How to eat healthy food on a budget

Healthy eating on a budget may feel like a challenge at the moment, but it doesn’t need to. To get the biggest nutritional bang for your buck, a bit of planning and preparation around meals and shopping can go a long way.

Reduce overspending at the supermarket checkout and learn how you can get the most out of your shop for an affordable, healthy diet for you and your family.

Is it more expensive to eat healthy food?

With the rising cost of living, being smart about how we spend is a concern for many Australians.

Food is one of the main contributors to rising costs in Aussie households and 38% of people say their grocery bills cause financial stress.

At a time when cash is tight, the idea that fast food or processed options are cheaper may lead many to prioritise cost over health.

And research shows that healthy food has increased in cost at a higher rate than junk food, making it the easy, cheaper option.

But, whether you’re feeding a family of two or four, or trying to make the most of a single income, you don’t have to overspend to eat a healthy, well-balanced and nutritious diet.

What does a healthy diet look like?

If you want to eat healthfully on a budget, a good place to start is knowing what kind of foods you should be including in your diet each week and being aware of what to limit.

According to the Australian dietary guidelines, having a mix of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats and protein, fibre, dairy and healthy fats is essential for a healthy diet.

In one week, this might include:

• Eating 2 serves of oily fish such as salmon or sardines, which can help reduce the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease and stroke.
• Eating no more than 455g of cooked lean red meat (600-700g raw) each week. Lean red meat is a good source of iron and zinc, vitamin B12 and protein, but there is evidence that red meat can be a risk factor for some cancers so it’s important to limit intake.
• Including 5 serves of vegetables, legumes or beans on your plate every day.
• Eating 2 serves of fruit each day.
• Aiming for between 2.5-3 serves of lean protein, including poultry, eggs, tofu and fish, every day.
• Eating 2.5-4 servings of reduced fat dairy or dairy alternatives, including milk, cheese and yoghurt.

Ensuring your meals are made up mostly of these foods and limiting processed foods, refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and sugar, can help you maintain a healthy diet. 

Shop seasonally

It makes sense that when fruits and vegetables are in season and available in abundance, the cost per unit will likely drop.

Eating what’s in season won’t only help your bank balance. It will ensure you’re getting a wide range of foods and filling your diet with different essential vitamins and minerals.

If you’re not sure what’s in season locally, keep an eye on what’s on special in your supermarket as prices tend to drop the more available an item becomes.

Some tips to make the most of seasonal produce include:

• Buy in bulk – Stocking up on seasonal produce is a great way to save money and can help as a starting point for meal planning ideas. Make sure you’re storing produce properly to extend its shelf life. Read more here about how to store fruit and vegetables.
• Do some prep – Wash, peel and cut up any produce as soon as you get home so it’s easy to access for meals and snacks throughout the day. This will help to ensure the fresh food you have is eaten.
• Freeze your extras – If you know you can’t eat it all before it starts to deteriorate, freeze washed and chopped fruit to use in smoothies and veggies for soups, stews, curries or casseroles.

Plan your meals

There’s nothing worse when you’re on a healthy eating budget than to get to the end of the week and have to throw away some valuable food that has gone bad.

Creating a weekly meal plan before you shop can help prevent financial and food waste.

Some tips for creating a weekly meal plan include:

• Check what you already have in your fridge, freezer and pantry and what needs to be eaten first. This information can guide the first few meals of the week and stop you buying food you don’t need.
• Find out what foods are in season. Check what’s on special online at major supermarkets or make a note when you’re walking past local suppliers. Including these foods as a star ingredient in your menu for the week can help cut costs.
• Count your meals. Planning five dinners when you’re out for one night is going to lead to waste. Also, decide if any of your meals could stretch to leftovers for lunch the next day so you get a 2-for-1 meal in your budget.

Shop smart

Once you have your meals planned out, it’s time to create your shopping list.

• When making your list, arrange your foods in the same way your supermarket is laid out. So, list all fresh produce together, then cold foods, canned foods etc. As well as ensuring you don’t forget anything you need, this technique will stop you from wandering into aisles and buying foods you don’t need in your diet or your budget.
• Don’t forget to take the list with you when you shop and grab your reusable bags from home to save the cost of new bags.

How to save money when food is expensive

While fresh produce is touted as the ideal, frozen or canned produce can be a great, low-cost alternative, often with the same nutritional value.

Some good tips to follow when buying prepackaged fresh foods are:

• Choose foods stored in natural juice or brine or ideally with nothing added. Some canned and frozen foods will be preserved in oils, syrup or salt, pushing the fat, sugar and sodium levels up.
• Even prepackaged foods have Use By dates. Make a note of how long you have to eat these foods before you stock up to help prevent waste.
• Check the ingredients list. The shorter the list the closer the food will be to its original state and include less preservatives.

Timing your shop can also be a factor in how much everyday foods cost.

Unless you work in your local supermarket it can be hard to know the days or times when they discount foods and other essentials, and it might be a case of keeping your eyes peeled to see if you can discern a pattern each week.

Research suggests that supermarkets do have weekly days and times when they’re marking prices down to ensure quick sales or unload excess stock.

Some tips on when to time your shop include:

• Ask when your supermarkets restock their shelves. You might grab a special on those days when stock is plentiful.
• Mid-afternoons might be a good time to check ready-meals, salad bags or deli meats as these foods have a shorter shelf life and may be discounted each day.
• Late in the day might be a great time to swoop in and grab anything that’s reduced and approaching its Use Buy or Best Before date. Remember, food can survive past it’s expiry for extended weeks or even months if frozen before that date.
• Don’t forget to check out your supermarket specials catalogue each week to see what’s coming up on the reduced list and join instore loyalty programs to get access to member specials.