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13 Simple Tips for Eating Healthy on a Super Tight Budget

When I became a parent for the first time, I met fear head-on. So I started looking at our food choices in a new light.

I took some food and nutrition classes in college that opened my eyes to our entire food system. Before I met my husband, who has Type 1 Diabetes, I was blinded to what the illness was.

I tasted living with diabetes when I had to take insulin shots during both pregnancies. My brother nearly died suffering from a mystery illness that they can now only say is some type of colitis.

Sometimes you wonder- Am I Taking My Health For Granted?

Food is a massive part of our lives. We consume it every day. During our spending freeze, it was the only thing other than the bills we were buying. We need it.

So how can we fit healthier options into a budget?

How can we feed our families nutritious food when we are living paycheck to paycheck?

I have a few tips that have worked for us, and can help you too.

If you consider yourself a healthy person who lives life on a budget, I think you will agree you follow many of the tips below.

If you are someone who wants to eat healthier on a budget, consider the following tips:

MAKE A BUDGET

First, you must have a budget. This doesn’t mean you can’t spend money. It simply means- You are telling your money where to go. 

Without a budget,  you will have no idea how much you have to spend on your groceries. When making a budget, you need to figure out all the things you must pay each month- like your bills.

Then you go from there. Groceries are usually right after that because it’s something we need weekly. I recommend using one of these budget forms.

SHOP FROM PANTRY

pantry item snacks

If you are just starting to become aware of your finances and looking at what you are buying at the grocery store, you may just have a good amount of food in your pantry. You can make dinners with just noodles and tomatoes. You can make dinners with cans of tuna and beans.

I’ve shared a video and a super popular post here on how to Live off What’s in Your Pantry & Not Grocery Shop.

Stop and really look at what you have and search online for recipes using those ingredients. A simple meal made at home not only saves your hard-earned cash– but saves your waistline as well.

Many meals we consume at restaurants are loaded with sodium and preservatives. Come up with all the recipes you can use for items from your pantry.

I have a Great pantry challenge you can try here. 

13 Simple Tips for Eating Healthy on a Super Tight Budget

MEAL PLAN

Of course, this is on my list and pretty much every money-saving list I have. Why? Because this truly is just the key to being able to feed your family healthier food for less.

You can download free printables for meal planning here.

Unless you go to these 5-star restaurants where everything they use is organic or fresh, you are getting frozen food served to you for more than double the cost.

Not to say you can’t enjoy a night off from cooking but when finances are tight, and your health is a concern, this is a must. Use your recipes from items in your pantry to get started on your menu for the week.

Check out how much more expensive it is to eat out vs. cook at home HERE.

Take 10-20 minutes one day a week to write all the dinners you are going to make. If you struggle to come up with 7 dinners, allow yourself one night out.

Do your best to really get creative and come up with at least 4 meals to prepare. When the week is over, and you stayed within your budget- the feeling of accomplishment will fill you up to get you to do it again the following week.

If you have thought of meal planning, I love this app. It saved me from my meal-planning rut.

USE YOUR STORE FLYERS AND COUPONS

3 ways you can save on groceries right now without coupons

If you can shop from the sales flyer for produce, you will save a lot of money. I have a whole post dedicated to just doing this without even adding coupons to save on your grocery bill here. 

I highly recommend checking a coupon database for healthier coupons. One site that is primary healthier coupons is Grocery Coupon Network here. 

Use the grocery ads to add in what you need after you have shopped from your pantry. Do you need protein this week? Check to see which store has the best price. Do you need eggs? Make sure the items you need are in the sales flyer.

 

ONLY BUY MEAT ON SALE

cook frozen chicken in ninja foodi

The meat in your weekly dinners can be a budget breaker. You must shop the sales and compare prices for the best deal. I have made a few price comparisons on meat and found in our area BJ’s is the cheapest.

If you are not a BJ’s shopper, Aldi was second, and Tops ties in second when they have sales. Make your menu based on the meat that is on sale.

  • Grab a BJs membership for an entire year for $25 here.
  • Grab a Costco Membership deal online here.
  • Grab a $24.99 Sam’s Club Membership deal here.
ultimate simple meal planner mockup

MAKE A LIST

Once you have all your meals figured out and the protein you will buy on sale. Write it down! You must shop with a list to stick to your budget. You must have a budget. Otherwise, all these steps will serve no purpose.

You can’t spend $200 on groceries even if you did a whole week’s worth of meal planning, but you only have $100 to spend. Only write on your list the items that you need.

This will probably be meat on sale unless you hit a great deal where you can buy extra meat to store in the freezer, produce, and some dairy products. A list keeps you focused. When you start, it may be helpful to cross off items as you go.

CHECKLIST FOR PROCESSED FOOD

After you have made your list take a second look to see if you have processed food there, if you do- don’t get upset; that is ok. When it comes to lifestyle change, baby steps are critical. Just take one processed food off your list. Maybe you have frozen pizza on there.

It is simple to make your own pizza dough. Did you know the dough only has these ingredients in it? Water, Oil, Sugar, Flour, Yeast, Salt? When you find the processed food you want to remove from your list- ask yourself, ” How Could I Create a Healthier version?”

Pizza was the first processed food we cut out. Go slow. I would try to cut the same processed food out for at least one whole month before I eliminate another one.

You do not want to get overwhelmed or discouraged if it takes you more than 3 months to continue to just cut out one processed food that is okay.

