Amy Culver - The Queen Of Lean

Next:
Click here for articles


Don't let 'food pusher' get you


Keep holiday meals healthful


Make a food plan for the holidays


Exercise during busy season


Make a plan to incorporate treats


Start planning for healthy holidays


Make the Valley your playground


Packing your lunch is a healthy habit


Comments and suggestions from readers


Slow cooker is dieter's best friend


Tips for finding the right counselor


Help someone with food addiction


Don't give up on losing weight


Healthy meals can be easy on budget


Give technology a good workout


Keep close eye on portion size


Weight loss by the numbers


Sudden job loss could improve lifestyle


Get fit now to have a better life later


Handle cravings in a sensible fashion


Excess fat can hinder medical diagnoses


Losing weight calls for a meal plan


Weight gain's underlying issues


Little changes = big weight loss


Be patient, scales will catch up


New Year is right time to make plan for healthy lifestyle

Previous:
Click here for articles

Healthy meals can be easy on budget

Healthy foods can be expensive.  When you are hungry and on a strict budget, it can be hard to choose fruits and veggies over a cheaper and more filling bag of chips.

To help with this, keep the bigger picture in mind rather than living in just the present moment.

Do you eat out a lot?   This can be very costly.  Cooking at home can save money as well as calories.  A meal created with a box of whole wheat pasta, a jar of tomato sauce and a pound of lean burger can be less expensive than a trip to a fast food place.  Create weekly meal plans so that you don't have last minute "what's for dinner" pressure. 

Stock up when things are on sale.  For meat, two frequent local sales are Albertsons' boneless skinless chicken breasts and Safeway's 93% lean ground beef.  Both go on sale every couple of months for $1.50 to $2.00 per pound.  You can also often get frozen veggies for free when they are on sale for $1 a bag and you use a coupon that gets multiplied up to $1.

Try the store brands.  I rarely end up with something that doesn't taste good and when I do, I've never had a problem getting a refund.

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season.  If you watch the sale ads, you can usually get a few different items each week at bargain prices.  Remember, you can freeze them.

Trader Joe's has many of its own brand items that are less expensive but very tasty.  They are a good choice for affordable healthy food

And don't forget the medical costs you will be avoiding.  Living healthier can help you cut down or avoid prescriptions, illnesses and perhaps even surgeries.