A Healthy and Cheap Day of Eating
Posted on March 23, 2011 13 Comments
Most people think you need to spend a lot of money to eat healthy. Today I’m going to show you that’s not the case. I will be updating as I munch throughout the day. (As an added bonus, I have not been eating healthy at all on vacation, so putting this out there will really help me stay on target with calories today!)
Breakfast
- Home brewed coffee made from a local roaster (Blue Max in Forest Park). I would estimate this at about 40 cents per 16 oz. cup but I could be overpricing it. Includes a shot of soy milk from my home stash.
- Whole Foods 365 Brand Instant Oatmeal packet (1): 42 cents
- 1 handful of fresh blueberries: $1 (the most expensive item in my breakfast; you could get them cheaper frozen if you wanted)
- 1 tablespoon of raw slivered almonds: I’m estimating this at 20 cents for no particular reason. I have a bag of slivered almonds that I bought probably 3 months ago that is good until July. It’s expensive when you first buy the huge bag but they last forever and are a good protein source to put in oatmeal. If you want them even cheaper, buy whole almonds from the bulk bin and toss them in a food processor for equally awesome benefits.
- Total cost for a totally healthy breakfast (Coffee with soy, oatmeal, blueberries, and almonds): ~$2.
Lunch
- 1 can Amy’s Tuscan Bean and Rice soup – $3.19
- 1 apple (organic, pink lady) – 96 cents
- 1 can LaCroix – 50 cents
- 5 peanut M&M’s from my boss’ desk – free! (Ok, these are not healthy. But they are delicious.)
- Total cost for a fiber-filled lunch: $4.65
Snacks
- 2 Wasa light rye cripsbreads with 2 tablespoon of Whole Foods 365 Brand crunchy peanut butter – 50 cents??
- Hot water – free! (It’s cold here. Needed to warm up.)
Dinner
- I ate 2 girl scout cookies when I got home. Again with the not healthy, but everything in moderation is OK, right? – 60 cents?
- 1 chicken breast – locally grown, without antibiotics or steroids – $1.49
- Brown rice (paying extra for the convenience of pre-cooked) – $1.50
- Sauteed okra and peppers – $1.00
- Glass of water – free!
- Garden of Eatin’ blue corn tortilla chips and Whole Foods 365 brand salsa (hard to estimate because we buy this stuff in bulk) – 60 cents?
- Total for dinner – $5.19 (ish)
And there you have it. A healthy, mostly organic day of meals for one $12.34. There are a lot of things I could have done cheaper to get this under $10, but for my budget, I don’t need to at the moment. What’s crazy is, eating at restaurants, I can easily spend three times this amount on one meal!
One small point to make when looking at this total, I think it’s probably cheaper per person when you can buy in bulk, but when you’re cooking for one or two, so much food goes to waste. For instance, I could probably make a vat of brown rice for much cheaper but roughly half would end up in the garbage. And the same goes for soup. I am a huge fan of cooking crock pot meals, but when you make big-batch foods it seems like it ends up being just as expensive as buying canned soups only you’re eating the same thing for a week.
The other point to make is that I could probably knock a few dollars off this tab by using more Trader Joe’s products, but we were on vacation this weekend so we only had time to shop at one store this week and it happened to be Whole Foods. As you can see, we mostly get the store brand when we shop there.
Which brings me to why I created this post: most people think it costs an arm and a leg to eat healthy. But look at the lunch I ate for just $4.65 — the same price for which a lot of people eat a much less filling and less nutritious Lean Cuisine or some other artificial rubbery microwave meal. The reality is, there are a lot of brands out there that are not mainstream that are reasonably priced and don’t use artificial ingredients. I say: your food should be made of food. And looking at the menu above, I think you can see that you can get actual food for reasonable costs without breaking your bank.
As for feeding a family, I’m not sure what the comparison costs would be. If you have any insight into this, I’d love to hear it!
Category: Life, Money
Tags: food
Comments
13 Responses to “A Healthy and Cheap Day of Eating”
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March 24th, 2011 @ 4:45 am
I need to eat more like this. Thanks for the inspiration.
