With prices remaining stubbornly high at both the supermarket and at cafés and restaurants, we are having to spend what can feel like a scary amount on food every week. I know that it personally worries me. It can feel prohibitively expensive to eat healthily if you’re on a tight budget. There are, however, lots of ways to make our weekly food budget go further without feeling that we are ditching our healthy ways. Where and how can we make savings?

You can save a lot of money each and every week by following the tips below and if you read on in this article by following my golden rules of healthy eating on a budget.

Eating meals that you have cooked from scratch at home is without a doubt the healthiest option for you and it is also still considerably cheaper than eating out or ordering takeaways, tempting as these seem at the time. The key to making this happen is all in the planning. You’ve probably heard the saying ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. Without creating a plan for the week’s meals and writing a food shopping list, it is unlikely (unless you’re a whizz at making something out of nothing) that you will have the right ingredients in your fridge or cupboard. And if you don’t plan your time properly, you won’t always give yourself enough time to make and eat a good breakfast or prepare your lunch.

TIP 1: How much are you already spending on food?

Get real about your current spending and shopping habits. This starts with adding up how much you spend each week on buying something (outside the main food shop) to eat out of the house such as take-out coffees, croissants and other breakfasts; lunchtime salads, soups and sandwiches; snacks and other food treats; plus ready meals, takeaways or last-minute meals out. Do this for a week, then multiply by 4 to give you an approximate monthly total.

Log into your banking app (or go online) and make a note of how much you spent over the last month on supermarket shops (or wherever you do your food shop).

Add the two figures together. This gives you your total for how much you are spending on food each month. You might be surprised.

Next look at how and where you could economise – are any these unnecessary purchases? Could you make and eat a healthy (savoury) breakfast at home or pack up last night’s leftovers for lunch? Could you make a coffee in a thermos to drink on your commute? Come up with a realistic amount each week or month for your overall food budget. Decide what that figure is. Commit to it and write it down. What can you do with the money saved from buying less outside of the home? Could it be spent on a healthy recipe meal kit or upgrading some foods to organic or meat to grass-fed for example?

TIP 2: Plan to plan

Become a planning ninja. The key to planning is to recognise you need to actually plan when you are going to sit down to plan. It’s easy to get derailed by events, situations, relationships and tasks that insert themselves unexpectedly into our already busy lives. So choose a time when you know you will be free every week to plan your meals – look through recipe books or online for breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Ideally plan midweek for the following week. Put a reminder alarm on your phone if you need to.

Once you have decided your meals for the week ahead (it helps to be realistic about possible time and energy restraints and keep more ambitious meals for the weekend), create a shopping list. Yes this can be time consuming but it does get easier the more you do it.

If this planning job doesn’t get done, you will have no option but to shop on a day-to-day basis, which is much more expensive, or worse need to resort to even costly meals out or takeaways if there is nothing available to cook and eat at home.

(For those of you who don’t like planning or don’t have time to do a big food shop but want to cook fresh at home, there is the now popular option of recipe meal kits from the likes of gousto, hello fresh or mindful chef. Yes this does of course work out more expensive than deciding and cooking your own meals at home but it can be healthier and cheaper than eating out or having takeaways and can save on waste.)

TIP 3: Audit your cupboards

We have a lot of food squirrelled away in our freezers, fridges and cupboards in the form of frozen vegetables, tinned goods such as beans, dried goods such as pastas or lentils, and baking ingredients. It can be helpful to create a master list of what you already have in your cupboards etc (that is still within its use-by date!) and cross anything you already have off the shopping list. Can you find meals that use up any of these store cupboard or frozen ingredients?

TIP 4: Stick to your plan

As an experiment, spend at least one week only allowing yourself to buy what is on your shopping list. No added extras or succumbing to special offers! The planning and shopping discipline may take a little time to get used to, but it is worth persevering. Off-list shopping and impulse buys are the biggest enemy for anyone wanting to keep to a budget. Do not go to the supermarket hungry. You are more likely to shop off-list when you do.

TIP 5: Get creative with leftover ingredients

A scary amount of food is thrown away every day, largely because we’re not sure what to make with leftovers, whether raw or cooked. Make a commitment to using yours up and save money that could be used elsewhere. This may feel uncomfortable at first and you could be making some meals you have definitely not tried before!

There is a bank of resources online to help you find easy recipe suggestions for pretty much anything you may have lurking in the fridge. You could have a night a week (perhaps the night before the online supermarket delivery is due or when you do your main food shop) when you decide to get creative using up the ingredients in your fridge. Soups or stocks can be a good way to use up less than fresh looking vegetables, for example.

