Budget Healthy Eating?

TomPucci85 · 12 November 2018 at 10:22AM

Hi,

So I need to eat 2,700 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight, and want to keep my food intake clean and balanced. No specific diet or anything.

I probably eat out 3-5 times a month, so i'm looking at 30 breakfasts, and 55 lunches/dinners a month.

However I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible (breakfast is just straight up oats, so it's pretty cheap there).

I was just wondering what other users on this site are spending per month on healthy food? How cheap can it really get, as i'm spending about £130 per month currently. there's definitely more areas I can save in that I'm 100% aware of. But I just want to know how cheap I can push this.

arlenewei · 13 November 2018 at 4:07AM

the healthy food always expensive

Murphybear · 13 November 2018 at 5:09AM

Healthy food doesnt have to be expensive.

Few ideas

Fruit and veg is generally fairly cheap and healthy. Not if you buy strawberries or asparagus out of season though

. You get a lot for your money at Lidl/Aldi

Home made food is much better than buying ready meals and usually healthier. Have a look at the ingredients lists, if you can't pronounce it don't buy it.

Growing your own is very cheap and very healthy. I grew loads of tomatoes this year, a lot of them from seed. The taste was out of this world compared to supermarket produce and I turned the green ones at the end of the season into chutney.

trailingspouse · 13 November 2018 at 10:21AM

Healthy eating can be done cheaply.
What's expensive are the processed foods and ready meals that claim to be healthy (low fat this and free from that).
Potatoes are cheap.

Avoid refined carbs (white sugar, white flour for example) and go for the unrefined versions, including wholewheat pasta and brown rice. More filling than the 'normal' version, and better for you as all the goodness is taken out in the refining process. So you don't eat as much, and the little you do eat does you good. What's not to like?

Cook from scratch.
Have a couple of meat-free days each week.
Buy fruit and veg in season - at this time of the year, root vegetables. A stew made with a little bit of meat and a lot of root veg is perfect.
I spend £50 per week (Aldi) for two of us. We have a healthy diet (OH has lost 2 stone and maintained it for over a year, I've never needed to lose weight), the trolley is mostly filled with fruit and veg.

RyanEzio · 13 November 2018 at 6:54PM

Try to consume as much protein , fruit and veg. Complex carbs

Brown pasta with Tuna, chicken or any meat. Add in a tomato suace, with seasoning and garlic, a very satisfying meal.

Eggs can make lots of meals!

[Deleted User] · 15 November 2018 at 6:49PM

As said, plenty of fresh veg, lean meat like chicken, turkey, pork. Also fish, like cod, mackerel and prawns.

I usually do 2 or 3 stir frys with pork/chicken/prawns, cod in w/meal flour/egg (with a bit of salt, pepper and paprika) with corn on the cob, or sometimes saute'd potatoes.

Then as a treat, maybe a stew with 75g of diced lamb per portion and lots of 'winter' veg like parsnips, swede, carrots, leeks, oh and lentils.

Maybe a nice roast chicken for sunday

with roast sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, drizzled with honey.

UKTigerlily · 15 November 2018 at 10:59PM

Healthiest diet just so happens to be the cheapest diet on the planet too. Wholefoods plantbased.
For me, it'd be too healthy, i'm a junk food Vegan, but you say you want healthy & cheap, nobody is brutalised for our fun, helps the planet etc
Nuts/Seeds/Fruit/Salad/Veg/Potatos & Sweet Potatos/Lentils/Beans/Rice etc etc

Eggs cannot even legally be labelled healthy, they are chickens periods and full of cholesterol and saturated fat, with no fibre. Chicken is extremely unhealthy, and if you looked into it and also saw the chickens going into slaughter, and the state they are in, you'd probably throw up, most do

k.green · 16 November 2018 at 11:06AM

Meal planning at the beginning of the week will help to stop you wasting money on food you don't eat and reduces food waste. Buy seasonal fruit and veg and freeze what you don't use. Bulk cook meals and freeze the rest so you have healthy ready made meals.

trailingspouse · 16 November 2018 at 12:05PM

When you eat out, don't go crazy.

OH and I used to do a lot of corporate entertaining - not so much these days, thank goodness. It involved a lot of meals out, and a lot of people buying drinks.
My trick was to only ever have a starter and a main, never a sweet. Then espresso at the end rather than, say, a latte. And for the food itself I would always go for either the vegetarian option or the fish, and nothing in batter or fried. And finally, if I felt full, I stopped eating. Just stopped. The meal was going to be paid for whether I finished it or not, so better to stop than carry on. Forget about 'getting your money's worth'!!

As to drinks, I would have one glass of wine then spend the rest of the evening on mineral water.

Sharon87 · 17 November 2018 at 2:35PM

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Healthiest diet just so happens to be the cheapest diet on the planet too. Wholefoods plantbased.
For me, it'd be too healthy, i'm a junk food Vegan, but you say you want healthy & cheap, nobody is brutalised for our nfun, helps the planet etc
Nuts/Seeds/Fruit/Salad/Veg/Potatos & Sweet Potatos/Lentils/Beans/Rice etc etc

Eggs cannot even legally be labelled healthy, they are chickens periods and full of cholesterol and saturated fat, with no fibre. Chicken is extremely unhealthy, and if you looked into it and also saw the chickens going into slaughter, and the state they are in, you'd probably throw up, most do

Sorry I disagree about the eggs and meat. Eggs are very healthy, there's no link between eggs and high cholesterol unless you're still living in the 90s! That's been disproven. There's no legal definition of 'healthy' so check your facts. Eggs don't have fibre, but that's what wholewheat toast is for! Fair enough if you choose not to eat meat/eggs that's your choice, the OP hasn't said if they're veggie/vegan so meat and eggs will still be on their choice of food.

I agree that plant based food are healthy and cheap though, but if the OP chooses to eat eggs (which are both cheap and healthy, even free range eggs are still very cheap), then that's a good option. Meat free meals/days are a good option too for saving money. Nothing cheaper than beans on toast!

If the OP does eat meat/fish/eggs then I would suggest eating some of the lesser known cuts/fish as they're cheaper. Things like pollock and coley are an alternative to cod and haddock. Chicken is cheap, I tend to buy free range when I can which is more expensive, so I buy the thighs as oppose to the chicken breasts as they're cheaper and juicer!

trailingspouse · 17 November 2018 at 9:49PM

UKTigerlily wrote: »

i'm a junk food Vegan

So not really in a position to advise the OP on healthy eating.
The vegan diet is very restrictive and lacking in very many nutrients even if you do it well and really know what you're doing. But a junk food vegan diet is no better than any other sort of junk food diet. You could live on Pop Tarts and be vegan.

Budget Healthy Eating?

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