Healthy eating can sound like a drag. Trying to lose weight can sound like a drag. Living on a budget can sound like a drag. Healthy eating on a budget…now that’s just unfair.
But whether it’s because you’re trying to lose weight or because you’re simply attempting to live a little healthier, eating better on a budget can actually be easy, and it’s definitely more rewarding than eating out four or five times a week.
There’s nothing wrong with going out to eat. Well, except the bill and the lack of healthy options. While it’s not impossible to eat well when you go out to a restaurant, it’s a lot harder if you’re unable to see every ingredient, every macro, and every dish’s calorie count. Plus, a lot of restaurants offer free chips and salsa or complimentary table bread.
And maybe you’re more likely to get a soda or a beer at a restaurant, rather than just water. When you cook at home, you’re in charge of the ingredients and how each one is prepared. If you’re making dinner, you’re more likely to make making meaningful choices about the food you’re eating. Cooking at home saves money and gives you the opportunity for healthy eating.
Thinking about the dinners you plan to make each night will result in an organized shopping list. If you’re working with a budget, as most of us are, you need to buy only the essentials. If you plan your meals out, you can make a comprehensive shopping list, meaning you won’t end up with food you don’t need.
Often times, when we end up purchasing food we don’t need and won’t use, it ends up going bad and being wasted. That’s money down the drain…along with the food you’re throwing out.
Leftovers mean you’re stretching your dollar for all it’s worth. If you can take a meal, let’s say chicken, rice, and sautéed veggies, and make it last for two dinners and one lunch, you’ve saved that much money. Meal prepping is also beneficial because it eliminates mindless snacking.
You have lunch already prepared, so there’s no excuse to sit on the couch and eat a bag of potato chips. I never used to understand the hype around meal prepping. But after becoming vegan, I’ve relied on meal prepping to help wipe out snacking and extend the use of the food I buy.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. Going to the grocery store hungry results in a cart full of Cheetos, Nutella, and donuts. No more junk food! Don’t spend your money on processed, feel-good-in-the-moment snacks.
Instead, spend your money on fruits and vegetables and grains. Not only are you saving money, but you’re also, again, eliminating mindless snacking. If you don’t have the bag of Cheetos, you won’t eat the bag of Cheetos.
Frozen fruits and veggies are often cheaper than fresh. And they last longer, too. Buying strawberries, blueberries, and other in-season fruits are great because they’re wonderfully healthy snacks to have around your house, but they tend to go bad quickly. So you either eat ’em fast or you end up throwing away half of the haul.
Frozen fruits and vegetables last much longer and are great for cooking and making smoothies. They are also available all year, instead of only for a season.
Packing your lunch shares the same benefits as cooking at home. It stops you from going out to eat, where you’ll unnecessarily spend money. Packing your lunch also means being more in control of what you’re putting in your body.
Packing a lunch can seem tedious and time-consuming, but if you’re meal prepping, it’s quick and easy. And let’s be real, healthy eating can sometimes be a little time consuming, but it’s worth it.
While every other tip and trick on this list might seem doable, I know there are girls out there absolutely horrified by the idea of making their coffee at home. But hear me out! I love Starbucks, too, but when you make your own coffee at home, you’re more in control in what goes in your coffee. You can add almond milk or oat milk; you know exactly how much caramel drizzle you drizzled.
Fancy coffee drinks, although a delicious pick-me-up, can be expensive, both financially and calorically. If you make them at home, you’re saving money and being more conscious of what you’re drinking.
Healthy eating is all about yummy eating. It’s a misconception that cooking at home results in bland food. So season!
Season like crazy. Make your own salad dressing, your own gremolata, your own marinade, anything to spice up the food that you’re cooking at home.
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