Today people spend a lot of money on healthy eating. But there is a smart way to keep yourself healthy and wealthy. There is no need to buy tons of pineapples and ready-made smoothies in organic bottles. Here are some cool rules if you want to save some money and still follow your healthy habits. You will see that eating healthy is not expensive at all.
1. Make a weekly menu
If you prepare a weekly menu, you can analyze all meals and components. Think over what dishes are better to include in menu, so that it is complete and meets the requirements of a healthy diet. This menu will help you to calculate the cost of all products. Choose meals that are easy to cook and that do not require a lot of time. Baked vegetables, meat and fish, which can be cooked in oven can be a great option.
2. Use season fruits and vegetables
While cooking, use seasonal fruits and vegetables. It is always cheaper and they are fresh. In summer, try eating more apple and citrus, and in winter, give preference to carrots, beets, and cabbage. Bake pumpkin, eat apples, and pears because they have a long-term storage period.
3. Grow what you can
Grow greens at home. In winter, it is rather expensive, and its shelf life is very short. On the window you can growparsley, green onions, basil, and spices. And it is very convenient, as you can always have fresh greens. No special skills are needed for this. It is enough to buy seeds, and plant them in pot and containers.
4. Visit markets
Buy products at markets and wholesale stores for a week ahead. In such stores, there are often promotions on the most popular products, and there is a large selection of different brands. So you can save time and money. You can sign up for promotions and discounts in supermarkets, which are located nearby and when planning next shopping pay attention to the discounts. It can save you some money.
5. Check online shops
It is better to buy products online. Today online shopping is getting more and more popular. Try to create a list of products you use everyday and start ordering them online. You will see, that you will spend less money and make less shopping.
6. Prepare shopping list
Try to prepare a list of required products. This will save you from buying things you don’t need. Start your shopping list with the essential products as vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish. Avoid buying products that you can cook yourself. Do not take ready-made food or frozen meals. It is better to spend time and cook by yourself. Like this, you can be sure regarding the composition and quality of the products. And it will cost you cheaper as well.
7. Time for home cooking
Cook yourself. Many meals can be easily prepared at home. There are a lot of recipes which are really easy to deal with. It is even better if you will cook together with your family. It will not take a lot of time, besides that, you can be sure in the quality of your food.
8. Freeze food
Cook several meals at once and freeze half the cooked food. You can use plastic containers for freezing. Put a sticker on the container with the date of freezing and the dish name. You can freeze almost any product: soups, pasta, meatballs, baked meat and fish, pastries and side dishes. This will save you time in future. Defrost prepared dishes in the microwave or oven.
9. Use healthy ingredients
In your recipes, replace products with more useful analogues. Any recipe can be turned into super healthy food. Top-grade flour can always be replaced with whole grain, cow’s milk with vegetable milk, and instead of sugar, put stevia or maple syrup.