I really struggled. I have given myself $100 per week which then seemed like not nearly enough. At the time though my bags would come home from the grocery store full of prepared, pre-packaged easy meals as well as a fair amount of junk that I know I didn’t need. But my desire to become debt free and to become healthier was enough to push me to make changes and in the last year I have made a great deal of changes when it comes to food. I know many of you like me probably struggle both with money and weight loss so here are my steps to eating healthy on a budget. Maybe one of them will help you.

The first step I did was to create my budget. I tracked my normal spending for a month to get an idea of what I was actually spending on everything. When it came to food I was averaging about 200-300 per week. This of course also included eating out which I did a lot. I then decided to take it one step further and look at my food spending in terms of eating out, junk food and real groceries and what I found is that if I cut out the eating out and junk food I could slash the budget a long way. However, the reality of life is we can’t cut that far because there are always occasions when you want to go out or you just want a bag of chips. Life is too short not to have a little extra for fun stuff. So after some playing around for several months with different budget numbers for food I finally settled on the 100. It did take some tweaking and patience to get the right figure that would let me enjoy my life and yet still be responsible to my budget.

The second step I did actually came out of a challenge I gave myself to not eat out for one month back in the fall. During that time I started to cook large meals on the weekend so I could freeze the leftovers so that not only could I use them for dinners during the week but I also had easy lunches. This of course cut down not only on my habit of grabbing quick meals out but it also cut down on me buying those pre-packaged frozen dinners. The best part for me about this step is that I was getting way more food, way better food, far fewer preservatives and unknow ingredients, and it also cost me less weight watchers points than those tv dinners and meals out I had previously been eating. It does take a little effort to prepare a bunch of food on the weekends but for me since I only have to feed myself and most recipes make 4-6 servings it really wasn’t too bad. The most important part of this step I think though is to invest in a slow cooker. Mine has saved me so much time and effort. They really are a very handy and amazing appliance. On Sunday’s I throw something in the slow cooker as well as make a traditional oven dinner and then bang most of my cooking is done for the week and it only takes me an afternoon.

The third step which I have really only been doing for the last month or so is really planning what I want to eat for a week. I was buying tonnes of fruit and veggies but because I didn’t have a plan for it I started to find I was throwing a lot of it out. I hate to waste food and especially on a budget it hurts a little to know you are throwing out food that you spent hard earned money on. So I started to plan. I make sure I know how many servings of any type of food I need in a week as well as any special ingredients I might need for a new recipe that I’m trying. I create my list and write down the amount of money I have to spend on the paper. This helps keep me focused on what I really need in the store versus things that might creep up onto you and slip into the cart. The hardest part is keeping a running tally of your total as you go so you know you haven't gone over your budget. Since planning, the amount of wasted food has gone to nothing and my grocery bills have dropped a little more.

The fourth step that I have started is being more adventurous with food. I always thought of myself as a fairly picky eater and although I am opened minded and will try new foods but only if I really have to (usually when other people have cooked them for me). But in the last little while I have made an effort especially with fruits and vegetables to buy things that are on sale instead of my old standbys. The variety you can get in your diet just by buying things that are on sale is kind of cool. Every week there is usually something else that is on cheap. And since fruits and veggies tend to add up to the majority of my grocery list if I can save money there I’ll take it. I have also discovered some new foods that I like because of it including different types of squash and mangoes which have been the most recent ones that I have tried.

With those four steps I have completely changed my shopping and cooking habits. The best part of it is I know that not only am I saving money but I am eating healthier. I also have more money left over each week so I can treat myself to an evening out with friends without feeling guilty or blowing my budget. It really doesn’t have to be hard but you do have to figure out what matters to you and exactly what you want. For me it has been easy because the two most important goals in my life right now are to lose weight/get healthy and to get debt free. As long as I keep those things in mind it becomes a whole lot easier to make the right choices. I know it’s not for everyone but at least I can say without any doubts I no longer think that I can’t eat healthy for cheap. At the very least all the healthy fresh food just seems to stretch further and it also leaves you fuller longer so you eat less of it. It’s a total win win in my books.