Master eliminating one, then move onto another one.

DON’T SHOP FROM HABIT

clearance shopping haul

How often do you hit the grocery store just kind of having an idea of what you want? Or you add the same items every week because, well, it’s been a habit. Wake yourself up and stop to think- Why am I buying this? It doesn’t just go for our purchasing of clothing or home decor.

It is often harder to question our food choices because we view food as a need. It’s food- we’ll eat it, so why not? But challenge yourself and honestly ask, Why?

I have to limit the amount of cereal we have in the house. It’s the one processed food we cut back on but not out. Yet when I buy more than five boxes at a time- it’s all everyone, including me, wants to snack on. So I have to challenge myself when I know there are sales- Why?

If I knew the week before we ate tons of cereal, I would try to cut back the next week. Or if I buy cereal, I will choose more nutritious ones. If you are couponing, you know we can get our sugary cereal for $1 or less pretty often, so the challenge is certainly there to cut back.

STOP BUYING PRE-MADE FROZEN DINNERS

If you are hitting the frozen food section and grabbing the very convenient pre-made dinners turn the package around and look at the ingredient list. We all know processed foods are NOT the best nutrition for our bodies.

The general rule is that 11 or more ingredients pass on by. But I want you to look at what is in there. Of course, there are preservatives you don’t add when you make it at home, but if you break it down and just take a minute to look, you will realize that you could make that dinner at home for less.

How many frozen entrees does it take to feed your family? You can easily make a Bertolli Skillet meal with a box of noodles chicken breast, and some peppers and add your own seasonings all for less than $1 per serving. The catch with those entrees is the serving sizes are small.

CUT OUT JUICE AND SODA

So often, we grab a soda for the kids to take for lunch or on the way home from work- but if you just take a minute to look at the ingredients, you will see there are, on average, 30 g. of sugar in ONE Can. Folks- that is just too much sugar to be consuming on a daily basis.

Try flavoring your water if it doesn’t have appeal. You could even add in some cane sugar to sweeten it to help you adjust to drinking water.

When you want to cut back your grocery budget, juice and soda can be the first to go. Why? You can have a beverage for FREE- water!

Juice is trickier because you have such a wide variety that some are better than others. Look at the sugar content in your juice as well.

If you hit a great sale on a juice with too much sugar per serving, water it down. The kids won’t notice if you don’t make a big deal about it.

SHOP AT A FARMER’S MARKET

apple tree dehydrator ninja foodi

Buying your produce in season is the key to big savings. You will save money even at the grocery store when you buy produce in season, but if you shop at the Farmer’s market, you will save even more!

My favorite thing to do at the Farmer’s market is get there early and grab the second pickings. These are marked down sometimes as much as 50% less than the others. This is a great way to preserve a bunch of food for less!

Read or Pin: How to Start Seeds Indoors to Grow Your Own Food

GIVE YOURSELF GRACE

I became crazy with our first daughter in what I was feeding her. It’s like the whole world was new to me. It doesn’t help that we google anytime we have a question. You have to find your balance, and you have to give yourself grace.

As moms, we have a lot on our shoulders. If the kids are all at sports practice one evening and you end up working late, and you forgot to pull out some meat to thaw, do what you must do to feed your family.

Learn from it and move on. Sitting and dwelling on the dinner you served your family will not do any good. Don’t think you have to buy everything organic. Just because it’s not organic doesn’t mean it’s not nutritious.

HAVE A NEW MINDSET

13 Simple Tips for Eating Healthy on a Super Tight Budget

We set ourselves up for either misery or joy each day by our mindset toward the things in our life. Mindsets are patterns in which our mind typically operates toward a particular determination.

You may look at your schedule today or even for the week and see there is far too much to do. But if we choose the mindset that God will help us through it, we will enjoy watching how it all comes together.

Decide today not to dread what must be done. Start each day with an attitude of gratitude. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy this new challenge. Get ready to be on a brighter path to financial freedom.

READ OR PIN: How to Set Smart Goals & Crush Them

If you are looking for FREE baby items, check out this list that was a life saver for me during those late-night feedings.

 

 

What tips would you add to the list?

 

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Lori Wildenberg

Monday 6th of June 2016

Great tips..shopping from a list and shopping out of the pantry are two of the best. Thanks for the practical and applicable ideas!

Tasia

Monday 6th of June 2016

Thanks Lori- those two are key to success!

Tshanina

Monday 6th of June 2016

Such a fabulous list! Not only does making a meal plan and grocery list save my sanity but it does keep that cash in my wallet!

Tasia

Monday 6th of June 2016

Thanks Tshanina!

Keri Underwood

Monday 6th of June 2016

"Don't shop from habit" - I am SO bad about this! These are great tips Tasia! I look forward to implementing them this week. I am getting married in a few months and Josh and I both want to start getting healthy now. Not really to lose weight but to just BE healthy. Thanks for this!

http://www.littlelightonahill.com

Tasia

Monday 6th of June 2016

That was a hard one for us to break was shopping from habit. Buying things my mom always bought or what I just started to pick up in college. But so glad I broke it.

Jennie Goutet

Monday 6th of June 2016

Great article. It doesn't all work for France (where there are no coupons, etc - or at least not many) but there is still good advice, starting with make a budget! :-) I pinned, and tweeted the pin.

Tasia

Monday 6th of June 2016

Thanks Jennie! I always appreciate when you stop on by!

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