Nutrition on a Budget

It’s long been believed that eating healthily costed big money, but that doesn’t have to be the case. There are several ways to minimise your expenditure on food, without jeopardising your own progress.

• Pre-plan

Without a doubt this is the way that you will save the most money. If you just decide each morning what you fancy and go out to buy it that day, your food bill is likely to be huge.

What you need to do is decide well in advance what you want to eat – a.k.a. PLAN! This doesn’t mean just have a vague idea – specifically plan what your meals are going to be each day and buy food accordingly.

This does mean that you should be looking at a weekly shop for most of your food, and with online shopping, a lack of a vehicle doesn’t qualify as an excuse. You’ll be amazed how much you can save just doing this.

• Branded Items

Marketing is so powerful in today’s world that not buying a branded product seems mental. But as times get tough and money has to stretch a little bit further, everyone is making the switch.

Depending on what you’re eating, you don’t necessarily need brands. As long as the food you want has the nutrients you need, that’s all that matters.

• Avoid Pre-Packaged Food

What’s the point in paying twice as much money for vegetables just because they are sliced and in a bag!? This one really annoys me. The amount of money you can save just by peeling and chopping your own food baffles me.

This ties into the branded foods point as well – you don’t need to eat processed, pre-packaged brands that cost more. So it might take a little longer to prepare your food this way, but the closer you get to doing it all from scratch, the less it will cost.

• Market Stalls

Unlike the tips above, this one can’t be followed at the supermarket. It’s not always possible to get to a farmers’ market – I know that. But if you can get to a market, the price of food, particularly your fruits and vegetables, is remarkably cheaper.

It’s not just your 5 a day that will be cheaper though – often you can pick up eggs, meat and fish at a reduced rate too!

• Snacking

It’s not just your meals throughout the day that need to be planned – we are all guilty of snacking every now and then. Make sure you plan your snacks, if you don’t then you risk spending needlessly on snacks when you’re out and about.

Not to mention if you’re not shopping online the temptation to pick up the wrong sort of snack might just be too great if you haven’t planned ahead.

• Alternatives

Let’s face it, all the clever little tips and tricks in the world can’t change the actual cost of food. So you might have to compromise if you really want to reduce the bill.

For example, salmon fillets are a great source of protein – but they can be quite expensive. You might have to accept that you’ll either pay the price, or have to switch to a tinned version.

This is just one example, but when you’re buying your food just think of the alternatives. Can you get it frozen maybe? All these little things will help you save.

So no, it doesn’t have to cripple you financially to eat well – but if you want to maintain a high quality level of nutrition for a reasonable price, just take a bit more time to plan and look around.