- Eating on a budget doesn't need to be Kraft dinner
and Ramen packages.
Your budget is just the amount of money
that you allocate towards food.
And food tends to be one of our largest expenses.
So, these tips will help you get a lot more bang
for your buck, so you can put your money towards
the things that you really value.
For me, that's personal projects,
like Bachelor on a Budget, investment savings,
an apartment close to work, the Boosted board
for spring 2017.
I started Bachelor on a Budget so that I can help you
put more of your money towards the things
that you really value.
- What are you kids doing with all this?
- Monster hunting.
- Oh.
- It's the channel I wanted to learn from
when I started to make big changes in my life and diet.
If that sounds great to you, please subscribe
and join our community.
And help us out by giving this video a like.
But, without further ado, here are my 13 tips
for eating healthy on a budget.
(dreamy music)
(flame sizzles)
Make enough for leftovers.
Every recipe that I cook, I try to make more
than I will eat.
I want to get at least two more meals out of it.
So, I have something I can take for lunch the next day
or freeze for a later date.
And this also saves you time,
and what is more valuable than time?
I hate when I don't bring a lunch because I know
I have to spend $11 on food to get something
healthy, tasty and balanced.
- So, that's two specials.
- And an onion log.
(laughs) To split.
- Now, what I like to do with my leftovers is
add new ingredients to it when I'm reheating it.
I can use leftover rice to fry up some fried rice
with veggies,
fry an egg to go with my stir-fry leftovers,
or, for pasta leftovers,
that are always better the next day,
maybe some spinach or red peppers or some more onions
or garlic, whatever you have.
Buy generic brands.
Most grocery stores will offer a no-name brand
that are usually considerably cheaper.
Often the quality is the same but for less money.
This is especially true for staples such as salt,
beans, flours, et cetera.
And it's quite often that some of these no-name brands
are processed in the same facilities as the brand-name
products, but keep an eye out for sales,
because often these brand-names go on sale,
just as much as the no-name brands do.
Avoid processed food.
When you buy processed food,
you're not just paying for the food itself,
you are paying for the packaging,
the facilities that the food was manufactured in,
and sometimes even the marketing.
- Thank you very much, please come again,
we have a lot more groceries.
- If you buy shredded cheese,
it's always going to be more expensive
than if you're gonna buy a block.
Skip the bottled sodas and juices.
These are excessively high in sugar
that are gonna have negative effects
on your brain and body.
And unless you're tap water is contaminated,
skip the bottles.
A little tip is stick to the outside aisles
of the grocery store, they tend to be mostly whole foods.
Shop at a discount produce store.
Places that specialize in produce are often
much cheaper than your local grocery store's gonna be.
Lots of the produce I buy is about 40% cheaper
than produce at my local grocery store.
It was the same when I was living in Australia.
The local produce market was a bit further out
so I would ride my bike there with my backpacking
bag on, and I would buy as much as I could carry,
just because at the grocery store it would cost
twice as much.
So, I would, like, pack on my full backpacking bag,
like all the way to the top.
Sometimes even having extra groceries on my handles,
and then like biking on the way home for 20 minutes.
A little ridiculous, but needed to be done.
Look at the price breakdowns on shelf labels.
Many grocery stores will show you how much the food costs
at a set price per unit,
so you can see brand A costs $1.25 for 100 grams,
and brand B costs $1.75 for 100 grams.
What are you gonna go with?
I'd still check out the ingredients
but, most often, you're gonna go
with the more affordable one.
If your grocery store doesn't have price breakdowns,
then you can either do some quick math, if you're smart,
or use your calculator on your phone.
Buy in bulk.
Usually when you buy more of something,
you get a discount.
So buy non-perishable items in bulk.
I buy a lot of stuff in bulk and I get noticeable savings.
You'll still want to make sure it's an actual deal,
so make sure you look at the price per unit,
as outlined in the previous tip.
I shop at Costco a couple times a year
and I fill up my pantry.
Not only do I save a lot of money buying in bulk,
but I also save time.
If you have the space, money and means of transporting
the food, buying in bulk may makes sense for you, as well.
Stock up on sales.
As outlined in the previous tip,
when you see non-perishables that are on sale,
stock up.
Buy as much as you can afford or carry.
If I see like a can of beans on sale for 70% off,
or maybe a big thing of coconut oil for 50% off,
I am carrying as much as I can, so I get an intense workout.
I probably look pretty silly riding my bike
with 60 pounds of groceries
in my left hand or on my long board, swaying.
