Healthy eating on a budget

“Healthy food costs so much.” “I can’t afford to buy healthier food.” I hear those words spoken as if they are facts. You might assume eating a healthy diet will cost more. It doesn’t have to. It all depends on where you shop and what you buy. Although some nourishing and natural foods will cost more, if you make the right choices, you can buy a lot of great food for your money.

Do you follow a paleo diet, practically paleo, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or also called SCD, something similar? Think eating a protein and produce rich diet will break your budget? Think again. There are bloggers who have taken on the challenge of eating low-carb on in a limited budget and come up with some amazing meals and menus for the week that blow away the idea that healthy eating is only for the elite.Even if you don't follow one of these foodways, you can still benefit from the tips I've listed below.

Want help cutting your food costs?
Lowcarbohydrate.net
lowcarbdiets.about.com
bellaonline.com

Know what you’re looking for
Convenience and snack foods from natural foods stores usually do cost more than similar products from the supermarket. In fact, snack bars and protein bars cost a lot no matter where you buy them. That’s why you want to skip over those foods altogether. There are so many less processed, more healthful, and  economical foods you can purchase.

Try this Pork & Tomato Stew below.

They key is to minimize packaged products and go for the unpackaged or minimally packaged foods with the simplest and fewest ingredients in a state as close to the way God and Mother Nature made them. Replace industrialized foods with more traditional, primitive, pre-agricultural, whole foods and you can save money and have a healthier diet. It doesn’t have to be an either or proposition. I’ll show you how.

Real foods
Think whole eggs, fish, poultry (and not just the breast meat), and red meat, fresh vegetables and fruits, healthy fats and oils (coconut, olive, avocado, and palm oils, real butter or ghee), avocado, coconut milk raw nuts and seeds, roasted nut butters, herbs and spices, and vinegar and unrefined, mineral rich sea salt, if you want to add them as flavorings. These foods provide every nutrient your body needs to maintain health. You don’t need grains, beans, protein powders, or powdered vegetable or fruit concentrates.

Become a more selective shopper
You’ll want to shop the periphery of the supermarket and select freezer sections for these items. From here you are limited only by your lack of imagination. You can build an amazingly varied and satisfying array of meals and snacks using these foods. For this you’ll need to build your recipe repertoire so you don’t get stuck making the same five to ten recipes over and over. Try a few new recipes each week. Take note of what you like  most and want to repeat. Experiment with simple or multifaceted variations on the dishes you already know and love. Keep adding to your collection.

Here’s the first in a series of saving strategies I’ll share with you.

 For the cost of one steak...
…you can buy two, three, or four times as much roast. A local market near me called Sprouts runs weekly meat specials. They often sell pork and beef roasts for $1.99 a pound.

You can make some amazingly economical dinners with roasts. I encourage you to use recipes. You can learn a lot by following other people's recipes. You can make modifications, just write down what you do before you start cooking and again as you cook so you can repeat the great recipes and know how to modify the ones that don't come out as good as you would like.

Sure, steaks are easy to cook, but roasts really aren’t difficult, they just require a little more advance planning. You need to start them them cooking before you’re hungry.

You don’t have to cook the roasts the same way every time. You can try different recipes every time or two. Try different roast cuts from different parts of the same animal, even the ones with some fat on the outside, which can make for satisfying meals. You can cut them into pieces and stew them with vegetables and spices or slow roast them. Cook them on the weekend for the first few days of the week or after work, making them ready for the next three day’s lunches or dinner.

What about organic, grassfed, and local food?
Sure, the ideal is to buy 100% grassfed or pasture-raised meats and locally grown, mostly organic or chemical-free produce, but if you’re feeling financiall strapped and you need to make your money go farther, I think it makes more sense to eat a wide variety and abundant quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits, even if their not organic, and to eat ample animal protein and fat, even if it’s not grassfed, pasture-raised, or organic. That way you’re still eating a species appropriate diet (produce and protein-rich diet), controlling blood sugar and insulin levels, and avoiding the problems associated with high carb, starch and grain-based diets. Incidentally, some supermarkets have signs telling you which vegetables are locally grown, so you can still support some local farmers even in financially challenging times.

Check back
I’ll post more money saving tips and recipes, so if you haven’t already subscribed to this blog, I encourage you to do so now, so you receive updates when I make new posts.

