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4 tips on how to eat healthily on a tight budget

Healthy eating sounds great when you read about it, but when you try to put it into practice, it can be a different story altogether. Many people have found that preparing healthy food can be time-consuming and often more expensive than a snack they can grab from a fast-food restaurant.

Organic, imported food usually costs more than a pack of fries and requires more preparation, which is not something hungry people are usually willing to wait for. The unhealthy alternative, however, is not a sustainable option, as it can lead to several problems, such as obesity and a weaker immune system.

Fortunately, a healthy diet does not always require a large budget. Instead of giving in to tempting meals of hamburgers and fries, we can commit ourselves to buying or preparing healthier food, while keeping within the tight budgets that we may have set for ourselves. Here are some tips on how you can achieve a healthy diet without breaking the bank.

Tip #1 — Avoid pre-packaged food

Convenience food has become a necessity in modern society, with an increasingly large variety of food being made available in packaged form. For example, packaged cups of noodles and dried vegetables, ready-to-eat sandwiches and frozen roti pratas are all widely available in most convenience stores.

Although they are easily accessible, pre-packaged foods are not only more expensive than their homemade counterparts, they are also unhealthier. There is no reason to pay companies to pre-cook food for you when you can buy it in bulk and cook it fresh yourself, avoiding harmful preservatives, sugars and additives.

To make preparing food at home easy and quick, try to keep an ample stock of fibrous food like whole grain bread and vegetables, which can allow you to whip up a sandwich in no time.

Similarly, buying oats to make at home will allow you to create a filling breakfast for a fraction of the cost it takes to buy something at the bakery or cafeteria. Fresh fruit makes a healthy snack that is also easily transportable.

Preparing your own food allows you to control what goes into it, and buying fresh ingredients in bulk can help to significantly reduce your costs. While it is true that organic food can be very expensive, you can buy raw organic products, like vegetables, fruits and meats instead of pre-packaged, microwavable foods. This is a cheap, yet healthy solution to a tight budget.

Tip #2 — Package your own food

We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us, containing lots of vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies healthy. Unfortunately, many types of produce are only widely available during certain seasons, such as blueberries and apricots. Buying these fruits and vegetables when they are in season and packing and freezing them for later use is a good way to ensure that you have them at hand at all times of the year. The nutrients that they carry are frozen along with them, so within a reasonable amount of time, they remain a healthy addition to your meal.

While this might seem like an unnecessary measure in Singapore, where most things are available year-around, buying in bulk during a sale, for example, helps you save money. It is important to ensure that what you buy is a fruit or vegetable that freezes well, however. If you chop them before freezing them, you will save a lot of time when you eventually use them for cooking.

Tip #3 — Put old food to new uses

Try to get the most out of your ingredients in order to save you even more money. For example, instead of throwing away the leftovers from a previous meal, think of ways they can be put to use, such as reheating them to eat the next day or incorporating them into a new dish for a different meal, a move that can save you money and time.

On a similar note, ensure that you do not waste any food by only serving yourself what you need, and encourage your family to do the same.

Tip #4 — Plan in advance

A common reason for resorting to buying more expensive (and often unhealthy) food is fatigue and laziness to begin cooking after a long day. To prevent yourself from falling into this rut, prepare your food in advance, either partially or completely, if you know you will not have the time for it the following day.

Not only can you prepare or plan for main meals beforehand, you can also ensure that a supply of healthy, homemade snacks is available at home. Having healthy meals on hand will keep you from breaking down and ordering a pizza when you have a sudden hunger attack.

Keep a lookout for sales in the supermarket and plan your meals up to a week in advance. Once you have the meal planned out, and have all the necessary ingredients, cooking will be much easier, especially if the preparatory work such as chopping vegetables has been done beforehand. You will eventually find yourself cooking healthier meals for a lower price than what you get in restaurants.

Using the tips from this article, you will find that preparing low-budget, yet healthy food is not difficult to achieve, even for Singaporeans with busy schedules.

Do you have more tips on where to get cheap, fresh food or more ways to reduce food preparation costs? Let us know in the comments section!

Edited by Registered Dietitian Arielle Kamps, M.S., R.D, L.D. Via HealthMatters.sg, a Singapore Health and Fitness blog that aims to help you lose weight, keep fit, and live healthy. Click here to get our free guide "Eat Your Way to Health — Secrets of a Healthy Diet".

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