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How can people afford to eat healthy?

Healthy food is ridiculously expensive considering you need to eat 2500 cals per day if you're a man and 2000 if you're a woman.. I usually endup eating microwave meals... I cant afford salmon

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OP needs to re calibrate his understanding of what is meant by healthy food,

OP needs to open his eyes to where you can purchase food and 'lower himself' to shopping in markets and discounters and choosing onw brands ( rmembering that many own brands are made by the big names anyway).
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
How much do you spend per day on food? Microwave meals are generally small...

Batch cooking helps. Much less waste too. Just cooked 8 batches of chicken stroganoff for like a tenner and stuffed it in the freezer. That's £1.25 per portion (and I'm talking large portions). Do 2-3 more different types of sauce (bolognese and two curries?) and you've added variety. The bolognese and curries will probably be even cheaper than stroganoff. That's dinner sorted for the next month and all you have to do is cook spaghetti and rice. Total about £1.50. For lunch I buy a 4-pack of panini buns and have 2 per lunch. Slice them up, butter, slice of ham, some low fat cheese, another slice of ham, grilled (can use a simple toastie maker for this). Total cost is about £1/lunch. Breakfast is just large bowl of readybrek with a different fresh fruit sliced into it everyday. Bananas are good value for this. Total about 40p. Now on top of the meals, add light portions of salad and vegetables to lunch and dinner for about £1. Throw in an extra fruit for 25p.

That's under £30/week for what I consider a healthy enough diet.
Reply 3
Original post by pzoDe
How much do you spend per day on food? Microwave meals are generally small...

Batch cooking helps. Much less waste too. Just cooked 8 batches of chicken stroganoff for like a tenner and stuffed it in the freezer. That's £1.25 per portion (and I'm talking large portions). Do 2-3 more different types of sauce (bolognese and two curries?) and you've added variety. The bolognese and curries will probably be even cheaper than stroganoff. That's dinner sorted for the next month and all you have to do is cook spaghetti and rice. Total about £1.50. For lunch I buy a 4-pack of panini buns and have 2 per lunch. Slice them up, butter, slice of ham, some low fat cheese, another slice of ham, grilled (can use a simple toastie maker for this). Total cost is about £1/lunch. Breakfast is just large bowl of readybrek with a different fresh fruit sliced into it everyday. Bananas are good value for this. Total about 40p. Now on top of the meals, add light portions of salad and vegetables to lunch and dinner for about £1. Throw in an extra fruit for 25p.

That's under £30/week for what I consider a healthy enough diet.


how's that healthy? thats just living in poverty.

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Original post by MrMango
Healthy food is ridiculously expensive considering you need to eat 2500 cals per day if you're a man and 2000 if you're a woman.. I usually endup eating microwave meals... I cant afford salmon

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Yes you have discovered a truth in society that healthy food is more expensive. It is no coincidence that life expectancy is correlated with socioeconomic status.
Budgeting, I started eating "healthy" and yes it is expensive but I cut down on alchohol and eating out which saved me a lot of money.
Reply 6
I eat 8-10 portions of fruit / veg and 1 portion of meat daily, get about 3000 calories all for less than £5.80 per day... if you can't afford to eat healthily, you're doing it wrong. If it means you have to make sacrifices financially in other areas of life, it's up to you to make that decision. Sometimes you can't have it all, you just need to decide what's best.
Reply 7
Imo you want to bulk, you need a job-maintenance and cutting is just about possible on student budget (homefed by momma)
Reply 8
Original post by MrMango
how's that healthy? thats just living in poverty.


Aren't microwave meals the symbol of poverty? Doesn't look like you have much to lose.
Original post by Doctor_Einstein
Yes you have discovered a truth in society that healthy food is more expensive. It is no coincidence that life expectancy is correlated with socioeconomic status.


healthy food is not more expensive, you can eat well and healthily on a budget, you just have to put some effort in, rather than loading your trolley with a junk in a store which shares it's name with a country - REAL mums don't go there either they can cook unlike chavvy slappers like K Katona ... Markets, Ethnic supermarkets, none pretenious farm shops /. farmer's markets carefully selected products from the frozen discounters ( e.g. frozen veg, brand name short dated protein sources at prices lower than the supermarkets because the date on it is not long enough for their systems ( despite it being fast moving )

life expectancy and socio economic status corelation is full of confounders such as the levels of smoking and alcohol use among those in lower socio economic groups - and some of that is cultural and nothing to do with access to cash money.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by zippyRN
healthy food is not more expensive, you can eat well and healthily on a budget, you just have to put some effort in, rather than loading your trolley with a junk in a store which shares it's name with a country - REAL mums don't go there either they can cook unlike chavvy slappers like K Katona ... Markets, Ethnic supermarkets, none pretenious farm shops /. farmer's markets carefully selected products from the frozen discounters ( e.g. frozen veg, brand name short dated protein sources at prices lower than the supermarkets because the date on it is not long enough for their systems ( despite it being fast moving )

life expectancy and socio economic status corelation is full of confounders such as the levels of smoking and alcohol use among those in lower socio economic groups - and some of that is cultural and nothing to do with access to cash money.