Pork & Tomato Stew 

Prep: 30 minutes or less    Cooking time: 2 hours     Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Eating well doesn’t have to cost a lot. Roasts are some of the most economical cuts of meat you can buy. They’re easy to cook and yield delicious leftovers for the refrigerator or the freezer. Don Matesz, one my best friends, a fellow blogger, and my co-author in writing The Garden of Eating, created this delicious and economical recipe. For a simple meal, serve this stew with cooked leafy green or mixed vegetables or a colorful green salad with vinaigrette or lemonette dressing with fresh raw or lightly cooked fruit for dessert.

Note: Don’t trim the fat from the roast. You'll need it to flavor and enrich the stew.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon beef tallow, lard, coconut oil, or non-hydrogenated palm shortening
1 onion, cut into roughly 1/4 to 1/2-inch dice
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger (double if desired)
2 pounds pork shoulder or butt roast, cut in 1-inch pieces
2 cups canned whole tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped or mashed
1 teaspoon unrefined mineral rich sea salt or to taste
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon wheat free tamari soy sauce (I use Eden or SanJ)
1 tablespoon honey (preferably raw and locally produced)

1/2 cup finely chopped green onions/scallions, white part and about half of the green part

1. In a heavy 4-quart pot, sauté onion in 1 teaspoon of beef tallow, coconut oil, or palm shortening over medium heat. When translucent, add garlic and ginger. Stir, then add tomato and tomato juices, sea salt, pepper, cumin, bay leaves, tamari, and honey. 
2.  Stir and bring to a boil. Add chopped pork. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring periodically.
3. Finely slice or chop green onions for garnish. Cover and refrigerate in a jar.
4. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed before serving. Ladle into bowls, garnish with scallions and serve.
5. Refrigerate leftovers and once chilled to refrigerator temperature, freeze or use within 3 days. Reheat gently in a saucepan on the stovetop or in a heatproof dish in a toaster oven.

Comments

[mikle]

Hi everone! I am so excited about this site. There are so many resources. I used to be overweight and unhealthy until I decided to take charge of my life and my health. Since then I have lost 60lbs and I’m well on my way to my goal.I have so much more energy and wish I would have had the motivation sooner.My trainer stuck with me through it and she was absolutely amazing. Now I just use her for tune ups here and there when I need it. I am heading to the doctor today to see if I can stop my diabetes meds. I am hoping for the best. Looking forward to getting to know everyone.
Thanks
Tammy

[Valerie the Rada Knife Lady]

Thank you for the tip about the roasts! That's something I hadn't thought of. Steak has become so expensive, and my husband loves it.

[Mike at Paleo Diet Info]

I love the fact that you're advocating "do the best you can" with respect to shopping for ingredients.

Very often people who are new to the Paleo Diet are turned away by (shall we say) "purists" who make the whole diet sound like it's only for those who can afford organic, grass-fed, free-range ingredients.

Thanks for helping to spread the word about the Paleo Diet.

-Mike
http://www.PaleoDietInfo.com

P.S. In your "Meet Chef Rachel" page, one of your readers was commenting about tortillas. I couldn't comment on that page (comments are closed)... what do you think of the Ezekiel Sprouted Tortillas? They're made entirely with sprouted grains.

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Mike

Thanks for commenting on my blog. I think "practically paleo" describes my approach best. I want to help people get on the field, choosing wholesome, real foods, and eating a produce and protein rich diet with good fats and oils. Whether the foods organic, pasture-raised, hormone and antibiotic-free or not, well those are minor details, relatively speaking.

I believe people will feel the benefits just by making the big shifts. They can fine tune of course, but all or nothing can set people up for failure. Not everyone has the budget to eat all grassfed, 100% organically grown food.

If you're going to eat grain I think gluten free grains are best. If you eat wheat, sprouted would be better than unsprouted. When I eat tortillas I go for brown rice tortillas or whole corn tortillas (sprouted if possible or blue corn because they're non GMO).

Keep checking back for new material here!

[Nick the secret restaurant recipes guy]

Hey great tip about the roast! I actually have made this before only it was with Chicken and few different ingredients. Pork and Tomato stew sounds great. I'm printing this recipe and putting it on my list of dinners to make. Thanks

[Henkel Knives]

My daughter has started a carb reduced diet and is struggling a bit to find recipes that she can eat that are tasty as well. Also within a students budget.

The resources here will be quite helpful to her as she finds some good recipes to take to university with her.

Last night I made a chilli that is very similar to your Pork and Tomato Stew although with ground beef instead of the pork and a few alterations on the spices. It was a hit my daughter even asked me for the recipe.

Thanks again for the great information. It goes to a good home.

