Healthier on a Budget: Be Willing to Substitute Ingredients

Some food substitutions will make meals healthier, like applesauce instead of oil in baked goods. Other substitions are made to save money, like apple instead of peach pie in the fall. Using in-season produce in recipes will be more cost effective. Fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables are often interchangeable in recipes. Just keep in mind that cooking times will need to be extended when using fresh produce.

Below are a few other possible substitutions. The item being subsituted is not necessarily healthier than the possible replacement. It depends more on your current health conditions and personal preferences. Use whatever works for you based on the diet you and your doctor have discussed and what you have on hand. The goal is to eat healthier without having to spend a trunkload on food. Also, some ingredients can simply be omitted or greatly reduced in recipes. If you don't like a certain spice, try making the dish without it. As for reducing, many muffins and desserts really don't need as much sweetener as what the recipe calls for.

See these recipe tips and these tips for many more substitutions.

Ground beef - Ground turkey, ground chicken
Basil - Oregano or thyme
Cardamom - Ginger or ground cinnamon
Arrowroot (1 tbsp) - 2 tbsp flour OR 1 tbsp cornstarch
Vinegar - lemon juice
Buttermilk (1 cup) - 1 cup milk with 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
Egg (in cakes) - 1 banana OR 1 tbsp ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp water
Egg - 2 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch

Healthier on a Budget: Priorities

Unless you're a millionaire, it's not likely you will be financially able to immediately overhaul everything you use and replace them with natural, organic products. Regardless of money, it's also not likely your family will be completely on board with all of the changes. Let's face it - FruitaBu natural fruit roll-ups taste good, but they don't taste quite like Betty Crocker's artificially flavored Fruit by the Foot. For the sake of your wallet and your sanity, decide on your priorities. If you have a child on medicine for ADHD, maybe your priorities will be to take out artificial food colors. Maybe you just want to have a long, healthy life so your priority is like mine - to reduce processed grains, eat more whole grains, and simply include more fruits and vegetables in our diets. Because of the mold exposure, Nikki became chemically sensitive so switching to natural unscented cleaners has been her priority.

That One Big Thing
I recommend beginning by buying organic (or at least natural) of one thing your family consumes the most of. Milk, eggs, cheese, crackers, fruit roll-ups - whatever it is. Our bodies are designed to extract toxins, but I don't believe it's meant to be bombarded day in, day out. If you consume large amounts of produce from the dirty dozen list, consider buying organic at least of these. The dirty dozen are the 12 most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables.

Baby Steps
Unless you have a life-threatening condition, I recommend taking baby steps to a healthier lifestyle. Too many changes at once invite failure. Examples of baby steps:
1. Replace 1 soda or tea with a glass of water (with lemon, lime, or orange if you need flavor)
2. Put 1 less packet of sugar in your coffee.
3. Add 1 vegetable with lunch (lettuce on your turkey sandwich, a side of cucumber slices with ranch dressing, etc.)
4. Cut down on TV or computer usage by 30 minutes a day - Do something active or helpful instead or spend the extra time with your family.
5. Pick 1 produce to buy only organic of, like apples which are on the dirty dozen list.

Good luck! I'd love to hear what baby steps you've begun with.

Related Posts: Stepping Stones: What Worked for Me

Healthier on a Budget - What It Is

When I first started couponing, I threw myself into it and picked up every free or ridiculously cheap thing I could get. I ate plenty of frozen meals, pasta, and white rice. As I learned more about healthier eating, I cringed at the amount I was paying, but I've had to rework my way of thinking. The amount I was saving in food costs, I made up for with the money I spent on medicines and time out of work when I was sick. I've decided I'd much rather go ahead and spend the extra on good food.

So I'm going to start a series about healthier eating on a budget. But first, what is considered "healthier"?
In Genesis 1:29, God said "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.” After the flood, He told Noah every animal was for food as well. He also adds every green herb, not just ones that yield seed.

Red #3 (or any other articial color), partially hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavors are not listed. For the sake of simplicity, let's say "healthier" is natural foods - ones that have been altered in a kitchen instead of a laboratory. It's foods that do not have to be tested on animals to make sure they are "safe." That leaves fruits, vegetables, other herbs, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and animal products. I won't be getting in to the arguments of traditional vs. vegetarian vs. vegan or of cooked vs. raw. I'll be sticking to ways to afford the food, no matter what your diet is.

In the meantime, here's my article with printable coupons for natural/organic foods: "I Can't Afford to Buy Healthier"

PB & J Without the Sugar

Lately, I've been trying to find good replacements for the foods that typically have added sugar. My latest accomplishment is Peanut Butter & Jelly. I didn't have any gluten free bread here, so I just mixed the 2 in a bowl and savored every single delicious bite.

I've tried a few natural peanut butters (nothing but peanuts), and they've been too thick, too gritty, or too overwhelming to make a decent sandwich. On a whim, I bought Crazy Richard's natural peanut butter. Crazy Richard's? Seriously? It didn't sound like a "natural" item, but I'll admit I've been wrong before. Ingredients: peanuts. The oil had separated, but after a good stirring it was smooth and creamy, and it mixed deliciously with Smucker's Simply Fruit. Fruit spreads are sweetened with concentrated fruit syrups instead of regular sugar. So far, I've tried blueberry and raspberry and have loved them both.

Related article: Sugar, Sugar Everywhere

Stepping Stones: What Worked For Me

When I first started limiting sugar-laden junk food and overly processed meals, there were certain foods that helped curb cravings. Many of these are not foods or drinks to be consumed on a regular basis (mostly because of sugar content from dried fruits or concentrated fruit juice), but I still think they are healthier than sodas and 3 Musketeers and do not seem to be nearly as addictive. I've listed the food I craved or missed and what I consumed instead.

Soda: R.W. Knudsen Spritzers. Black Cherry is my favorite, but Red Raspberry is good as well

Candy bars: KIND bars, especially the Walnut + Date. These are really sweet and oh so good!

Gatorade/Powerade: Water with Crystal Light Pure Fitness. I wanted a drink without artificial color, but most of the water flavorings have aspartame, which I'm also avoiding. Crystal Light Pure Fitness is the first one I found without aspartame.

Hard Candy: Yummy Earth Lollipops. They are still pure sugar, but there's no artificial colors or flavors.

Snack Cakes: Larabars. It's hard to go wrong with flavors like peanut butter cookie, pecan pie, and coconut cream pie, especially when they really do taste like the baked goods they're meant to imitate. The bars are sweetened with dried dates.

I was not compensated in any way for this post. I'm just giving my opinion of what worked for me.