Sometimes I do guest blogging. Below is an article that I wrote titled Spend a Little, Get a Lot! It has tips for families on how to eat healthy while on a budget. It also has a bunch of tips that apply for eating healthy in general, regardless of budget.

As a holistic nutritionist who espouses the benefits of eating quality whole foods, I often hear concerns about the cost of eating healthy. The argument is that organic, local whole foods just cost too darn much.

Well, I’m here to tell you that luckily, that is not entirely true.

Yes, grassfed organic beef does cost more than its cornfed, CAFO-raised (confined-animal-feeding-operation) antibiotic pumped counterpart. Despite this, I still promote eating the former over the latter, because to be perfectly honest (and at risk of repeating something you’ve heard over and over again) the former is a much healthier choice. At the same time, I completely recognize that many people (myself included, by the way) are on a budget and cannot afford to triple their food costs.

How do we reconcile this?

Here are my tricks of the trade for keeping food costs manageable while still maintaining a diet full of high quality food:

Portion Size

Sometimes it really does take a change of habit. In America, we have become very used to large portion sizes. Especially in foods like meat. If you want to eat high quality meat, then one of the ways to keep costs in check is to downsize your meat portion. This may seem challenging, but most countries in the world do not consume the rather comically large portions of meat that are often served in America. All it takes is a little getting used to and soon your palm-sized steak will look appropriate.

And this doesn’t mean that you will go hungry. If you downsize your meat a bit, you get to:

Up The Veggies And Fiber

Vegetables are quite affordable in comparison to meats. Buying vegetables and fruits in season will also greatly reduce their costs and frozen can always be a cost-saving way to go as well. Two of the cheapest, yet healthiest foods, are dried beans and whole grains. Bags of these are super cheap. Filling up on fibrous goodness will keep you satiated and your digestive tract running smoothly, all while on a budget. Along these same lines: