Healthy Food On a Budget

Making smart choices saves money. Evaluate how you spend your money on food. What unnecessary items do you purchase? Do you eat out often? The first way to save money on food is to limit or cut out unnecessary food spending. Some specific ways to do this:

• Cut the junk: Evaluate how much money you are spending on items such as soda (regular or diet), juice, packages of cookies, crackers, prepackaged meals, processed foods, etc. Limit or cut out completely these unhealthy foods. Your wallet and your body will thank you.
• Eat out less: Even just reducing your meals out by 1 or 2 times per week can save you about $15 – $25 per week. This is an easy way to save money and even have some extra to spend on higher quality foods.
• Stick to your grocery list: The more prepared you are when you get to the store the less impulse purchases you will make. So write out a grocery list and stick to it!
• Shop the perimeter of the store first: This way you will fill your cart with healthy whole foods like fresh produce and meat, leaving less room for the “junk food fillers” and thus saving money.
• Cook large portions ahead: It saves time to cook once and eat multiple times. One idea is to make a big pot of soup at the beginning of the week or whenever you go food shopping. When you don’t feel like cooking, help yourself to a hearty bowlful along with a green salad. This makes a nutritious lunch or dinner anytime.

Source:  www.helpguide.org