Healthy food can be expensive but that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to stay healthy. A healthy lifestyle on a tight budget is challenging, not impossible.
Healthy food items can be seen as a bit more expensive than fast food but the medical bills that follow up the consumption of fast food, leading to serious health issues. So eating and staying healthy is a choice that can be avoided but should not be if you want to save money. Here are some tricks and tips that can help you have a healthy and sustainable lifestyle even on a tight budget.
- Planning of Meal.
- Sticking to the grocery list.
- Take advantage of free exercise equipment.
- Cook at home.
- Make sure to have leftovers for later.
- Growing own produce.
- Whole foods and Generic brands are saviours.
- Don’t miss out on sales.
- Shop seasonal produce.
Planning of Meal
The first step to starting a healthy life is by having a planned meal. Taking the time out to plan what kinds of ingredients or food items you will be having help in determining the budget required for them. Jotting down a list of things and calculating the price is a good way to get started on living healthy on a tight budget. This also helps in creating a budget-friendly grocery list and sticking to the only things that are required.
Sticking to the Grocery List
When the list of budget-friendly grocery items is made it becomes easy to remember what is actually required to prepare a meal that is healthy and affordable. The grocery list helps in navigating through the shopping centres or stores as there is a high possibility that you will end up going astray in the stores while looking at the new, delicious yet useless and expensive ingredients that will only hurt your wallet and your health. The avoidance of heavily processed food can become easy with a well-planned shopping list. By excluding the expensive yet damaging processed foods, you can use that money to get highly nutritional food items for later.
Take Advantage of Free Exercise Equipment
If the payment for a gym membership is not in your budget, then not to worry. Simple exercises like walking, jogging, cycling or swimming are one of the easiest ways to get that heart beating fast and feeling energised. And the great news is, these are all free of cost, so, the next time you think about visiting the store at the end of your block, choose to walk or run to the store rather than taking the motorcycle or car. Not only will the planet thank you for this but your body will be grateful too.
Cook at Home
To avoid overeating and spending more than you can afford on restaurants, one nice and easy way is to have home-cooked meals. This not only ensures the actual requirement of food that you need but also helps in keeping you from overeating which is not the way to go when you are thinking about living a healthy life. It is a simple fact that you can feed four people while spending the same amount of money as you do while dining at a restaurant because whole foods are way more cheaper.
Have Leftovers for Later
Cooking in large portions not only saves money but also time. Because in that way you get to store the leftovers for when you do not have the time or money to buy groceries or cook food. Cooking once that lasts up to two days is much cheaper. The leftovers can be turned into incredibly delicious, nutritional yet cheap meals with some extra condiments or spices for dinner or maybe a late lunch.
Growing Own Produce
If possible try to grow the produce as much as you can in your own backyard or garden. If you are the one planting and nurturing the produce, you will know for sure if they are safe for consumption or not and if pesticides are used in the produce or not. Moreover, it will save you a big part of your budget for shopping as you will be getting the produce for free. And the feeling of satisfaction from cooking up a meal with homegrown vegetables behind which you have put a great deal of effort and time is of a different kind. So, try to pick up gardening as not just a hobby but a way of getting food on the plate.
Whole Foods and Generic Brands are Saviours
Buying whole food in case of some food items like rice, cheese, and oats is cheaper. For example, oats are a lot less expensive than processed cereals. Buying one block of cheese is way too much inexpensive than buying shredded cheese. Oftentimes, less processed food items are sold in large portions or bulk which eventually results you in getting more for a lower price, saving money overall. Looking for generic brands is a clever way to navigate through the over-priced national brands as they contain the same amount of nutritional value but come for a higher price. All the manufacturers of food have to obey the same guidelines when it comes to the approved standard for safe food, so the generic brands can be trusted in this case and they come for a much lesser price as well.
Don’t miss out on sales
Sales are a great way for stocking up. If there are some food items that are needed frequently then using sales is a good way of stocking those items up. Does not matter if it is one of your favourite products or a staple item, buying them while they are on sale is a good save some money later. But the amount and the expiration dates need to be checked as there is no way of saving money by buying something that is not going to last long or maybe end up in the trash can before use due to expiration.
Shopping for Seasonal Produce
Going for food items that are in season is much less expensive than out-of-the-season items. And they are more likely to be fresh and tasty than the food items packed up in cold storage. The seasonal produce is cheap also because they are mainly local produce so there is not much money given for the transportation of the items from farms to stores which helps in saving money whereas, out-of-season items come with a big transportation charge. Also buying by the bag of these fresh local produce can help in saving up some more money rather than buying by pieces.