5 Easy Tips to Make Healthy Eating Less Expensive and Time-Consuming
We all want to eat healthier, but some may think we don’t have the means or the time to do so. Healthy eating sounds tough. Meal time comes up, but we need groceries, time to cook, do the cleaning afterward, and we’re hungry now.
The quickest option is calling up a takeout service and eating as fast as possible. But then we’re left with a less nutritious, unbalanced meal in our bodies and the start of a habit that could seriously decrease wellness. The best thing we could do for our health is to eat whole foods, eating less processed meals, so, therefore, home cooking allows us to control all the ingredients and balance the meals right.
Which also sounds like a lot of work.
Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help us build healthy habits that increase our wellbeing exponentially.
5 Ways to Make Healthy Eating Easier & Less Expensive
Here are 5 quick, budget-friendly, and easy ways to eat healthier instantly!
1. Meal Prep and Snack Prep at the Beginning of the Week
We are creatures of convenience. When we’re hungry or want to snack on something, we tend to reach for the easiest. Unfortunately, that tends to be a bag of chips, takeout food, or frozen meals.
If we take some time at the beginning of the week, we will have access to quick and easy snacks and meals during the week that are nutrient-dense and healthier. They can even be budget-friendly!
Grains, pasta, beans, rice, cooked vegetables, nuts, seeds, cheese, and cooked meats all work for meal prepping and snack prepping. Foods that tend to not work for meal prepping include anything too soft like fruit or soft vegetables (like lettuce) or highly crunchy items like chips.
For Meal Prep
For meal prep, always make sure you have enough protein in each meal, as this will help you feel fuller for longer (about the size of your palm should be good per meal).
Include healthy fats and carbs to keep you full and give you energy.
This can be tossing chicken and vegetables in a pan-fried with olive oil or avocado oil, then adding some rice on the side. Portion this out in containers and week them in the fridge. Make a noodle stir fry, loaded potatoes, beans vegetables, rice, or any other combo you think will work.
For Snack Prep
There are a variety of budget-friendly healthy snack prep options! Sort out cheese and slices of bread in a portioned container, make trail mix, or slice up some fruits and veggies to have with hummus.
Make overnight oats, a tray of mini eggs in muffin tins, or roll up and cut ham and cheese wraps for quick bites when peckish.
Make mug cookies, microwave mug cakes, or take time to load the oven and have handy healthy desserts to grab and go.
2. Freeze Any Leftovers
Freezing food will help reduce food waste and increase the efficiency of food. Contrary to popular belief, freezing food does not decrease nutrition by a noticeable amount.
It is a form of minimal processing that preserves food for up to 3 months or more! Freeze any leftovers in microwave-safe containers that are proportioned to be a meal. This can be anything from cooked vegetables, rice, protein, and more!
3. Use Fruit or Veggies in a Smoothie
The worst part about buying food is watching it go bad. My favorite spinach recipe is leaving it in the fridge until it wilts and can’t be used as a salad, as I think salads are overrated and unappealing. But that’s dumb and wasteful.
Instead, I throw it in a smoothie with stevia strawberries, and blueberries, and drink a much better-tasting alternative to salads.
Use any fruits or vegetables in a smoothie! This can be kale, spinach, lettuce, carrots, or any other vegetable that has a neutral taste. Add any berries or fruit to sweeten naturally or add a sweetener of your choice.
Make the smoothie extra creamy with plain yogurt, a splash of cream, milk, or milk alternative like almond milk. You can even add something like protein powder or collagen powder to add even more nutrition to the drink!
4. Swap Normal Groceries for These Substitutes
There are even simpler and easier ways to eat healthily quickly! Just substitute some groceries for healthier options.
Instead of white rice or pasta, choose whole grain. Or better yet, try pasta made from legumes like red lentils or black beans.
Try some low-carb tortillas instead of regular ones to limit sugar a bit too, as too much sugar can have detrimental health effects. The top-tier carb substitute is using zucchini noodles instead of pasta.
Better yet, you can start picking better options in everything, without limits, like using sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, choosing spinach instead of lettuce, or picking plain greek yogurt instead of sugar-filled regular yogurt.
This eats this not that mentality can help greatly in making healthier options easier.
5. Switch to Vegetarian Protein
Some plant-based proteins are much less expensive than regular meat. Tofu, for example, is much less expensive than red meat and is considered a complete protein!
Beans, tempeh, and legumes are also affordable and great proteins that can fill you up, and don’t cost too much! There is even a rising trend of taste just like meat plant-based sausages and patties.
The Takeaway
Healthy eating does not have to be a huge inconvenience. By changing some habits, we can start making changes that will help us live longer, happier lives.
There are simple, easy, and budget-friendly options for people who want to make better food choices. Meal prepping and freezing are great ways to make food more affordable and accessible. Make sure to use any leftover veggies in a smoothie. Try to substitute some food items for others that are intrinsically more healthy and nutrient dense.
Remember, health starts from within! Give your body the building blocks it needs to prosper and watch how wellness thrives and overall wellbeing improves! Use all of these tips to make healthy eating less expensive and time-consuming today.
