Home-cooked, healthy meals help save money as well as provide essential nutrients that fast food and carryout meals lack. Creating a healthy food plan helps you resist the temptation of less-than-optimal fast food choices.
Tips for dining in:
- Make a grocery list and stick to it.
- Plan a week’s worth of meals at a time. Having all the items you need on hand will save you from an extra trip to the store where you could be tempted to purchase unnecessary items.
- Don’t shop hungry. You’ll be likely to buy more than you need and possibly buy less healthy items that appeal to you at that moment.
- Buy in-season fruits and vegetables. Visit local farmers markets when possible. The foods are fresher and usually cost less because you are buying direct from the farmer.
- Create snacks by mixing nuts and seeds, dried whole-grain cereal and dried fruit instead of buying processed, more expensive, prepackaged snacks.
- Cook once, eat twice. Cook a meal and package the leftovers for the following day's lunch.
Using your healthy food plan wisely will pay off. For example, if you spend $6 on fast food or carryout meals 5 days a week for a year, you will spend a total of $1,560 in 1 year. Save money, and your health, by preparing meals at home.
