Eating Healthy On A Budget
MYTH: “It is so expensive to eat healthy”.
First of all. NO.
I am here to tell you, it is affordable to eat healthy. You just have to be creative and PLAN. You can’t just walk into a store without a list and expect to stay on a budget. You have to plan your meals and know exactly what you are getting on the list for however many days you plan to shop for. I have read so many things online that just talked about how you can eat healthy on a budget but no one ever SHOWS you how to. This post will hopefully do that.
Personal testimony: My husband and I ate Paleo when I was going to school full time and he was in his first year working in ministry. Hello poor. If you don’t know what Paleo is, it is pretty much fresh fruits and vegetables and meat. AKA- usually the most expensive items in the store. If you don’t pay attention and be creative, then YES it is super expensive. I can tell you that from personal experience. BUT as I have gotten a little older with some more time on my hands, I have done some intense research and planning on how I can feed myself and my husband healthy food on a tiny little budget. So I thought the easiest way to explain this to you would be to show you a few meals that my husband and I regularly eat and how much each cost. GET READY TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN. (side note- we don’t stick to an pure Paleo diet anymore- we will go into this)
For the sake of space, you can click on the link to see the full recipe. I am just going to list ingredients and cost 🙂 The recipe calls for tortillas, however we usually do not eat bread or tortillas, so we stick with just the chicken and veggies! (if you want to eat the tortilla-that is OK) This recipe gets us dinner and my lunch the next day. We usually shop at whole foods these days (I know I know, it has a reputation to be “whole paycheck”). If you look for sales and deals (buy their 365 brand) and don’t get everything Organic, it really isn’t that much more expensive. It is more expensive than Aldi, but I would rather my veggies last in my fridge a bit more than 1-2 days. At Aldi my vegetables spoil within 1-2 days so I prefer to pay a tiny bit extra for the quality. If we had a Trader Joe’s in town, I would definitely shop there, but we don’t. Anyways…
Oven Roasted Chicken Fajita Grocery list: (I shopped at whole foods) 1 red onion ($1.17) |
Total: $6.81 for 3 meals= $2.27 per person!!
Quinoa Stir Fry Veggies (with or without chicken) Grocery list:3/4 cup quinoa ($2.22) 1 tablespoon olive oil ($0.10) 1 small carrot, thinly sliced ($0.15) 1 medium red bell pepper ($0.92) 1 clove garlic, sliced ($0.10) –1 bulb @ $0.59 2 cups snow peas, trimmed ($2.31) 1 egg, beaten ($0.25) 4 grilled chicken breast, chopped ($3.73 @ The Fresh Market) 2 scallions, chopped ($1.50) 1 tablespoon soy sauce (we use coconut aminos soy free sauce) ($0.29) |
Total: $11.57 for 4 meals= $2.89 per person per meal!!
And finally, our go to meal that is super easy and healthy and CHEAP.
Chicken. ($3.73 @ The Fresh Market)
Broccoli. ($1.99)
Sweet Potatoes ($1.93 for 3).
Add some olive oil, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning to all of the above and 30 minutes later you’ve got yourself a meal. We get our chicken from The Fresh Market on Tuesdays for ($2.99/lb). I have not been able to find a deal like this ANYWHERE else. If you have, please let me know but this is by far the cheapest way to get quality meat that I have come across. Each breast of meat provides us with 4 chicken breasts because they are ginormous and we cut them down. The broccoli is $1.99 for a package (this lasts us dinner and my lunch the next day). The Sweet potatoes are .99 cents/lb (we get three and this lasts dinner and my lunch the next day). The meal costs a grand total of $7.65 and gets us 3 ½ meals. That’s $2.18 per person per meal.
Now that you know it is not impossible to eat healthy on a budget, I hope you will consider trying it. Not only do these meals cost less, but they will make you feel more satisfied and full longer. Buying a bunch of processed food will make you feel less satisfied and wanting to eat more. I have heard so many times from people that they can’t just eat fruits and vegetables and meat because they will STARVE. I hope that you will try these recipes out and see that you will feel satisfied. If you don’t, then we can find some other ways to add whole foods to your diet that will make you feel satisfied.
I hope this helps some of you gain confidence that you can eat healthy and maintain your budget! My husband and I eat for an average of $2.20 per person per meal. And its whole foods that aren’t processed and so good for you! Tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you can even get a meal at McDonald’s for that nowadays.
Let me know your thoughts! More examples of recipes like this to come!
Check out this video on how I prep our favorite “go-to” meal.
How to eat for CHEAP from Whole Foods (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_HSWHwx7o&t=9s)