Eating Healthy on a Budget

Let me tell you a story…

A story about how I am practicing some of the things I am learning about how to live a simpler, healthier life…

Yesterday I woke up naturally, without an alarm clock, and put in a few minutes doing my morning workout routine…

After cleaning up my house a bit, I hopped on my bicycle and road over to my local grocery store, which is only about a 3-4 mile round trip.

Here was my shopping list… just enough to carry in my backpack…

1. Dozen Eggs
2. Rib Eye Steak – 2 servings
3. a bag of salad mix
4. a bag of spinach
5. 3 pound bag of golden delicious apples – maybe 10-12 in a bag?
6. Broccoli – 2 servings
7. Bag of celery – more then enough for multiple servings and to put in soup
8. 1 whole Cucumber
9. 4 Roma Tomatoes

Grand Total: $13.95

When I came home I threw the steak on the grill, steamed the broccoli, and heated up some of the lentil dish I had left over.

Once it was all done, I cut the steak in half, and divided the broccoli and lentils in half. I threw half of it in the fridge for another meal, and enjoyed the other half. A very filling meal I might add.

The lentils I used are only a dollar or so a bag which will provide you with up to twenty servings. I also added onions, tomatoes, carrots, and garlic to the lentils with some oil and vinegar. Pepper and salt as well.

I buy onions, carrots, and garlic in bulk because they keep well. A bag of onions might cost three dollars, carrots might cost two dollars per bag, and garlic costs a few dollars too but I rarely have to buy it so I can’t remember what it costs at the moment.

So with these prices added in that might bring me up to $20 for my stock of groceries.

What does this provide me?

Two dinners, two weeks of apples to eat for lunch, and at least one week worth of salad. I eat salad for breakfast by the way. 😉

The rest of the ingredients will be used in multiple meals over the course of a month (the carrots, onions, etc.)

If we figure on eating 3 meals a day for 30 days our monthly food needs will equal about 90 meals. The ingredients above will provide me with about 9 meals for roughly $15. Two dinners (steak, broccoli, lentil dish) for roughly $8. And 7 breakfast meals (salad mix with extra veggies and about seven eggs) for roughly $7.

If we simply multiple these 9 meals to turn them into 90 meals for the month we get a monthly food budget of $150 per person.

Dinners usually cost more, breakfast usually costs less, and lunch usually costs somewhere in between so these prices should average out over the long run. And as you saw above my dinner costs were $4 per meal, my breakfast costs were $1 per meal, and I believe my lunch costs will average out to $2-$3 per meal.

I am currently working on a total meal plan for the month, what it includes and what it will cost. But hopefully this gives you a quick view of how you can eat healthy on a budget.

I will be writing more about breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the various meals one can make in the weeks and months to come so if you want to follow along, then please subscribe to my blog so you won’t miss out! 😉