Eating healthy on a budget

I often hear the comment that people can't eat healthy because it's just too expensive. I'm here to tell you it can be done! We feed a family of 4 for less than I spent on groceries for 2 eating unhealthy foods. Here's a dozen great ideas anyone can try!

1. Check the price per serving, not just the price per pound. A pound of boneless, skinless chicken makes more servings than a pound with parts you won't eat. Remember you're paying the price per pound for the bones, skin and trimmings too! Minimize waste and get the most for your money by using bones and scraps to make stock, just cover in water and simmer.

2. Buy flexible staple items that keep in bulk. Dry beans, rice, barley, lentils and many similar items will keep indefinitely in the pantry. Whole wheat flour and brown rice can be refridgerated or frozen.

3. Buy lean, inexpensive cuts of meat when it's on sale and freeze several extras. Good bets are ground lean turkey under $3/lb, split chicken breasts under $1/lb, boneless skinless chicken breasts under $1.50/lb, and Hillshire Farm turkey smoked sausage loop under $3.50. All can be used for a variety of meals, freeze well, are easy to prepare and great for leftovers.

4. Shop at farmer's markets, ethnic grocery stores, mom & pop shops, swap meets or wherever you can find inexpensive produce. I've found produce at local ethnic grocery stores is usually around half the price of the main grocery's sale prices. Sometimes less!

5. Grow your own! If you have a pot of soil and a sunny spot, you can grow mustard greens and radishes quickly and easily year round, indoors, or outdoors when it's warm. You can grow lots of veggies and small fruits in pots, in a dedicated garden area, or work them into your landscaping. A $2 packet of seed can easily produce a large amount of food. Especially with easy to grow herbs like parsley, chives and cilantro the savings over buying fresh at the grocery store are substantial.

6. Know your prices! If you can't remember it all, make yourself a cheat sheet in a notebook you take to the store with you. Write down items you commonly buy, followed by what it costs and at which store. You'll soon recognize what's a good price and when to wait.

7. Use coupons! But be reasonable. A lot of coupons are for items that are insanely overpriced to start with, and even after combining a coupon and sale the generic is still cheaper. Use online resources like couponmom.com, coupons.com, smart source, red plum and manufacturer websites to find coupons and deals. Coupon Mom will teach you how to combine sales and coupons to get great deals! Once you know how that works it's easy to apply to other stores. Trim corners on things that are easy to get great deals on like toothpaste for under $1 at CVS, and then use the savings to get more groceries.

8. Know your seasons. Fall and back to school time is great to get cereal, granola bars and packaged snacks. Everyone has them on sale then, and every newspaper insert is loaded with coupons. Stock up! Winter is canned goods, turkey, ham and frozen meats. Spring is "diet" foods, but watch to make sure they're not heavily advertising an artificially inflated price on things like frozen dinners. Late spring and summer are produce, and lots of it! A good time to learn to can, freeze, dehydrate and cook with as much fresh produce as you can handle. Early fall is winter squash, apple and cabbage.

9. Make inexpensive side dishes. A pot of beans with spices and a bit of onion makes a good side dish for Mexican meals. Brown rice, bulgur, barley and almost any other grain can be cooked plainly and seasoned to taste with herbs, spices or lemon. Sauted zucchini is great for Mexican, Italian or Chinese. Potatoes cut into wedges, sprinkled with spices and baked like fries are dirt cheap. A sliced fresh apple or pear makes a nice, simple and refreshing side. Cauliflower "mashed potatoes", braised cabbage and raw veggies are all very easy. Compare the cost of any of those to one of those packaged instant side-in-a-box mixes and you save a lot of cash - and prevent eating a ton of junk!

10. WATER! Don't buy soda. Just don't. No diet, no generic, no flavored water. There's nothing in there that's good for you, and several things we know for a fact are bad for you. It's bad for your health, bad for your weight, bad for the environment and bad for your wallet! If you really want some for special occasions that's fine, but it shouldn't be part of every day.

11. Ditch the junk food. Replace name brand snacks with homemade alternatives. Instead of tortilla chips, cut your own whole wheat tortillas into chips, spray with nonstick spray and bake until crisp. Replace candy with frozen grapes, fruit, or at least smaller portions. Instead of salty snacks try cauliflower poppers, veggie sticks or Ak Mak crackers.

12. Check nutrition labels. If you don't understand half the ingredients, you probably don't need it. When considering fresh items, if they're the same price choose the healthier option. When buying lettuce choose leaf or romaine, iceburg has almost no nutritional value. When buying fruit choose more colorful varities. Always choose fresher items when you can, fresh is the best, then frozen, and last canned since canning destroys many nutrients and adds salt.