- Hi, Dr.Josh Axe here.
Doctor of Natural Medicine and Founder of DrAxe.com
In this video, I'm going to share with you
how to shop healthy on a budget.
And if you're a person out there, and hey maybe you've
a limited budget, but you want to eat healthy, you want
to transform your health.
I'm going to give you the biggest tips to do that.
By the way, everything I'm going to share with you will also
taste amazing.
Alright, let's get started.
Number one tip is shop in bulk.
Okay, so for my family, and for, I know some others
you know, growing up, one of the things we did is we went
to shop at Costco.
You know, it's a great thing to do, or we'd buy bulk herbs
and super foods online.
Or go to our local farmer and buy in bulk.
We'd put it in a freezer at home.
That's one of the biggest ways you can save money.
So, I remember we did this, I did this when I was
in college and had no money.
I went in with some friends and we actually bought
part of a cow and we got all of these different cuts
of meat and hamburger meat and we bought in bulk and
we froze it and we actually got grass-fed beef that way.
You know, another example of this, too, is, you know
going in to a place like Costco or a place where you can
buy in bulk, I got wild king salmon.
The same salmon you would pay around thirty dollars plus
for a single meal at a fancy restaurant, you can get that
same salmon in a can for less than three dollars for
wild Alaskan king salmon or sockeye salmon.
And growing up, one of the things my family always did,
and I still do today is I'll make salmon patties.
I'll get some healthy crackers, I'll get some salmon,
some eggs, and just sort of fry that up.
And you can do salmon patties at home.
So there's an example, but, here's the big tip,
number one to save money and shop on a budget,
shop healthy on a budget, is to shop in bulk.
You can buy bulk herbs online.
Italian seasoning, sea salt and Himalayan salt.
Really, really big value size bundles.
That is probably one of the biggest ways you can save money.
Number two is know your budget and plan ahead.
Now I've had people say before, "I can't really afford to
eat healthy," but then I'll see them spending four to five
dollars on their morning coffee and seven plus dollars
eating out at a fast food restaurant.
Here's the big thing to know is, how many dollars do you
have per month, knowing your budget, and using that
on food cost.
And I guarantee you, if I saw, hey here's how much you have
laid out, I could help you shop and eat healthy.
Doing it the right way, again, buying in bulk,
and again, planning and budgeting ahead.
And along with that, this'll slide right in is
step number three is buy foods, often times organic,
that are frozen.
Okay now, frozen foods are often times nutrient-dense
and in some cases with things like fruit, can be more
nutrient-dense frozen than it is when it's fresh.
Here let me give you an example of this.
A lot of our fruit today is shipped in from places like
Mexico and South America or China.
And a lot of times they're harvested weeks early,
they're sprayed, and, so they're not, they don't grow to
full nutrient density.
Where if often times if things are frozen, they actually
are waited 'til their peak ripeness frozen.
Have you ever noticed that?
When you eat frozen fruit, sometimes it's actually
even sweeter than the fresh fruit, or it seems it's
more flavorful.
Sometimes it's because that's been allowed to fully
ripen where the other fruit and foods haven't.
So listen, consuming frozen fruits and vegetables,
along with fresh, but getting some frozen
is absolutely okay and great.
So getting frozen vegetables, especially, in your diet
and berries, totally great and a great way to save money.
Number four tip is eat seasonally.
Go to your local farmer's market.
Go to roadside stands.
Not only are you, you're supporting local farmers,
you're typically getting healthier foods than you get
in the supermarket and you're saving money.
So again, buying seasonally is another great way to eat
healthy on a budget.
And last but not least, step number five, make a
shopping list and don't shop while you're hungry.
Now I seen this before where, and again, listen,
I've been in the situation where, I mean, I'm so hungry
and you go past the cookie aisle, you go, you're in
the middle of the, you know, in the market
and you see the snacks, right?
And most of these snacks and package foods have fifty
ingredients, they've got high fructose corn syrup,
they've got genetically modified ingredients,
they've got gluten, they've got all this junk in it,
and that's what we put in our shopping cart.
So make a shopping list ahead of time.
Know what you're getting before you go in
and do not shop hungry.
And listen, if you can follow these tips,
I guarantee you're going to be able to save money
and you're also going to be able to get more
for your money and you're going to be able
to eat healthier and better.
Listen, I'd encourage you, stop making excuses.
Now, listen, I know everybody can be in a tough financial
situation, but I'll tell you again, going back,
I'm just sharing you tips that I followed when
I was in college and had absolutely almost no money,
no budget, I shopped in bulk, I went to places like Costco.
I knew what my budget was and I shopped ahead.
And listen, even if your diet
can't get a hundred percent better, maybe it can get
twenty to thirty percent better, or fifty percent better.
At least you can see some improvement in eating
a little bit healthier by following these tips.
Again, as I talked about, shopping in bulk is big.
Planning ahead is really, really big.
Eating seasonally, and buying frozen,
and not shopping hungry.
Doing all those things can help you save money
and help you eat healthy on a budget.
I hope you've enjoyed this video
on how to eat healthy on a budget.