How to Feast on Veggies Without Spending a Fortune

National Eat Your Vegetable Day is an easy day to celebrate. All you need to do is eat up your veggies today and make a resolution to add more to your diet in the future.

Whether you love your veggies or can’t stand them, you should celebrate today. Why, you ask? Because the doctors say so, and because vegetables are delicious. Period!

Eating vegetables every day can help reduce the risk of a variety of health problems, including diabetes, obesity and some types of cancers. But it is recommended that we eat 7 fruits and veggies a day. When we can barely afford 5, it can be hard to reach the recommended daily total, especially when you’ve got a family to feed. Here are 7 ways to make it a little cheaper:

Shopper’s Stop

It’s super easy to go to a supermarket and pick up everything you need in one shot. While that saves you time, it does not save you money. 

Try visiting markets and greengrocers. They are great places to get cheap fruit and vegetables as opposed to regular supermarket prices. The big bonus is you get higher quantities for cheaper prices—and they even pass the quality test.  

Multipacks? Big no!

You’d think a handbag of fruits and vegetables together can save you money – wrong! On the contrary, multipacks of fruits and vegetables are way more expensive than if you buy them separately. 

So how do you deal with that dilemma? Take the multipack and also the same amount of fruits/veg separately to the billing counter and check which works out cheaper and buy that.

Plan Your Meals 

Be a person with a plan! Planning is always a great way to budget. Jot down exactly what you’ll be cooking for the week and stick to your shopping list. Then sit back and watch your bills reduce dramatically. 

A plan helps you keep track of how many fruits and vegetables you’re consuming per day. Have a separate highlighter that marks out meals that have bigger portions of fruit and veggies.

Go With Frozen

Not all frozen food is as good as its fresh counterpart – true story! But fruits and veggies can be an exception. Frozen veggies are known to retain nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Frozen veggies are affordable and longer-lasting, most importantly you won’t have to worry about wasting it.

Recipe Recharge

Know what to do with your fruits and veggies. As obvious as that phrase is, you know there are a ton of ways to use your fruits and vegetables, if you don’t go look up the internet—maybe then you’ll be much more inclined to use them more. 

Here’s a tip: pick your favorite vegetable and cook it in 10 different ways. Post the experimental phase, once you’re confident, try it with other vegetables.

Seasonal Shopping

Seasons decide prices! Fruits and veggies are significantly lower in price in season,  than when they’re out of season. Be sure to note down your list and their prices so you can spot when they’re cheaper and buy them. 

Im-‘pulse’ Buying

Pulses are not exactly, but kind of like fruits and vegetables. They are high in fiber, they include the same nutrients found in fruit and veggies, but on a lower scale. Chickpeas, beans and lentils are cheap and can be added to salads, soups and curry for nutrition– moreover, they are filling. And that’s all that matters!