Making healthy, balanced meals is not cheap, especially if you prefer to buy natural and organic foods. Even though cooking meals for a family is more affordable than eating out, there are still more ways you can save on the groceries you buy. Look out for sales, focus on seasonal items, compare prices and buy local for the most savings.
Healthy Food
Before you can cook nutritious meals, it's helpful to define what makes a food healthy. In general, the healthiest foods offer the most nutritional benefits and have the widest variety of vitamins and minerals. They also have low amounts of calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol and sugar. Most food items fitting that definition are natural, whole, fresh foods that are unprocessed or minimally processed. Therefore, you can make healthy meals if you use lots of fresh ingredients in your cooking and focus on foods from the produce section.
Nutrition Facts
If you do buy prepared foods or ready-to-eat foods that you intend to use in your meals, always review the nutrition facts labels before you purchase them. The Food and Drug Administration FDA) recommends choosing foods that limit total calories, sodium, cholesterol, fat and saturated fat. In addition, reading the ingredients list can be helpful. Foods with whole grains, fresh items and little added salt or sugar are often healthier than foods without those products.
Choosing Recipes
The recipes you choose to make can have a big impact on how healthy your meals are and how much they cost. Try to pick recipes that include a variety of ingredients from several of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended food groups--lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, low-fat and nonfat dairy products and grains, especially whole grains. Also, choose recipes that don't require specialty ingredients, which may cost more. Instead, pick those that feature readily available items that are also affordable.
Local Seasonal Food
The "Cooking Light Magazine" website recommends saving money on healthy food by buying local seasonal items, which are often cheaper. The magazine also suggests joining a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group, which provides fresh and local produce to its members throughout the growing season. Shopping farmers' markets is another way to get locally grown food that is often fresher and cheaper than food you can find in supermarkets.
Savings Tips
To save even more money, ABC News suggests making a list of the meals that your family eats most often. Write down the costs of the ingredients at the supermarket you frequent most and travel to several other supermarkets to compare costs. Then you'll know which items are cheapest at which locations. You can also use store coupons on your food choices, chop whole vegetables and fruits instead of buying prepared versions, buy items that have the lowest cost per serving and prepare more vegetarian meals to save on meat costs.
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