Sure, if you're bank rolling, it's no problem to buy omega 3-laden salmon steaks, fresh vitamin-packed fruits and vegetables, and drink anti-oxidant rich red wine, but what if you're on a budget? College students, large families, even bloggers like myself, don't always have the luxury of eating healthily because it's so much cheaper to eat...fast food.Not to fear! The Washington Post's Lean Plate Club looks to Mark Erickson, a certified master chef and vice president for continuing education at the Culinary Institute of America, for some tips on how to cut grocery bills, since one of the best ways to eat healthily and cut back on food spending at the same time is to cook at home. His tips in summary:
- Invest in a few basic tools for the kitchen
- Cook a lot at once, and stretch it out over the week
- Be your own butcher
- Skip bottled water
- Look for bargains in the frozen section
- Use lots of vegetables
- Look for less expensive sources of healthy fats
5-07-2007 @12:27AM ShortWoman said... "Be your own butcher"?
Cheaper yet, don't buy meat. Use eggs ($0.99/doz at Trader Joes), beans (canned for $0.75, sometimes less on sale, always less dried), or nuts for protein instead.
Follow it up with bulk rice from the Asian section (always cheaper and better for you than quick-rice) and noodles (which are always cheap).
Otherwise, no quarrel with that list.
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5-07-2007 @10:37AM m00se said... Most of these are really good tips. And I do agree with the previous commenter, if you can avoid meat or reduce the amount of it in your diet, that will cut down on your food costs as well. I indulge in some kind of fish one to three times per week, and when purchased on sale or canned, the health benefits are really worth the cost.
The only real issue I have with this list is skipping bottled water. Since my cancer diagnosis, I've become very particular about what goes into my body. I live and work in buildings with older pipes which may or may not be lead tainted (they're supposed to be perfectly safe for adults, but regardless it makes me nervous). This is besides the fact that I don't really have a good feel for what other pollutants might be in my tap water so bottled water is a seeming extravagance which I feel is important for me, even on a limited budget.
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5-07-2007 @6:44PM wynk said... One thing my roommates and I did to avoid drinking tap water was to buy a filter pitcher from Wal-Mart...it was $25 (of course this was 10 years ago, they may be $30 now ;p), which split between us was not bad at all, and we had filtered water wheneve we wanted. It definitely paid for itself.
The cheapest healthy thing is PRODUCE! I made a vegetable soup last night that was excellent and cost very little, and I have enough for days and days.
Also, if you really want the benefits of wine, and are the type that drinks it nightly, consider going boxed. You can get about 3 liters for less than $20. Lasts a long time and stays fresh for much longer than bottled wine does. And there are actually some tasty labels out now. I like Black Box.
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