How Broke People Can Eat Healthy

I have said many times to many people that I can’t figure out for the life of me why it’s so cheap to eat unhealthy stuff but healthy is expensive.

For instance, an entire box of Little Debbie snacks are a dollar something. One tiny red pepper is almost $3.00 and if you like ranch dressing with your veggies that’s another 3 or 4 bucks. Look at how much a case of sodas compared to juice sometimes costs.

Although I am on a budget and somewhat, okay pretty much broke, I will not sacrifice eating healthy foods. It’s something I believe if I have to spend money on, I just have to for the sake of mine and my daughter’s health. There are ways to cut down the cost a little, but it still won’t make it cheaper to eat well than to eat junk.

1.  Portion Sized Shopping:  Fresh vegetables can get expensive and if you have a small family, you’re taking a chance on buying produce that goes bad faster than you can eat it. Unfortunately, in my case, I can only buy fresh veggies a little at a time for this reason. If they turn rotten before you are able to eat them, then they’re a waste of money no matter how cheap or expensive.

2.  Frozen Veggies:  Another tip for vegetables and sometimes fruit is to buy them frozen. I purchased a huge bag of frozen broccoli from Sam’s Club that lasted for months. So not only was it cheaper than fresh broccoli, it lasts longer because it’s frozen. Other good veggies to purchase frozen are corn and green beans.

3.  Calculate the Price Difference:  Some foods, the healthy version may cost more but not much more. For instance brown and white rice, wheat and white bread. If the difference is small, I can’t say there’s any reason to purchase the unhealthy version. Our health is worth way more than a couple pennies (in my opinion).

4.  Store Brands:  The store brand products are what used to be referred to as generic but are not anything like the days of the black and white boxes. There is almost no difference at all between the “name brand” food and store brand food.

5.  Cheap Proteins:  Staples like eggs and beans can be added to almost everything and are fairly cheap. It isn’t entirely healthy to eat only protein but if you’re on a ramen budget, (which I know isn’t really good for you) you can add things like eggs to not only make it a heavier meal but slightly healthier. Besides, there are a million and one recipes for eggs and beans so you can come up with tons of meals.

If you combine these ideas with standard tips to save money at the grocery store (ie coupons) you will find that it isn’t as difficult to still eat well when you’re broke. Keep your eye on the stuff that’s good for you and you may just be able to afford it.