Issue 142 Healthy eating on a budget

FOOD & DRINK

HEALTHY EATING ON A BUDGET

This article examines how realistic it is to eat a healthly balanced diet when money is a concern.

Opinions can be divided on this topic.

On the one hand, people often feel that items such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, lean meat and fish are expensive to buy on a regular basis. But, on the other hand, many healthcare professionals feel that following healthy guidelines can result in cost-savings, when compared with reliance on convenience food.

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

The WHO defines the social determinants of health as, ‘the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age [which are] shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels [and are] mostly responsible for health inequities’.1 For example, studies have found that socioeconomic factors, such as having a low paid job and living in a socially deprived area, are associated with below average health.2 These social determinants of health can directly hinder nutritional intake in a number of ways. For example: • not enough money to buy sufficient food; • a lack of cooking skills and cooking equipment; • limited time to prepare and plan meals; • limited access to food shops (which may include limited transport options).

This can lead to food poverty, which is the inability to access a nutritionally adequate diet in socially acceptable ways.3 If somebody is suffering from food poverty, then following healthy eating guidelines is unlikely to be a possibility.

In this case, the priority will be sourcing

sufficient food. Unfortunately in these situations, the individual tends to have little control over what food they have access to. It is now estimated that more than 500,000 people in the UK rely on food parcels, an increase on previous years.4 Food bank locations in the UK can be found on The Trussell Trust website (www.trusselltrust.org).

Therefore, the first factor to consider is the degree to which finance plays a part. Is the individual hoping to save some money on the weekly shop, or are they suffering from food poverty?

Maeve Hanan UK Registered Dietitian Freelance Maeve works as a Freelance Dietitian and also runs the blog Dietetically Speaking.com, which promotes evidence-based nutrition and fights nutritional nonsense.

HOME-COOKING VS CONVENIENCE FOOD

Some studies have found that cooking at home is associated with improved health and cost savings as compared with eating out and using convenience food.5-7 But, of course, this will depend on the type of ingredients used and food eaten, regardless of whether they are made from scratch or preprepared.

Processed foods have been getting a particularly bad reputation recently, with the focus on reducing reliance on ‘ultra-processed foods’. Convenience food is often higher in fat, salt and sugar.

However, there are also plenty of healthy and affordable processed options available, including frozen fruit and vegetables, tinned fish, pulses, hummus and wholegrain bread, etc. A study from 2012 found that 100 meals produced from five popular recipes books were higher in calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar, but lower in fibre, as compared with 100 supermarket ready meals.8 Processed food and convenience meals can also be a vital source of nourishment for those who struggle with cooking.

REFERENCES Please visit the Subscriber zone at NHDmag.com

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FOOD & DRINK

Swap expensive brand names and ‘organic’ items for supermarket own-brand versions.

Great value can be found at wholesale stores, if you have access to one.

A useful money-saving strategy is to buy food in bulk, cook in batches and freeze for future use. However, this isn’t always realistic.

For example, those who are living by pay cheque to pay cheque often can’t afford to buy in bulk.

Similarly, some people don’t have the necessary cooking skills, access to cooking facilities, or storage space available. It is also unlikely to work for some people who have hectic schedules, chronic medical conditions, or disabilities.

So, it really depends on the type of processed foods used and the individual’s circumstances, meaning that processed foods as a whole shouldn’t be shunned.

REDUCING FOOD WASTE

When planning ahead is a realistic option, this can be a great way of saving money related to food.

Importantly, this can help to reduce food waste – which is really important for the environment, as well as our wallets. For example, in the UK, the average household is estimated to lose £470 per year due to avoidable food waste (or £700 for those with children).9 Planning meals and preparing shopping lists can also reduce the need to buy food ‘on the go’, which often works out more expensive than preparing meals or snacks at home.

Food waste can be further reduced by freezing or refrigerating leftovers, so that these 40

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can be consumed at a later date (within food safety guidelines: www.food.gov.uk/safetyhygiene/chilling). Having an awareness of portion sizes can also help to reduce food waste.

This can mean that less money is spent on food which may not be eaten, or may be thrown away.

