Healthy Eating

GardenMillie

Hi I buy lots of fruit and veg. I chop fruit and have fruit salad most days for breakfast. I eat meat but bulk things like chilli out with veg and make veggie soup which I have for lunch. I try to limit the amount of bread, potatoes and pasta I eat. I also try to include fish at least once a week.

I do meal plan which makes a big difference to the amount of food I waste.

Gingham_Ribbon

The best piece of advice I've had on this site, and I've had LOTS of great advice, was to learn how to make 1 new meal a week. That was 3 years ago (or so) so you can imagine that I'm turning my hand to all sorts of new things now.

In just 7 weeks, you'd have enough ideas to make something new and healthy every single day.

notenoughcash

I buy/grow mountains of fruit and veg which we eat a little very lean meat with. I have two sons who for many years have had the 'five a day' drilled into them at school but are proud to tell everyone they regularly get to 8 or 10, sometimes more over the summer when we have more growing at home. I have also switched to spray oil which I use to make home-made oven chips or potato wedges rather than pouring vegetable oil and saves a vast amount of fat consumption. I limit red meat to once a week, usually eating baked fish or chicken and have two veggie days per week. All this is on quite a limited budget, I hear a lot of people say it's too costly to eat healthy but I have to disagree!

greenbee

notenoughcash wrote: »

I hear a lot of people say it's too costly to eat healthy but I have to disagree!

I agree with you... and not only is it not expensive to eat healthily, but to be honest, I think the British are unique (certainly in Europe) in thinking that food is the first place to make savings.

I'd rather eat well and go without some luxuries... what good is a holiday this year if in a few years I'm suffering health problems as a result of eating rubbish? Good food should be a priority both in terms of spending enough on it to ensure good nutrition, and in terms of spending the time on cooking and eating together - it's a social activity, not just refuelling!

thriftlady_2

Hear, hear Greenbee:T

My list of cheap and healthy foods goes like this:

Protein

mackerel -tinned, smoked and fresh
tuna -tinned
sardines and pilchards -tinned
coley, pollack -frozen or fresh
salmon fillets -bags of 8 frozen Alaskan salmon fillets are sometimes on special offer)

liver
kidneys
hearts
rabbit and other game in season

lean meat is expensive but the fattier cuts are cheaper and more flavourful. I don't have a problem with these healthwise but if you think they have no place in a healthy diet then you're going to have to limit meat if you want to spend less.

dried beans, lentils and peas -eat lots of these then you can have a bit of fillet steak;)
mung beans for sprouting
baked beans
eggs

Carbs

rice
barley
couscous
bulghar
pasta
potatoes
wholemeal flour for bread
oats

see this thread for more info on costings of carbs

Fruit & Veg

carrots
onions
leeks
cabbage plus other brassicas
root veg
anything that is UK produced in season is bound to be cheaper than imported out of season stuff.

apples, citrus, bananas and whatever is in season

tinned fruit in juice
tinned tomatoes and passata
dried fruit -raisins and sultanas are probably cheapest
sunflower seeds

Dairy

milk
homemade yogurt
well-flavoured cheese -more flavour-use less

Also

olive oil

sunflower76

I've just done a months shop and I feel that our diet is pretty healthy. To me 'healthy' means that we don't eat much processed foods and we eat as much fresh produce as we can. I avoid anything artificial and try to source locally produced organic foods. I can give you a list of what I bought if you'd like me to?

mardatha

Yes, go ahead... it's a bit late for me to be healthy but I'd like to live as long as the rest of my family. My dad's family lived on fish & rabbit and veg--and they all lived to the late 80s or older .

blaque*angel

aw, i love you guys what great posts

blaque*angel

sunflower76 wrote: »

I've just done a months shop and I feel that our diet is pretty healthy. To me 'healthy' means that we don't eat much processed foods and we eat as much fresh produce as we can. I avoid anything artificial and try to source locally produced organic foods. I can give you a list of what I bought if you'd like me to?

yes please :j

Keeping_Motivated

greenbee wrote: »

.

I also sprout beans to ensure I have salad materials to hand for work lunches, even if I run out of stuff from the farm shop.

What is sprouting beans? Sorry to be a numpty