"Healthy food is too expensive".... "Unless you're rich, you cannot afford healthy food"
Well I am on a mission to demolish this absolutely awful assumption that it is more costly. All I am saying, in nice terms.. Don't knock it until you try it.
Now, don't get me wrong; eating 100% Ramen Noodles is in fact, and most likely, the cheapest way to provide food to a family. So I will not discount that :) I have been there, done that, and who knows if life will put me in a position where I will need to go on the "all Ramen Diet" again.. but I hope I wont need to!
I am what would be considered a low-middle class to not even middle class at all when it comes to income. I am a single mother that does not collect on any type of government benefits other than the ones I earned from the Military, which is education benefits. I do not receive child support for my daughter either.
Some other things that I do not do...
-I do not have cable
-I do not have the fastest Internet
-I do not have 4G service on my cell phone
-I do not have a fancy car
-I do not own/use/have a credit card of any kind
-I do not eat out constantly (maybe 2 times a month)
-I dont buy unhealthy and healthy foods at the same time (HUGE reason why people feel healthy food is expensive)
-I do not spend money where I do not feel it is being used wisely
What I do do..
- I chose to budget in Shakeology for a meal every day
- I prepare the same food for me as I would for my daughter (she eats healthy too!)
- I prepare simple meals that are not hidden with lots of unhealthy ingredients
- I meal prep once a week. This helps use up all of the food I buy (no leftovers and no random foods that hide in the cabinets for years!
-I spend sparingly with clothes, accessories, haircuts, makeup, anything that is not necessity.
-I do still struggle some months, because, well lets be honest!
Here are some of my MUST HAVE healthy foods that shouldnt break the bank:
1. Eggs- these puppies are super cheap and packed with protein.
2. Egg whites- Buy the store brand and your golden. it ends up being cheaper to get the egg white carton than actual eggs and wasting the yolks
3. Whole pineapples. This is my new fav! It makes enough for an entire week of fruit and they are under $3 <- that's less than Oreos
4. Romaine lettuce- If you buy it in the non-chopped up "salad ready" bags, these are cheap. and SUPER cheap if you get them from a place like Sam's or Costco
5. Broccoli, Cauliflower, snap green beans, celery.. All of these non-bagged items are super d-duper cheap. Pick them up, cut them up yourself and you have a crazy cheap veggie assortment.
6. Frozen veggies. THE BEST if you are just changing to a cleaner diet. No more wasting spoiled veggies but they are frozen at peak of freshness and usually cheaper than fresh versions. I go for the store brand with no added cheeses, sodium, sugars.
7. Chicken in bulk and Ground Turkey in bulk. This will be where the money is mostly put because Chicken is quite expensive these days but Turkey meat is actually less than beef right now. so stock up!
8. Oats.. Good lordy these things are cheap and as healthy of a base for cereal as you can get. Add what you need but it will still come out cheaper and healthier than the processed kid and adult cereals on the shelf these days!
So once you have your healthy foods here is a bit of advice:
1. Eat simple. Simple ingredients, not a lot of mixing of ingredients to get the final product.
2. Eat meats in bulk. An example is, for lunch all week I will eat turkey burgers. It saves so much money eating the same type of meat every lunch or every dinner for the entire week. I iam not saying you should always eat the same ol' turkey burger, but use a recipe that uses turkey all week. It may sound totally different than anything you've tried but its cheaper than changing it up daily with healthy food and sure as heck cheaper than unhealthy food (excluding Ramen of course).
3. Get your kids eating the same thing as you, and if possible, even your spouse (I know that can be tough). The less variety you have around the dinner table catering to healthy and unhealthy, the more you will save. PLUS you are getting the added benefit of your entire family eating healthy and that is priceless.
