How to Implement Healthy Eating on a Budget

Now that you’ve undergone and seen weight loss success from your gastric sleeve surgery, it’s time to maintain that healthy lifestyle. Your eating habits have changed, and perhaps you’ve seen that change in your grocery budget as well. Try these tips for healthy eating on a budget and see a trim in your bill as well as your waistline.

Meal Plan

The easiest way to save money is to plan for it. Make a menu, complete with meals and snacks, before you go to the store. This will cut down on impulse purchasing and buying items you either already have or don’t need for this week’s meal plan. Utilize traditional cookbooks and the fun of Pinterest to find healthy recipes that suit your new lifestyle and are packed with flavor. Write out a list of snacks that are portable, easy to prep, and satisfying.

Capitalize Store Savings

Once you get in the habit of meal planning, you can also make sales scouring part of your routine. Begin to build your meal plan around the meats and produce that are on sale. Consider stocking up on meat when it hits a low price (such as $1.98/lb for boneless skinless chicken breasts). This way you can meal plan and prepare ahead by stocking your freezer.

Watch sales cycles for your favorite stock items as well. Nuts, grains, rice, beans, canned items, and frozen items all rotate through the sales cycle, usually hitting their lowest price every six weeks or so.

Consider also buying certain items in larger containers or in bulk. For instance, plain yogurt in the 32 oz container is cheaper than buying five smaller containers. It also contains no sugar and is easy to add to smoothies or soups. Buy a bag of beans, then soak and cook them yourself. You can freeze in recipe portions and pull them out as needed.

Eat in Season

When you plan your meals around seasonally appropriate fruits and vegetables, you not only save money, but you eat fresher and healthier, too. Right now, it’s spring. Think greens, strawberries, and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. Summer is bountiful with tomatoes, peppers, corn, eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash. Not to mention berries and fresh herbs. For fall, winter squashes and apples begin coming in and last for months. Greens are back during this time as well. In winter, root vegetables are the focus.

Find a local farmer’s market or join a CSA program in your community. You’ll save money and eat healthier.

Cook from Scratch

Once you’ve stocked your pantry with grocery sales and farmer’s market finds, you’ll want to cook from scratch. By eliminating processed foods from your diet, you not only save money, but you also make a better dietary choice. Processed and pre-packaged foods are full of extras, such as sodium, that you don’t need with your new lifestyle.

Prep and portion your snack items for the week on the weekend. Batch cook items such as soups and stews and freeze in individual portions for quick meals. Cook chicken in your crockpot, shred, and use all week for lunches or in tacos, casseroles, and salads. Double your favorite recipes and eat those leftovers!

Control the Portions

Since you’ve undergone bariatric surgery, your body is already accustomed to smaller portions. This will aid you in saving money because meals will go twice (if not three times!) as far. You can encourage your family to journey with you by being aware of their portion sizes, too. One way to do this is to go ahead and divide the meal before you serve it. By setting aside a portion to have as a leftover dinner or for lunches, you control how much comes to the table.

You can eat healthy on a budget. All it requires is a little planning!