16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap

I mix soda water and 100% juice for a lighter healthier soda. I was a coke fanatic and always jonesed switching to water. This is great. I use the soda club system to carbonate my tap water too

Nobody has mentioned hemp protein. It’s a far superior protein source than both whey and soy. And it’s relatively inexpensive. It has a nearly perfect ratio of both Omega 3 and Omega 6, and its protein content is higher than even most animal products. Plus, you alleviate all of those pesky health conditions that result from meat and dairy diets.

Also, the whole grain quinoa is exceptionally high in protein. It’s probably the healthiest grain you could consume, and it’s delicious. It can replace couscous, rice, pasta, or anything else as a side dish.

Let’s not forget the nutrional benefits of sea vegetables and algaes, as they can be added to almost any meal without changing its taste at all.

One other thing: smoothies rule. You can get a whole day’s worth of nutrition before you even get out the door in the morning by mixing everything up in a blender – including any supplements you might take.

Just my two cents.

It really makes you reconsider that pop when you realize that “It would take 27 minutes of walking to burn the 97 calories” !!!! And that is just to be even again. It really pays to keep track of those calories and what it takes to burn them!

Karen

I realize that this post is old, but in case anyone is wondering, the answer to Michael’s (comment #28) question about “#16 – How many babies have died because their parents forced them to be vegan?” is ONE. And that baby died because the parents were IDIOTS, and decided that the “vegan” way to feed their new baby was soy MILK. (No breastmilk, no formula, just soy milk and water)

For the record, I’m a meat eater + agree that long-term veganism will cause nutritional problems. I just hate it when people use fear-mongering in arguments.

“Do you actually believe that generic food and brand name foods are made in the exact same factory, and that they just have different labels?”

In same cases it’s true. My father had a grocery shop and often had to choose between 2 products which were the same stuff by the same producer – difference was indeed famous brand, advertising, packaging vs generic.

I don’t particularly agree with with all the information. Considering that the advice is advocating eating chicken, fatty red-meat, and eggs. Most of this information is contradictory to the American Heart Associations guidelines on a healthy diet. Some of those chuck steaks have more fat in one steak than a person is supposed to consume in a day. Eggs are good if you have only a couple a week, and the saturated fats are not good for the body. But, other than that, it’s all sound advice.

I like the comment that said to “use meat as a flavor enhancer”
Also I see alot of poeple using fish oil, why not just eat fish? Probably because we sell most of our fish caught is Alaska to Asia (Japan-China) I am sure some goes to America’s rich and famous, but how much is going to our school children’s lunch plate. I live in Michigan and I can’t even find Alaskan fish (except for canned salmon) I fished in Ak.

Watch “who killed the electric car” and find out why we keep the rich*rich!! Where were the mercury in tuna warning labels when I was eating it.. well where is our country heading into the abyss

I can go on ,but will stop here.. live long and prosper

I totally agree with the tap water thing. Not only to save money but it is fortified with fluoride which helps teeth which bottled water does not have. Adaptation most definitely occurs rapidly.

I kind of disagree on the eggs thing… I live in San Francisco and a dozen of eggs is 4 dollars at safeway. I remember when it was 99 cents.

Interesting post. I agree with some of what you are saying. I can say I don’t agree with the part about eating fatty meats. However water is defiantly better then soda.

To Your Health

I eat lots of beans and lentils, I find it saves money because beans are typically cheaper than meat and have lots of vitamins. You can easily make a batch of beans and rice and it’ll last you for several meals, and you can always throw in other veggies and spices for variety.

I purchased a Brita filter for the tap — cheaper than bottled and tastes better than unfiltered tap water.

I think this is a great article, and I was surprised by all of the anal bitching from the unhealthy & retarded “vegan” lifestylers. It is a scientific FACT that humans are OMNIVORES; we are not supposed to live off of vegetables, nuts @ fruits alone.

Regarding frozen vegetables: They are certainly cheaper, and I eat them most of the time. Fresh produce goes bad on me quickly, plus it takes forever to prepare (chopping, seeding, etc.). For all of the nitpickers who claim that they are less nutritious, this is just an overly obsessive rant. Eating frozen veggies is better than eating none (which is what I used to do; eat almost none). I dump them into a microwave steaming bag… and they turn out great. The only thing I buy fresh is sweet potatoes & spinach.

Back to the unfair war on meat…

Ever notice how carnivorous animals look so much more muscular & fit than herbivores? What would YOU rather look like? A cow or a cheetah? I pick the latter.

Meat doesn’t cause cancer. The so-called experts think just about everything causes cancer and they really don’t have a damn clue, either way. I don’t trust doctors; remember, they make their money off of the sick & diseased. If nobody ever got sick, they would be out of a job… so, they really don’t have our best interest in mind.

Some of these drones really need to pull their heads out of their asses, and stop trusting every word that falls from the lips of the “professionals”.

And what is up with the idea that women’s protein intake should be much less than men’s? Well, only if you want to be a flabby/anorexic sickling. Most of the women who think they are fit, are actually nothing more than skinny fat people. Glad I’m not one of them. : ) You can’t get a lean body with carrot sticks & crackers, oh ignorant ones. You’ll be thin… but not fit. Just slim & flabby.

Anyhow, very good post… from somebody who is walking, breathing proof that he knows what he’s talking about.

MEAT RULES!

Funny, I thought the article was about saving money while trying to eat healthy.

