In a world of the burger-for-a-buck, eating healthy and saving money seem like contradicting terms. Our lives are very fast paced, and we're sacrificing quality food for convenience. Busy days make it easy to think a value meal will satisfy our bodies and our budgets. However, the truth is, avoiding fast food is a better value for your wallet and your waistline. If you spend some time preparing your mind and your cupboards for healthy eating, you will begin to develop better eating and budget habits.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
The average supermarket has more than 40,000 items. If you don't know what you really need, that can mean aisles of temptation. By having goals, you are less likely to fall into the convenience food rut. Many people fall into buying prepackaged foods because a plan hasn't been put in place for their weekly meals. Convenience foods tend to be high in sodium, fat, and preservatives. Although they may seem less expensive they are not. Whole foods are not only healthier, they tend to be more satisfying and filling. By eating foods you've prepared, you know first hand that fresh ingredients were used.
At first glance, it is difficult to see the savings in buying individual ingredients. After all, when you are checking out the sale prices of some of the frozen meals, it's hard to pass up a whole meal for only $2, especially when it says right on the box that it is Healthy! And Low fat! AND under 400 calories! But look closer. The meal is about 10 ounces. That may be enough to satisfy you, for a little while, but then it's gone. Say you purchased the ingredients instead. To make a rigatoni with tomato sauce topped with cheese: buy a box of rigatoni pasta for a few bucks, combine it with a sauce you found a recipe for (a few cans of stewed tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste, an onion, and some spices) for about 5 bucks, and some mozzarella cheese for a few more bucks. Yes, your purchase would come to about $10 if you needed to buy everything. However, you would be able to make 8 servings of that same dish for a little over $1 a serving. Take some time before you leave the house to prepare, so you don't fall into buying "the cheap that turns expensive" unhealthy food.
Start at home
First, check what you already have. That frozen spinach hiding behind the ice cream? It's time to use it. Maybe you have a few boxes of penne that have been left alone. You had come across a recipe that calls for fresh spinach and a pasta you've never heard of called cavapatti. Substitute your frozen spinach for the fresh and penne for the pasta you can't pronounce and that's a few less things you need at the store. Know what kind of canned, frozen and fresh vegetables you've been ignoring in your kitchen. Planning a use for them will lighten the grocery bags on the way home.
Keep an inventory list of your spices as well. When you are on a limited budget, you'll want to focus on recipes using your available spices. As you begin to cook at home, you will want to purchase more. Buy the smaller amounts when available, many times you won't need too much. If you find that you are using that spice up too quickly, buy the larger size.
Plan a Healthy week
Next, plan out 5-7 days of meals. Search the web for "healthy recipes" or visit websites such as cookinglight.com or realsimple.com. Watch your local paper for recipes. Check out cookbooks from your public library. Many websites have an ingredient search so you can find recipes using ingredients you already have or that you know are in season or on sale. Allrecipes.com is a great example.
We are all more busy than we want to be, this is why many of us fall into the convenience food rut. This preparation will save you time in the long run. When searching for recipes, look for meals that can be made in 30 minutes or less for those times when you know you will not have much time or energy to cook. Another time saver that takes planning involves reintroducing your slow cooker or crock pot to your kitchen. Many of these meals take minutes to prepare, and they will cook all day while you are at work. When you get home, it's ready. Fast food at it's finest!
Weekly Temptations
Remember to plan for all that you will be eating throughout the week, including breakfast and lunch. Packing your lunch will help you avoid the expense and unhealthy temptation of fast food or restaurant eating. Often, you will find that leftovers of your home cooked dinners make great day after lunches. Or, you will discover the simplicity in small lunches of veggie wraps or homemade chef salads.
If you decide to put dining out into your plan, follow a few guidelines. Do not eat out everyday. Even if you happen to find the healthiest restaurant, the additional expense will cut into your food budget greatly, not to mention the additional cost for gas in your car. Portion sizes at most places are enough for two people; share a dish, and the cost, with a friend. Substitute veggies or salad for fries. At a salad bar, don't take the phrase 'all you can eat' literally. Overeating in one sitting is not good for your digestive system. Instead, take the opportunity to get a good portion of your day's allotment of fruit and veggies. Incorporate a bean salad or some grilled chicken for protein. Add a piece of whole grain bread to get a well balanced meal. Limit your salad dressing- taste your food, don't smother it.
