Cheap and healthy, is it possible? Can you eat healthy on a budget? I (Helena) continue my Wednesday series on food and health, from a public health expert's perspective. Today we'll have some thoughts (and tips!) on eating healthy when you have to keep a tight rein on your wallet.
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"I can't afford to buy good food"
Every now and then you hear people say "I can't afford to buy good food", usually referring to the fact that good food is expensive while "junk food" is cheap. I would like to challenge this statement a bit! But first, I want to confirm that there are of course challenges in having a limited budget. However, I think those challenges are due to more things than food prices.
Having a limited budget
There are of course different reasons for having a limited budget. For example, you may be single, unemployed, have a low-paid job, have many children at home, be on sick leave or be a student. All these circumstances are linked to a wide range of conditions that can affect your opportunities. We've both been in situations where we've had to keep an extra tight rein on our wallets, so we know it can be tough.
You may have a less flexible job or work inconvenient hours, making it difficult to organise family meals together. Maybe you don't have a car, so it's difficult to get to a better and cheaper shop. Perhaps sick leave or unemployment is linked to other, much more difficult problems, so you don't have the energy to think about cooking healthy food.
There can be many different challenges, but I don't think the biggest challenge is really the price of healthy food. Unless other things in life get in the way, it's possible to cook good food on a limited budget.
Healthy food is not always more expensive than unhealthy food!
It is of course possible to highlight examples where healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. For example, cod loin is more expensive than barbecue sausages. But there are also many examples where the opposite is true, such as:
- Tap water is cheaper than soft drinks
- A homemade fish and potato dinner is cheaper than takeaway pizza
- A bean casserole is cheaper than a beef steak
- A moderately sized portion is cheaper than an oversized portion.
16 tips for eating cheap and healthy - at the same time
Here are our top tips for eating cheap and healthy at the same time. We don't eat perfectly by any means, but we try to choose good food as often as possible, and then leave some room for our favourite things (we don't want to give up wine, for example!). Anyway, here are our top tips for eating cheap and healthy!
- Do not spend money unnecessarily on supplements such as vitamins and minerals. - Instead, spend your money on nutritious food. (Here you can read about who needs extra vitamins and minerals.)
- do not eat red meat (beef, pork, lamb, game) too often - Beans, lentils and chickpeas are affordable and healthy options.
- Do not buy more than about 125 grams of meat per person per meal - Complete the meal with rice or potatoes, root vegetables, vegetables and maybe some bread. Then everyone will be full!
- Buy occasionally even less meat per meal - Add beans, chickpeas or lentils, for example, to the stew or meat sauce.
- Making pots and soups - Casseroles and soups can easily become both healthy and affordable. Fill with beans, root vegetables and greens.
- Enjoying potatoes - Potatoes have an undeservedly bad reputation. Potatoes are a source of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and potassium, and are very filling.
- Variety of root vegetables, which are cheap and healthy - Carrots, parsnips and beetroot are fantastic ingredients. We think carrots are absolutely delicious when baked in the oven!
- Choose vegetables and fruit in season - Choosing by season is good for both price and the environment.
- Look for special prices at the fish counter - Many fish counters can offer good prices on selected fish every week. Frozen fish is also a good option.
- Trying fish in different forms - Not all fish has to be expensive. These days, for example, salmon is at a good price. Try making salmon burgers instead of hamburgers. Soooo good!
- Making soup from prawn shells - Sometimes you can find good prices for prawns. If you save the shells, you can make great soup with them the next day!
- Choose ready-made sauces and mixes with care - The shops are full of fancy jars with sweet or fatty contents. Instead, we usually buy sour cream and flavour it in different ways. Works just as well!
- Reducing food waste - How much food do you throw away? It's easy, but reducing food waste is good for your wallet and the environment.
- Choose tap water as a mealtime drink - Chill in the fridge and flavour with a little lemon if necessary.
- Choose your restaurant visits with care - Eating out always costs money, and this also applies to lunch restaurants, fast food restaurants and takeaways.
- Choose sweets and snacks carefully - Of course, sometimes you should treat yourself to something a little extra good! Buy a little less and enjoy it properly!
How do you think about eating cheap and healthy?
How do you think? Have you encountered any challenges that make it really hard to get good food on a limited budget? Or perhaps you have more tips on how to eat cheaply and healthily?
You might also like:
Tips on healthy eating - when does it become lecturing?
