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Eating Healthy on a Budget
September 4, 2008 |
Many of you may be pinching pennies in the grocery store these days. But that
doesn’t mean you need to cross out the healthy food from your shopping list. “So
many people complain it’s more costly to eat healthy and really truly I’m sure
if you did it the right way you can get a lot more healthy foods for cheaper,”
says Elizabeth McCormick who’s a Registered Dietitian with Lee Memorial Health
System.
She adds that when buying fruits and vegetables if you can’t afford fresh there
are other options to check out. “Fruits and vegetables you can get frozen, you
can get cans. Make sure if they’re canned that you kind of rinse and drain any
salt off of them or if it’s a fruit make sure it’s its own juice not the syrup.”
But if you do want fresh it’s usually cheaper to look beyond the supermarket
aisles. “Shop in season for your fruits and vegetables; go to the local farmers
markets. You know all these little cute fruit and vegetable stands you’re going
to cut the cost from the labor and the shipping and the gas to send all these
fruits and vegetables if you just buy locally.”
Another way to get more bang for your buck is to steer clear of items that are
individually packaged. “They way you can cut down on costs with dairy is instead
of buying those individual tubes or packs of yogurts buy the big container and
just learn to portion it out yourself.” As for buying whole grains, the price
differences may be small but the nutritional benefits are large. “People think
it’s probably more expensive to eat whole grains, it’s not any different. You’re
going to get a lot more nutrition from your whole grains, your brown rice, whole
wheat pastas, and whole wheat breads.”
Elizabeth also advises frugal shoppers to take advantage of store promotions and
coupons. You can even base your shopping list for the week around upcoming
sales. And no matter what your budget it’s always best to shop the perimeter of
your local grocery store. While the processed foods in the middle may be a bit
cheaper, eating a lot of them could cost you in the long run. |
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