A few hours in the kitchen on your days off is time well spent for preparing inexpensive and healthy meals. Stock up on minimally processed, cheap grains like rice and pasta when they are on sale or purchase them in bulk at your local warehouse club. Such grains are versatile for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Make your foods from scratch, substituting unhealthy ingredients for healthy ingredients. This leaves you with more money in your pocket and a healthier heart than if you were to buy ready-made mixes or dishes.
Healthy Couponing
Step 1
Match your coupons with the sales at your local grocer. Sign up for a coupon service to get plenty of your brand-name, healthy grocery items at discounted prices, often much cheaper than store brand products.
Step 2
Collect coupons for spaghetti noodles, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, lean meats, chicken breast, shrimp, fruits, frozen vegetables, nuts, eggs and seasonings. Such services provide a list of items that are on sale at your local grocery store and match the items to a coupon from the newspaper coupon inserts.
Step 3
Read the list to identify cheap shopping opportunities for healthy meats and produce. Buy your meats, poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables when they coupon service lists the item for sale as such foods do not generally require a coupon.
Stir Fry
Step 1
Purchase several packages of lean cuts of meat, such as London broil, when they are on sale or when the offer is buy one, get one free. Wrap all but one of the packages in freezer paper or freezer storage containers for later use.
Step 2
Make a stir-fry from that one package with plenty of cheap vegetables like onions, carrots, broccoli and celery. Remove all visible fat from the meat. Choose your favorite stir-fry recipe, replacing the vegetable oil with canola or olive oil.
Step 3
Add walnuts to boost your intake of omega-3 fat. Omega-3s lower your blood fats or blood triglyceride levels and raise your good cholesterol, or HDL level, according to a 2007 article by registered dietitian Janet Brill. Portion your stir-fry over cooked, whole wheat spaghetti noodles and toss to combine.
Breakfast Foods
Step 1
Make your waffle, pancake and muffin batters from scratch for healthier, cheaper meals. Buy flour, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil and other baking ingredients from wholesale clubs at a price cheaper than your local grocer.
Step 2
Substitute half of the refined white flour with whole wheat flour, especially if you eat breakfast before you work out. Use skim milk instead of whole milk. Decrease the number of whole eggs in the recipe by one-third, replacing each whole egg with two egg whites.
Step 3
Replace half of the butter with extra-virgin olive oil. If the recipe calls for vegetable oil, use extra-virgin olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat that keeps your bad cholesterol or LDL down while raising your HDL.
Tips and Warnings
- Stock up on healthy foods when they are on sale, even if you have a few packages or bags in your pantry or freezer. This makes it a cinch to prepare a variety of inexpensive meals at a moment's notice.
Things You'll Need
- Spaghetti noodles
- Lean meat and poultry
- Vegetables
- Whole wheat flour
- Skim milk
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Walnuts
References
- Mayo Clinic: Heart-healthy Diet: 8 Steps to Prevent Heart Disease
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Glycemic Index: An Educational Tool for Health and Fitness Professionals; Stephen Wong, Ph.D., and Susan Chung, R.D.N.; November/December 2003
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Eat Like You're in Crete: Teach Your Clients the Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet; Janet Bond Brill, Ph.D., R.D.; September/October 2007
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