Healthy Foods to Eat on a Budget

If you are on a tight budget, finding healthy foods at the grocery store may seem like a challenge, but there are healthy and economical choices in every aisle of the store. As tempting as all that junk food out there may sound, it really can be cheaper to eat food prepared at home. And with a little imagination and experimenting with herbs and spices in the kitchen, it will taste better as well. The first key to healthier eating is to have more healthy foods available to eat at home. So stop going to the drive-through and don’t buy any more pre-packaged, over processed foods that you probably have in your kitchen now. Get yourself organized by creating a meal plan and a grocery list for the foods you need to prepare those meals. The next step is to go to your local grocery store and start buying whole foods that you can prepare at home with whatever kitchen resources you have there.

Increasing your consumption of whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, will actually make your food selections in general much simpler. If the foods you are chosing contain more than 5 ingredients and include a lot of unfamiliar, unpronounceable items, you may want to reconsider buying them. Counting calories, carbs, or fat grams won’t be as necessary when you select foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry. Finding healthy foods to eat at the grocery store is pretty simple. They are found in the “fresh food” sections like the produce and refrigerated meat and fish departments. The frozen and dry aisles also contain good healthy foods, although there are many unhealthy distractions there as well.

Healthy foods you should have available at home to cook with include whole foods (food in its most natural state), fruits and vegetables, dairy products (low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs), seafood, lean cuts of pork, beef and chicken, naturally sweetened whole juices and lots of water.

The kind of foods to avoid include refined grains (white flour or white rice), refined white sugar, any form of corn syrup and anything out of a box that contains more than 5 ingredients.

Making the switch to eating healthy food does require a change in mindset, along with some imagination and preparation. It will help to make a weekly meal plan, and from that a good, organized grocery list to take to the store with you. This will help keep you focused and cut down on the number of trips you make to the grocery store.