Tips for Eating Well, but Inexpensively

Think of the food groups, pick one cheap healthy item from each section and be creative making meals from that.

Have you tried looking for any farmer's markets in your area??

If you have it available you can find some farm stands and such that sell amazing products that aren't really expensive.
Usually depends on your area though.

When it comes to Meat Vs organic fruits & vege's , I say go with both or whichever your family eats the most of.

Meats without hormones don't have to be expensive if you can find a local farmer in your area. Texas has plenty of places to get cattle (hormone free) for not too much money. You just have to find it. Ask around. If you get to a farmer's market for your fruit and veggies, ask THEM if they know where to get some hormone-free cattle.

Brown rice is cheap and very good for you.

Organic eggs are not quite cheap, but most have tons of Omega-3s which are great for you. Deviled eggs, hard boiled eggs, french toast, scrambled eggs. Protein is GREAT for breakfast.

Sprouts has some great deals on produce, and it's typically pesticide free if not organic. They also have great meat deals, you just have to watch the ads.

Local farmers markets are the easiest way to go. You may also want to look for any local farms in your area and what they have for public sale.

You can also look for local butchers in your area for meat, but while they may offer better product, they are usually more expensive. Still, it may be worth checking out.

For the future, if you are able, you may want to consider growing your own. As an example, tomatoes are pretty easy to grow, and a well taken cake of plant can yeald a good number of fruits.

Here is alist I saw recently in Prevention magazine which prioritizes which fruits and vegs you should splurge on organic and which are fine with regular, based on testing for pesticides and chemicals, by the Environmental Working Group: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

If you live anywhere where they are local farmers, talk to them, see if there are any farmer's markets around, if you have enough yard space, start your own garden, too! If you know any hunters, Deer meat and wild turkey, goose and duck are healthier options than many farmed animals, we barely ever buy beef here, and eat venison for most of our red meat.

Good Luck, I am learning as we go too, we had a garden this year and so far have frozen 36 ears of corn, 8 quart bags of green beans, canned 14 quarts and 8 pints of tomatos, and will have more tomatos and some carrots, too.

Jessie

Hello,

For recipes, I find allrecipes.com an invaluable resource. You can even just plug in ingredients you have in the house and it will pull up recipes using those items.

As far as eating healthfully on a budget, we LOVE soups and stews. I buy loads of vegetables....butternut squash, sweet potatos, onions, carrots, celery, and anything else (frozen edamame), as well as lentils, chickpeas, etc, and each week I create a hearty soup out of it. Here's what I do:

saute onions and garlic in olive oil, salt and pepper
add whatever veggies you want, plus lentils and beans
add canned tomatoes
cover with water (about an inch above the veggies)
boil and then simmer for as long as you want (the longer, the better...I usually let mine simmer about 90 minutes)
About 15 minutes before serving, sometimes I throw in spinach

That's it...add more spices to your liking. We eat big bowls of soup all week long with healthy bread, or I boil some pasta to add to it to make it more filling. For other soup ideas, gazpacho is super easy, chilled avacado soup. I'd recommend visiting allrecipes.com for more ideas.

Hope that helps!

look for sales at local stores... also you can grow some veggies in your yard during the year... especially if you are from a warm area.. we grow tomatoes, peppers, spinach, cucumbers... and a lot more... we use not chemicals.. seeds are very cheap .. and all you have to do is water... i also put milk that is going on bad in the soil.. it works great.. good luck

While I won't try to talk anyone out from making the most healthy decisions possible about their eating, I will encourage people to really research the differences between organic and traditional food sources. I see a lot of people referencing sources such as the movie Food, Inc. which is not a true documentary film and may not accurately represent everything.

When I was diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago after my daughter's birth, I asked my Oncologist how I needed to change my diet. I expected I'd leave the appointment and head straight to Whole Foods or Fresh Market for some free-range chicken and organic produce. Instead, he said I may need a little more protein in my diet. He couldn't site any studies showing long-term effects of organic vs. non-organic foods that may or may not have caused my cancer.

Also, there's a misunderstanding regarding what Organic really means. OMRI is a great place to start. Most people don't know that most organic produce IS treated with pesticides. This site has some good information.

http://www.omri.org

Farmer's Markets, as another person mentioned, are great. We go every weekend to pick-up local produce because it's just so much fresher than what we can get normally at the grocery store, and we like supporting the local farms that are quickly being gobbled-up by strip malls and progress.

Good luck!