By Theresa Stahl, RD, LDN

Q: Lately, it seems as if unhealthy foods are so inexpensive, while healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, and organic items are so expensive. How can I eat healthy on a budget?

A: Rising food costs have all of us paying more attention to our choices at the grocery store as well as to our grocery bills. Here are some tips to help you eat healthy while sticking to a reasonable budget:

• Take advantage of shopping at local farmers’ markets. 
• Plant your own garden to save on fresh produce.
• Choose seasonal produce at your grocery store.
• Keep a running grocery list on your refrigerator, and always take your list to the store.
• Review your grocery store’s flyer for weekly specials.
• Sit down with your grocery store flyer, coupons and shopping list, and map out your strategy before you get to the store.  Arrange your grocery list according to the sections of your store to save time.
• Never shop when you’re hungry. You’ll spend more on impulse buying and blow your budget quickly. 
• Factor leftovers into your weekly menus. If your family doesn’t like to eat leftovers, then freeze leftover foods immediately to save for another meal at a later date.  But don’t put your foods in the freezer and forget about them.  Plan days for eating out of the freezer to make sure you don’t waste frozen foods.
• Learn to be satisfied with less food.  This will not only save you money but will also save calories and help promote weight loss and/or weight maintenance. 
• Empty calorie foods such as cookies and cakes and candy and soda may seem cheap or may seem like they’re always on sale, but you can save money by not buying them at all.  They really don’t supply nutrients to your diet anyway.
• Eat vegetarian meals that center around inexpensive beans instead of meat.
• Try frozen or canned foods when fresh ones are expensive.  These may be just as nutritious as fresh foods due to modern freezing and canning techniques.
• Buy generic/store brands which are less expensive than heavily advertised brands.
• Buy in bulk, and freeze in smaller portions for later use.

Remember, eating healthy on a budget takes planning, but it is possible to save money while making healthy choices.