On a budget, and worried about increased grocery bills?

The truth is – eating healthier will probably save money overall, because you will be purchasing less takeaway, and making more meals from scratch. However, your grocery bills are likely to increase, and this can seem overwhelming!

To help ease you into heavier grocery demands, we’ve compiled eight tips for healthy eating on a budget.

1. Select recipes with fewer ingredients

During your healthy eating journey, you may be experimenting with new recipes using fresh produce.

Why not select meals with fewer ingredients to reduce your costs? Or, consider what ingredients you already have in your fridge and pantry, and select recipes to complement this.

2. Shop seasonally

In-season fruit and vegetables will be cheaper to purchase, so opt for meal ideas and snacks that feature seasonal produce.

For example, spring vegetables include leeks, Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, peas, asparagus, silverbeet and cauliflower. Fruits include avocados, apples, mandarins, strawberries, rhubarb, pears and bananas.

Also, make sure you check out your local farmer’s markets, and larger fresh food markets. Some greengrocers will have daily specials on seasonal fruits and vegetables.

3. Buy home brands where you can

Sure – for certain products (e.g. bread, crackers and cereals), there may be key nutritional differences between the ‘big brands’ and the supermarket home brands.

However, for wholefood products such as rolled oats, natural yoghurt, frozen berries and nuts – there is little or no difference. So why not save yourself a dollar or two!

4. Choose recipes using mince

Mince is usually the cheapest way to buy meat and chicken, gram for gram.

Mince-based recipes are usually great for cooking in bulk and freezing too, reducing the number of times you need to cook in a week. You know what that means – more time to hit the gym or spend time with family and friends!

5. Incorporate plant-based meals

Including vegan or vegetarian meals in your menu plan will definitely save you some hard-earned cash.

And, studies have shown that transitioning towards a more plant-based diet carries many health benefits, including reduced risk of certain cancers and metabolic diseases.

We suggest looking for plant-based meals that include at least 15-20g of protein per serve, so that you feel full after eating.

6. Make your own yoghurt

If you devour yoghurt like we do, you’d recognize how expensive this habit can be! Specifically, 1kg of Greek yoghurt can set you back at least $5-7.

If you have time on your hands, you can make your own yoghurt for less than $2 per kilogram, using milk and a starter culture.

7. Keep your eye out on specials

This is an obvious one, and applies to all ingredients, from vegetables through to meat. With regard to meat on special, don’t be turned off if the impending use-by date.

If you don’t plan on using this product until later in the week, stick it straight in the freezer straight away and defrost on the day you wish to cook it. When you freeze raw meats, the use-by date no longer applies – in fact, you can extend their ‘life’ for up to 6 months!

8. Don’t feel pressured to buy organic

Organic products are always more expensive. That is, unless they are on special.

And, whilst organic products may be more environmentally friendly (note – this is not always the case!), the jury is out as to whether there are any nutrition or health benefits for the extra dollars you spend. If you are on a budget, consider whether it’s worth spending the extra on organic food.

If you still prefer to buy organic, perhaps you can select some organic products and not others (e.g meat but not vegetables), or make cost savings elsewhere using the tips above.

Need nutrition advice?

We hope you liked our tips for healthy eating on a budget. If you need professional nutrition advice, it’s easy with our dietitian in Pascoe Vale.

Simply make an appointment online or call 9304 0500. We’d love to see you soon!

This article originally appeared on The Nutrition Code.

Note: This information is of a general nature only and should not be substituted for medical advice. It does not replace consultations with qualified healthcare professionals to meet your individual medical needs.

Looking for an easy way to improve your nutrition? Ready to make some small changes for big gains?

Then look no further than this year’s National Nutrition Week campaign: Try for 5. It encourages all Aussies to have five serves of vegetables a day.

We’ve all heard it before: eating more vegetables is the number one strategy to improve health and lose weight.

But how else are they beneficial?

Eating vegetables can reduce chronic disease

Having more vegies in our diet can reduce the risk of chronic disease. This includes coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers and type 2 diabetes.

Eating vegetables can help fight depression

New emerging evidence has found that eating vegetables helps improve mood and reduces the risk of depression. And yet, only 4% of Australians are eating enough vegetables!

That means a lot of us are missing out on essential nutrients that help us to function properly including vitamins and minerals (e.g. vitamin C, magnesium and folate), phytonutrients, antioxidants and dietary fibre.

How many vegetables are we eating?

The average Australian is only eating about half the amount of vegetables that they should be.

This is leading to an increased number of cases of obesity, chronic diseases and poor mental health (including an impact on memory and learning).

Not only are we missing out on essential nutrients available in vegetables, we are replacing our vegetable intake with processed foods that are high in unhealthy fats, salt and sugar (not so great for our health).

One extra serve can help

Did you know that just one extra serve of vegies a day can reduce your risk of mortality by 5%? That’s pretty impressive.

Imagine how your health would improve if you had five serves of vegies every single day!

A serve of vegetables includes:

• ½ cup of cooked green or orange vegetables (such as broccoli, spinach, carrots and pumpkin)
• ½ cup of cooked dried or canned beans, peas or lentils
• 1 cup of green leafy or raw salad vegetables
• ½ cup sweet corn
• 1 medium potato or other starchy vegetable (sweet potato, taro and cassava)
• 1 medium tomato.

So, now that you know how important vegies are, how can you start having more of them? Simply read our 8 tips for increasing vegetable intake every day!

Further reading

• Smart, healthy eating – do you do it?
• What to eat before and after a workout

Getting nutrition advice is easy

We offer an in-house dietetics service. This means we can give you professional help and advice about nutrition, including eating more vegetables to improve your diet.

You can make an appointment online or by calling 9304 0500.

Happy Nutrition Week!

Source: The Nutrition Code

Note: This information is of a general nature only and should not be substituted for medical advice. It does not replace consultations with qualified healthcare professionals to meet your individual medical needs.