Very frequently, someone will tell me that it’s hard to eat healthy because healthy eating is expensive. Really??? You can tell me that you do not feel like planning out your meals. Tell me that you just don’t want to eat healthy. Or tell me that you enjoy spending $10 a day on lunch. But to tell me that eating healthy is expensive is completely false. It is. The average meal that I prepare costs me $2.00-3.00 per serving. I can’t think of any restaurant I can walk into and pay that price for a healthy meal. Pictured below is a burrito bowl that I cooked for my lunch this week:
Can you guess how much this costs per serving? This bowl has 5oz. of lean ground turkey, corn, beans, onions, red bell pepper, lettuce, tomato, cilantro, avocado, and salsa. It’s packed with tasty seasonings like garlic, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper flakes, and a little salt and pepper. And, I cooked enough of it to make five servings, which takes care of my lunch for the week. I have more than enough food to get full and feel satisfied. And I only paid $2.62 per serving! Yep, I saved myself about $5.00 a day compared to a Chipotle burrito bowl.
The best way to prepare healthy foods and be cost effective is to cook more than one serving at a time. Here’s the cost breakdown:
2 pounds of lean ground turkey- $7.76
1 bag of brown rice- $0.58 (used 1/4 of the bag= $0.15)
1 bunch of cilantro- $0.34 (I used 1/2 of the bunch= $0.17)
1 can of no salt added black beans- $0.66
1 can of corn- $0.66
Total for five servings= $9.40
Total per serving= $1.88
After cooking most of the ingredients, I added the lettuce, avocado, tomato, and salsa.
1 bunch of green leaf lettuce- $1.27 (used about a fifth of the bunch= $0.25/serving)
1 tomato- $0.48 (used half= $0.24 serving)
Picante sauce- $3.97 (used two tablespoons= $0.06/serving)
1 avocado- $0.77 (used 1/4= $0.19/serving)
Total: $0.74 per serving
So when I add $1.88 plus $0.74, I get $2.62 for my entire meal. That’s only $13.00 TOTAL for lunch for the week! Tell me that’s expensive?
In case you’re curious what the nutrient breakdown is for my meal, here it is:
Calories 553, carbs 50g, fat 21g, protein 47g
Planning ahead and cooking your meals in advance can save you a ton of money. If you normally spend $10 per day on lunch, which is $50 for the week, you just saved $37 on this meal. That’s almost $2,000 saved over the course of a year! Remember how you said you can’t afford to go on vacation this year? That’s because you’re spending all of your vacation money on lunch. A warm beach and cool water sound way better to me than a Chipotle bowl any day!
Written By:
Joy Diggs, MS, CPT, RD, LD, WLS
Certified Personal Trainer
Registered and Licensed Dietitian
Certified Weight Loss Specialist
Owner, Digg Deep Fitness
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