Healthy eating on a budget

Seasonal fruits and vegetables are the cheapest foods I can typically buy. Frozen vegetables are pretty cheap too.

Legumes and beans are a great source of protein and fiber and are incredibly cheap if you buy them in bags. They just need to be soaked overnight and then slow cooked during the day.

Eggs are by far one of the cheapest breakfast foods. They are commonly accepted as a nutritionally valid food.

My most expensive items when shopping - dairy (cheese and yogurts) I am too busy to make my own, meat (it is just expensive), cereal (I don't personally eat it, but the children are allowed one brand). I don't tend to buy anything boxed unless its on sale. Canned goods I will buy, especially beans because I like the convenience, but they are more expensive.

I always found my more expensive shopping trips were those with more "middle" aisle items.

Hey,

Im a student on a very low budget and have actually found it easier to eat healthier on a lower budget thanks to ALDI and LIDL (uk)!

Big bag of carrots - 89p
Huge bag of frozen mixed veg (separates into 6 servings) - 89p

yesterday I did a shop in ALDI and bough fresh tomato and basil soup (2 servings), Big bag of frozen veg (6 servings) stir fry veg bag (2 servings) bunch of bananas and low cal (41cal) hot chocolate (8 servings) ALL FOR £5.07 all that would last me a week!

Also we have a fresh butchers down the road (im a veggie but my bf eats meat) and we found a great deal of 20kg of chicken breasts for £20! - diced half and made a huge portion of curry and froze it and he has the other half grilled with salads/veggies etc.

Hope this helps a little?

http://www.budgetbytes.com/

This is a really good site and should give you some ideas

In my opinion, Eat meant only once a week. The rest of the time, eat lentils, chickpeas and beans instead, especially the ones you buy dried. Canned one's probably won't save you much money. Continue to eat plenty of vegetables. At least 2.5 cups a day of fresh vegetables. The only canned vegetable that i consider justifiable are canned tomatoes. All the others taste rather bad. I can't stand frozen vegetables. Utterly disgusting.

Use spices and herbs more to make your food taste better.

Personally, where i live, chicken has become very cheap but that means its become very poor quality food too because chickens are not so well fed and are not so healthy. I find it is a disgusting industry and should not be supported by compassionate consumers.

Minimise your consumption of processed foods - give up cereals except say something like rolled oats which you can find quite cheap. Making your own food from scratch should be cheaper.

Always only buy the fruit and vegetables in season. Go for the lower cost ones of course and specials.

Although seeds and nuts are expensive, a little makes a salad more tasty and ditto other foods.

Make your own yoghurt. hint. To get it thicker you strain it. Mireille Guiliano has a good instruction on her website. She's the author of french women don't get fat.

Grow your own fresh herbs in pots. If you have an actual garden, try growing some vegetables.

Shop for spices and the beans etc at asian food shops. You may find they are cheaper.

Spend as much of your income on food as you can. When you can eat delicious home cooked food you will not feel so poor.

Cook pastry for savoury tarts. Cook in the style of the mediterreanean europeans. Their traditional food is delicious and often quite simple.

Cheese is good and useful in that you don't need much to jazz up a dish. If you eat it in this way, it won't be so expensive.

lentils etc can boost your protein intake if you are eating less meat so eat a fair bit of it. It is a great food for losing weight.

look up italian and greek chickpea soups
turkish red lentil soup. Actually i make a great one that combines red lentils chickpeas, water and salt and olive oil.
I have a lovely italian lentil soup with fennel seeds and fennel bulb but i am sure its also pretty good without the bulb if that's expensive Just put in a potato.
I made a wonderful turtle bean thing with mexican type spices the other.
And a nice lentil and rice combination with lots of onions.
Indian dal is cheap to make and eaten with rice and a veg curry dish on the side such potato and peas curry, and a little fresh vegetable as well, such as raw carrot or cabbage is traditional and excellent.
use yoghurt in most recipes calling for cream or sour cream.
don't eat so much bread but eat better quality bread with whole grains and good flour.

Cooking in bulk is best. I'm on a low budget in one of the most expensive (if not the most) countries in the world so I learned to get thrifty pretty quickly. I usually buy a cheapish meat (generally ground pork or chopped chicken), pair it with veggies (frozen or fresh, doesn't matter) and then a sauce like bolognese, korma, tikka masala, sweet and sour etc. I buy pasta and rice in bulk so that I always have those to complete my dinners.

Fish fingers are also pretty cheap and can buy them in big packs. One of my favourite dinners is 3 fish fingers with frozen veg and mashed potatoes.

For other meals I eat a lot of eggs (fried, boiled, poached, scrambled) and beans. Oatmeal every morning for breakfast, too.

I love bulk cooking because not only is it cheaper, I also have a nice stock of dinners in my freezer so I don't have to cook every night.