Healthful Meals on a Budget

A healthy diet doesn't have to break the budget. With a little planning and a commitment to healthful eating, your family can enjoy satisfying, nutritious meals while keeping the grocery bill to a minimum.

Here are some suggestions for eating healthfully on a budget:

Cook at home. Preparing meals in your own kitchen is key to keeping tabs on nutrition and expense. Cooking from scratch lets you control the amount of fat, calories and sodium. Plus, home-cooked meals generally are less expensive than restaurant meals or "convenience foods" such as frozen entrees from the supermarket.

Focus on fresh, natural foods, rather than processed foods containing artificial ingredients. "Cook from scratch, whenever possible," says Linda Larsen, author of Everything Meals on a Budget Cookbook. "Most times that you use a packaged product, you're paying for convenience."

"If I didn't cook at home, there is no way I'd be able to afford feeding a family of six," says Maggie Mathwig, 51, of Virginia Beach, Va. "Eating out is OK once in a while, but it isn't good for our health or our budget."

Buy in bulk. You often can save money by purchasing items in larger quantities. Focus on nutritious foods that can be used in a variety of ways, such as brown rice and other grains, as well as beans and soup stock. Freeze perishable items such as meat and bread to use later. Mathwig shops in bulk and buys only items that are on sale. "There is no reason we can't eat well and save at the same time," she says.

Buy on sale. Look for sales on healthful items such as olive oil, nuts, dried fruits, canned fish, juices and low-sodium broths, and stock up. Such ingredients can be used in a variety of nutritious recipes.

Make extra. Susan Donovan, 56, of Pensacola, Fla., buys several turkey breasts when they're on sale and cooks extra for sandwiches to eat for lunch during the week. "My family loves turkey soup and turkey chili," she says. "It's tasty and healthy."

Adding inexpensive, nutritious ingredients can stretch recipes. An extra can of beans and a few potatoes, for example, can double the number of servings in a pot of stew. Having tasty leftovers at home can help resist the temptation to stop for takeout food after work.

Use leftovers creatively. Instead of reheating yesterday's meatloaf, Larsen suggests breaking up the meatloaf and adding it to a tomato sauce "to make a spaghetti dinner for pennies."

Buy generic brands. Choose the store's brand of frozen vegetables, peanut butter, canned foods and condiments. They taste just as good as more expensive name brands.

Buy less expensive cuts of meat. Cheaper cuts such as top and bottom round steak can be delicious when cooked in a slow cooker. "The long, slow, moist cooking environment breaks down the fibers in these tougher cuts so they become meltingly tender," Larsen says. "Marinating meats is also a good way to help break down the fibers in the cheaper cuts so it becomes tender."

Another way to save money on the main course is to purchase whole chickens rather than pre-cut chickens. Roast the chickens, or cut them into serving-size pieces yourself before cooking.

Prepare meatless meals occasionally. "Meatless meals are a great way to save money, since meat is usually the most expensive portion of any food budget," Larsen says. "Mushrooms, chickpeas, black beans and whole grains like barley, wheat berries and bulgur have rich, meaty flavor and great texture."

Make a meatless stew by sautéing mushrooms, onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil, then adding barley, vegetable broth and brown rice and simmering until the barley is tender. For a nutritious and budget-friendly meal, serve with a salad and crunchy bread and have fresh fruit for dessert.

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