Eating healthy on a budget in tough times is possible!
With the price of food rising (and everything else it seems), eating healthily while trying to stick to a budget can be challenging – but we can! However, while healthy eating out can be expensive (in fact, just as expensive as unhealthy eating out on junk food!), that’s not to say healthy eating is impossible or that it can’t be cheap. This week I will outline some basic tips to help keep healthy eating costs low, so your whole family can enjoy the far-reaching, long-term health benefits.
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- Buy seasonally: If you’ve seen the price of cherries at the moment, you will have guessed they’re not in season. The ones you see at the moment are imported from California, therefore you expect to pay top dollar. Pears and mandarins on the other hand are cheap, fresh, locally-grown and delicious. When it comes to fresh produce, buy only what is in season and enjoy the savings!
- Be flexible: When it comes to buying food for recipes, there’s nothing wrong with switching around ingredients to suit your budget. For example, when you go shopping, and you have red capsicum on your shopping list but green capsicum is half the price, then buy the green. It has a slightly different flavour but cooks exactly the same. Besides, you might even find that the substituted ‘cheaper’ ingredient is better than the one you were supposed to use, so experiment away!
- Bypass the fancy health foods: almond meal, coconut oil, spirulina, goji berries are all great health foods BUT if you are on a budget, cross them off your list. These are things you can of course buy if you want, but they’re not essentials. A standard healthy diet, does not have to be complicated or contain a lot of fancy ingredients.
- Avoid processed food: Processed food is expensive – let me give you an example. You can buy 1 kg of prepacked potatoes at Coles for $3.50 per kilogram however, if you buy the same item, but brushed (not washed), this price will go down to $2.75 per kilo. Be selective, but remember fresh really is best…and it is cheaper too.
- Stock up on specials: Buy something especially if you know it’s got a stable shelf life and it will last you a while, its worth stocking up.
- Look at unit prices: Looking at the unit price is a useful way to compare products and often more useful than buying things in bulk, especially if you have a smaller household.
- Plan before you shop: Doing one big shop every two to three weeks is helpful, with a list on the fridge for all the family to add to during this time. Constantly building on the shopping list means you won’t miss anything important, and makes sure you actually remember what you came for.
With a little planning, buying and preparing delicious healthy food on a budget is not as hard as it seems! The Natural Way is all about eating real food: you won’t find a meal-replacement shake or bar in our clinics! We are focused on teaching you how to make the best food choices (so you achieve healthy weight loss without going hungry) and we help to bring your body back into balance with our exclusive, all-natural formulations. So if you want a life-time of eating healthy supermarket-bought food then you need to call your closest clinic today on 1300SLIMMER (1300 754 663) and make a FREE appointment to find out more.
Visit our website and order directly: www.thenaturalway.com.au