Food cravings (and now better eating habits)
New eating habits - for health, energy and weight loss
Food is more than nutrition - a public health scientist's thoughts on food and health
Jogging in winter - dress for the weather
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Monet says:
We have lived permanently in Provence and of course have taken inspiration from there. Right now I am in a Swedish hospital and am appalled by the food here. The food is overcooked, tasteless and full of sugar and calories. Potatoes for everything. Boiled, mashed, stewed. Vegetables? Uncooked cauliflower gratin. Ready-made mini carrots, chopped pickled beetroot. Nothing fresh. On three days only meat: minced meat sauce with spaghetti, lardons with mash, smoked ham mash, dripping pork with floury onion sauce and overcooked potatoes. TWO snacks are offered: in the afternoon coffee, sweet buns and ready-made sweet cakes. In the evening(!) the same thing but you can get cheese and ham sandwiches instead. Drinks: juice or sweet apple juice. For a prediabetic like me, this is death - lots of carbs, sweet pastries and sweet drinks. How do you think? At home we mostly eat fish and seafood, fried in olive oil or in the oven with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower in different flavours. Often cooked haricot verts tossed in olive oil or butter with crushed garlic. Try doing the same with cooked carrot sticks. Mash the cauliflower, season and add olives, anchovies, onions, garlic and fresh herbs and make a tomato salad with mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil. Or make your own pesto, anchoiade and mayonnaise. Above all: stop this miserable FIKA! Which has become the hallmark of Sweden! Which at the same time is getting fatter and fatter! In France you eat three courses, but small and varied. Dessert is never sweets but often youghurt or cheese. Sometimes a creme brulee. Eggs are forgotten in Sweden, mostly used for pancakes or sugar cookies? A lot of unhealthy food is also eaten in France, a lot of French fries, white bread and fast food, and hospital food is just as bad as Swedish food. But we know what is healthy and war and other things have taught us not to throw away food, to be economical and creative with the raw materials that are often bought at local markets. Local organic vegetables mostly!
09 December 2020 - 9:16
Helena says:
Sorry to hear that you are in hospital! And that the food is bad! Hope it's nothing serious and that you can come home soon! Thank you also for many good food tips!
09 December 2020 - 21:17
Arne Lindh says:
This is exactly what we have been thinking, and doing, since we came home from Bornholm in August. Good beer and lots of food meant that the scale stayed at 102.6kg for me. Since then, I have stopped eating in the evenings, almost never eat cheese and snacks. More green, more fish. In addition to losing 12.6 kg, our food account has decreased by about SEK 2000 per month without us eating less, on the contrary, or being bored. Now I'm looking forward to being back in the 80s in a few days.
Arne Lindh, 90.2kg.
09 December 2020 - 9:51
Helena says:
Good job!!!! Respect! We are doing a similar journey, but have not come as far ... Peter needs to lose weight and has lost a bunch of kilos now, but has even more left. I'm with you 😉 Great to hear that you are also getting a better budget and are not bored!!!!
09 December 2020 - 21:20
Ditte says:
I think it is very much about prioritisation. What you choose to spend your money on. And even if you don't have much to spend. Other things such as phones, netflix and consumption that you don't need take their fair share. If you were to write down what you spend your money on a month, it would probably be a surprise for some. I can't say that as a pensioner I have a budget that is directly limited but not unlimited either. But we focus on "good" food, something I grew up with. Then my mum cooked everything from scratch and I have basically continued with that. We buy labelled meat and fish and otherwise good ingredients. I have no problem finding "good" ingredients. But this can vary where in the country you live.
Otherwise, I believe in making a weekly menu and shopping a couple of times a week and buying what's in season when it comes to fruit and vegetables.
09 December 2020 - 11:01
Helena says:
Prioritisation is probably a good word, both in this and many other contexts. Just as you say, it can probably be an aha experience if you write down the expenses. Planning your purchases is good, I also believe in that!
09 December 2020 - 21:22
Bara brittiskt says:
Great post. However, I don't buy the lack of a car as a reason. It costs a few thousand dollars to have a car (more in a big city but there are more shops). You can shop locally for that money instead and thus keep life in your neighbourhood.
It's amazing how much sugar there is in ready-made sauces (and spice mixes!)!
