The Cardiac Cuisine

30 Ways To Eat Healthy On a Budget

Filed Under: Kitchen Hacks

How to eat healthy on a budget? One thing I hear a lot is “I can’t afford to eat healthy.” A lot of people have this idea that healthy food is expensive; that “budget food” means potato chips and boxed mac’n’cheese. The truth is, you don’t need to break the bank to eat well. There are lots of ways to eat nutrient-rich, heart-healthy foods on a tight budget.

Table of Contents

1. Eat healthy on a budget by MEAL PLANNING!

Meal planning is absolutely mission-critical when you’re trying to eat healthy on a budget. When people overspend on food, it’s almost always because they’re ordering takeout too often, eating out too often, or overbuying at the grocery store. Meal planning makes it easier to limit these money-wasters.

Planning ahead is key to fighting the temptation to order takeout at the last minute. If you prep ahead of time and have six or seven meals all set, you aren’t faced with the decision of “Should I cook dinner or order in?“

Meal planning ahead of time also helps you avoid letting food go to waste. You’ll be able to use up what you have before it goes bad. You won’t find yourself aimlessly wandering through the supermarket with no real plan, buying a bunch of groceries you won’t use.

2. Cook your meals at home!

I suppose this goes without saying, but takeout and restaurant meals are expen$ive! Also, these foods are prepared with too much sodium and fat, so it’s like you’re paying for the privilege of eating unhealthy crap for dinner.

Make it a habit to cook at home, in whichever way works best for you. Some people find it easier to block out time during the weekends to cook for the entire upcoming week.

Not only does cooking at home help you eat healthy on a budget, it also lets you control exactly which ingredients are in your meals. This is important when you have medical concerns! We have a sodium problem in our family, and readymade food is almost always over-salted.

3. Don’t buy more than you need

Set aside some time to inventory your kitchen, to check for foods that need to be used before they expire. Bring old food to the front of your fridge. Plan meals around using up these soon-to-expire items. How far can you go without buying anything new?

Once you’ve planned your meals for the week, make a shopping list with the ingredients you need. Having a shopping list makes it easier to focus and avoid impulse buys (unintended purchases = unintended expenses). Making a list also helps you avoid extra trips to the grocery store to buy forgotten items.

Only purchase what you know you’re going to use. Once you’ve planned your meals and made your grocery list, stick to it. If food is going to sit in the pantry or freezer until it gets thrown in the trash, you’re quite literally throwing your money away.

4. Don’t buy it just because it’s “a bargain”

Wow, three gallons of ice cream for only $2? If you weren’t intending to buy it, that’s $2 wasted.

$0 will always be less than however-much you spent to buy something at a “bargain price.”

If you got suckered into spending money on something you weren’t planning to, did you really get a “bargain” at all? Did you really “save” any money? If it wasn’t part of your planned grocery list, you still spent more money than you were planning to.

The exception here is when it’s a staple that you know you’re definitely going to use. 30% off boneless skinless chicken breasts? Heck yes, I’ll buy it and freeze it. If you’re sure the item is something you’ll use, buy it now to save money later. (Make sure the item won’t expire before you can use it. You won’t save any money if you buy something only to throw it in the trash later.)

Be particularly wary of “OMG this is a super-great bargain, but you need to buy 4 of these to get the bargain price!!!!!” (I’m looking at you, Shop-Rite!)

Also, be careful of the special display of English muffins omg-bargain-priced at 4 for $10!! But you need to buy four of them!!!!! (When the regular price for a single package is $2.50 — Big Y pulls this stunt all the time. Bring your basic math skills to the supermarket.)

Stores will always try to convince you to spend more money by offering “bargains” and “deals.” Stick to your list, do the math, and be skeptical of “deals.”

5. Buy generic brands

Generic brands can be 20% to 30% cheaper than the name-brand alternatives. Usually, generic brand items taste exactly the same as their name-brand counterparts. Most likely, the generic brand items and the name-brand items were even made in the same factory!

However, read the nutrition label to make sure it’s really the same product! It’s not a good buy if the generic item cheaps-out on ingredients. It’s not a good buy if the generic item is packed with extra salt or sugar.

6. Leverage your freezer

I can buy a big package of chicken breasts, portion it out, and keep it in the freezer for a few months! Fruits and vegetables last longer in the freezer, too. It’s easy to use just a little bit at a time and reseal the package.

You can store peeled garlic and ginger in the freezer. I’m never going to use an entire piece of ginger root before it goes bad, but I can freeze a peeled ginger root for many months and grate off what I need a little at a time.

