Healthy eating is hugely beneficial for your health, but it’s not always easy to overhaul your diet. If you’re worried about the cost of exotic superfoods, or you struggle to find time to cook nutritious meals, we’ve come up with some easy, affordable ways to make your diet healthier.
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Batch cooking
Batch cooking is one of the best ways to save time, effort and money on rustling up tasty, healthy homemade dishes. If you get home late, or you’re too busy to spend hours prepping meals, batch cooking offers a fantastic solution. The idea is to cook large volumes of food, which you can divide into portions to keep in the refrigerator or freezer. There’s a huge range of recipe ideas available online from curries and casseroles to pasta dishes, soups and stews. Once you know what you want to cook, write down a list of ingredients and follow the recipe. When you’ve made your dish, you can freeze whatever you don’t use for later in the week or month. You can then defrost portions and come home to a delicious, healthy feast that requires minimal effort.
Preparing lunches at home
We all know that buying lunch at work adds up. If you usually pop to a deli or a coffee shop, or you purchase food from the canteen, try to prepare lunches at home instead. This is beneficial for your bank balance and your health. When you make your own food, you have control of the ingredients you use and you can save a huge amount of money. You can make sandwiches, salads, pasta salads and wraps the evening before to save time in the morning and take healthy snacks to the office with you like homemade fruit leather, whole grain crackers and raw vegetables. You can save on shop-bought juices and smoothies by making your own at home. This will also allow you to decide how much sugar to add, as ready-made products often contain a lot of artificial sugars. If you’re struggling with lunch ideas, browse recipes, take inspiration from dishes you buy from restaurants and cafes and see what others are sharing on social media.
Saving on grocery shopping
Buying healthy food like fruit and vegetables can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are lots of hacks you can use to save money on groceries. Plan a menu and write down the ingredients you need, look for sales and promotions, bulk buy items you use frequently and take advantage of loyalty points and rewards. Shop around for the best prices from different retailers and check out the sale sections. You can often buy discounted fresh produce and freeze it if you don’t plan to eat it on the same day.
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Healthy eating is crucial for good health, but it’s not always easy to make changes to your diet. If you’re always busy and you have no time, or you find that buying healthy food is too expensive, there are solutions. Try batch cooking and prepare lunches and snacks at home to take to work with you. Plan a menu, look for deals and discounts on groceries and shop around for the best prices.