Plan for snacks as well. Don't equate healthy eating with sacrifice. Snacking is possible and important to eating healthy on a budget. Small snacks keep your energy level constant throughout the day, decreasing your chances of overindulging during your next meal. Eating healthy will provide you with satisfying flavors not found in overly processed, high sugar foods. For example, you can satisfy your sweet tooth with antioxidant packed berries stirred into calcium rich low fat yogurt. Save money by purchasing the 32 oz size yogurt. It will provide you with 4-5 snacks.
Make sure the snack foods and beverages in kept in your home are healthy. If you do not have boxes of cookies, bottles of soda, and bags of chips in your house, you cannot be tempted to eat them. Instead, you will be forced to snack healthy. Save the indulgences for those rare events, like trips to the amusement park. This way, you will learn to equate "fun snacking" with fun events, rather than the nightly trips to your couch.
If you really cannot imagine living in a home without sweet baked goods, make them yourself- from scratch, not from a prepackaged mix! You will be able to see what goes into your treats, and control the ingredients. You may also discover ways to make them healthier. Not many people have the time to bake, so the treats will be appreciated as the rare delicacies they are.
Don't let the Cows come home
While you're planning, go "veggie". A vegetarian diet is more diverse than you may think. Check out cheapvegetarianmeals.com and vegetariantimes.com for recipe ideas. There are basic, inexpensive cupboard staples for eating vegetarian: all types of beans, seeds, nuts, rice, pasta, and spices. Keep an eye out for the fruits and vegetables that are in season. These tend to be less expensive. Also, try to buy local fruits and vegetables. This way you will not pay the premium for shipping and the food will be fresher. If you stick to an accurate list of the vegetables and other products you will need for the vegetarian meals, you will not waste money.
Of course, if you have always been a meat eater, this will be a big change. If you continue to eat meat, keep these things in mind. Limit your meaty meals to once or twice a week. When it is served, make sure the portion size is appropriate. Meat should only be a small portion of the meal; for example, if your plate were divided into fourths, the meat should only be of your plate. Vegetables should take up or more, with the remaining for pasta. Many health experts now believe that a diet heavy with red and processed meats is unhealthy. Because of this, you may want to think of extravagant meat meals as you do your decadent desserts, good for special occasions only. When you start basing your everyday eating around vegetarian meals and snacks, you will notice your food bill and your waistline shrink.
Put it in Writing
Now, compose your list for the upcoming week. Base this all important list on the recipes, meals and snacks that you have chosen, getting only exactly what you need. You may find it helpful, if you are familiar enough with your grocery store, to arrange your list in sections- produce, dairy, bread, frozen, canned. This can keep you from wandering the aisles and getting distracted by those thousands of other products.
Arm yourself for the battle
Before you leave the house with your list, drink some water and have a healthy snack. Think about the fuel you are about to purchase to energize your new healthy lifestyle. Visualize your weight loss or lowered cholesterol. Your Healthy List, your satisfied stomach, and your positive mindset will keep you away from the minefields of junk food and bad grocery decisions.
Stick to the list!
Once you are at the store, stay on target. If you only need 3 tomatoes for your recipes, don't buy 6 just because you "might" use them on a salad or sandwich sometime in the week or because they are on sale. Unless the salad is in the plan for the week, don't buy extra. They may go bad on your counter and get thrown away- a waste of food and money.
For many products, a store brand is usually just as good and costs much less. Check the ingredients list. If they are basically the same, you are in good shape. This is especially true for products that are difficult to taste the difference, tomato sauces or cream soups used in recipes are good examples.
You are Ready!
Once the food comes home, keep your weekly plan visible. You may want to place it front and center on the refrigerator door. For the meals you found recipes for, make a note of the cookbook and page number or the Internet site it was printed from. If you only have an hour alloted to prepare and cook dinner, you don't want to spend 30 minutes looking through all of your books looking for the planned meal. Keep the cookbooks, print outs, and/or newspaper clippings that you'll need for that weeks plan in one place. As you begin your healthy eating, tweak the plan to work for you, but keep a plan.
By avoiding the mindless and empty calories that come from impulsive shopping and eating, you will eat healthier and save money. In the long run, the savings will show up more than on your grocery receipts. Being healthier saves money. You are less likely to be ill, so you won't spend as much money at the doctor's office. Being healthy may even earn you more money. When you are healthy, you tend to have more energy- maybe enough to get that next promotion!