Healthy eating on a budget

Whatever your budget healthy eating does NOT have to be expensive. You just need the know how. I have created some top tips to make meals cheaper and healthy at the same time.

1. Cook from scratch where possible. 

Ready made meals are far more expensive including sauces and other convenient products. They are also likely to be be less healthy. Try and cook from scratch where possible. You don't need to use fresh fruit and vegetables all the time. Frozen and some tinned products are just as good. In addition there is less wastage as you can just take out of the freezer what you need. Frozen and tinned fish is also cheaper than fresh too. 

Tinned beans, pulses and tomatoes are cheap and very nutritious. They are great for filling out meals such as stews and casseroles in place of more expensive meats. 

2. Use leftovers.

Whilst cooking from scratch another great idea is to make two meals or batch cook. Things like soups, stews and sauces are great for this as they freeze well too. 

If your cooking a joint of meat then you could cook a larger one that would stretch for a few meals or a whole chicken is great for making a stock. 

There are many ways to use leftover food. A great one that i often do is the remaining veg from the week chopped and cooked in an omelette or fritarta. 

3. Don't throw things away just because they have reached their best before date.

Foods can still be eaten they are just not at their best. Bread and vegetables are usually the ones to be thrown away but bread can be frozen or chopped into pieces to make croutons, breadcrumbs or breadsticks. 

Vegetables and fruit can be made into soups and smoothies of if not eaten then chopped and frozen. 

4. Buy supermarket own brands.

Supermarket own brands are usually cheaper and just as good as leading brands. It is worth trying them out. Deals can often be found in supermarkets but be careful that you only buy them if you need them. 

There are more ways to keep costs down but i haven't detailed everything here. Little Bites Cookery are planning to do more healthy eating on a budget classes, so if your interested then please get in touch. E:info@littlebitescookery.com