It’s always frustrating when a recipe calls for “1 tablespoon of tomato paste” and I’ve got an entire 6oz. can of tomato paste. I like to freeze the whole can in a plastic storage container and I pull it out of the freezer as needed, a tablespoon at a time.

I don’t buy protein every week. I usually buy fresh fish every week, but most of the protein I buy gets bought in bulk, stored in the freezer, and pulled out as-needed.

For more information on how to freeze food effectively and safely, check out The National Center For Home Food Preservation.

7. Buy minimally-processed foods

Processed foods have their pros and cons; they can be a real timesaver on hectic days. However, be aware that you’re paying someone to pre-cut your veggies and shred your cheese. It’s a lot cheaper to cut up fruits and veggies by yourself. It’s a lot cheaper to shred your own cheese with a cheese grater or a food processor.

Whole grains, like rice and oats are cheaper than processed cereals. Less-processed foods are also usually sold in larger packages, so you get more servings for less money.

The price of store-bought baked goods is especially insane. I like making bread at home because it’s so much cheaper and I can control the sodium content too. When you buy a loaf of bread at the store, you’re basically paying for all the labor costs. Time is worth more than money, I know, but the cost of processing food is something to be mindful of.

8. Pay attention to price-per-unit

Consider buying non-perishable staple foods in bulk. If your shopping list includes items like nuts, beans and grains, buying in bulk can save money and keep your pantry well-stocked for the future. Even though it might cost more upfront to buy a huge package at Costco, you might save money if the price-per-unit is cheaper.

Don’t automatically assume that the huge bulk package will save you money (especially if you won’t be able to use it all up before it goes bad), but crunching a few numbers can definitely save you a lot.

First, figure out the common unit of measurement when comparing two products (price per pound? Per liter? Per fluid ounce?)

Then, divide the price of the package by the total number of pounds to get your “price per unit.” Rice A costs $1.79 for a one-pound bag, whereas Rice B costs $3.29 for a 5-pound bag, therefore Rice B is cheaper.

But be careful of stores like Costco! The fact that something is sold in a huge bulk package doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to be cheaper. Costco sells a huge variety of expensive, unnecessary items and I usually walk out of there with a bunch of stuff I didn’t intend to buy.

9. Read supermarket flyers

I always plan meals around ingredients I already have; whatever I need to use up. However, if a grocery store is offering a spectacular price for something I know I’ll use up, I’ll take that into consideration. If salmon is on sale, I’ll plan salmon for my weekly fish dinner.

Supermarket flyers are amazing for finding good deals on produce, meat and dairy. Be wary of the inner pages of the flyer, where they advertise all the expensive, highly processed items.

10. Plan meatless meals a few nights a week

Fresh meat and fish can be expensive. Cutting down on meat is healthy for the planet, healthy for your body, and healthy for your budget. In fact, a plant-based diet lowers your heart attack risk.

Replace meat with other proteins like tofu or beans. Plant-based proteins tend to have a longer shelf life than meat. They are easy to prepare (no handling raw meat!), highly nutritious, and inexpensive! Not only are plant-based proteins healthier for your heart, they’re cheaper too! It’s a double win!

11. Buy cheaper cuts of meat, or eat less meat

Look for chuck steak, sirloin, whole chickens, ground meats. These meats cost less and they’re great in burritos, soups, tacos, stews, stir fries.

There’s no need to make your dinner all about a big piece of meat, particularly not after you’ve had a heart attack. Think of meat as an accompaniment, rather than as the focal point of the whole meal. I like to use meat “on the side,” as something to add flavor and protein.

Plant-based protein is a great way to stretch out a package of meat. For example, chili with ground beef and beans. A stir fry with shrimp and tofu. A casserole with chicken, cheese and quinoa.

12. Pay attention to portion control

The more you eat, the more you’ll need to spend on food. This is a healthy eating tip too, I suppose. If you inhale the entire bag of chocolate chips before you manage to bake the cookies, you’ll need to go out and buy a second bag of replacement chocolate chips later. Replacement chocolate chips cost money! Chocolate chips are not cheap!

If you eat only 2 of those cookies a day, that’s dessert for a whole week. You’re saving money there, too.

When you eat more than you need to, you are literally spending money you don’t need to spend. It helps to portion a big pan of lasagna or casserole into smaller serving-size containers. I, personally, am fat because I inhale huge servings of food. This is an expen$$ive way to give myself indigestion!

Meat is expensive. If you’re eating big portions of meat every night, that’s going to have an impact your food budget. Your grocery budget can stretch a lot further if you’re sticking to the doctor-recommended 3 to 4-ounce servings of meat.