David

[Frederic]

Thank you Rachel...
That's a great tip for me. Yes, I had just got married five months ago and I needed so many tips about cooking. My wife often gives up if the food she makes is not good, and then we went to a restaurant to buy a steak. I really like steak. And it's very draining my pockets...

[Muscle Building Nutrition Tips]

I bet this recipe tastes excellent!

There really are healthy cheap food selections to choose from, my cupboard and fridge can prove it!

[Mari Ann from Burn Belly Fa]

Hello Chef, this is a big help for everybody. Many people are becoming more conscious with their health, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle but spending so much. Indeed, eating well doesn't have to cost a lot. What you need only is to make the right choice for you not to spend much with your budget.

[Recipes]

Very delicious recipe indeed...will try to have a taste.I'm fond of collecting various kinds of fascinating recipes.And so I hope of getting some awesome recipes from here.

[Electric Tortilla Press]

I always love about healthy eating on a budget. I always do search on the internet about this topic, and i found your site.

I would say thanks for the recipe, after i visit your site, i bookmark it and try the recipe you provide here. My child really love it!

My family really love Tortillas, do have the recipe here? If i got your permission, i want to post your recipe about tortilla on my blog.

VyDee

[Kathi]

I work a lot with people that have food allergies and diabetes. The number 1 suggestion we give most of them is give up all the packaged and processed food and start cooking yourself at home again. This way, you know exactly what is in your dinner tonight.

Now I am all for the great suggestions about the multitudes of ways to prepare a roast, but to advocate using the fatty cuts also and not explaining how they can still reduce those fats before eating it I believe is unfair, especially to many diabetics plus others with heart disease.

It is so simple to use the fatty cuts but before eating, refrigerate the prepared dish for a day or even a few hours. As the dish cools, the fats raise to the top. Skim all of that off, reheat, and you are left with an excellent meal without all of the extra fat.

For many other suggestions on changing up your current cooking methods to make your meals just as good but more health-conscious for your condition, check at http://www.allergy-and-diabetic-health.com

[Food for Diabetics]

It really looks mouth watering. Anyway, can a diabetic person eat this kind of food? Hope your answer is yes.

Thanks for sharing this post.

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Kathi
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I hear your concern and I don't subscribe to the idea that saturated fat is harmful to health. I believe it is the polyunsaturated vegetable oils (even the non hydrogenated ones), margarine, and shortening that are to blame along with sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

If you haven't watched the film: Fat Heat, I encourage you to. I'm not an advocate of fast food (I don't go to those places and haven't for decades!) but I think the deeper message of the film has merit about how the lipid hypothesis got started and how it has misled doctors and laypeople.

I suggest people either trim the fat before serving OR eat the fat on the meat (especially if it's from 100% grassfed animals) instead of adding fat or oil to their side dishes. I didn't go into preparation details in the article. The idea was to encourage trying other cuts of meat. Yes, I do skim fat from soups.

I appreciate your comment and hope you will read more on my site and try some of the recipes!

Sincerely,
Chef Rachel

[Carol]

Hi thanks for the recipe. Times are really tough these days and healthy living on a budget is really very helpful.

[Ricky Giordano]

There will always be quality food without spending too much for it. Thanks for sharing.:)

[Gary]

I try to ensure that my family always eat healthily. We thought it would become more difficult with the huge increase in food costs over the past few years but this hasn't really been the case. It took us a while but we just learnt to buy better, sourcing goods from local farm shops and growing some vegetables. We've actually seen a drop in our costs rather than a rise and it's much more of a pleasure shopping in these local stores rather than busy supermarkets.

[Latte Machine]

I have to admit that it is more expensive to eat healthy food. Even now after seven years I do it, I still spend more money than those who buy cheap sausages (without meat) and food like that. However I’m sure that I spend less money for medicine and my kids are ill very rear. That is beneficial.
I’ve paid attention to food quality about seven years ago because my daughter has cellulitis in her thirteen years. That was shock. Then I started to read all those labels with unpronounceable words and unrecognizable ingredients of products. That is real challenge to find more or less normal food without artificial ingredients. There is biological food but it is very expensive for me but nevertheless I find out that it is possible to find even in normal supermarkets food which is not very artificial.

[James]

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I definitely savored every little bit of it and I submitted your site to some of the biggest social networks so others can find your blog.

Actually I find out about Article related about Health Nutrition, but I can't find it on Google, hope you can write that topic for me, it's my pleasure to visit your website again .. ^_^