Episode 26: 5 Ways to Save Money on Healthy Eating

Trainer Tips

Jun 5

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, it can save you money! Here’s how…

Hey there! I’m personal trainer Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains), and in this episode of the Coaching Corner Podcast, I share 5 tips for saving money on healthy eating. Listen or watch the episode on Youtube below .

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Jayd (00:00):
Many people mistakenly believe that it's too expensive to eat healthy, and the truth is that it actually can save you a lot of money if you know how to eat the right things and shop in the right places. So today's episode, I'm going to give some tips for how to eat healthy on a budget to save money and eat better.

(00:28):
Hi there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I'm a personal trainer and content creator and I've created this podcast to share information on healthy eating and fitness. In today's episode, I'm going to share my five tips for saving money on healthy eating. And one of the reasons why people tend to think that healthy eating is too expensive is because they have kind of a misconception about what healthy eating actually looks like. Healthy eating really comes down to making sure that every day you are getting a variety of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, as well as your macronutrients like protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats, and just the right amount of calories to support a healthy body weight for yourself. As a general rule of thumb, you can just follow the healthy plate model, which looks like this When you go to order from a restaurant or if you sit down to put something on the plate for your meal, you should try to follow this model filling half of the plate with vegetables or vegetables and fruit, and then getting a good serving of lean protein and some kind of whole grain or starchy vegetable like potatoes.

(01:35):
Following this model will in general allow you to eat better. So now that we know what healthy eating actually looks like, let's talk about five ways that you can save money. Eating according to the Healthy Plate model, the number one way to save money on your healthy eating is to cook at home. According to a 2023 survey by US Foods, Americans spend an average of $166 dining out each month. The average person also orders delivery about four and a half times per month, and they usually spend somewhere between 11 and $20 per meal. Now, compare that to the price of cooking something from scratch. Something as simple as chicken, rice and broccoli. If you cook at home using chicken breast, white rice, broccoli, olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and seasoning, all of these things together and together it comes out to be about $2 and 63 cents.

(02:31):
So compared to that average of $11 and $20 per meal that people tend to spend when they're eating out or ordering delivery, usually delivery is going to be even more expensive. You have to pay the delivery price. You can save a lot of money by just prepping at home. And now the second way to save money in addition to cooking at home is to keep it super simple. You want to use minimal ingredients and those ingredients should come as close to nature as possible. So like fresh produce, fresh meat, and some kind of whole grain or starchy vegetable. For me personally, my sweet spot when it comes to minimal prep is to search for ingredients that use five ingredients or less. This includes things like salads or noodle bowls, pasta dishes, meal prep bowls. The simpler that you keep it and the simpler the ingredients, you keep it, you'll save time and money and it's okay to use pre-prepared things like cooked meat, cooked vegetables and that type of thing.

(03:31):
You just want to make sure that whatever you're eating, you're keeping an eye on, particularly your sodium intake and your intake on added sugars, which are typically added to processed foods. So if you're using pre-prepared or processed foods as part of your meal prep, just make sure that you balance it out with plenty of fresh ingredients. Preparing some of your ingredients ahead of time is also a really great way to save time and money. Now number three is actually the avoid ultra processed food. Now, when you are doing your super simple meal prep, it's okay to use some processed foods, but we do want to kind of avoid as much as possible really ultra processed foods like breakfast, cereals, crackers, and chips. We don't want these to be the majority of your diet because one, they're not that nutritious for you, but also they tend to be really expensive.

(04:21):
A typical box of cereal these days is between five and $7, and that doesn't actually fill you up with much nutrition. For example, if you take a look at the nutrition facts on Special K cereal, which is usually recognized as one of the healthier options, there's not really a whole lot of nutritious benefit per calories in this cereal. So even healthy cereals are pretty low in nutritious value, but they are high in sodium and in sugar and preservatives. And these things we want to minimize for healthy eating because they increase inflammation and add extra calories that your body may not actually need. So you can use them if you need to for convenience, but you do want to keep them to a minimal and make sure that the majority of what you eat is coming from fresh ingredients as close to nature as possible. Now, number four, it is okay to use canned and frozen produce.

(05:17):
Sometimes you'll save a lot of money this way. Ingredients that are already canned or frozen will keep longer. They're preserved and you usually can just add them right to whatever dish you're preparing. You can sometimes eat them right out of the can or right out of the package after you thaw it. I always keep my refrigerator stocked with frozen peas and frozen broccoli, which are staples of my personal diet plan. Now, ounce per ounce, frozen and fresh produce is actually pretty comparable in price, but you can save money by using frozen and canned ingredients because they last longer, they're less likely to spoil and go to waste. How often do you leave fresh vegetables in your refrigerator and forget that they're there or not use them in time and then you have to throw them away? That's just money wasted, but you don't have to worry about that quite as much with canned and frozen options because they stay good for longer.

