How to Buy Healthy Food on a Budget

Yes, it is possible to buy healthy food on a budget!

Have you ever noticed how much cheaper it is to eat foods loaded with preservatives, fat, and calories? Natural food that is healthy costs so much more! It’s almost as if those of us on a tight budget are being encouraged to eat bad food. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. Learn some strategies to shop for healthy food on a budget.

How to Buy Healthy Food on a Budget

Shop Seasonally

One of the best tips to help you shop for healthy food on a budget is to shop seasonally. In season fruits and vegetables are much cheaper because they are grown locally. When produce doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles, it costs less for the consumer. Use the Seasonal Food Guide to see what’s available in your area right now.

Create Menus That Use What You Buy

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to plan a menu that uses a lot of different ingredients. You can save so much money by creating a menu that uses many of the same ingredients. This not only ensures that you can purchase less food each week, but that the food you buy doesn’t go to waste. In other words, being smart about how you use the food you purchase can instantly save you money.

Hit the Farmer’s Market

When you shop at a grocery store, you’re paying a middleman. On the other hand, when you shop at a farmer’s market, you’re buying produce directly from the farmer. This not only puts more money in the farmer’s pocket, but that savings is passed on to you. Even better is the fact that much of the produce you buy was harvested that morning. It always tastes better, too!

Try the Store Brand

Here’s the thing about store brands. You’ll never know if they’re good or not unless you try them. Target, for example, has many great products under the Market Pantry brand that not only cost about half as much as the name brand, but taste just as good. I stock my pantry with these foods along with store brands from Aldi.

Buy Frozen Produce

We are “blessed” with the ability to purchase anything no matter what the season. Unfortunately, not only will you pay much, much more for that luxury, but the produce usually doesn’t taste great because it was shipped from so far away. If you must have something that’s out of season, purchase frozen produce. Frozen produce is frozen within hours of harvesting. This means that it retains more of the nutrients. Because manufacturers don’t have to worry about shipping times, you’ll get a cheaper price.

Healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive! There are so many small things you can do to save money. Whether you shop seasonally or hit your local farmer’s market, you can shop for healthy food on a budget.