EATING MORE PLANTS

Consuming a well-balanced, mainly plantbased diet is associated with positive outcomes in terms of heart health and cancer risk.10 But plant-based diets can also have cost-saving benefits. One study from America compared the cost of following an economical version of the US healthy eating guidelines (MyPlate) with a plant-based diet. The results showed that the MyPlate diet cost $53.11 (roughly £41) per week, whereas the plant-based diet cost $38.75 (roughly £30). This worked out as a cost-saving of $746.46 (roughly £575) per year as a result of following a plant-based diet.11 However, adopting a fully plant-based diet in a balanced way may not be realistic or appealing for everybody. Including a few meatfree meals, or meat-free days, per week may be a more realistic option for many people.

THE IMPACT OF FAD DIETS

Avoiding unnecessary restrictions and faddy diets may also help to save money. For example,

Table 1: Budget-friendly shopping hacks • Swap expensive brand names and ‘organic’ items for supermarket own-brand versions.

• Check the discount section of supermarkets in the evening. But try not to buy something purely because it is on offer – it isn’t a bargain if you don’t actually need or want it!

• You can beat confusing offers and pricing by comparing how much a food costs per kilogram instead of the overall price.

• If you can afford to buy in bulk it can work out cheaper in the long run, for example, a 1kg bag of rice is often cheaper per kg, as compared with a 500g bag (but not always, so check the label).

• Frozen versions of berries, vegetables and fish tend to be cheaper.

• ‘Vegetable oil’ in the UK and Ireland is usually 100% rapeseed oil, which is a healthy and affordable oil to cook with.

• Supermarket own-brand oats are a really healthy and affordable staple food.

• Cheaper cuts of meat include: mince, brisket, chicken thigh, pork belly and neck of lamb.15 • Tinned lentils, beans and chickpeas can be a handy way to add protein and fibre to a meal, and this can also save money if it is used to replace meat once or twice per week.

• Use versatile and affordable options to add flavour, without adding too much salt. For example: low salt stock cubes (you can use half at a time to reduce the salt and cost further), dilute low salt soy sauce with water (which also makes it go further), use supermarket brand pepper, herbs and spices.

• Stick to your shopping list and don’t go shopping on an empty stomach. Following these classic bits of advice reduces the risk of buying unnecessary food which may go to waste. Studies have found that we are more likely to buy more food and non-food items when we are hungry.16 • It can work out cheaper to buy from a fruit and vegetable shop and butcher, rather than getting everything in the supermarket.

• It’s worth checking discount stores, as they can have great deals on things like nuts, seeds and tinned pulses.

• Great value can be found at wholesale stores, if you have access to one.

• If you are really organised, you can use online price comparison websites (such as, www.mysupermarket.co.uk/).

a recent study found that gluten-free products were 159% more expensive as compared with gluten-containing products.12 From a nutritional perspective, this study also found that glutenfree products tended to be higher in fat, sugar and salt; but lower in fibre and protein than gluten-containing options. So, unless there is a medical reason to avoid gluten, it makes sense from a health and financial point of view to avoid a gluten-free diet.

Similarly, a cost analysis of low-carbohydrate diets found that, ‘the cheapest possible lowcarbohydrate diet costs about triple the cost of the cheapest diet with no constraint on carbohydrate’.13 Studies have also found that low-carb diets may worsen health outcomes, as compared to diets which contain a moderate amount of carbohydrate.14 Therefore, avoiding strict or faddy diets is likely to save money and be better for our health.

MONEY-SAVING FOOD SHOPPING TIPS

There are several habits that can help to reduce the cost of the weekly shopping bill (see Table 1). But it is important to bear in mind that these may not be feasible for everybody. For example, some of these tips involve extra time and planning, access to a variety of shops, storage facilities, access to a freezer and literacy skills.

CONCLUSION

There are many strategies that can promote a healthy balanced diet while also saving some money, including shopping wisely, reducing food waste, avoiding fad diets and eating a more plant-based diet. However, the reality of being able to use these strategies is strongly dependant on individual circumstances. In particular, the increasingly common issue of food poverty can shift food-related priorities from a healthy balanced diet, to sourcing enough food to get by. www.NHDmag.com March 2019 - Issue 142

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