 Healthy meals can be easy on budget
Healthy foods can be expensive. When you are hungry and on a strict budget, it can be hard to choose fruits and veggies over a cheaper and more filling bag of chips.
To help with this, keep the bigger picture in mind rather than living in just the present moment.
Do you eat out a lot? This can be very costly. Cooking at home can save money as well as calories. A meal created with a box of whole wheat pasta, a jar of tomato sauce and a pound of lean burger can be less expensive than a trip to a fast food place. Create weekly meal plans so that you don't have last minute "what's for dinner" pressure.
Stock up when things are on sale. For meat, two frequent local sales are Albertsons' boneless skinless chicken breasts and Safeway's 93% lean ground beef. Both go on sale every couple of months for $1.50 to $2.00 per pound. You can also often get frozen veggies for free when they are on sale for $1 a bag and you use a coupon that gets multiplied up to $1.
Try the store brands. I rarely end up with something that doesn't taste good and when I do, I've never had a problem getting a refund.
Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. If you watch the sale ads, you can usually get a few different items each week at bargain prices. Remember, you can freeze them.
Trader Joe's has many of its own brand items that are less expensive but very tasty. They are a good choice for affordable healthy food
And don't forget the medical costs you will be avoiding. Living healthier can help you cut down or avoid prescriptions, illnesses and perhaps even surgeries.
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