09 December 2020 - 11:26
Helena says:
Perhaps the car was not the best example. I mostly wanted to make it clear that you can have different conditions. As a student in the centre of Stockholm, I perhaps felt that I was shopping at rather expensive prices. On the other hand, I agree that I didn't have to pay for a car. And maybe there are other examples that are more relevant. We know that shared meals in the family have a positive impact, and in families where this is not possible (for various reasons), the starting point is less favourable. It also affects whether you know the language, what attitudes there are in the neighbourhood etc. etc. And yes, indeed, ready-made sauces and spice mixtures etc. can be a trap, both for health and for finances!
09 December 2020 - 21:28
blandare svart says:
I really love your perspective. Great job!
09 December 2020 - 13:31
Ann says:
So the fish parcel in the oven, yes please!
I've just been trying to think of new ways to eat more fish, now that the world is so grey, to get more vitamin D, and that's a perfect way!
09 December 2020 - 14:43
Helena says:
Packaged fish is soooo good! By the way, here are even more fish recipe tips: https://www.freedomtravel.se/2020/06/recept-pa-fisk/ Greetings fish lovers 🙂
09 December 2020 - 21:29
Frido says:
Interesting!
Here the freezer is overflowing with game meat. Wild game meat is by no means free (licences, equipment, TIME to skin and cut up the animals, etc.) but it is of course cheaper in the long run as the meat stew or roast does not have to be purchased at ica.
I once read a comment on a blog discussing cheap food. There was a thought-provoking answer from someone who had no money. People suggested broccoli soups etc. but then there would always be a bit of this and a bit of that in the soup, it will be much tastier if you add xxxx... But for this person, broccoli salt and water was basically all there was and could be.
Totally agree about the potatoes. Since I work in primary school, I eat so many boiled potatoes that I get bored with them. But at home I often make a big potato casserole and keep them in the fridge. Potato casserole is great food! I like to add a fried egg. Yummy!
Thanks for the interesting Wednesday posts
09 December 2020 - 15:01
Helena says:
How nice to hear that you like the Wednesday posts!!! Interesting also with your reflections on both game meat and cheap food. Do you perhaps have access to game meat yourself since you write about this? Vegetable soups can be good, but if it includes buying everything from a blender (!) to different spices, it will no longer be as cheap. Very true!!! You can eat well on the cheap, but you also have to understand and respect the challenges!!! Of course you can get tired of potatoes, I agree! But it's still pretty easy to prepare in different ways, we think. And you can vary with other root vegetables and vegetables. We like parsnips, carrots and cauliflower 🙂 .
09 December 2020 - 21:37
bmlarsreseblogg says:
Great post!
Of course it is possible to cook good, healthy and tasty food even if the budget is limited. Cooking from scratch is almost a matter of course. Then we think it is absolutely incredible when we see how much portion-packed frozen ready-made food is sold, cheap, yes, but how much nutrition is in the portions and is it good? Hardly!!!
09 December 2020 - 16:56
Helena says:
Surely it is better (and tastier) if you can cook the food yourself!!! I completely agree! Then I can see some points with pre-packaged food as well. There are many people today who may not be able to cook themselves, perhaps older people or people with disabilities. In such cases, pre-packaged frozen food may still provide an opportunity for an independent life. The freezing method is gentle and does not remove nutrition, but some of these meals need to be supplemented, for example with fruit and vegetables. Some are too small, so you may also need to supplement with bread. And of course, if you don't have to, it's better to cook yourself, I agree!
09 December 2020 - 21:42
BP says:
Very well written! I think food should be a pleasure to eat both with the stomach and the eyes. Then fast food falls away immediately. Already there I have saved a few tens, because McDonald's is far from cheap and definitely not healthy.
We treat ourselves to good food that we hope is a bit healthy too, even though we are not vegetable lovers, but there are salads. Then it will be a mixture of meat and fish/seafood depending on the season.
09 December 2020 - 19:27
Helena says:
What fun to hear that you liked the post! 🙂 You have to try to find your own "melody" and balance between what is healthy and what you enjoy!
09 December 2020 - 21:44
Lena - gott för själen says:
I think it is a mixture of convenience and ignorance. It is convenient to buy what you always buy. Many people don't realise that food with a "bigger price tag" often contains more healthy and filling ingredients. So you don't need as much. A more expensive falukorv often contains more meat. A cheaper falukorv contains more filler that doesn't keep you full for as long, I think.
These are interesting posts!
Hug Lena
16 December 2020 - 9:49