Expert advice

Emily Hope: Registered Nutritionist

Emily is the Nutritionist at Healtheries. She believes being healthy is about balance and moderation, and that food should be nutritious and enjoyable. For more information, visit www.healtheries.co.nz or phone 0800 848 254. ASK ME A QUESTION

How can I eat well on a budget?

Emily Hope

Saturday, June 2, 2012

How can I eat well on a budget? Image: Thinkstock

More about Healthy eating:

Topics:

Healthy eating Nutritionist - Emily Hope

Question: I am on a strict budget but struggle to eat well because most healthy foods are incredibly expensive. Can you offer any advice on cheap foods that I could cook with that are also inexpensive?

Answer: Healthy food can be affordable... It just takes a little more effort and preparation.

BUY IN SEASON
The trick to affordable healthy eating is to buy seasonal produce (fruit & veges). Seasonal produce is abundant and is often a lot cheaper than other fruit and vegetables. Look out for fruit and vegetables on special, and stock up on those.

Aim to buy 14 pieces of fruit for one week (that’s 2 serves per day). If you find 14 pieces of fruit too expensive, substitute a few servings with canned fruit in natural juice or frozen berries, and try a few spoonfuls on your breakfast porridge or muesli.

Aim to have 3 servings of vegetables each day. These can be fresh or frozen so buy a combination of the two and enjoy different colours throughout the week, again focusing on what’s in season and on special. Shopping at local farmers markets can often be much cheaper than buying at your local supermarket. Grab a friend and make a ritual out of visiting the local markets to buy fresh local produce that’s cheaper!

VEG OUT!
Meat is often the most expensive part of a meal, so don’t make it the main star of the dish. Instead, try to base your meals around vegetables and carbohydrate foods. A good example might be a chicken-and-vegetable stir-fry, which could be made using plenty of vegetables and a half a sliced chicken breast for protein, as opposed to a whole breast. Serve with steamed rice and a sprinkle of roasted unsalted cashew nuts for a complete meal. Save the other half of the chicken for tomorrow night’s dinner. Maybe try a roasted vegetable salad with chicken. Another good example is something like a ham and vegetable frittata, using plenty of vegetables, some eggs and then adding a few slices of ham for flavour.

LOVELY LEGUMES
Try to cook a couple of vegetarian meals each week, as this will help to bring the food bill down. Legumes are packed full of fibre and protein and make a cheap and nutritious ingredient to try. You can base the whole dish on legumes, such as a Dahl (Try this Low-fat Dahl recipe) or a Chickpea curry (Chickpea Rogan Josh Curry Recipe); or you can use them to bulk out meat dishes such as adding cannellini beans to a meat loaf recipe, or bulking out a Bolognese sauce with lentils.

MAKE EXTRA
Another tip for affordable, healthy eating is to plan ahead and make extra for the next day. For example, make a large batch of a Bolognese sauce using lean mince, lentils and diced vegetables in a rich tomato sauce and turn it into Spaghetti Bolognese.

Save the remaining meat sauce for the next night by spooning it into individual ramekins or a larger oven dish. Top with freshly mashed potato and a little grated cheese. Bake until piping hot and serve with steamed greens, and you have a perfect dinner with little effort!

EAT FROM HOME
To save money, try to eat the majority of your meals from home. Planning and cooking your own meals at home is not only cheaper but a lot healthier than regularly eating out. Try to plan your meals and snacks for the week ahead before going shopping. That way you can buy everything you need and nothing you don’t, saving you both time and money!

Emily is the Nutritionist at Healtheries. For more information about Healtheries, one of New Zealand's most trusted health brands, visit www.healtheries.co.nz or phone 0800 848 254.

User comments

I am on the lowest benefit anybody can get and doing as this article suggests is very easy and very affordable. I know that some people struggle to budget(although when you don't have much this - at least for me - becomes simpler) and seem to need to be told in detail exactly what to do, this article doesn't address that. But then most people I meet struggling on a benefit are, for want of a better word, useless when it comes to spending. Most of the people that I see at the local WINZ office have internet AND smoke? I can't afford either anymore so I don't have either. Simple. Idiots.

Not knowing how to prepare the food is no excuse - you're sitting here reading this so you obviously have internet access. A quick Google search will show you an endless supply of recipes and meal ideas. You can buy 'reduced to clear' veges at the supermarket very cheap and use them in a soup. It doesnt matter if they're a little bit wilty. Bulk it up with carby vegetables like potatoes and pumpkin - or lentils. A very cheap easy recipe is a vegetable chili which just uses 3 or 4 tins of veges such as chili tomatoes, black beans and chick peas. Search for the recipes rather than just buying the horrible processed food. Its amazing all the tasty things you can make on a tight budget. -This coming from a 22 year old supporting two on a small salary and not a lot of time. No excuses guys, stop feeling so oppressed and sorry for yourselves.

After Auto payments for electricity, Rental property and second hand furniture there is not much left to buy decent or ample food supplies for the week, on top of these, there is my doctors visits, petrol for vehicle, vehicle registration and warrent of fitness, plus now and then I need to purchase clothing and shoes. All this on a limited income. ( Invalids Benefit ) So you keep your budget ideas, and the rest of us will continue to struggle. Its really amazing that someone who is not this situation, ( the poor house) is handing out advise,

Ok here we go again, someone who has little idea of what a low budget some of us have. Vague answers like 14 pieces of fruit, (size? and why 14) then suggesting substituting tinned which often is way more expensive. Where are your average costings? On our budget I can often not get fruit (and I buy the reduced items which actually are less healthy). Then servings of vegetables, not stating exactly what the serving size is, and again no costings. It would be far more helpful with actual costing for serves of each dish and extra fruit or veges needed for the week. Some more practical advice say for a $50 budget, then a $75 then a $100 for 2-4 people would be much more helpful. Lastly lots of people requiring budget advice do not know how to prepare lentils and dried beans so that answer is not so helpful.