(06:13):
And then also I love that they save time because you don't typically have to put a lot of prep time into cooking these items. Sometimes the frozen and the canned options are actually better for you. If you take a look at one of my favorite books, Joe Robinson's Eating on the Wild Side, you'll learn that frozen produce is often picked right at the peak of freshness, right when the item is ripe. There's a lot of the food that's on grocery store shelves was actually picked before the food was ripe and then left to ripen in warehouses instead of under the sun attached to the rest of the plant. And what this tends to do is sacrifice a lot of the flavor and even the nutrition benefit of the food. So frozen food is going to, in general, have more nutrients in it because that food has been picked at the right moment and it's frozen right when it's ripe.

(07:05):
And some varieties of produce are actually more nutritious once they have had heat added during the canning process. Tomatoes and blueberries are an example of produce that actually has more nutritious benefit and has phytonutrients that are activated more with heat than their fresh varieties. This isn't to say that the fresh varieties are bad, it's just that you get other nutrients that you might not normally get if you didn't heat up these items. So there's nothing wrong with eating frozen or canned produce, and in fact it may save you money and save you time and even maybe be more nutritious for you sometimes. Number five, buying in bulk at a wholesale retailer is a great way to save money on your healthy eating. When you have a Sam's Club membership or if you get things from Costco, you're going to pay less per ounce or less per pound on your food than you would at a typical grocery store.

(08:05):
So if there is a food item that you tend to eat a lot of, you can save a lot of money by just getting a membership to one of these wholesalers and buying your food from them. This is only going to be helpful if you actually eat the food that you buy. If you buy a lot of produce in bulk and you don't eat it in time, that's money that's going to go to waste. Make sure that you're actually using everything that you're buying from the wholesaler, otherwise you're not going to be saving any money. So those are my five tips on saving money on healthy eating.

(08:42):
I'd love to know what questions you have on healthy eating on a budget. After watching this video or listening to this podcast, you can leave a comment in the comment section below the YouTube video or you can join my Discord server and join the discussion on healthy eating the least for those are in the show notes. If you would like to join me live and ask questions while I'm live on my Twitch channel, go to twitch.tv/jaydigains and give me a follow or subscribe to get notified when I go live on Tuesdays. I usually do a live stream of my workout answer questions and review the technique for exercises of members of my community. If you join my Discord, you'll also be part of my community and get notified whenever I go live and whenever I post a new podcast episode. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next episode. Have a wonderful rest of your day.

5 Ways to Save Money on Healthy Eating

1 Cook at Home

According to a 2023 survey by US Foods, Americans spend an average of $166 dining out each month and orders delivery 4.5 times per month.

The largest portion of consumers spent between $11 and $20 per meal going out to eat. Compare that to a meal cooked at home of chicken breast, rice, and broccoli, totaling less than $3 per serving:

Chicken breast ($2.67 per pound, $0.57 per 4 oz serving)
White Rice ($0.92 per 16 oz not cooked, $0.06 per 1 oz serving)
Broccoli ($1.16 per 12 oz, $0.77 per 8oz serving)
Olive Oil ($0.462 per oz, $0.23 per tablespoon serving)
Kosher salt ($0.14 per oz, $0.01 per 1/2 tsp serving)
Pepper ($1.38/oz, $0.05 per 1/4 tsp serving)
Seasoning ($0.99/oz serving)
TOTAL: $2.63 PER SERVING

2 Keep it Super Simple

Another way to save money on healthy eating is to keep things super simple. You don’t have to create super complicated meals using exotic ingredients to eat better.

I save the most time and money by preparing simple meals using 5 ingredients or less. This includes salads, meal prep bowls, slow cooker recipes, and stir fry recipes. It’s ok to use pre-prepared items from the grocery store that are already cooked to save time in the kitchen—just try to minimize the amount of highly processed packaged foods.

3 Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods

Many so-called “health foods” are just ultra-processed junk food with added fiber or protein. Highly processed foods like breakfast cereals, crackers, chips, and other similar items tend to be pretty expensive per serving. They also usually don’t have nearly the number of nutrients that fresher foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fresh meat & dairy provide. They also tend to be packed with added sugars, sodium, and other preservatives that add extra calories and can cause inflammation. Try to minimize or eliminate these foods from your grocery shopping.

4 Use Canned and Frozen Foods

If you tend to buy fresh produce that goes bad before you use it, consider using canned or frozen items instead. These can save you money by avoiding waste while also saving you prep time in the kitchen (since these items are often ready to eat straight from the package). Make sure to select “Low Sodium” canned varieties to keep your blood pressure low and your heart healthy.

5 Buy in Bulk

You can save a lot of money on groceries by buying them in bulk from wholesalers like Sam’s Club and Costco. With a membership, you can buy larger amounts of food for a reduced price per ounce or pound. This works great for food items that you eat a lot of. Just make sure that you either eat or freeze the food before it goes bad.

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ABOUT JAYD HARRISON

Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains) is a personal trainer and content creator. She helps people to build muscle, burn fat, and clean up their diets with her online coaching programs and social media content. Check out some of Jayd’s coaching videos on Youtube, or join Jayd live on Twitch and follow on social media: