"But it's so expensive to eat healthy!"

This is the excuse I heard the other day from a coworker.  Actually it is cheaper to eat healthy.  People that don't eat healthy are buying processed foods from a jar, can, bag, or a box.  Companies make money off of us, because we are paying them to prepare our food so that all we have to do is pop it in the microwave or oven, open a can or a bag and it's ready to go.  These are also the foods loaded in preservatives, hormones, additives, sodium, cancer causing agents, etc.  One day all of my food will be natural, nothing processed, and all made from scratch.  I'm going through the process, nothing happens overnight.  I often prepare my food all in one setting so its ready to be warmed up later in the week.  I work 3 days a week, and eating from the hospital cafeteria is a) fattening and not healthy and b) expensive.  I used to spend $150/week on food, but now I've narrowed it down to $40/week.  Here is my layout for my meals for the week:

Breakfast

Strawberries and cream oatmeal with strawberries 

Shakeology with almond milk.

Lunch

Spinach salad with walnuts, feta cheese, and salad dressing

Mandras red beans and lentils

Dinner

Quinoa pasta shells with pasta sauce (maybe some feta cheese on top)

Pico de Gallo or Guacamole with tortilla chips 

Protein bars for the days I workout.

Believe it or not it brings my daily caloric intake up to 1640 calories.  If I'm not working out that day I probably wont eat everything, and the calories I take in may be closer to 1500.  1300-1500 calories/day maintains my weight.

Breakfast savers:

I may switch some mornings up and eat eggs whites/egg beaters (I buy these when they are on sale otherwise they get pricey) with veggies instead of oatmeal, otherwise I keep it simple and it eat the meals I've premade for myself.  One money saver is buying plain oatmeal.  I can't lie.  I don't like oatmeal and I have a sweet tooth, so I buy the oatmeal packets and cook fruit with it.

Lunch savers:

I used to buy my salad pre made, grab and go.  $6 for 2 bags on a sale day or $1.76 to buy 2 bundles of spinach and chop it up myself.  This goes for romaine lettuce, baby lettuce, carrots, cilantro, etc.  No brainer, right?  I have a lot of salad dressing to get rid of in my fridge right now so I didn't spend a dime on it this week; however, I have got coupons for it before and got 10 for $10 when it normally cost $4.50 a bottle.  A much healthier less processed way of doing salad dressing is mixing yogurt with fruit (strawberries or raspberries) or a vegetable (avocado works great!).  I can coat the leaves of my salad with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, which is about 250 calories or 1/4 cup of salad dressing which is around 1200 calories.  Don't you hate it when you go to a restaurant and they give you an actual serving of salad dressing but it doesn't even get you to the bottom of the salad.  Yeah, that's why I like to go with yogurt!  

For beans of any sort don't buy them in the can already cooked.  Buy them in the plastic bag and cook them yourself.  Cheaper and no additives.  Same goes for the lentils.  I buy the exact serving size I need at the local supermarket, because I scoop out what I want.  Nothing goes to waste then or sits in my cupboard.

Dinner savers:

This week my gluten free quinoa pasta shells are on sale by 30 cents.  Still a bit pricey.  My goal is to learn how to make these noodles myself.  I'm sure I could make a mass supply for what I spend on them now.  When it comes to spaghetti sauce, either make it, or buy it in a can.  One day I was going to buy 2/$6 in a jar, and I thought wait a minute I'm going to get it in the can.  87 cents on sale in a can.  I also need to step up my game here and start making it for myself.

Alright so we all know Pico De Gallo or Guacamole costs atleast $4/container at the store if not $5.  Make it  yourself.  Save yourself $1 and forget buying the guacamole mix.   I'm sure you have plenty of spices in your cupboard.  No need to add sour cream either. Save another $2.  Just mash those avocados up, add tomato, onion, cilantro, or lemon/lime juice with a pinch of sea salt.  Mmm mmm never tasted better.  I learned this from a California native friend who has an avocado tree growing in the backyard.  Who knew you didn't need that packet of spices?  And yes "cha chang!" the avocados were on sale this week 3/$1.

So the following is my grocery list and how much I spent.  I know I don't have every single item on it, but most people already have $2-400 worth of groceries already in their pantry not ate (Or is it "eaten?"  English majors?)  Consider eating down your pantry this week.  Part of my $2-400 supply (if I have that much) is spices.  We'll consider the $5 I didn't spend this week the food that I have previously bought.  Oh and trust me I still have roll over food that wasn't ate last week that carries over to this week.

Total $35.08

So if I can do this on the West Coast where cost of living is at its highest then anybody can.

I also drink Shakeology every single day.  It has every single nutrient we can't get from a regular diet.  I am a vegetarian (so sorry if this list doesn't qualify for you meat eaters), and most of the time vegetarians are not healthy vegetarians.  The last time I had my blood work done it was better than it was when I ate meat.  I contribute it to the Shakeology.  I drink it to make sure I'm a healthy vegetarian. The countless stories I'm hearing from people getting healed of chronic illnesses because of the nutrients their are getting from this shake is on the upswing.  $3 for a meal replacement that has more nutrients then everything else I eat combined in my day is well worth it and cheap!  Eating healthy and budgeted is possible!  The more you spend the more garbage you are putting into your body.