13. Dinner doesn’t need to be some big, elaborate thing

Your family will be fine with canned tomato sauce over pasta or a leftover chicken salad sandwich for dinner. Breakfast-for-dinner is always exciting for kids! Don’t put pressure on yourself to serve your family a steak with two vegetable sides, potatoes, and chocolate cake for dessert. It’s expensive, it’s a lot of work, and it’s completely unrealistic.

14. Use recipes with common ingredients

Weird, obscure ingredients cost money, especially when you won’t be able to use it all up. It usually isn’t a big deal to omit expensive items like pine nuts and saffron, or to swap in something cheaper like walnuts and turmeric.

Don’t worry about making a swap. If a recipe calls for blueberries, but strawberries are on sale, make the swap. If a recipe calls for chicken, but pork is on sale, you’ll probably be fine if you just switch the proteins. I usually buy whichever fish is on sale and figure out the recipe later. Don’t feel like you need to follow a recipe to the absolute letter.

15. Grow an herb garden

You know when a recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, but the supermarket only sells parsley in a big bunch? Yeah, I hate that too. To solve this problem, I grow herbs in my backyard most of the year.

If you have a sunny windowsill, you can put scallions in a glass of water and always have fresh scallions. You can do a lot of money-saving magic with a sunny windowsill! I, unfortunately, have a dark and north-facing kitchen windowsill so I have to grow herbs outside.

Even if you haven’t got room for a garden, lots of plants like herbs and tomatoes can grow very comfortably in pots on your patio or porch.

16. Use up what you already have before buying more!!!

Take inventory of the food in your kitchen before you go to the supermarket. Bring buried items forward, and plan meals based on these ingredients. Don’t buy anything new if you don’t really need to.

I like to make a game of it: How far can I get before I need to visit the grocery store? How much can I pare down my list? How much can I get away with not buying? This is fun for me, and I enjoy the thrill of “winning.”

17. If you buy it, use it up!!!!!

Don’t buy more highly perishable items than you are able to use in a week. If you’re finding yourself throwing away spoiled produce, you’re literally throwing money in the garbage can.

If you must buy huge quantities of highly perishable foods, make sure the food is freezable, or shop the frozen foods aisle. (And make sure you have enough room in your freezer to accommodate your purchase!)

18. “Organic” is mostly a marketing story

It’s important to protect bees, so I want to support farmers who don’t use pesticides that will harm bees.

Apart from that concern, as far as health goes, there’s no conclusive evidence showing that organic produce has any effect on human health at all. It’s a feel-good marketing story, a way to convince you that you need to spend extra money on produce.

Wash your fruits and vegetables and you’ll be fine.

(I used to work in a supermarket produce department. I really hope you’re washing your fruits and vegetables before eating them, regardless if “organic” or not! Some crazy stuff happens back there in the produce room! I’d catch people sampling grapes I’d just put out, and I’d think “Gosh, those grapes were on the floor five minutes ago.” Ew.)

19. Buy produce in season

Produce in season is cheaper, and it tastes better. If you truly need peaches in February, frozen and canned peaches are great options. In August, jump all over those fresh local peaches! Buy extra and freeze them for the off-season.

Food that’s out-of-season season has been trucked in from far away. This is very unhealthy for the planet, as well as for your budget.

Your local farmer’s market is an awesome place to find cheap seasonal produce. When food doesn’t need to be trucked across the country, you’re saving on energy costs (and supporting local small business owners too!)

20. Use coupons and rebate apps, but be careful…

Coupons are a great way to save on your grocery bill, as long as you’ve got your shopping list all planned out.

Don’t buy something just because you have a coupon for it. Also with apps like Ibotta, I don’t really use them because it feels like too much temptation to buy packaged items that weren’t on my list. I only buy very few brand-name products and it seems like Ibotta is nothing but brand-name products! Many of those apps are very affiliate-driven, so they’re meant to encourage you to buy certain products.

Clipping coupons can be risky because coupons are meant to advertise products, and sometimes you can end up feeling tempted to buy something that wouldn’t have occurred to you otherwise.

However, if it’s something you were already planning to buy, rebate apps and coupons can really add up to big savings over time.

21. Find ways to stretch a recipe

You can freeze leftovers and eat them again for dinner another night. Cooking large portions and using leftovers is also a great way to save time in the kitchen. Having leftovers in the freezer can limit the temptation to order takeout on days when you don’t have time to cook a meal from scratch.

