[Rachel]

How can I eat healthy on a budget without meat? Gardening isn’t an option for me. Looking for tips on affordable shopping, meal planning, and nutritious recipes. Any advice on maximizing nutrition while minimizing costs? Thanks!

[Suzy]

The healthier I eat, the cheaper it is. Buying processed foods are expensive. When you buy unprocessed foods and prepare it yourself, it’s much cheaper. And I eat meat. But I eat it in proper proportion sizes.

[Sawoun]

You can still eat meat and save. We buy and stock when it’s onsale and cook around the meat. We usually eat thighs. Also meat keep us full longer.

Stock up on beans and can goods when they are onsale. Also dry food too.

[Brookelynne]

It takes time to swap your pantry items out. Beans, beans, beans. There are so many absolutely delicious bean recipes, my favorites are white beans.

Also, lentils. Surprisingly canned beans are more cost effective than dried, so I buy lots of those. I buy canned coconut milk for dal (lentil dishes) and canned chipotle peppers for black bean tacos, etc etc.

Eating healthy can actually taste delicious but what I learned was not to try to make the things I was used to just “healthier” but to focus on entirely new things. We started by just making a vegetarian or vegan dish once a week and slowly over time our diets changed (we are not vegetarian by ant stretch of the imagination but we do a lot more plant based meals than we used to). Anyway, good luck! Frozen and canned foods will help keep the cost down, bean and lentil based meals are very cheap!

Recommended: Is frozen OJ as healthy as fresh?

[Sheila]

Skip the deli section, if you want lunch meat, cook a small roast and slice it up when it’s cold. Meal planning based on sales goes a long way, as well as making soups from leftover meat and veg. Cheese slices are also out, as they generally cost more than the real thing.

Preprepared anything will cost you more, so cut up your veggies and fruit yourself and grate your own cheese.

[Kitsune]

I eat A LOT of produce.

A diet that’s Whole Food Plant Based can be really cheap and it’s generally the healthiest option for most people.

I eat lots of avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes, beans, squashes.

These are all fairly filling in small amounts.

[Adrienne]

I cut up cabbage and add it to soups and rice and sometimes sauté it. It’s inexpensive, healthy and filling.

[Emily]

Eat high quality veggies when they are in sale, save veggies scraps to make soup, save bones to make bone broth. Use all the parts of anything you can. Buy off brand canned goods and frozen goods.

[Karen]

I eat a lot of potatoes, rice, oats, lentils and beans. Those types of foods are the most inexpensive foods. Buy produce on sale or frozen. Eat simply.

[Ruth]

Go to a farmers market 30 mins before closing as the farmers deep discount their produce. The last 15 mins are the best. You may have less options but you get great deals on produce

[Roxanne]

We don’t eat meat, poultry, fish or seafood, we also stay away from dairy pretty much too. It saves us so much money and we eat very good whole food meals. Lot’s of vegetables and fruits along with grains and beans and rice.

[Deborah]

I don’t buy bottled water, sodas, alcohol, cookies, chips and snacks of any kind, frozen dinners, packaged mixes, margarine, and cereals. I also gave up all dairy products so there’s no cheese, milk, and butter.

That easily leaves money for more produce, eggs, and meat. Although I usually mix beans into everything. My budget is $35-$40 a week.

[Mariah]

Shop the seasonal fruit/veg list and make meals around it as it’ll be cheaper than fruits/veggies not in season.

Our Cashsaver store near us does $1 produce bags that are always loaded full with almost gone produce. I always buy those when I see them. Last one I bought was a bunch of bell peppers so I washed em and chopped em and froze them and I add to meals

[Ra Hel]

No meat is a huge saver. I do buy at the farmers market if I can regional is often cheaper than you would think and lasts longer than the supermarket stuff. Try and make a meek plan so you don’t wast any food. I freez onion peels and also carrots and leeks if they are about to go bad and use them to make stock. I never buy fries. or other ready mad potato stuff it’s cheaper to make it from fresh potato’s. In general I don’t buy ready made meals or foods most things are easily made and cheaper to make from scratch you can make a little more and freez the rest.

I freeze souses flat so if I just need a little bit I can break it of and in freez it. I like to cook with garlic so when I buy it I press it and put it in to icecub containers when ever I need it for cooking I use a frozen garlic cube, that way it won’t go bad.

[Amy]

Whole foods–nothing processed or prepackaged/ready-to-eat (that shit is expensive), simplified recipes with less ingredients. Dry beans, dry rice are super cheap and healthy, paired with some green salad. Small portions of meat are doable on a budget. I stock up on ingredients when they are on sale.

It’s worth it.

[Elizabeth]

I tend to eat the same things over and over. Veggie omlette for breakfast, either turkey or chicken wrap for lunch, rotisserie chicken/veggies or bean/cheese quesedilla for dinner. Super easy, super cheap. I round out with extra veggies on the side and either fruit or yogurt/fruit for snacks.

[Shelly]

I buy bags of frozen veggies and steam them, veggies sandwiches, dry beans ,cook chic peas roasted for a snack, blend them up for a dip or sandwich spread, bananas for pancakes and ice cream, dehydrate foods.. lots of recipes for zucchini, veggies French fries, veggies and fruit chips

[Author]

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