The 20 Healthiest Foods For Under $1.50-$2.00 Per Meal
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Eat Cheap: Eat Healthy Food
Cheap food does not mean low quality food.
That bag of 99¢ Cheetos looks like great snack food, doesn’t it? It’s not. That snack has no nutrition at all: it’s less like a deal than a dupe. You can eat an entire, healthy meal for about the same price. Instead, try one or more of these 20 foods that will just stretch that dollar into a great, healthy meal.
In this economy, you may want to opt for a vegetarian—or even vegan—diet to save money. Food prices keep climbing, and most people pay far too much for expensive packaged and frozen food. For a $5.00 pre-prepared dinner, you can buy two or three dinners from ingredients on the list below for the same price. If you want to eat well and not empty your wallet out at the local grocery store, stay on the periphery—fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy—then, check the aisle that contains whole grains, dried beans, and rice.
One of our frequent guests, Jess, suggests shopping at your local farmers markets to cut food costs. That’s an excellent way to get local produce at a better price than you pay at the supermarket.
There are many different varieties of these 20 foods so experiment. Try Yukon Gold potatoes rather than the normal russets; crunch on a Granny Smith apple instead of a Red Delicious.
You can a meal together when you get home after work, look for simple, wholesome, time-saving recipes online, or cook a few meals for the week. The most inexpensive items are usually the best food you can buy.
1. Oats
Oats lower cholesterol and are high in fiber, complex carbohydrates, and B vitamins. A dollar will buy you more than a week’s worth of hearty breakfasts. Sprinkle oatmeal with nuts and fruit in the morning, make some wholesome cookies, or try your hand at oatmeal bread.
2. Eggs
Buy a dozen eggs for approximately $2.00, and you have one of the cheapest, most versatile protein sources. Eggs are also a good source of lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants which wards off age-related eye problems. You can make a quick breakfast with scrambled eggs or an omelet, take an egg salad sandwich with you to work, or make hard-boiled eggs for a spinach salad.
3. Kale
Kale is a super food that costs approximately $1.00 per bunch. This dark, leafy green is loaded with vitamin C, carotenoids, and calcium. Chop up a little kale with your other stir fried vegetables, try it in a salad, or make some low fat kale chips.
Kale chips are quick, easy side dish—just tear the leaves from one bunch of kale into bite-size pieces, put them in a baking pan lined with paper, and drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Bake for about 10 minutes until the edges are brown and not burned. The result is a quick, healthy snack with few calories.
4. Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Yams
Don’t believe carbohydrates are bad for you: 100% of your brain runs on carbohydrates. Most Americans eat potatoes at their unhealthiest as fries or chips.
Potatoes are a dirt cheap food. Potatoes contain almost half a day’s worth of Vitamin C if you eat them with the skin and a great source of potassium. You can try sweet potatoes or yams and also get a good wallop of beta carotene. Make some potato salad for lunch or bake a potato for dinner topped with non-fat Greek yoghurt and chives, or bake chunks in the oven with a little oil and salt on top.
5. Apples
Apples are another cheap food. They are unpackaged, portion controlled, and taste great. This fruit is a source of pectin, a fiber that may help reduce cholesterol. They also have vitamin C—an excellent antioxidant that also keeps your blood vessels healthy.
6. Nuts
Eaten sparingly, nuts are a great source of good fats good lots of omega 3-6-9 to lower your cholesterol. You’ll also get lots of EFA, Vitamin E, and protein. Nuts are such a nutrient-dense for, you only need a handful. Skip the pecans and macadamias—they’re too expensive. Buy nuts in the shell—you’ll pay a lot less. Store nuts in an air tight container in the refrigerator, and you can keep them for a long time. Eat them raw, roasted and salted, or toss some on your cereal or salad.
7. Bananas
Trader Joe’s sells bananas for 19¢ each. Take a banana to work with the egg salad sandwich you made. A $1.00 investment buys you a banana a day for the entire work week. Bananas are a high-potassium food and contain nine grams of fiber. They are great for a quick snack. Try them in smoothies, in cereal or yogurt.
8. Beans
Beans are cheap, good food. Eat them with brown rice, and you have a complete protein. They are an excellent source of protein and fiber. Garbanzo beans (chick peas) are a higher fiber food with iron, folate, and manganese, and helps reduce cholesterol. There are seemingly endless varieties—pinto, black, kidneys, and white beans. The most inexpensive way to buy beans is buy them dried, soak them overnight, and simmer them.