Don’t fear leftovers! Some people are afraid to eat leftovers because they think it’s unhealthy to eat food that’s been sitting in the fridge for several days. Leftovers are safe, and a fantastic way to save time and money. For more information on safely storing leftovers, visit foodsafety.gov

22. Frozen/canned fruits and vegetables are amazing!

Fresh fruits are usually only in season for a couple of months in the summer and even then, they can be expensive. If you want strawberries in mid-January, the freezer aisle is the way to go! Frozen and canned foods cook quickly, so they’re a huge timesaver, and I can eat summery fruits like peaches, tomatoes and raspberries all year!

Frozen and canned foods also last a long time, which is a fantastic bonus — you don’t need to worry about frozen veggies spoiling within a week. Reducing food waste is a great way to save money and eat healthy on a budget.

Just be careful of excess sodium in canned vegetables. I do a lot of my grocery shopping in Wal-Mart because their Great Value brand offers a wide range of “no salt added” canned veggies. With frozen foods, you’ll want to skip anything with “seasoning” or “sauce” to avoid excess salt and empty calories.

23. Avoid the grocery store when you’re hungry

Going to the grocery store when you’re hungry is a great way to overspend on expensive snack purchases. Talk about walking into a temple of temptation!

I also try to avoid bringing my kids to the supermarket, but this isn’t always possible, so I limit them to one treat of their choosing.

24. Eat healthy on a budget by avoiding junk food

Junk food is really expensive. It doesn’t provide very much nutrition, and it isn’t particularly satiating. In fact, a lot of it is specifically engineered to keep you eating more and more of it. Candy and chips are not cheap.

If you track your spending, it might surprise you to see how much you’re spending on soda, cookies, prepackaged snacks, and prepackaged meals. Not only are these foods unhealthy, they’re also expensive. By skipping ultra-processed foods, you can spend more of your budget on nutrient-rich whole foods.

25. Shop the perimeter of the store

The center aisles of the supermarket are usually full of expensive processed, packaged foods. Shopping the perimeter of the store — the produce, meat, dairy sections — where you’ll find the less-processed whole foods that provide better bang for your buck.

26. Shop the high & low shelves

Grocery stores put the most profitable items right at eye level where you’ll be likely to notice them. You’ll find the best bargains on the highest shelves, or down at floor-level.

Also, be careful of end cap displays. Just because something is on a special display doesn’t mean it’s a good deal — the store might just be trying to draw your attention to it so you’ll spend.

27. Pack your own lunch

Eating out is expensive, especially if you do it regularly. Eating out too often is not very good for your health. It’s almost like you’re paying the restaurant to help you become more unhealthy.

We usually eat leftover dinner or sandwiches for lunch. My husband likes to cook chicken breasts, and he uses those to make sandwiches. Packing your own lunch takes a little planning-ahead, but it’s key if you’re trying to eat healthy on a budget.

28. Buy snacks that are satiating and filling

How easy is it to eat half a bag of candy or chips in one sitting? How many almonds or apples can you eat at once? A big bag of M&Ms costs $4, and a 3-pound bag of apples costs the same. Which will give you the best bang for your buck in terms of filling you up and satisfying your hunger? Unsatiating foods like candy and chips leave people wanting to eat more later, which translates into a higher grocery bill.

29. Plan meals around inexpensive foods

Oats, rice, barley, beans, seeds, frozen veggies are all cheap and extremely nutritious. By using these types of ingredients as the foundation of your meal planning, you can easily prepare many delicious and inexpensive meals.

30. Keep your pantry well-stocked

With a well-stocked pantry, you can whip up really cheap meals on the fly. If I run out of certain pantry staple items, I replace them immediately. This is a cornerstone of how I eat healthy on a budget.

Bonus tip: Ocean State Job Lot sells all the Bob’s Red Mill pantry stuff for cheap.

Bonus bonus tip: There are a bunch of online grocery retailers that are cheaper than brick-and-mortar alternatives. I don’t personally use Misfits Market, but a whole bunch of my friends do, and I’ve heard great things about how much money they save with it.

The bottom line about how to eat healthy on a budget

I see “eating healthy” and “eating on a budget” as two things that naturally go hand-in-hand. When I find myself slipping into crappy eating habits, my grocery bills tend to increase. Junk food is expensive! Fast food is expensive! Takeout is expensive! Overeating is expensive!

Even if it were true that eating healthy on a budget is impossible, it’d be worth the expense because you can’t really put a price on health. Even if it were true that eating healthy on a budget is impossible, you’d still be saving big on future medical bills.

Lucky for us, it’s easy to eat healthy on a budget with a little planning. It’s a win-win!

How to eat healthy on a budget



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