Frugal Health Food

My family's fitness adventures continue....

Walking and stretching and walking and stretching....we are able to do a mile (a brisk walk around town) in about 10-15 minutes consistently, which is awesome.

I was recently emailed this question:

It seems like healthy food costs more. We are on a very tight budget right now and can't afford to spend more at the grocers. Others have written that it will save money at the doctors, but truth be told we haven't been to the doctors in 5 years either. Do you have any frugal healthy eating tips?

I relate because I've been there and done that. Saving money at the doctors is a mute point when you can't afford the co-pay at the doctors, and therefore don't go unless you are dying. It's been a long time since I've seen a doctor.My kids, praise God, are also very healthy and so we haven't had the need to see the doctor at all in a few years, though we go to the chiropractor occasionally, and we see the dentist.

Healthy food is more expensive if you are already forgoing the pre-packaged junk food aisles and are cooking and eating from scratch to save money. Let's face it--carbs are cheap eats. It's cheaper to buy a bag of potatoes and some boxes of pasta because they can be stretched further, especially if you have a big family. A bag of apples may stretch a whole week for a married couple, but if you have five kids, that is an afternoon's worth of snacks. To buy bananas for the week, we need about 10 lbs of them, and pray that they last that long. I actually buy 7 bags containing 3 heads of romaine each (When there is none left in the garden), and sometimes they last until the next shopping day. Today I was going to have salad, only to find that there was enough lettuce for two bites left. I guess I can rest in the knowledge that my kids prefer salad and fruit to candybars. :-)

However, there are some healthy things that you can buy that are not so expensive.

One of the staples in our diet has always been the cheapest cut of ground beef--it stretches far and is versatile. Well, it is also high in fat and cholesterol too! I was reading online that ground turkey is better for you all around, so I decided to price some out. To my delighted surprise, ground turkey is about 20 cents cheaper than the ground beef (or the same price), and it has a nice taste too.

Real butter, while costing more than margarine, is better for you as it is more natural, though you shouldn't eat too much. Buying that keeps us from using too much of it. If you are buying "generic veggie spread" at 50 cents a pound, you will likely buy more, and use more than buying butter at 1.66 a pound, right?

Buying bags of romaine hearts is also a pretty good value on a healthy salad. Iceberg lettuce, while very low in calories, is also very low in nutrients. Romain has a lot of good things in it as a dark leafy green, and the hearts have a mild flavor. This week, three of those were just $2.38 (regular price), and sometimes they drop down to $1.99 or lower. I find they also keep well.

With other vegetables, I try to see what is on sale or seasonal, as those are usually the best prices. Some weeks we buy a few bags of apples. This may sound silly but we use removable labels, put the kids' names on them, and divide them up evenly so that one child is not eating all of the apples (or other produce). Whatever is on sale--bags of apples, boxes of clementine tangerines, bags of oranges and grapefruit, bananas, pears, plums, and so forth--we buy 2 different sorts of fruit each week for snacks and breakfast.

Cold cereal is very expensive, but some sorts of cereal (Such as no-brand bran flakes) can be relatively inexpensive--$1.50 a box where I shop. I mostly make my own granola, and we often enjoy hot oatmeal in the mornings. Oatmeal fills you up and is good for you. I make it plain and add a slight sprinkling of either cinnamon sugar (emphasis on slight!!!), or maple syrup at the table. Adding sweetner at the table means using less, as the flavor is stronger when it is on the surface.

the other big thing I've found is portion control. When you buy a box of granola bars, sometimes 1 granola bar is the whole portion, not the two or three that are in the individual package (though this varies by package!). When you dish out spaghetti sauce, usually a scant ladle full is a whole portion--not 2 or 3. I find portion control harder when you are cooking for what feels like an army--it's hard to guage when you make a huge amount of food at once. However, if you start measuring at the table you will soon be able to eyeball it better. It really is eye opening.