by Hannah Kampen

Created on: March 16, 2010

Eating healthy on a budget - sounds impossible, doesn't it? Here's a few tips to make the impossible, possible:

1. Buy in bulk. I know at first it seems like a lot of money, but in the end, you'll save! Yes, you should add up the prices first and see if it really is a deal. If it is, then yes, go for it! If it isn't, then buy it in the quantities you need. Usually, when I get extra money for food, I stock up on "non-perishables" - pasta, veggies, eggs, fruits. (Yes, I'll explain how these are non perishable items). If you buy 3 large bags of carrots, they're usually cheaper than buying the little bags of carrots that you need for one week. Cut up your extra vegetables and store them in plastic baggies or containers in your freezers. And think - every meal you cook will have fresh vegetables in it - an important part to eating healthy.

Fruits can be frozen, also, but this usually isn't a good thing, since the sugars in the fruit will normally settle on the outside of the fruit. The best way to store fruit for munching is to dry it. A dehydrator is the best way to dry out foods. Make a few batches of banana nut bread with the sale on bananas at your store - you now have a healthy snack for anytime.

2. Find specials on meats or other foods at your stores. BUY, BUY, BUY those specials. You can also cook up a bunch of meals at once. Say a store has a special on meats such as my grocery store did a few weeks ago. It was "Pick 5 packages of meat, for $25. Any kind of meat with the sticker on it". I stocked up on beef, pork, chicken, EVERYTHING. I went home and made a HUGE pot of beef stew, and bagged it all up - it made enough ready made soups for my family for two weeks! I also boiled almost half of the chicken I bought and made my own soup stock, which is much healthier than buying it at the store - it has MY favorite flavors and has a lot less salt. (And much cheaper, too). Why pay someone your hard earned money to make your meals, when they don't even care enough to make sure you stay healthy? You may as well buy raw ingredients and hire a chef for your kitchen. You won't do that, though - so why give your money to these corporations that don't care about your health?

3. Look around your community for a "community garden". This is usually a program in cities, started to help people realize where their food comes from, and designed to help them save money and eat healthier. They usually are free, though some of them may charge $20 a growing season (Usually between

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