Eating Healthy Made Affordable

 Trying to eat healthily can be a minefield. Especially if you are on a budget. 

 

And I understand that eating healthy can be a lot more expensive and time consuming than ready meals, and 'unhealthier' options - so, I am aiming to help you improve your eating, without breaking the bank.

Some of the common advice given when trying to eat healthily is to eat fresh foods, eat organic foods, eat 'low fat' varieties. And buying these options always work out more expensive. 

 

So, to break down the reasons for these: 

• The freezing process can reduce the amount of nutrients in foods. 
• Organic products use natural fertilisers and feed. 
• 'Low fat' varieties reduce the amount of fat in a product...  Often the 'good' fats are reduced. 

Really, they are just ways to increase prices, and not really benefit us that much. 

 

For me, I have started to really enjoy cooking, and I have found a few ways to reduce the time and money of eating healthily. I am no Gordon Ramsey, my meals aren't award winning, however they are still fairly good. And everything can be adapted to your own preferences. Here are some of my top tips on saving time and money: 

• Eat frozen and tinned - If you are anything like me and can't use up a whole bag of fresh fruit or veg before they go off, buy frozen or tinned varieties. Sure they have a few less nutrients, but you will reduce a lot of waste and overall save money. You can also save a lot of time in preparing, as you don't often have to peel or cut up frozen and tinned food. You can even freeze a lot of fresh stuff yourself to save waste. 
• Meal Prep - If you have the freezer space, start batch cooking. If you can do it as part of your normal cooking, even better! I often double up ingredients when I am cooking to save some for later! If you struggle to make lunch for work - this is an amazing option - as you just need to grab a pre-made pot and go! 
• Find reduced stuff - A lot of fresh meat and fish gets reduced on the 'use by' date - and if you check the labels to see if it can be frozen - you can save a lot of money this way. Often, you will need to get it out to defrost beforehand, but I have found myself sirloin steak for less than a pound, prepared salmon steaks for less than 50p per serving. 
• Herbs and Spices - Fats are very high energy, and as such we (and other animals) have evolved to seek out fat, meaning it is often what tastes best in our food! To counteract this, I try to reduce fat, by flavouring with herbs and spices - which often can be relatively cheap as well - a single pot can make loads of servings. Experiment to see what you like, and what they match well with. 
• Be creative - Most recipes available now require expensive ingredients, especially if you look at 'healthier' recipes with oat milk, or organic, free range, grass fed, fresh chicken. Just substitute in your own preferences, or cheaper alternatives. I even rewrite a lot of recipes to my own preferences so I don't forget them! 
• Use cheaper ingredients to bulk up meals - If you need to get more calories in or find meals aren't filling enough - bulk them up with cheaper ingredients. For example - a tin of chick peas (roughly 50p) is a lot cheaper than extra meat and still has nutrients, carbs and proteins to help fuel your body. Mixed frozen veg is also amazing for this (less than £1 per bag - and roughly 10p per serving) and has a great variety of carbs, proteins, nutrients and minerals. 
• Minimise washing up - try to just use on pot or pan if you can, which reduces washing up, and can infuse some of the flavours together - rather than putting duck fat on roast potatoes, put the potatoes in the fat of your roast, saving you money on fat, and reducing the washing up! 

 

Let me know your favourite ways to save money when cooking!