Health & Fitness

Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund

I was recently contacted by somebody who had a very intriguing question, a question that inspired me to write this myTake for you all today:


What can you eat to lose weight, when you have limited amounts of money?


Naturally, my mind went to college students, single independents, and of course: families.


Almost a year ago, having to live on a budget was my norm. It was easy to reach for discount mac n’ cheese and canned goods, along with that ever tempting 10 dollar bin that contained bulk bags of burgers, pizza nuggets, and all of the kinds of foods that appealed to parents with young kids, really. I began to realize just how easy it would be for a busy family with children to fall back on these kinds of foods to keep their families fed without the fuss of making their kids eat something crazy like asparagus.


But if there’s a will, there’s a way: there IS a way to make tasty, healthy choices without completely draining your bank account. And today I am going to tell you how.


Make a weekly budget


The importance of making a budget is exponential. However, making a budget that includes healthy fruits and vegetables as well as other essential food groups requires a little extra work – which means your budget needs to be split to include a grocery trip every week to keep produce fresh. However, the benefit to making a weekly budget means that one trip can include getting the bulk items you can freeze and store along with some of your veggies and fruit, while the next week will be nothing more than a top up of what you already have. I recommend making a budget of (at least) 70-100 dollars per week. If you have room mates, are in a relationship, or otherwise, a combined budget makes for more wiggle room. Of course, you can adjust your budget to fit your specific needs.

From there, ideally, what you should be doing is making a list. But, what do you put on such a list if you aren’t sure what it is you can eat in the first place?


Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund
Know What to Buy


Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund


The main part of this question beyond the cost of food is knowing what you can eat while you are trying to get healthy. The answer to that is simple in theory, but complex when you consider cost and how long the food will keep. Ideally, your diet should contain lean protein, plenty of fruits and veggies, whole grain and whole wheat carbs, reduced saturated fat and sodium, and of course dairy/calcium. Naturally, you need to consider your dietary limitations (if you are vegan, vegetarian, or have a glucose or dairy allergy) while also taking into account what your goal is: weight loss, maintenance of health, bulking up, etc. This is why I recommend you see a doctor before beginning to get an idea of what your calorie intake should be, as well as what your state of health is and what a healthy goal for you should realistically be. So keep that in mind. With that said, here are some of my grocery recommendations:


Frozen vs. Fresh Produce


I always advocate that you have fresh fruits and veggies in your diet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t opt up for a few frozen options to save money. Some good frozen options are corn, peas, fajita mix, green beans, berries and mango – for cooking purposes and to make smoothies. As for fresh veggies and fruit, I always recommend you keep an eye on the price – which I will get into in the next section – while keeping nutrients in mind as well and how long they will keep.


For fruits, I always recommend apples, grapes and bananas that are just about to turn pipe; pale yellow with a little green. Apples can keep for a long time and grapes stay good in the fridge. Bananas on the other hand will eventually spoil, but the benefit to that is you can buy them weekly or use spoiled bananas to make banana bread – which I offer a great, healthy recipe for here: https://www.girlsaskguys.com/health-fitness/a23268-more-simple-light-recipes-w-rj


For other fruits, you can include things like fresh berries, melon, pineapple, etc. to make fruit salad. Just chop your fruits and dress with a little lime or lemon juice to keep your fruit salad fresh throughout the week. Make sure of course that your salad is covered.


As for fresh vegetables, make sure you include plenty of green: Romaine hearts (they tend to come in bags and therefore keep longer in my experience), fresh spinach, broccoli, and so forth. I also always recommend you keep common tasty vegetable staples that most folks enjoy on the daily: fresh tomato, red and green onions, and mushrooms. Of course, feel free to stock up on other veggies like carrots, cauliflower, and snow peas for quick easy snacks. All of these vegetables can be found at discounted prices.


Canned Foods


I don’t recommend you get too many canned foods, but there are some good canned options you can include in your diet. I always recommend beans (four bean mix or black beans) and lentils, which are high in protein. You can also include some cans of soup – just keep an eye on the fat and sodium. Canned pasta sauce can be okay too, as long as you keep an eye on the sugars and sodium: try to keep both in the single digit range. Canned tuna is also a good source of low fat protein that can be easily added to salads or wraps – just always be sure to go for a salt-reduced option.


