Tips for healthy eating on a budget
The current cost of living crisis is affecting us all but with some careful planning, eating healthy and tasty food on a tight budget is still possible. Here are 10 tips for eating healthy on a budget:
1. Cooking from scratch
Cooking meals from scratch will cost a fraction of the price of a restaurant or takeaway meal. If you’re not a great cook, just Google “easy healthy meals” to find tonnes of free recipes to give you some inspiration.
2. Batch cook
This is a great way to save money and also time during the week. Dishes like lasagne, stews and curries freeze really well and have a low cost per portion.
3. Be organised – have a shopping list and a meal plan
Having a meal plan and shopping list for the week can help to reduce buying unnecessary and expensive items while doing your grocery shop.
4. Bulk buy dry items
Buying bulk dry items such as pasta, rice, oats, beans, nuts, dried herbs and spices are all relatively cheap and can be stored for a long time. Buying a lot of these items in one go means that your initial shop will be a little more expensive but it will save you money in the long run as you won’t have to continuously re-purchase these items in future shops.
5. Make your lunch the night before
Making your lunch the night before and bringing it into work or college is a much cheaper option than buying your lunch in a café or deli and also healthier as you know exactly what you’re putting in it.
6. Make your coffee at home and bring it into work in the morning
Brining your coffee in a thermo mug to work in the mornings could save you up to over 3 euro per day. This probably doesn’t seem like much but when you add it up you could be saving over 65 euro per month!
7. Buy frozen fruit and veg
Frozen fruit and veg is often much cheaper than buying fresh and just as nutritious!
8. Reduce meat consumption
Meat is a very good source of protein and iron but good quality meat can often be expensive. Why not try experimenting with plant-based sources of protein such as beans and lentils which are much cheaper than meat. You can also add beans and lentils into meat-based dishes such as chilli con carne or stews to bulk out the meal so you get more portions.
9. Supermarket own brand
A misconception about branded products is that they are better quality than supermarket own brands but this is often not true! Supermarket own brands can be very good quality but a fraction of the price of some well-known branded foods.
10. Sign up for loyalty cards
Signing up for supermarkets loyalty cards can provide access for exclusive discounts and deals which can save you a lot of money on your weekly shop.
Summary
Hopefully some of these tips will help to save you money on your food shop and still eat a healthy balanced diet. Here are some websites that have nutritious batch cook recipes to get you inspired to cook and save money!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/batch-cooking-recipes
https://www.jamieoliver.com/family/batch-cooking/