Is Healthy Eating Expensive? How to Budget For a Good Diet

Lauren Lehmkuhl
Is Healthy Eating Expensive? How to Budget For a Good Diet

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of healthy eating? Is it the word expensive? Or needing to buy superfoods? Or the necessity of detox juice cleanses? 

Good news, none of these need to be the first thing you think about when it comes to healthy eating. Bad news is that the internet has led many people to associate it with these phrases. It is true that food prices have dramatically increased over the last decade. However, it isn’t true that you can’t eat wholesome nutrition meals without breaking the bank.

While it might take a bit of strategy, let’s discuss how to shop for healthy, affordable foods within budget. Spoiler, “superfoods” or detox juice cleanses probably won’t be on your list.

What Does Healthy Eating Mean?

Scientists and medical professionals agree - the simplest way to create a healthy diet is by focusing on whole foods.

Whole foods are ones that have been processed as little as possible and don’t have additives or artificial ingredients. Here are some examples of foods that could make up the majority of a nutritious, whole foods based diet:

  • Fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Legumes like beans and lentils
  • Whole grains like quinoa and oats
  • Lean proteins like chicken and turkey
  • Animal products like eggs and some dairy
  • Healthy fats like fish, nuts, olives, and avocados

By focusing on whole foods and leaving little space for extra stuff, you can eat healthier and cut costs. 

Is Organic Necessary?

It’s probably no secret that organic foods are almost always more expensive than their non-organic counterparts (a good exception might be when organic goods go on sale).

So can you still be healthy without buying everything organic? The short answer is - yes! While it’s true that consuming organic foods can lower your exposure to synthetic pesticides, synthetic herbicides, and genetically modified organisms, it’s not necessary to purchase everything organic to eat healthier. 

While some foods may be produced with higher standards of quality in organic farming. It is important to note that it does NOT mean that conventionally grown foods aren’t healthy. If finances are a concern, it’s much more important to buy those conventionally grown veggies than it is to skimp on buying healthy foods simply because they aren’t organic. And, it’s not necessarily beneficial to buy everything organic anyways! 

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put together helpful guides for knowing which produce it might be better to buy organic due to higher rates of synthetic pesticide residue, and which ones you don’t have to worry about - The Dirty Dozen and The Clean FifteenHaving these lists saved on your phone can help you make decisions when shopping. And whether organic or not, it’s usually a good idea to rinse your produce before eating it. 

Tips For Getting Healthy Foods For Less

Spend some time planning out your grocery shopping strategy! You can use some of these tips and tricks to get the foods you want at a cheaper price.

 Consider Frozen Meats, Poultry, Fish, and Produce

While it can be nice to enjoy fresh foods, getting everything you want fresh can definitely be a privilege.

It’s not always easy to keep foods fresh as they travel, and it will usually result in a much higher food cost than frozen options. Some estimate that frozen seafood can be approximately 20% cheaper than fresh seafood! 

It's possible to get fresh foods cheaper if you live next to a farm that provides for your local markets. You may even live near a large fishing area that would lower the costs of fish! But even then, it’s not guaranteed. 

Choosing frozen options, especially out of season produce items, will result in much lower cost for the same food! And, the frozen options will have the same exact nutritional value - freezing it doesn’t ruin the vitamins and minerals. 

The only exception to this is that micronutrients can start to degrade after about a year of being frozen. Surprisingly, sometimes nutrients are lost even during the defrosting process. To retain the water-soluble vitamins and minerals that get lost during defrosting, use the liquid to make broths or soups!

So, you should aim to eat your frozen foods within a year for maximum nutritional value. Another benefit of buying and using frozen foods is that it makes it easier to minimize the food waste that only buying fresh food can often cause! 

Take Steps To Help Minimize Food Waste! 

Staying on top of the food you have available in the refrigerator can be difficult, especially when feeding a family. But if you take the time to do this, your grocery bill and the environment will thank you!

Try to organize your refrigerator to make it easy to see the foods the might go bad the quickest. We've all had to throw away food in the fridge because we forgot it was there. There are many ways to organize your refrigerator that will help you reduce waste and save - check out this way of organizing your fridge to set you and family up for success! 

That’s why buying frozen food is great! It extends the life of produce and meats that could otherwise go bad within a week if not eaten. 

Planning your meals based on what you have in the refrigerator is another way to cut food costs. Of course, we have our favorite meals, but it’s not always practical with what food you have to use. This can be easier said than done, but it’s worth investing time in meal planning when possible! Only buy foods for you and your family that you know you will eat within that week or the next, to make sure you don’t have food spoiling. If you can’t use it all, freeze it instead of throwing it out! Pretty much everything can be frozen and still retain most of its quality after defrosting. 

Or, learn how to can or ferment foods yourself for longer storage, which is how people traditionally preserved foods before refrigeration existed! 

