The Frugal Man’s (and Woman’s) Guide to Eating Healthy

The Frugal Man’s (and Woman’s) Guide to Eating Healthy
by Kevin Kuryliw

When it comes to eating healthy (read: Paleo), many people believe that it requires spending an abundance of money in order to buy the right products. If you’re able to cook for yourself, and it need not be anything fancy, then you’re able to eat healthy while spending just as much if not less than what you’d normally pay for your run of the mill shopping list. It requires a little bit of creativity, and preferably a Sam’s Club or Costco membership, but it can be done, and all for around $9 a day including necessary supplements such as fish oils.

To start, you’ll need to buy your products in bulk. As aforementioned, the best ways to do this is at Sam’s Club or Costco (or insert other discount warehouse center). The prices I’ll be listing are taken from Sam’s Club as that’s where I purchase all of my food. Prices may vary slightly depending on location, season, and sales.

Chicken Breasts – $1.72 / lb
97% Lean Ground Turkey – $1.87 / lb
90% Lean Ground Beef – $2.32 / lb
Top Round Steak – $2.55 / lb
Pork Chops – $2.35 / lb
Eggs (18 ct.) – $2
Bacon (fresh) – $3.50 / lb
Broccoli (frozen) – $6 / 3 lbs
Spinach (fresh) – $5 / 2 lbs
Apples (approx 10 ct.) – $5 / 2 lbs
Bananas (approx 6 ct.) – $1
Mixed Berries (frozen) – $6 / 3 lbs
Olive Oil – $10 / 2 L
Almonds (unsalted) – $11 / 3 lbs
Walnuts (unsalted) – $12 / 3 lbs
Assorted Spices – $8 / large container

This is a typical list of products that I buy every week. I tend to stick to chicken breasts and ground turkey, but will on occasion get ground beef, steak, or pork chops. As you can see, I have a good variety of meats, vegetables, fruits, and fats to choose from. On average, I spend about $45-50 a week on food, or around $7 a day. In terms of Zone Blocks, this is around 21-22 blocks. For most, the cost of food should be even less than this.

Eating healthy and inexpensively does require a bit of preparation. If you’re constantly on the go, there are always those looming yellow arches somewhere in the distance. To avoid making the fast-food mistake, consider cooking your meals in advance and bringing them with you in Tupperware containers. The easiest way to do this is to either bake or grill – or any other preferred method – enough food to last you 2-3 days. Measure out your desired portion size of meat and put it in a container, add in a couple handfuls of spinach or broccoli, then splash some olive oil over top or throw in some nuts. Add in a fruit and you’re all set.

Getting used to this can take a good week or two, but once you’ve developed a routine of preparing your meals ahead of time and preparing accordingly to your daily schedule, you’ll quickly realize how easy it is to eat well all the time. It does take a measure of self-discipline and does require that you tolerate sometimes eating your food cold, but it’s certainly doable. If the choice of products I’ve listed is too narrow and limited for you, you can easily expand it to suit your needs, but the cost may rise.

As for supplements, I purchase all of mine from www.bodybuilding.com. There are certainly other places you can choose from, but I find this website to have some of the better deals and they have a large selection of goods. Here is a list of highly suggested supplements as well as optional ones:

Olympian Labs Cod Liver Oil – $14.99 / 96 servings @ 3/d = $0.47/d
Higher Power CoQ10 – $12.99 / 60 servings @ 1/d = $0.22/d
Higher Power Multi XS – $14.95 / 100 servings @ 2/d = $0.30/d
NOW Potassium Gluconate – $5.49 / 250 servings @ 4/d = $0.09/d
Higher Power ZMA – $15.99 / 60 servings @ 1/d = $0.27/d
Optional
Higher Power Micronized Creatine – $18.99 / 200 servings @ 2/d = $0.19/d
Higher Power Glutamine AKG – $44.99 / 400 servings @ 2/d = $0.22/d
Higher Power BCAA AKG – $29.99 / 120 servings @ 2/d = $0.50/d

Cost per day for suggested supplements comes to $1.35 and optional supplements come to $0.91. Add this cost together with the $7 per day for food and you’re looking at a total cost of under $9 a day for everything (and this again is priced at the quantity of food I eat).

I hope this guide has helped assure you that there is a way to eat healthy while not deflating your wallet. As I mentioned, it does take a bit of creativity, planning, and self-discipline, but it’s absolutely doable. I’ve been eating like this with great success for the past several months now and have no desire to stop now. If you have any questions or need some extra assistance in getting started, feel free to email me at kevin@crossfit-orlando.com and I’ll do whatever I can to help. Good luck and happy savings!