How to eat well on a budget

Eating well shouldn’t be difficult or expensive. Grabbing a healthy lunch should be as easy as grabbing a coffee. But with food inflation increasing from 1.5% in November to 1.8% in December, it can feel like fresh food is too expensive. With a lack of access to decent food, people can often turn to unhealthy options that are cheaper but worst for your wellbeing. Here’s what you can do to have a healthy meal without breaking the bank.

Bulk Cooking

Double up your ingredients and cook a big batch of dinner. Buying in bulk is cheaper than singular items, plus you can freeze the leftovers and have them for dinner next week.

Freeze Your Scraps

While you’re cutting up veggies, herbs, and all the bits during your meal prep, save all the offcuts and pop them into a zip log bag and freeze. Once frozen, you can add them to stews and soups or boil them for a homemade stock.

Explore Your Cupboard

That’s right, go on a deep dive into the depths of your cupboards. You never know what you might find. Is there an odd tin of something you never quite knew how to use? Give it a Google and find a recipe for it! We also have ingredients sat in our cupboards that we also forget are there. Save a few quid and make something new.

Plan

This is the most important one. Planning your meals is essential. Make a list on your phone of the weekly meals, then when you’re food shopping stick to this list. That way you don’t pick up any unnecessary items that rack up the total of your food expenses.

Plan Meals Around One Thing

Start with something that is cheap and wholesome like pasta or rice and then form your meal around that. If you’ve bought your main item in bulk, your total cost for a meal can be very cheap.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

So you overspent on your dinner budget. No problem. Just don’t buy hot drinks this week. It is about balance. Don’t stress yourself pinching pennies. Make the process fun and relaxed otherwise it will become all consuming and overwhelming.