Try the following:

Tesco Meal Planner Left Over Tool (https://realfood.tesco.com/meal-planner/leftover-tool.html)

All Recipes Leftovers Tool (http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/tag-476/leftovers-recipes.aspx)

Love Food Hate Waste (https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoqb6tqnl3QIVA7ftCh2Cjg_eEAAYASAAEgK12_D_BwE)

The golden rules of healthy eating on a budget

Include protein at every meal and snack

Protein keeps energy levels stable and is essential for the body’s growth and repair, and healthy skin and nails. Protein is found in meat and poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, lentils, beans, pulses (like chickpeas), quinoa, nuts and seeds. Protein should make up a quarter of your meal (about the size of a clenched fist). Many people do not have protein-based breakfasts and end up needing to spend money on a mid-morning snack. How can you change yours up?

MONEY-SAVING TIP: the cheapest sources of protein are vegetarian sources, like beans and lentils. Eggs sold as ‘mixed sizes’ are cheaper than buying all medium or all large but beware they may contain mostly smaller eggs. Some cuts of meat are cheaper than others, think thighs or leg over breast or braising or minced beef over steak. Even when on a budget, prioritising good quality protein such as grass-fed beef or free-range or organic chicken or eggs over cheaper processed meats is much better for our overall health but can be made to go further by padding out with extra vegetables or pulses such as tinned beans or lentils.

PACK IN THE fibre

That means lots of vegetables – likely more than you are currently eating, plus pulses like beans and wholegrains like rye. The official UK recommendation is 5 portions of vegetables and 2 portions of fruit (ideally low sugar fruit like berries, apples, pears, plums – anything grown in the UK) a day. Fibre keeps energy levels constant, balances your hormones, fills you up (cheaply too), keeps you regular and those fruit and veg contain many immune-boosting plant chemicals. Aim to eat a rainbow of colours over the course of the week.

MONEY-SAVING TIP: Greengrocers are often the cheapest places to buy your veg. Also consider basing meals around special supermarket deals (example Aldi’s Super 6), and don’t rule out the basics and essentials ranges of veg (usually just means they are not regular shapes and sizes). Don’t rule out frozen veg either. It’s cheap, often frozen soon after picking so it’s very fresh, and offers the ultimate convenience. And you are likely to waste less.

Choose healthy fats

Eating fat doesn’t make you gain fat or otherwise put on weight, but some fats are healthier than others. The body loves omega 3 fats, which boost mood and support the stress response, and reduce inflammation. They are found in oily fish (salmon, trout, halibut, cod, fresh tuna, mackerel, sardines), flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts. Other healthy sources of fat are avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds.

MONEY-SAVING TIP: Frozen fish is a far cheaper option than chilled. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s inferior. Often supermarket ‘fishmonger’ counter fish has been frozen anyway.

Think carefully about starchy ‘carbs’

Many diets rely heavily on white, pasta, bread, rice and potatoes, but these (especially when eaten without protein) can be a false economy as they unbalance your blood sugar levels, make you feel hungrier and cause you to store fat. Swap to healthier wholegrain alternatives; brown rice, wholemeal pasta and bread, and sweet potatoes, and eat smaller amounts, ensuring this element takes up no more than a quarter of your meal.

MONEY-SAVING TIP: Many people bulk up meals with starch, especially on a budget. Your body will love you for bulking meals up with veg instead. Eating large portions of starchy foods will have you craving more food (and specifically more carbohydrate) than if you had more modest portions. Ensuring good amounts of protein and fibre in a meal will also help mitigate the blood-sugar spiking starch element too.

Cut down on sugar

Most people know that sugar is not good for them. Eating sugary food is like a treadmill, with one biscuit creating the need for the next. Sugar creates a blood sugar or energy imbalance, fuels inflammation in the body, and makes you put on weight.

MONEY-SAVING TIP: Consider that the more sugar you eat, the more you need to eat. Sugary ‘treats’ soon become a three times a day habit. Depending what you’re snacking on, cutting it out (or cutting down) could save several pounds financially each day and help the waistline too.

Useful recipe books

Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy & Paul Merrett

Save with Jamie by Jamie Oliver

Eat, Shop, Save by Dale Pinnock

Eat Well for Less (various different books) by Greg Wallace & Chris Bavin

Not finding the time for meal planning and cooking can be a big barrier for not getting healthy and losing weight for a lot of my clients. If you would like some help in this area, please do get in touch.

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How to eat healthily on a budget