Healthy eating on a budget: what to buy and what to skip

There's a common belief that healthy food costs more. Sometimes it does, if your idea of healthy is acai bowls and cold-pressed juice. But many of the most nutritious foods in the store are also among the cheapest. The trick is knowing which ones.

Cheap, healthy staples worth stocking

• Oats: a filling, high-fibre breakfast for pennies a bowl
• Dried or tinned beans, lentils and chickpeas: protein and fibre at a fraction of the cost of meat
• Eggs: one of the cheapest sources of high-quality protein
• Frozen vegetables and fruit: picked and frozen at their peak, with zero waste
• Tinned fish: sardines, mackerel and tuna for protein and omega-3s
• Brown rice, wholewheat pasta and potatoes: filling, versatile bases
• Cabbage, carrots, onions and bananas: cheap, long-lasting and available all year
• Plain yoghurt in a big tub: far cheaper per serving than individual pots

Where it's worth spending a little more

• Good olive oil, since you use it in almost everything
• Spices, which turn cheap ingredients into food you actually want to eat
• Whatever protein you'll genuinely cook, because an unused bargain is no bargain

What to skip

• Pre-cut fruit and vegetables, which can cost several times more than whole
• Single-serve packs of snacks, yoghurt and oats
• Products marketed as 'healthy' that cost more than the plain version: protein bars, 'superfood' blends, flavoured waters
• Bottled dressings and sauces you can make in two minutes with oil, vinegar and mustard

Habits that save the most

Food that gets thrown away is the most expensive food you buy. Planning meals, cooking in batches and building your list around shared ingredients will usually save more than any single coupon or discount. Swapping a couple of meat dinners a week for beans or lentils is another easy win for both your wallet and your fibre intake.

Takeout is where most food budgets quietly leak. Having a plan, and a fridge with something ready to eat, makes it much easier to skip the delivery app on a tired Tuesday.

Put it into a plan

Mealful builds plans around the foods you like and the ones you'd rather avoid, and merges every ingredient into one list. Because the list shows exact quantities and which recipe each item is for, it's much easier to buy only what you need.