Food Shopping Tips: Best Strategies For A Cheap, Healthy Diet
This question originally appeared on Quora. Answer by Nguyen Kinh Luan.
There is great emphasis these days on eating healthy, taking care of your body and living a natural yet healthy lifestyle. Many have tried but some fall short because they find it difficult to keep up with the routine — and the money takes to keep up with a healthy diet.
You can eat healthy on a budget! Here are some simple yet helpful tricks to keep healthy on a budget.
Make a grocery list – This may sound way too simple but it actually does help. When you go to the grocery store with a specific mission, it will keep you from going to get what you did not go there to get in the first place.
Get produce when in season – this is a great tip because foods, fruits or veggies tend to be cheaper when they are in season. They also have more flavor and more nutrients. You can get a lot without breaking the bank while still satisfying your nutritional needs.
Replace snack items with fruits and vegetables – Snacking can become a very unhealthy habit and one that can, over time, cost you way more than you thought. Simply switch out, starting with 2-3 snack items you may buy with a fruit or vegetable item. You snack on healthy food but would have spent the same money.
Have a meal plan – When a meal plan is in place, you will know what you will be preparing and it will also make your grocery list a lot more organized instead of having random items you may not need.
When shopping, start from the outer aisle – Fresh fruits, veggies, and meats are on the outer aisle and the processed foods you'll find when going to the inner aisle. Try to get most of the items — if not all — that are on your grocery list from the outer aisles first, leaving room for fewer processed items in your cart.
Eating healthy doesn't have to be as hard as it may seem. It just takes a little know-how, pacing yourself as well as having a cost-effective plan and sticking to it. There is no need to go all-out and get a diet plan to start following religiously at the expense of your pocket. It just takes simple, small, but effective changes to your daily routine.
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