March 25th, 2011 @ 3:38 am
You hit upon one of my passions — healthy eating and on a budget!
You did pretty well today, congrats! And yes, listing it out helps you be more accountable and aware, doesn’t it?
You can freeze rice — did you know that? I’ve successfully frozen it. Just a thought for you. And leftover brown rice makes AWESOME fried rice…and can also make a pretty tasty breakfast cereal with a bit of milk and fruit/nuts added.
Ditto with soups and such made in bulk in the CrockPot — you can freeze servings (either individual servings for lunches later or larger servings for meals later). Ditto such things as spaghetti sauce, meatballs, lasagna — I’ll make up a whole lasagna, and if hubby and I don’t feel like eating on it for a couple of days, I just freeze half of it and we have an easy meal another night.
Meatloaf is another food that can freeze well, ‘though the leftovers make great sandwiches. You can also make “individual” meatloaves, which is handy when cooking for singles or couples — just shape your meatloaf into individual servings, bake (obviously it will take a bit less time), and you can easily freeze what’s leftover or pack it for lunches.
I also try to be creative with leftovers…leftover roast can become pot pie or soup or stew…leftover chili makes chili dogs or gets served over spaghetti or baked potato or some such (LOTS of ways to use leftover chili!)…leftover steak becomes a steak sandwich or tops a salad or is served alongside eggs for steak and eggs…you get the idea.
You asked about feeding a family — and that is a challenge to do healthily and on a budget, but it can be done. When I was feeding a ravenous and growing teenager (who often brought home ravenous and growing friends and cousins) along with my hubby, who has an enviable metabolism and hearty appetite, I always 1) checked for sales — purchasing whatever meats were on special that week, 2) purchased in bulk when I could (such as 5 pound packages of 93/7 or 96/4 ground beef, which is less expensive per pound than 1 pound packages), repackaging for the freezer, 3) often used beans to help add fiber and protein in an affordable way, and 4) always tried to develop my weekly menu around whatever was in season and most affordable at the time.
March 25th, 2011 @ 2:13 pm
Missie thanks for the fabulous suggestions! When you freeze stuff, do you typically just use tupperware? Do you thaw it before you reheat it?
March 25th, 2011 @ 3:04 pm
The container I use depends upon what — and how much — I’m freezing. The key to freezing food successfully is having it be as air-tight as possible.
If the quantity and type of food is enough to fill a Tupperware-type container that I have (such as, say, a soup, stew, lasagna, rice, whatever), then you can put it in s container like that. I usually add some plastic wrap on top, as well, before putting on the lid, just to make sure it won’t be exposed to air.
Quart and gallon-sized freezer bags are also very handy for many items, from cooked rice, soups, stews, meatballs (I often will make up a batch of meatballs from a pound of meat, then freeze half for another meal in the future), etc. Once again, I’ll often wrap it snugly in cling wrap (e.g., Saran) and then place it in a freezer bag.
I do the same thing when I purchase meats in bulk or on sale — if I have to divide the meat up, I’ll wrap it securely in cling wrap and then put it in freezer bags.
As for thawing and reheating, it depends upon what it is. For example, when you freeze a hearty casserole (such as lasagna or potato casserole or some such), you don’t have to thaw it first — you can cover it with aluminum foil and pop it in the oven frozen; it’ll just take it longer (up to possibly twice as long as if it were thawed) to heat all the way through. To reheat things such as soups and stews, I’ve found it works best if I add a bit of liquid to a pan and then dump in the soup or stew and let it reheat slowly on the stovetop, checking on it and stirring as necessary, until it’s heated through and bubbly. You can thaw it out in the microwave, too, but I’ve found that seems to take forever; I’d just as soon let it simmer on the stove! Also, I’ve never tried this, mind you, but I’m betting that if you have a CrockPot, you can put a frozen soup or stew in the CrockPot (no need for added liquid — the CrockPot creates its own liquid through steam), turn it on to low, and you’d have hot soup or stew when you get home.