Check Out Canned Goods

Speaking of canning your own foods, why not buy some foods that are canned already? Canned tuna, sardines, salmon or chicken as a nutritious and often more cost effective alternative to frozen meats!

You can find almost anything canned, and canning allows for much longer storage times and faster food prep. Some nutrients may be lost in the canning process that are sensitive to heat, like vitamin C, but for the most part canning retains many of the nutrients in food. 

Don’t have time to cook a pound of beans for your family? Pulling out canned beans instead significantly saves on time, and might only be slightly more expensive than purchasing dried beans. Time can mean money, so it’s never a bad idea to have some already cooked canned foods ready to go when needed. 

Shop Seasonal Produce

Although you may want to buy your favorite fruits or vegetables all year around, it’s not exactly practical. Not only does produce that’s out of season cost more, it usually doesn’t taste as good and requires a greater environmental impact to get to you.

Cut costs on produce by educating yourself on what's in season in your area, and matching to your grocery list. If you’re in the US, you can use this Seasonal Food Guide to find what’s in season in your area!

Shop at Bulk Food Stores

Shopping at bulk food stores is a great way to maximize your shopping for the lowest possible price! Bulk food is always sold cheaper per piece, since you are buying a lot more at once. 

So if you have foods that you know you will eat regularly, it’s worth paying a little bit more upfront to be able to enjoy them without having to think about buying them for a while. 

However, not everyone has a bulk food store near them or it might require a membership to join one, like Costco or Sam’s Club. If you live near a Winco, there is no membership needed!

It could be worth the membership fee to see if these stores could benefit your finances, but there are also some regular grocery stores that will offer a bulk food section where you can get things like grains, nuts, seeds, and more at a lower price. With buying bulk, you might have a higher initial grocery cost, but the foods will last you longer and save you time and money in the long run.

Try Discount-Chain Grocery Stores

No bulk food stores around you? Similarly, discount grocery stores are often as cost effective because they offer lower prices on their foods due to older or surplus products from the same suppliers that distribute to other more expensive stores. 

Walmart, Grocery Outlet, Aldi, or even Dollar Tree all offer discounted prices on food! When it comes to these types of stores, make sure you keep an eye on the expiration dates because sometimes these stores do carry expired products. 

However, many foods, aside from meats and dairy, are just fine past their expiration dates! Primarily canned, packaged, or bottled foods. You can even find some organic produce at discount stores for much less than it is sold at conventional grocery stores. To save the most, look for frozen items that will be even cheaper at a discounted store.

Watch Those Sales

Every grocery store has times when they put foods on sale to get them purchased quicker or to promote items. To save the most money, let your grocery shopping and meal planning be partially dependent on what’s on sale at the store!

Grocery stores often showcase their sales in newspaper ads, online, on their apps, or on signs at the store. Just watch out for sooner expiration dates or produce that needs to be eaten quickly or frozen, as sales often mean the food has less shelf life left. 

Use Grocery Coupon Apps

Did you know that a lot of grocery stores have apps that show their latest sales or offer you coupons? If your grocery store doesn’t have one, it’s likely that it least has an email sign-up where they will email you promotions, sales, and coupons. 

There also designated grocery coupon apps not specific to any store, that will show you tons of coupons! If you receive the newspaper, you will also see coupons here, but apps are the most convenient way to find them these days.

Stick to Your Shopping List and Budget

It can be tempting to try new things at the grocery store that might make your bill higher than you wanted.

In order to only buy the things you need and only spend what you can, it’s essential that you create both a budget and and shopping list - and stick to it. There may be exceptions here and there, but if you really want to keep your costs low you will need to take these both seriously.

And, never grocery shop on an empty stomach! This will make it much more difficult to stick to both of these things and make it harder to include mostly healthy items in your basket! Check out these Budgeting and Shopping List apps to help you make a successful plan.

Consider Generic Brands

Keep in mind that brand names are usually just that - brands. That in no way suggests that the quality of the foods of that brand are actually better than the generic brands produced by your grocery store. 

Oftentimes, they have the same exact ingredients and similar sourcing and manufacturing processes. Saving $0.50 or $1 on generic foods may not seem like a big deal, but it adds up and can help ensure that you stay within your budget! Eating healthier and saving some money? A win-win!

Apply for the Federal Aid

There are many resources available for families struggling to get food on the table due to financial hardship. 

Try applying for the federally funded SNAP program, which can give you money to use on food for your family. It never hurts to apply for aid if you think you might qualify!

Switch To Healthy Eating!

So is healthy eating expensive? It definitely doesn’t have to be! There are so many ways to save in these economically difficult times, and most just require a little bit of time and planning. 

Need help planning your meals or determining how to create a shopping list? Try Vessel today and have unlimited access to a nutritionist on chat, who can give you practical suggestions to help make your meal planning and shopping a success.