When I'm grocery shopping, my eyes are scanning for deals.
After a while, you start to feel like you have super powers.
Budget man, here to snag all the deals.
Subscribe to budget food resources.
There are plenty of awesome resources
to learn how to shop better,
to learn how to cook more affordabley,
and just eat more healthy on a budget.
Some great resources are the Eat Cheap and Healthy
Subreddit on Reddit, where I'm an active member there.
You can find a ton of tips or you can ask.
If you have any questions, the community does a great job
in providing you with a ton of valuable information.
I've learned a ton there.
I recommend you check it out.
There's a link in the description.
You can also check out Budget Bytes, by Beth.
She's got an awesome website,
and she's been doing this for a while.
She's got a cookbook that has tons of great recipes,
so I recommend you check that out.
And, Bachelor on a Budget.
Check out more of my recipes.
And if you want to see anything in particular,
feel free to leave a comment down below,
and let me know.
I'm happy to help.
If you can't afford food, give the food bank a shot.
I'm pretty fortunate in that I've never been
in a situation to have to use a food bank.
But, in a highly popular post by Possum Pants,
on Reddit, the food bank is not that bad.
If you are low on funds, where you have $20
for the rest of the month to feed yourself,
food banks are made for this.
You should have no shame in using this support resource.
And you can also pay back the favor by volunteering,
or donating when you're in a better place.
And when you donate, money actually goes much further
than food, potentially even four times as much.
The food banks usually have deals with the grocery stores
or suppliers that allow them to buy food at cost
or sometimes even cheaper.
Buy frozen produce.
Frozen produce can often be cheaper
and many more items more nutritious than the produce
you buy at your grocery store.
This is because frozen food is usually flash frozen
very soon after it is harvested,
and so rather than being picked pretty ripe
and sitting in warehouses and in transportation,
your grocery stores and, finally, your fridge,
freezing that produce right after it's been harvested
locks in that nutrition.
You'll save money because your frozen vegetables don't rot.
And they often go on sale.
Berries, for example, are often way cheaper buying frozen
than if I were to buy them fresh.
And frozen fruit is excellent in smoothies.
And eating frozen vegetables doesn't need to be as bad
as you may think.
I have a whole video dedicated to the benefits
of eating frozen vegetables,
and even a frozen vegetable stir-fry
that you can find in the description.
Eat out less.
Cooking food from scratch is one of the biggest ways
that you can save money.
When you eat out at restaurants,
you're not just paying for the food,
you're paying for the building, the service,
the cutlery, the plates, the dishwasher in the back.
- Hey, pal, what's your policy on making special orders?
- All right, buster, that's it.
You want to a special order, than you make it.
I quit!
- Why pay $14 for a pasta when you can make it at home
for a fraction of the price and you know
what's going in it.
One restaurant meal can often be
a week's worth of groceries.
One of the main reasons that I started
Bachelor on a Budget is because I wanted to teach you
how to save money while cooking at home.
Now when I order food, I try to only order dishes
that I can't make at home
or would be excessively time-consuming to make.
Don't let food go to waste.
Knowing the basics of how to make a great stock,
pasta, stir fry or stew can really help you to
use up those non-perishable items that may be on their
last days.
If I have any veggies that have been sitting in my crisper
for too long, I know I can just whip a few things together
and get an awesome meal out of that.
Store your food smart.
Tomatoes get mealy in the fridge.
You can save brown bananas by freezing them
and using them for banana bread or smoothies,
that I like to do a lot.
And also check the expire date before you buy things.
Buy cheap, nutrient-dense foods.
There are some key staple nutrient-dense foods
that will help you get your best bang for your buck.
For calories and protein, some of the best are
pulses, so beans, lentils, chick peas,
tofu is also great, sweet potatoes,
peanut butter, flax seed, quinoa.
Outside of a plant-based diet,
you have tuna, eggs, chicken breast,
Greek yogurt.
For other nutrients, the most nutrient-dense foods
tend to be leafy greens, such as kale,
mustard greens, collard greens and cabbage.
But also carrots, Brussel sprouts,
broccoli, cauliflower.
Cauliflower.
These are all highly nutrient-dense foods.
I try to buy all of those items when I see them on sale,
and many of those as staples on the regular.
And that concludes my 13 tips.
Thank you, guys, for watching.
If this is your first time here,
please hit that subscribe button
and join our community.
And leave a comment down below
and let the community know what tips you may know of
for eating healthy on a budget.
Check out some more of these videos down below.
Thanks for watching.
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