Eating Healthy with Little Money – That’s How It Works

A varied diet does not have to be expensive. If you cook for yourself and cleverly use leftover food, you can reduce expenses. Good meal planning is also easy on the wallet. We give tips for a balanced and inexpensive diet.

The essentials in brief:

• Cook for yourself and use leftovers creatively.
• Plan your purchase well and avoid waste.
• Prefer plant-based foods and pay attention to the seasonal offer.
• Bring drinks and snacks from home for on the go.

Cook yourself

It’s usually cheaper to cook for yourself than to buy ready-made meals. Self-cooked dishes not only score points because of the lower costs, they are also usually the better choice from a health point of view. Pasta or potatoes, combined with fresh seasonal vegetables and legumes, for example, can be used to prepare delicious stews, stir-fries or casseroles that taste good and are easy on the wallet.

You can cook larger quantities and use leftovers as a meal in the office the next day or freeze them.

Plan your purchase

A well-planned weekly shop is usually cheaper than many small purchases. If you don’t plan to go to the supermarket, you usually buy more than you need and spend more money as a result. Make a meal plan for the week and write a shopping list. Do you cook more than you eat at once? Then plan meals where you serve leftovers.

These tips will help you plan:

• Think of the food that is still in the pantry and refrigerator to avoid unnecessary purchases.
• Consider the shelf life of the products. Food with a short shelf life, such as fresh salad or berries, should be consumed as soon as possible after purchase. Carrots or types of cabbage, on the other hand, stay fresh a little longer.
• To keep an eye on the costs, you can set a maximum budget for the purchase or the week.
• Many supermarkets and discounters offer food that has a short shelf life at a reduced price.
• Large packs are often offered at a lower price. But make sure that what you need actually matches the large amount, so that you don’t have to throw anything away later.
• Look at the bottom shelves in the supermarket. These are often cheaper alternatives to more expensive branded items that are sorted at eye level.
• If you’re not making a big purchase, you’re more likely to reach for the shopping basket than the shopping cart. The larger trolley appears emptier when shopping and tempts to be filled with more items. The shopping basket, on the other hand, quickly appears full.
• An old but still effective tip: Never shop hungry! Those who roam the supermarket with a growling stomach are more susceptible to all kinds of temptations.

Eat less animal and more plant-based foods

Much of the food we eat every day should be of plant origin. Five servings of vegetables and fruit, plus plenty of grain products such as bread, pasta and rice, if possible in the whole grain variety – these are the recommendations of professional societies such as the German Society for Nutrition. Meat and fish play a subordinate role and should be eaten in moderation, if at all. This not only promotes health and well-being, but also protects the climate and the wallet.

Choose more seasonal and local foods

In the supermarket you will find many types of vegetables and fruit all year round that are not in season and therefore have to be imported from far away countries. This puts a strain on the climate and on your wallet. Local seasonal foods are usually cheaper and also taste better because they can be harvested when they are ripe. The seasonal calendar provides a good overview of when and which types of fruit and vegetables are available from local cultivation .

Good storage prevents food waste

When you store food properly at home , it lasts longer and doesn’t end up in the trash because it wasn’t eaten in time. You can often eat food with a best- before date after it has expired and do not necessarily have to throw it away. This reduces food waste.

How to save on drinks

A good, inexpensive and environmentally friendly thirst quencher is tap water, sometimes mixed with fruit juice (1/3 juice and 2/3 water) or simply with a squeeze of lemon. Otherwise, cold or hot tea made from herbs or fruits, depending on the season, can be an alternative.

Plan meals for the road

Snacks that you buy on the go are usually expensive. Instead, save money and waste with homemade bread, sliced ​​vegetables and fruit, and a reusable water bottle. If you would like to enjoy a warm lunch at work, you can cook a little more at the lecture and take the leftovers with you the next day. Here, too, good planning saves money.

Save energy while cooking

Make sure to save energy when preparing meals.

• If possible, cook with a lid and only use as much water as necessary for cooking. A few centimeters of water in the pot is enough to cook vegetables or eggs.
• Cooking food by steaming is particularly energy-saving. You only need a little boiling water and the food is cooked in steam within a short time. Another advantage: Valuable ingredients are preserved during steaming.
• Only ever heat up as much water as you actually need in the kettle.
• Make sure you only open the fridge and freezer doors briefly and do not put warm leftovers inside.
• For most dishes you do not need to preheat the oven. Casseroles, stews, oven vegetables, ready meals and most cakes also turn out well this way. Only the cooking time is slightly longer.

All of these measures may not have an immediate impact on your wallet, but they do have a positive effect on your energy bill.

What you can still pay attention to with certain food groups

• Frozen vegetables and fruit: In addition to fresh vegetables and fruit, frozen goods can also be prepared quickly and are just as rich in vitamins and minerals as fresh fruit and vegetables. The cheapest are one-kilogram bags, from which you can take the required amount. However, you should avoid ready-seasoned vegetable and fruit preparations and ready meals.
• Potatoes: You can easily prepare potatoes from the baking tray yourself. Compare the basic price of fresh potatoes per kilo with the basic price of finished products such as fries. You will then find that it is worth preparing it yourself. Ready-made oven fries are up to 4 times more expensive than fresh potatoes. Leftover boiled potatoes can be processed very well, for example into fried potatoes, potato salad or in leftover pans. That saves time and money.
• Milk and dairy products: You can process natural dairy products into delicious fruit yoghurts, fruit quark, dips or herbal quark. Although this is not always cheaper than the finished milk products, it is usually tastier and more advisable. You can determine the sugar and salt content yourself and provide more variety in terms of taste.
• Meat, fish: Meat and fish are not necessarily part of a balanced, wholesome diet. With a vegetarian diet with milk and milk products and eggs, you can also do without meat and sausages. Those who value meat and fish should consume these foods consciously and in moderation. This is also easy on the wallet.
• Cooking oils: Rapeseed or olive oil are recommended as cooking oils for the kitchen. Refined oil is good for frying or baking. Cold-pressed olive oil, on the other hand, is more likely to be used for salads and cold dishes to preserve the vitamins and fatty acids in it.
• Herbs: Frozen herbs are usually inexpensive and can be used all year round. In summer you can also buy the herbs fresh. Washed, cleaned and cut, unused leftovers such as parsley, chives, basil or marjoram can be easily frozen in small bags. Dried herbs can also be very aromatic and bring variety to the plate.