While you can eat a reasonably healthy diet on a budget, to eat the healthiest possible diet requires you to have a fair bit of cash. Eating healthily isn't just about eating less and eating more fruits and vegetables. The specific types of food within a food group is also important. For example Salmon is a relatively expensive fish and also one of the healthiest.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 11
Original post by Nashy19
Aren't microwave meals the symbol of poverty? Doesn't look like you have much to lose.


no a symbol of laziness

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Reply 12
Original post by Doctor_Einstein
While you can eat a reasonably healthy diet on a budget, to eat the healthiest possible diet requires you to have a fair bit of cash. Eating healthily isn't just about eating less and eating more fruits and vegetables. The specific types of food within a food group is also important. For example Salmon is a relatively expensive fish and also one of the healthiest.


I'm just gonna take vitamin tabs that have the goodness of salmon

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Original post by Doctor_Einstein
While you can eat a reasonably healthy diet on a budget, to eat the healthiest possible diet requires you to have a fair bit of cash. Eating healthily isn't just about eating less and eating more fruits and vegetables. The specific types of food within a food group is also important. For example Salmon is a relatively expensive fish and also one of the healthiest.


Salmon has become relatively cheaper in recent times, especially compared to Cod type Oceanic white fish which is why you can now purchase salmon fish fingers ... and your generic white fish fish fingers aren't going to be cod of haddock but in stead a related species such as pollack of hoki ...
Reply 14
aldi have cheap salmon
Original post by MrMango
Healthy food is ridiculously expensive considering you need to eat 2500 cals per day if you're a man and 2000 if you're a woman.. I usually endup eating microwave meals... I cant afford salmon

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If you can't afford salmon then go and catch it for yourself.:cool:
I want to eat a rainbow trout now, I love my omega-3, thanks a lot.:frown:
Reply 16
my shopping cost doubled from eating healthy sighim gna try stretch the food across two weeks somehow.
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Eating junk is really expensive! I don't understand how students eat ready meals and takeaways because I would never have had enough money to do that, even if I'd wanted to. I think I've probably had takeaway pizza less than 10 times in my life (and I'm in my mid-20s now) because I can't justify the expense when I can make a better pizza for far less money.

That said, eating really healthily isn't cheap either. The cheapest way to eat is to fill up on loads of inexpensive carbs - pasta, rice, bread, potatoes. This required a basic level of cooking skill beyond just shoving things in the microwave, but is definitely not healthy eating either.

A lot of people think eating healthily means eating loads of fruit, but that isn't really necessary. Fresh fruit is expensive (especially nice fruit, not just apples and bananas), and it's also high in natural sugars so isn't great for your teeth. You can get most of your vitamins from vegetables which are often cheaper and lower in sugar.

I would say the best way to manage a healthy diet on a budget is:
-more vegetarian meals, particularly using beans/chickpeas/lentils. These are filling and a source of protein and fibre and are also cheap.
-use a variety of veg (buy things on offer or from a market). Keep an eye on the prices for loose veg by weight - they often fluctuate based on what's in season, even in the supermarket.
-buy meat and fish when reduced to clear - check the reduced section every time you go to the supermarket and buy anything that's a good price and freezable. Then plan your meals based on what you have in the freezer. For example, I currently have loads of lean beef mince, some lean pork mince, some chicken breast, some venison burgers, some salmon, some diced lamb and some squid. These all cost less than half of their normal price because I bought them on their sell-by date.
Original post by MrMango
Healthy food is ridiculously expensive considering you need to eat 2500 cals per day if you're a man and 2000 if you're a woman.. I usually endup eating microwave meals... I cant afford salmon

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Salmon is like £1 per portion if you buy the frozen stuff.

And that is like the most expensive food known to man.


Eating healthy cheaply is easy. Just live 50% off vegetables, with a bit of meat/quorn/cheese/carbs thrown in every now and then for excitement.
Reply 19
Original post by cole-slaw
Salmon is like £1 per portion if you buy the frozen stuff.

And that is like the most expensive food known to man.


Eating healthy cheaply is easy. Just live 50% off vegetables, with a bit of meat/quorn/cheese/carbs thrown in every now and then for excitement.


please tell me where I can get frozen salmon at £1 per portion? are there any nutritional disadvantages to eating salmon which has been frozen as appose to fresh?

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