If you take a look at the present market, things are not getting better for people who want to stay healthy. The junk food has more than just accessible prices. This makes it easier for us to cheat on our healthy diet. Whenever we are on the go, it seems easier to grab fast food and see not much of a difference in our wallets. However, a healthy diet at a reasonable price is not an impossible mission. You need to plan it ahead and avoid buying food on the go. And you need to play it smart. Today, we’ll see how the ultimate diet plan under $200 really looks like.
1. Bulk is Better
So, to be able to run the whole ultimate diet plan perfectly, you need to plan and go shopping for an entire week of groceries. This approach might seem daunting. You don’t know what you want to eat today, let alone for five days in advance. However, you can think in broad terms. You will need a light breakfast to keep you up and running for a day, a dinner with meat and/or side dish, and healthy snacks to keep the hunger between meals as far away as possible.
Buying groceries in bulk is one of the secrets to sticking with the ultimate diet plan of under $200 per month. Some items aren’t worth buying in bulks because you don’t need such a large quantity of the product. However, other offers are really beneficial for your wallet.
You should always search the bulk version of certain foods that are not perishable. Whenever you see large packages of dried beans and pasta, rice, condiments, flour or canned food you should go for it with little hesitation. However, it is recommended to stock up on meat and chicken because you will lose the financial advantage if they become no more edible. Your budget will not feel like a too restricted limit anymore. The chances are that you will remain with extra money that you use to buy luxury products. Food can be a treat even with a $200 budget. You can use Austrian alps gruyere, for example, to add delicious flavor to your recipes.
2. Ditch the Brand
The difference between popular brands and other brands can be only a matter of large marketing budgets. There are a lot of products out there of quality that not everybody is aware of. While famous brands offer you the guarantee of quality, the price is usually higher than other products. That’s like buying the product plus an extra fee on the grounds that it won a popularity contest.
So, you should give it a few weeks to try out the brands you don’t know anything about. Research what ingredients they use and make sure they ensure a healthy and nutritious meal. You might be surprised on how much you will save and gain at the same time. You will no longer have to pay the extra fees for a popular brand, and you can enjoy healthier options.
3. Cook from Scratch
Even though you stay away from restaurants and fast foods, you can still be tempted to slip on unhealthy and expensive grounds. The pre-packaged products seem like an advantageous shortcut when you want to spend less time in the kitchen. However, such offers are usually more expensive and contain unhealthy additives.
Cooking and the freezer or other storage methods will be your best friends in your pursuit of sticking to the ultimate diet plan. You can plan and prepare several servings to last you for days without cooking. By preparing more for the moment will save you more time and planning than cooking whenever you are hungry.
4. Weekly Grocery Shopping for under $50
Having all of the above in mind, let’s see some examples of 50$ a week of groceries shopping. You can replace the bellow products with ingredients that are more suitable for your personal eating rules, be it vegan or Paleo, or the Macrobiotic meal plan.
However, you should refrain from fast foods at all costs. Even though they might seem like an affordable choice, they are actually not. They are packed with empty calories, and you will deprive your body of vital nutrients. Moreover, this lack of nutritious calories will fill you for the time being, but you will get hungry quicker than usual. So, in the long term, you need more food if you keep going for empty calories. Without further ado, this is an example of grocery shop for one week of the month when you will keep the expenses under $200:
- 5 lbs brown rice – $3.38;
- 2.2 lbs ground beef – $7.32;
- 3.5 lbs raw chicken breast – $12.01;
- 3 dozen eggs – $5.99;
- 0.5-gallon whole milk – $1.81;
- 3 lbs bananas – $1.80;
- 4 lbs potatoes – $2.65;
- 1.5 lbs black beans – $2.16;
- 7 bags of frozen vegetables – $7.00;
- 2 lbs romaine lettuce – $3.08;
- 1.5 lbs Oatmeal – $2.25.
The total is $49.45, and there are more than enough products to keep you on a healthy diet for an entire week. This is not a settled plan, but it rather functions as a guide for your next grocery list. The other three weeks of $50 each can respect the same direction, or they can comprise ingredients of your choice.
As you can see, there’s no trace of cooking oil, spices or other necessary products. This is because once you buy them, they will last for months on end. Thus, you do not need to buy them on a weekly basis.
All in all, through a commitment to home cooking, everybody can feel good about the ultimate diet plan for under $200 a month. Once you repeat the weekly experience several times, the chances are that you won’t want to go back to restaurants or fast foods ever again.