Eating Healthy on a Budget (A Series)

January 8th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits

I’ve recently been bitten by the Pinterest bug (I resisted for a long time!) and this pin about 44 Healthy Foods Under $1 from Greatist caught my attention.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

[image source: Greatist]

I can often find flaws in lists like these, but I have to admit – this one is a pretty good.  And I hear this question a lot too, “How can I eat healthy without spending a lot of money?”  Whether you’re a college student, feeding a family on one income or just don’t have a big grocery budget, there are definitely ways to eat well (taking both nutrition and taste into consideration) without breaking the bank.

I liked this list from Greatist so much that I’m going to use it as a spring board into a new series of blog posts for the next 44 days (or so) to talk about affordable healthy eating.  I think it’s important to consider which items we should try to buy organic and when it’s OK to go with conventional, and the trade off that comes with buying affordable ingredients but needing to invest some time (as opposed to money) to prepare these foods.

(Also worth noting, one my new year’s resolutions is to chill out a bit about some of the dietary restrictions I put on myself, but that’ll be another psycho-babble post for another day.)

The foods we choose to eat make a difference in how we feel, but what we DON’T eat makes a big difference too.  When your dietary tool box is full to the brim with affordable yet healthy and delicious ideas, it’s that much easier to save your cells from the edible frankenfoods that are cheap but aren’t doing you any favors.

Bottom line: if cash is an issue, you don’t have to sacrifice your health or nutrition.  There are a lot of budget and health friendly foods to eat if you know where to look and what to do with them once they’re in your kitchen.  I’m looking forward to spending the next few weeks talking about all of the foods on this list from Greatist, and any others we stumble upon along the way.

(P.S., Greatist has no idea who I am or that I’m doing this.  They are is not giving me any money, pears, popcorn or sliced bananas, I just really liked their list and am going to run with it.)


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2 Responses

  • Eleanor says:

    YAY!!! THIS IS AWESOME!! I am so poor and all the articles about healthy eating always have really freaking awesome recipes and ideas and stuff but actually implementing them into my lifestyle is really hard when the food budget is quite small.

    I am looking forward to the continued conversation over the next 44 days!