healthy budget basics

Let's be honest. Balancing our busy lives and student budgets with healthy eating isn't exactly easy or common sense. Our resources are limited and yet the activities we force our brains and bodies to accomplish require attention and love. Since my first day of college, about 4 years ago, I have been on a quest to accomplish this task. I know that when I treat my body nicely, I am able to function to the best of my ability and literally get my money's worth (both in school funds and my general livelihood). Here are some healthy budgeting basics I have discovered:

1. Pack your lunch...and your dinner for that matter

Eating out, both at lunch and dinner, costs not only triple or quadruple the price, but also tends to pack in the "not-so-good" fats and unhealthy "extras" we don't always anticipate.

2. Beans, beans, beans

I don't think I can stress how incredible these are. Not only are they super cheap (I just purchased a 20 lb bag of dried black beans from Harmons for $18), but they are an awesome supply of B vitamins, fiber, prebiotics, and protein. If you were to substitute beans for meat or poultry (whether pinto, black, or white beans) into your meals a few times a week, you would be saving a ton of money and taking out some major sources of saturated fats. Combined with rice, you could get all of the necessary amino acids your body needs. I will be devoting an entire post to these little guys in another week or so.

3. Buy produce in-season

We all know that we need to increase consumption of vegetables, but so often we find they cost us more than we wanted. At 16 cents per packet, sometimes ramen noodles sound a whole lot more appealing to our wallets. However, when you build a menu around the things which are in season, you are much more likely to get your produce for a much better price. Think about it: at the end of the summer, stores were zucchini-ed and corn-ed out. They had more than they knew what to do with, so you could get 5 ears of corn for under a dollar. I will be trying to contribute a post every other week or so to recipes for in-season produce so you don't ever feel overwhelmed and tired of (insert your vegetable of choice here). Here is a great list of fall vegetables you can look for now.

4. Buy low sodium

YOU can control the amount of sodium you put into your body. I usually spend less on a store brand of "no salt added" canned tomato. Why? I don't really know, but it always seems to work out that way for me. I have a theory that a lot of people like the salted version more leaving the low sodium version left at cheaper price just for me.

5. Rearrange that plate

I feel like I was trained as a child to fill the bulk of my plate with meat and leave the rest of the space for grains/starches and veggies. Change the habit! If you dedicate half of your plate to veggies, a quarter to whole grains, and a quarter to meat/protein, you can learn to focus more on grains and vegetables in your diet (thus saving you from the typically high cost of meat/poultry), and add a great variety of color to your plate. After all, "we eat with the eyes first."


This is just a short list of some things I do to save money and keep my diet full of those vitamins and minerals I need.

What are you things you guys do to save money while eating healthy?

-Sarah Calder