Meat Proteins


Chicken, fish, and the occasional red meat is always what I recommend. I don’t eat pork personally (I don’t really like it but I do like the occasional lean ham) but finding reasonably priced protein can be difficult. I always recommend that you don’t worry too much about brand and you worry more about the deals: keep the chicken skinless and boneless (such as chicken breast and chicken thighs), the fish white and frozen (tends to be cheaper than salmon, unless you find it on sale), and your red meat lean and in bulk. I recommend you always price match and compare deals, which I will expand on later. Avoid super stores and try discount grocery stores or even places that have daily deals like Walmart – which is where I buy my chicken breast from ($10.00 for five breasts). When it comes down to fish, I recommend buying it frozen and keeping it in the freezer. It can last a pretty long time and it makes for a bunch of easy meals. In regards to red meat, I recommend buying round roast, which is one of the leanest cuts of meat you can get. You can get them from 10-15 dollars and cut them into multiple steaks, which I recommend being about the size of a deck of cards. Slice once into a round steak and then in half to get this portion. You can also include eggs as a source of protein, which are easy to find in sale-bulk.

Of course, for those of you who do not eat meat, you can buy your meatless options (like tofu or vegetarian meat subsitutes) at most grocery stores. You can almost ALWAYS price match or find coupons for these products because they are name brand, so keep an eye out for that!


Grains


This isn’t too difficult at all. Basically, just keep an eye on sugars and avoid white carbs. To save a bit of money, include instant oats, flax, and marked down multigrain options for bread and pasta, which are almost always on sale. When it comes to rice or other grains, you can find decent instant options (such as whole grain minute rice) that can replace expensive enriched brands. Basically, if you want any kind of bread or carb product, you should always opt up for a whole grain/whole wheat option.


Dairy/Calcium


Yogurt, milk, cheese – pretty simple for anybody without a dietary restriction. When it comes down to eating your calcium packed foods, you should also keep protein in mind when making your decision. Greek yogurt, while popular, can be expensive. So, I recommend that, rather than buying individual packets (which is typically only four cups for about 4-5 dollars) that you buy a large container, which can come to about the same amount unless you find it on sale. You get almost double the amount and can control your portions that way. When it comes to cheese, try to keep it to an ounce per portion and always go for a higher protein, fat reduced option. Cheese can almost always be priced matched as well. As for your milk, go for soy or skim milk. It’s pretty much as easy as that.


Price Matching & Coupons


One of the easiest ways to make your shopping trip a little less costly is price matching and using coupons. Some grocery stores may not allow you to price match produce unless it’s a specific brand (such as Romaine hearts or grapes) while others will allow you to price match based on weight. Call in to your local grocer to see what their policy is. At Walmart, I have been able to price match meat and produce, so that’s important to note if you have a Walmart in your area, but always double check by calling in.


As for your coupons, I recommend signing up for a free coupon website. You can price match any brand name products from rice, yogurt, milk, bread, and much, much more. It's a great way to snip a few bucks off of your receipt. Any brand name products you need to buy can be greatly reduced in price if you have the right coupons – from a docking of 50 cents to a few bucks, you can save money that can be used for later if the need arises.


Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund


Keeping Tally


I 100% recommend keeping your healthy grocery list within budget is using a tally system. The tally system is much easier than trying to calculate everything along with the tax by using a simple rounding-up system.


Let’s say an item costs $3.30. You would mark this on your tally system as four tallies, rounding up to include potential taxes. You keep track of your groceries with the usual five-by-five tally system, which can easily be counted in a hurry. This way, you can keep yourself well within your budget without having to whip out a calculator.


Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund


Get Recipes


Of course, you all know I have multiple recipe mytakes that include a lot of healthy meals. I also recommend joining a recipe website, like allrecipes.com, where you can find recipes that circulate around a specific ingredient, a specific dietary need, recipes on a budget, and of course, healthy recipes. It’s one of my biggest, easiest tips that I can offer to you, and my last one for this particular take.


Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund


That’s what I have to suggest to those of you who are looking to eat healthy on a budget. With these tips, I am confident that you can find your way to a better way of eating without having to absolutely destroy your bank account. If you have any recommendations that you think are worth adding that I might have missed, please include them in the comments below. I hope you all have a great Sunday and as always, thank you for taking the time to read.

Getting Healthy on a Budget - What to Eat When You Have Limited Fund
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