Frozen cooked meats — such as chicken breasts, say, or whatever — I usually try to thaw either overnight in the refrigerator or in the microwave. Exception would be something like meatballs, which I would put in a sauce still frozen, letting them thaw as the sauce simmers.
With frozen rice (and I’ve also frozen pastas, such as spaghetti and such, as well), I put a small amount of water (2 to 4 tablespoons) in a pan, bring it to a boil, dump in the frozen rice, cover the pot, reduce the heat, and essentially steam the rice.
I’ve always loved your blog — I got my son to reading it, as well, when he started college — but as I said, you really hit one of my passions with your post about healthy, affordable eating
http://thatsmellsyummy.wordpress.com/
March 25th, 2011 @ 4:17 pm
Missie, you’re awesome! Thank you soo soo much for all these great tips. I hope you have a fabulous weekend!
March 25th, 2011 @ 6:07 pm
My #1 top meal that is cheap and healthy is beans and rice. 99 cents for a pound of dried beans and equal for rice. Add a couple of avocados, tiny bit of olive oil, a glass of milk and I feed 6 people for a couple of bucks total. I also do dried chick peas, same price. Once cooked add tomatoes and spinach, garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, a little cumin, or whatever spices you’d like, serve over rice. Legumes and rice always win for cheap and healthy!:)
#2: a little harder bc you need to live near an Ethiopian restaurant: buy extremely cheap injera, made of teff (high in protein, fiber, calcium, etc). Eat with potato/carrot/cabbage/onion/spices mixture. A couple of bucks for 6 people.
Oooh, I love this topic. SO many more!
March 25th, 2011 @ 7:10 pm
Aw, thanks, Budgeting Babe — you made me blush.
Becky, yes, beans are GOLDEN — nutritional super stars (high in fiber and protein, and naturally fat-free) but incredibly inexpensive.
Tip on beans to help reduce the potential for intestinal gas: with dried beans, I do a “quick soak method” 1) rinse and sort beans. 2) cover with water. 3) bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. 4) cover, turn off heat, and remove from burner. 5) After 1 hour (60 minutes), pour off water and continue cooking beans as per your recipe with fresh liquid. By doing the quick-soak and then pouring off that soaking water, you reduce the potential for intestinal gas.
When I use canned beans, I always drain and rinse them — this not only reduces the sodium, it also, once again, helps reduce the gas-causing tendencies of the beans.
March 25th, 2011 @ 8:26 pm
Really!? I will be draining and rinsing beans from now on!
March 25th, 2011 @ 9:21 pm
My cheap way of eating is mcdonalds. But then again, I suppose tha healthy part goes out the window – lol
March 25th, 2011 @ 9:47 pm
Ooooh Aaron, where to start? It’s definitely cheap and it tastes good (I have a soft spot in my heart for a two cheeseburger value meal, and for the egg mcmuffin with cheese) but cheap fast-food calories are usually the least nutritious you can get. I recommend reading Fast Food Nation and watching Food Inc (and following Food Inc on Facebook). And per my blog entry, you can eat whole, organic, healthy and nutritious foods for about the same cost as fast food. My breakfast cost was cheaper than a McDonald’s breakfast, and my lunch and dinner cost about the same as a value meal.
March 28th, 2011 @ 7:19 pm
I like your post. I think the real problem is not the money, it is the time. So people equivalate money with time because they feel like they have no time to prepare those things. The problem is, prep and cook time really doesn’t take that long. So the truth is they are conditioned to think opposite.
People are conditioned to think cooking food is to time consuming therefore we can’t do it. Nice post.
September 1st, 2011 @ 3:54 am
Nicole, inspired by this post, I finally uploaded a post on my blog about eating healthy while saving money (I’ve been thinking about it ever since I commented on your blog entry). In case you were interested, I wanted to give you the link:
http://www.thatsmellsyummy.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/money/
Thanks!
Thanks!
December 13th, 2011 @ 5:23 pm
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