Eating Healthy on a Budget

Good morning team!

Late last week, I attended an event hosted by the local credit union about eating healthy on a budget. I learned some things and was reminded of a few things. Here are the highlights:

• Plan ahead…plan your meals for the whole week and use this menu to make your grocery list. This will help cut down on your trips to the grocery store which means more time for other things during the week and fewer impulse buys (more money stays in your pocket)
• Don’t go…shopping on an empty stomach or without your shopping list
• Buy generic…and from the bulk bins (the ones that you can measure out the amount of fruit, oats, flour, grains, etc you need)
• Buy seasonally…it’s fresher, tastier, and cheaper
• Drink water…instead of juice or sodas; get a refillable bottle and use tap water
• Learn to cook…you control the cooling method, the ingredients, and the portions. This will also help you eat out less
• Cook more often…by eating out less and avoiding pre-packaged meals, you not only save money, you will be saving calories.
• Try cooking once and eating twice…take your leftovers for lunch, have one night a week where you eat leftovers, or cook something one day and reuse the ingredient later that week (ie: roast a chicken, have chicken one night and use the leftovers for chicken tacos later in the week)
• Eat less meat…meat is expensive, try beans for an alternative source of protein.

Some good, nutritious, affordable options:

• Oatmeal for breakfast...try it with fruits or nuts. You can change up the flavor tons of ways
• Make a big batch of soup or chili to eat throughout the week
• Try using beans and whole grains for the base of your meals
  

If you have any other tips and tricks for eating healthy on a VISTA budget, share them with the team. Or share your best, easy recipe to help get us all into the kitchen!



Laura