While we are talking about cheap protein–someone else mentioned quinoa. Quinoa is the only known food that contains all the essential AMINO acids your body needs (why just the emphasis in this discussion on fatty acids??) I bought a pound for $1 at whole foods recently. It cooks up like cous cous and I have used it as a basis for cold salads, or serve a stir fried vegetables over it. delicious, healthy, cheap, easy to store, and cooks up quickly. Give it a try.

Where I live, you get charged for having extra garbage every week. That’s my insentive to never buy pre-packaged food or frozen veggies etc. It’s cheaper for me to buy everything fresh with minimal packaging so I don’t get a fine.

fish ARE meat!

sorry, had to rant!

Thanks for that tip with tap water… I never trust my tap water

ran across this site while surfing around. Pretty good info. I could not help but notice Amanda (april29) must have misread some of the info on this page. It was not suggested to eat fresh veggies frozen is just as good and much cheaper. However, farmers markets are great if you have one near you.

Something else mentioned was regarding items other than groceries and this article was only about groceries. Personally, i find Dollar General suits my needs for the HBA items (ie shampoo and such). Cheaper and easy to get in and out.

thanks for a great site:)

A really great book I have read about the fundamentals of eating healthy is called ‘The Abs Diet’ by David Zinczenko. Althought I did not actively participate in the exercise the book recommends (in fact, I rather ignored it – i have lots of trouble sticking to an exercise program), I found the fundamental diet tips to be extremely sensible and the building blocks of a healthy diet. The book focused on what the main building blocks of a diet should be, including

whole grains, such as oatmeal and whole-wheat pasta or bread
good fats, from nuts, certain oils like olive oil, fish, etc.
lean proteins like turkey or lean ground beef
low fat dairy products such as milk or low-fat yogurt or low-fat cheese, and eggs
legumes (beans)
and fresh produce.

I may be forgetting one or two, but you get the idea.
The whole idea of the ‘diet’ is that you can eat as much as you’d like as long as you try to include at least 2-3 of the food ‘groups’ in each meal or snack. For example, your breakfast could look like this:

peanut butter on whole wheat toast and a glass of skim or 1% milk

or like this:
a smoothie with berries and low-fat yogurt and scrambled eggs (2 whites per yolk)

Or dinner could be whole-wheat pasta with marinara sauce and chicken with some low-fat cheese on top and veggies on the side.

I really found this book to make a lot of sense to me in regards to healthy eating. My father, who has never read the book but has extremely healthy eating and exercise habits already eats exactly the way this book explains – and it just makes a lot of sense. You don’t deprive yourself, you just eat healthy and balanced meals and snacks and don’t stuff yourself with junk food or excess calories.

I’m surprised that I didn’t see my number one tip for eating healthy – 5 ingredients or less. If whatever you’re buying had more than 5 ingredients, and if you can’t pronounce them, you shouldn’t buy it. Especially if one of those ingredients is High Fructose Corn Syrup. There are some items, like Apple Sauce and Peanut Butter, for which the price difference between the “corn” version and the “real” version is nominal.

For those who claim that eating meat makes a man impotent I have found the oppisite to be true. My boyfriend dosent like most meat and for a while stopped eating it. For a couple of weeks he was ok then bam no erection, not even alone when he masterbated. This continued for months untill I convinced him to start eating meat again and about a month later bam the big boy was back. Protien is essential for our bodies to perform and some people cannot get what they need from plant protine. Just because a lot of vegan have no trouble with out it does not mean it is not essential yes I said essential for others. Dont believe me, study aruvetics which actually touches on the subject of diffrent body types needing diffrent diets for optimal health.

I am a bit late to the party with these comments, but this site is exactly what I needed. We recently got huge (hopefully temporary) salary cuts at work in order to avoid actual layoffs, and I was just planning what to buy at the store for the week…I’d fallen back on the old canned soup, frozen hungry man, top ramen snacks of my bachelor living days. Now I’m still a bachelor but I have been eating healthy for a while and I had to stop myself, thinking, “Is this REALLY the only answer?” Of course not. It’s all about planning better and purchasing smarter. This article is a good guide to doing that.

This advice has a pretty small target group, and probably doesn’t apply to most people.

Points 1 and 2, and 13 to 16 are all very good advice that anyone could and should follow to eat healthily and cheaply. The rest may apply to people trying to gain strength or muscle mass, but is otherwise questionable.

For starters the definition of healthy food can’t be simplified that much, and you can’t replace a healthy balanced diet of fresh food with supplements (that’s why they’re “supplements”). Using frozen vegetables (which aren’t as nutritional as fresh) and then taking multivitamins may be cheaper, but certainly isn’t as healthy.

As for buying from one store to save time and fuel, that is dependent very much on where you live. For some the individual shops are close by each other and quite a lot less expensive than the supermarket. You can also get better produce.

And lastly, instead of trying to save fuel by driving around less, try to save fuel by not driving at all. Much cheaper, and healthier.

I agree with avoiding branded foods where part of the price is to support the brand. SO what if you’ve never heard of it? Doesn’t mean it’s not good food.

In Greece most people drink bottled water, but it’s often possible to get free spring water as many places provide outlets for this. You just take your bottles along and fill up. And it doesn’t run dry even through the hot summer, although it takes longer to fill the bottles.

But both this and the standard tap water is very hard – kettles scale up within a few days and take an effort (and cost) to descale, so sometimes bottled may be cheaper.
more:http://www.foodsdieting.com