body-container-line-1

4 Ways to Eat Well on the Cheap

By news.yahoo.com
Home & Food eat well
MAY 23, 2014 LISTEN
eat well

No matter how much or little you have to spend on groceries each month, it is possible to eat healthy without breaking your budget. While some argue that consuming the United States Department of Agriculture's recommended amount of daily fruits and vegetables is expensive, at least one senior economist with the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion disagrees. The organization released a sample seven-day menu plan to help consumers improve their diets and found that the cost of satisfying the USDA's recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables averaged out to about $2 per day.

It can be hard to learn how to   eat better for less. Whether you're turning over a new leaf when it comes to your diet or just trying to be more cost effective at funding an already healthy lifestyle, these four principles give you a good place to start.

1. Be smart about organics.
Buying organic   is often one of the first things many people think of when they decide to start eating healthier. Indeed, organic fruits and vegetables offer peace of mind that you aren't consuming potentially harmful chemicals that could undo your efforts to eat healthy in the long run. However, organic foods can also be expensive. An easy way to incorporate organic fruits and vegetables into your diet without blowing your budget is to be discerning about what organics you buy.

Ask yourself these questions: Does it have an inedible skin? Is it on sale? How much more does it cost than the non-organic version? Foods like bananas, oranges, lemons, watermelon, pineapples and squashes with skins that end up in your trash can or compost bin don't have to be organic because the chemicals used on them don't penetrate the part of the fruit or vegetable you eat. Also, doing a quick price comparison to see how much more the organic version will cost you than the non-organic one will help you determine   if the cost is worth it.

2. Be healthy but not picky.
It's easy to spend more on groceries, especially fruits, vegetables, whole grains and organic or GMO-free foods when you have a limited range of foods you are willing to eat. Tried and true strategies like price matching and buying produce that's on sale each week are easy ways to keep your grocery spending down. It also helps to know what fruits and vegetables generally cost the least and gravitate toward those healthy options. Select hearty staples like potatoes, lettuce, eggplant, greens, summer squash, carrots and fruits like watermelon, bananas, apples, pears, pineapple and peaches to keep your grocery bill down each month. If you are willing to eat canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, you can spend even less.

If you're not sure what to do with produce that you haven't cooked with before, the USDA's free Recipe Finder Database is beneficial resource that anyone can use.

3. Don't write off big box discount stores.
Big box discount stores sell more than four-foot flats of toilet paper and 20-box packages of macaroni and cheese. They also offer a variety of produce items. If you are extending your healthy eating to your entire family, you just might be able to get through a 10-pound bag of apples in a week. By buying in bulk on items you're fairly confident you'll be able to consume before decay sets in, you can end up paying less per pound for healthy food options. Take a close look at what large chains like Costco, that are currently making a push to offer more organic options to consumers, have on their shelves.

4. Grow your own food.
While a garden does take some money to start, once you get going, it's a very rewarding experience that you can use to   educate your entire family   about how food grows and where it comes from as well as to supplement your produce shopping. Whether you turnover patches of grass or grow peppers in pots, you can enjoy the satisfaction and fresh taste of pesticide-free produce right from your backyard. Start from seed with easy to grow foods like lettuces, corn and beans and visit your local farmers market for your favorite annuals like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, watermelons and herbs.

At harvest time, you'll likely have more than you can eat on your own before it goes bad. Preserve your produce by canning, dehydrating or freezing food for later or, participate in a local co-op exchange. It can be as simple as starting a group on Facebook with your friends about your extra produce and exchanging your abundant yields with each other.

Eating well for less is a worthwhile endeavor that can be accomplished when you start with a few common sense tips.

John Schmoll   is the founder of   Frugal Rules, a finance blog that regularly discusses investing, budgeting and frugal living. He is a father, husband and veteran of the financial services industry who's passionate about helping people find freedom through frugality.

body-container-line