“Eating healthy is too expensive!”
Do you use this excuse, and then find yourself going through the drive thru on your way to work in the morning?! You CAN eat healthily without breaking the bank- I PROMISE. It just takes some preparation and a lack of laziness.
1) Make time to food prep
The key is to MAKE time. When can you carve out some time before your week starts? I prefer Sunday evenings because we usually don’t have too much going on. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but it’s SO worth it. Just like anything, once it becomes a habit, it just becomes part of what you do! Would you rather make time for food prep or keep eating junk and feeling like junk?!
2) Buy whole ingredients
Purchasing ready-to-eat foods is SO much more expensive! When you use whole ingredients, yes you may have to do a little bit more chopping or leg work, but if you’re concerned about saving money, buying whole ingredients will save you a ton in the long run.
If you read my above statement and thought to yourself “but fast food is so much cheaper and easier”, you have your thinking all backwards. They say that “good stuff isn’t cheap, but cheap stuff isn’t good”. The thing is, you CAN get good stuff at decent prices if you’re smart about it.
3) Food prep the meals that you would normally eat out
During your week, which meals are the ones where you usually cave and hit the drive thru, or grab the “take & go” stuff at Wegmans?! Those are the meals you should focus on planning ahead! For many people, it ends up being lunch. For some, it’s breakfast!
4) Cook large portions
This may seem obvious, but making large portions with lots of leftovers will make some of your meals a lot easier to figure out during the week. Are you the type of person that can’t eat the same thing everyday? Switch it up or make more than one type of large-portioned meal so you can have some variety!
5) Stop making excuses
Plain and simple. “It’s too expensive to eat healthily” is just an easy smokescreen for “I’m too lazy and don’t want to make time to food prep”. I’m being straightforward because I have used that excuse too. Guess what?! It’s SO MUCH MORE REWARDING to prepare your own food, save money and nourish your body! You feel great and your thinking is much clearer when you get rid of junk. Give your self 3 weeks of preparing ahead and you won’t look back.
Thanks for taking the time to read this!- Mandy Webb, KW Fitness