Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.
There’s a notion floating around these days that you can’t really eat healthy unless you’ve got cash to burn. Certainly, super-fresh organic foods cost a bit more than many people are comfortable with. But consider this: there were still healthy people around before super-fresh organic foods were commonplace in the supermarket. There are plenty of nutritious foods you can find on the shelves of your local grocery store that won’t account for a third of your shopping budget. You just gotta know where to look.
You know which aisle of the supermarket people walk past most, statistically speaking? The bean aisle. Now that’s a head-scratcher right there, because beans are good for you. You can buy dried beans in bulk for a few bucks, and that’s a week’s worth of iron, zinc, and more right there. Canned beans are fine too, provided you rinse all the extra salt off of them first.
Potatoes are one of the most common, widely available vegetables. The insides are hefty and filling, while the peel is full of vitamin C, vitamin B6, fiber, potassium, and more. While we’re on the subject of things ending in -oes, tomatoes are also a good contender, and you can get those on the cheap diced and canned.
If you’re in a meaty mood, most supermarkets sell whole rotisserie chickens for just a few bucks at the deli counter. That’s plenty of protein, and if you take the skin off, you can reduce the saturated fat as well. If you’re crafty and freeze your leftovers, you can get a week out of that one chicken.
If all these foods don’t sound appealing for one reason or another, you should also stock up on spices. Nothing can bring something more in line with your palate like the right spice. Then you’ll get all the nutrition you need and still get to eat something tasty.
