Eating healthy on a budget can be a difficult agree or disagree?

There are ways you can eat healthy without much expense. While it is true that some things are expensive, others are very cheap if you do part of the job. Thenn you can juggle your expenses and still eat very wll. Although some things change from country to country, many expensive foods do not have to be eaten in large quantities. Quaker oats are not as expensive as those special flakes with beautiful shapes and colours. Bread can be made at home and eaten in small quantities. We all eat more carbohidrates than what we need. Veggies can be bought when in season at a farmer´s market and be processed to be used the whole year until next season. And, how about having a small vegetable garden?

I agree with you.. When I go on a diet, my wallet goes on a diet too! So I choose cheap veggies for some time then steam them w/ butter and salt..

We eat mostly healthy foods on our strict budget. We mostly buy ingredients and I do a lot of baking and my husband does a lot of cooking.

It really is hard to stretch the budget around healthy food. There are rarely coupons for fresh veggies and fruit. Almost all of them are for preservative packed canned and boxed foods. Breads, cereals, pasta anything that says Whole Wheat/grain is almost double the regular white flour versions. I buy as much produce from the local farms and farmers markets. Not only do I get better prices, the foods are fresher and I am putting money into my own local community which makes me feel a whole lot better. I try to freeze and can as much as I can from these purchases or going to the fields themselves to pick. This way I know what is in what I feed my kids over the winter and it saves me money.

I actually tend to disagree with you. For people that are trying to eat healthy, you tend to not use convenience food items and instead cook from scratch. When cooking from scratch, you do have to buy the ingredients individually. However, when doing this there are a lot of cheap prices. I am typically able to cook a balanced meal for our family from scratch for less than 10 dollars for a family of four.

I agree with you. I've noticed that too. At my Kroger store, there actually is a separate area with all of the healthy/eco-friendly foods and products and the prices will make you faint. I love organic milk. It's so thick and has a rich flavor that regular milk doesn't but organic milk costs $5.65 while regular milk is $1-2 depending on the size. The same with the bread. Good quality whole wheat bread is $4-5 while regular is 97 cents. Of course I have choose the bread that's 97 cents! That gives me more money spend on foods I need. It really seems like if you want to live healthier, you have to be wealthy.

i agree, especially because the fruit and veggies here in Canada is not always in season, so it needs to be shipped from warmer climates thus making it more expensive and if you are on a fixed budget like me, its not always easy. i use coupons and look for sales!

Some healthy foods do cost more, but there are still many good healthy foods that are very reasonable. I love canned sardines that can be purchased for under a dollar. Raw uncooked beans fresh from the field, are quickly cooked in water.Packaged raw rice makes a great inexpensive soup when mixed with pot barley. Never buy prepared or ready cooked food. Take a few minutes to prepare your own and save!( Pork hocks can be the base of a delicious crock-pot meal for the whole family, just add beans and rice!

It is more expensive to eat healthy. "healthy" foods are more expensive cause they can be. I mean come on... a stalk of celery is $1.99! All the Special K and things like that are 2-3 times more than the comparable "not so healthy" choice. Fresh is always expensive! $5 for a basket of strawberries? $1 for a lb of apples which means 2 or 3 if they are small? I try, but in the end and in reality, your budget decides how healthy you eat.

Yes, I do agree. Most of those that want to take in healthy foods always come out spending more than the usual. There is always a price to pay. This is the reason why it is really difficult to eat the healthy way all the time considering the money involve. However, though you might find spending more for such healthy food, in the end, they are worth it, considering that you spend more money for hospital and health problems later on should you always take unhealthy food.

I agree with you and yes it's expensive compared to the regular food we buy! I am on healthy food now and my budget is really not enough.Normally my 1 month budget for the regular food is now only for 1 week however I also agree that healthy food is really different as before,I get sick a lot like once a month and now I am not having sickness for 6 months and I am really happy with that.What's expensive for me are the concentrated juice I bought since it's imported.Also salads and pure meat.It's really hell pricey but I am doing double job just to be healthy.:-)

I agree! All the food in my area that is organic or healthy is much more expensive than other food. I have thought about a garden, but I don't know if I am much of a gardner..lol. I like to go to the Farmer's Market here. There is a lot of healthy food that is reasonably priced.

You're right, eating healthy is expensive. So for some people who are on a budget because the prices of living, food, and gas has gone up. That frozen box of pizza, frozen foods and drinks prices are appealing to a number of people eyes. A loaf of white bread compared to a loaf wheat bread would cost more. I guess this is something that all comes along with the decline of the economy. So right now, more people are worried about putting food on the table, rather than putting the right food on the table. Not all, but some.

I think cheap vegetables and fruits will do. That is what I do when I'm low on budget. My last resort is to drown myself with water. It keeps me full and I get to save money.

It may seem more expensive, but there are ways you can cut costs to make it more affordable. Frozen vegetables may actually be healthier than fresh because they're processed right after harvest, while "fresh" vegetables are sometimes stored for days, if not weeks, then shipped miles and miles to their destinations, where they are stored yet again before being bought and eaten. Whole grain bread is generally heavier and more filling than regular wheat or white bread, so it takes less. The same with high fiber cereal. A half cup of good quality granola will keep you satisfied a lot longer than two cups of sugary, fluffy "vitamins added" cold cereal. The best tip I can give you is to minimize the use of meat, but make it high quality meat. A little can go a long way if you use it in stews or skillet meals. Even an expensive roast can stretch to several meals if you think about it before serving the whole thing. Slice it thinly, serve with plenty of vegetables. Put back half of it and slice it thinly to serve with brown gravy. Use part of it to make a hash with all the vegetables used in it - things like that. And there are always coupons. Even healthy food has coupons. ;) Sales, of course. Watch for them closely and combine coupons with them when you can. Stock up on sale items as much as you can afford to and can use before expiration dates.

I'd say it would depend on how tight your budget was and what you were shopping for at the time..Me,I'd rarely if ever now buy white bread..and the wholemeal bread I regularly buy can be nearly half the price of some of the white bread I see on the shelves..If You eat a lot of bread,you could consider getting a breadmaker machine,and once it was paid off (Not long,they're not that expensive,and you're making less expensive and fresher breads from day 1,the more you're making,the more you're saving on store bought stuff) you'd be saving more..Do a search online for the "Coupon Queen",the lady who's a Legend in coupon collecting and bargain hunting for some tips on coupon shopping..look for recipes online for those on a budget..there's plenty ingredients out there to make inexpensive and nutritous meals with.