Our friend, Jess gave us a great falafel recipe that’s quick and easy. Add some garbanzo beans and as much garlic as you like, a teaspoon and a dribble of good olive oil, and some tahini sauce. Smoosh it in your food processor until the mixture has the consistency of hamburger. Pat the mixture into small patties and bake them for about 10 minutes, or until crispy. These delicious little patties go great with a salad, as a sandwich, or as a snack.
9. Broccoli
Here’s another super food that costs about a $1.00 a bunch. Broccoli contains loads calcium, vitamins A and C, potassium, folate, and fiber. This vegetable is also packed with phytonutrients‐compounds that help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. You can add them to salads, steam them, and stir fry them. Pair broccoli and potatoes, and you pay approximately $1.50 for two meals.
10. Watermelon
You can’t buy an entire watermelon for $1.00, but your cost-per-serving is approximately a few dimes. This summertime fruit is over 90 percent water, so it’s a delicious, easy way to hydrate. This fruit also provides you healthy amounts of Vitamin C, potassium, and lycopene, an antioxidant that may ward off cancer and help keep your eyes strong. Freeze them for popsicles that you can enjoy when summer is over, eat straight from the rind, or throw them into a smoothie.
11. Wild Rice and Brown Rice
Known for its luxurious nutty flavor and chewy texture, wild rice isn’t really rice at all, but a long-grain marsh grass. You won’t pay much more for wild or brown rice, but the taste is much better. Wild rice is gluten free. Both wild and brown rice are high in protein and fiber (especially when combined with beans). They are also gluten free, a great source of carbohydrates, and contain loads of calcium, and loaded with B vitamins. Mix rice with nuts and veggies for a cold rice salad or blend with brown rice for a side dish. Add tofu to beans and rice, and you have get a giant amount of protein for approximately $2.50 per meal.
12. Beets
Forget those nasty, slimy red things you find in cans. Fresh beets are a delicious food. Their natural sugars make them sweet to the palate. Beets are a powerhouse of folate, iron, and antioxidants. Try raw beets and carrots mixed together with a little oil and balsamic vinegar or shred into them into salads. Buy your beets with the tops: you can braise the greens in oil.
13. Butternut Squash
Savory or sweet, butternut squash is wonderful, hearty food for cold days. However you prepare the butternut squash, it will not only add color and texture, but also five grams of fiber per half cup and chunks and chunks of Vitamin A and C. When in season, butternut squash and related gourds are usually less than a dollar a pound. Bake with a sparing amount of butter.
14. Whole Grain Pasta
Who doesn’t love pasta? Whole wheat is a few cents more expensive than pasta made with white flour, but tastes much better. Multigrain or whole grain pasta come in all shapes and sizes, and is food with complex carbohydrate, high in protein and B vitamins. Mix pasta with fresh tomatoes fresh basil, along with a little salt, and you have a quick, cheap meal. Three servings will cost you approximately $2.50.
15. Sardines
Sardines are tasty. Sardines are a relatively cheap food. The little fish are packed with come with huge nutritional benefits: calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and B vitamins. They are low on the food chain: they don’t accumulate mercury. Mash them with parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil for a spread; eat them plain on crackers; enjoy as a pizza topping; or make them Portugese-style—Grilled Sardines with garlic, parsley & olive oil.
16. Spinach
Spinach is one of the best green super foods you can buy. You can spend less than $1.00 a bunch for Vitamin C, iron, and trace minerals. You can buy spinach year round. Make a salad topped with eggs, add it to egg salad, or add spinach to a vegetable sauté.
17. Tofu and Wheat Gluten
Tofu is delicious and absorbs the flavor of any food you cook. You can find tofu and wheat gluten in many different forms: plain; deli meat; ground “beef” and “sausage”; and marinated. If you use ground “beef” in spaghetti or lasagna, most meat eaters won’t know the difference. Tofu is an extremely inexpensive protein, high in B vitamins and iron, but low in fat and sodium. You can stir fry tofu with vegetables and rice, make a delicious mousse, or bake it with some herbs in the oven. Tofu is cheap and a great staple.
18. Dairy: low-fat milk, soy milk, and yoghurt
The price of milk is rising, but you’ll still pay under $1.00 per serving. Milk is rich in protein, vitamins A and D, potassium, and niacin, and is one of the easiest ways to get bone-strengthening calcium.
If you think you don’t like yoghurt, try Greek-style yoghurt, which is delicious on baked potatoes, mixed with fruit and berries, or added to a smoothie. Greek yoghurt is thick, creamy, rich, and packs a walloping 24 grams of protein per 8 oz. serving, as well as calcium. Many brands contain absolutely no fat. Add some fruit, nuts, and/or chocolate chips, and you’ve got a hearty, healthy meal for about $2.50. Why not splurge?
Soy milk is also a reasonably priced alternative for the lactose intolerant. Soy milk is a great replacement for milk in cooking. Silk makes great soy milk: try the chocolate or wait until the winter holidays and try Silk Nog.
19. Pumpkin Seeds
Save the seeds after you carve the Halloween pumpkin. They’re full of magnesium, protein, and trace minerals, and come free with the pumpkin. Salt, roast, and eat plain; toss in salads. Make pumpkin bread and add the roasted seeds.
20. Coffee
Hurray! (We saved the best for last.) The medical community once targeted coffee as a cause of heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis—new research shows none of those hypothesis true. Coffee contains antioxidants and may actually protect you against heart disease and cancer. You don’t need to spend $5.00 a cup for coffee. Buy your beans at the store, brew your own, and invest in a good cup to drink on the go: save any left over coffee in the refrigerator and make delicious iced coffee. The grounds make a great fertilizer.
For those who want a caffeine buzz, avoid the darker roasts. The longer the coffee bean is roasted, the more caffeine is leached out.
You can save a lot of money if you make your own mayonnaise. It’s simple to make: raw egg yolks, oil, and mustard. Here’s the Gordon Ramsay recipe:
- 3 egg yolks
- teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper (freshly ground if possible)
- 1 lemon
- 1-1/4 cups flavorless cooking oil
Put the egg yolks in a food processor with Dijon mustard. Turn on the food processor. The first 30 seconds of making mayonnaise is the most crucial, so pour in the oil SLOWLY. After 30 seconds or so you can start pouring faster. When you finish adding all the oil, add the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Give the mix a quick burst, and presto—mayonnaise.
Many thanks to Mary Alice for this great shopping list and to Jess for her suggestions.
If you have any other ideas for cheap food, please share your ideas with us.
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That all sounds good, except I can do without the sardines. I’m hungry.
Thanks, Dorothy! This is a fantastic list–not only in terms of its usefulness as a money saver, but also for the wealth of nutritional info and practical tips. I never would have thought of a number of these things, such as buying fresh beets (confession: I like the slimy, pickled ones) and eating the tops.
I just have to add a few words about my personal favorite, BEANS. I’ve always used pinto beans and slow-cooked them the way my mother and grandmother did (which probably leaches out most of the nutrients, but they’re SOOOOOOOO GOOD that way), except that I no longer flavor them with salt pork. You can season them with whatever spices you keep on hand in your cupboard. Black pepper, garlic powder, and Tabasco sauce are some of my standbys (and sometimes a little ketchup–sorry, Dorothy). You won’t miss the added fat and salt.
There are three additional steps you should take when preparing pinto beans:
1) Sort through the sack of beans carefully for rocks before you start cooking. I can almost guarantee that there will be a pebble somewhere in that bag, and it’s better to find it in your hand than in your teeth.
2) As Dorothy said, soak the beans over night. Then rinse them the next morning before you start boiling them. This little step washes off any lingering dirt and somewhat reduces the beans’ volatility (a critical measure for if you’re stationed in Afghanistan).
3) After rinsing the beans, add fresh water and simmer them for *at least* two hours before serving–otherwise, they’ll be a little too chewy. The beauty of this is that you can cook a big pot of beans on the stove almost indefinitely over the weekend, then divide up portions of it to freeze and add to other dishes (they a make a great base for chili, with or without meat–terrific with cornbread or tortillas!). Recooking the beans a couple of times will utlimately render them into a tasty, spreadable mass–just like refried beans, but without the lard! Just make sure that you stir the pot and add a little water periodically so that the beans don’t stick and burn.
Beans, glorious beans–would that I had some right now!
I remember when this was first posted. I printed it out and took it shopping it with me, and then promptly lost it in one of the bags. Now I can do it again. Thanks Dorothy.
Great list. I don’t think you can go wrong with any kind of dark green leafy veggie whether it’s kale, mustard greens, spinach, turnip, collard or “rape.” Being diabetic I have to use moderation with some of these foods such as rice and watermelon. Yes, whole grains are best but eating whole grain pasta is similar in taste and texture to eating a corrugated box, imo. Can’t wait to try the mayo recipe. Wonder how long it lasts. Nice article demonstrating that people can eat well for little money. Too bad avocados are so damn expensive.