Myth Busting #01 Is it expensive to eat healthy food?
Is it expensive to eat healthy food?
By Becky Gillard
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Myth Busting - The most important meal of the day
Starting with breakfast, those of us on a typical Monday to Friday 9-5 job, on our way to work, often get tempted by that fast food restaurant for a drive-through meal and a cup of coffee! The problem is, these meals can end up costing us a small fortune of around £5 a day. That’s £25 a week, £100 a month, £1,200 a year on breakfast alone!
Now let's compare that to a good ol' bowl of oats and honey, fruit and a cup of breakfast tea at home.
The fruit might set you back £2 for the week, but a sprinkle of blueberries on your cereal can be split over the 5-days, meaning as little as 40p a day.
The oats can be picked up for less than £1 for a bag. So let's say 20p a day.
Finally, a jar of honey costs £1 which really does last a while. Again, just say it lasts for a week so 20p a day.
In total, this healthy (and tasty) breakfast, providing slow release energy, fibre and nutrients, can cost under £1 a day.
That's a good saving! Think about it… £1 vs £5. That extra £4 a day, £20 a week, £80 a month, or £960 a year can be put in the back pocket and go towards more exciting things, like a holiday in the sun!
Bear in mind we're only talking about breakfast here. Plus, most supermarkets have a lot of food vouchers available that will save you even more
This sounds good, but what if you're feeding a family?
The most expensive part of a healthy diet is going to be meat. This is where most of the concerns come from. A pack of 4 chicken breasts for example, can cost close to £5. For a large family, meat can end up pushing that overall shopping cost up and up.
A ready meal can cost about £2.50 each from frozen to microwave. It would seem a lot cheaper to buy the family one of these each. - Let's bust that myth.
At £2.50 each, a family of 5 would need to spend around £12.50 for everyone to sit down and enjoy a meal together. it's convenient, but often not particularly healthy.
Now for the healthy option. Let's focus on making fajitas.
The pack of chicken will be £5 as has already been mentioned.
A pack of peppers can be thrown in to add some colour and sweeten the meal. These cost around the £1 mark.
A couple of red onions give the meal some bite while providing plenty of vitamins and minerals. These can be purchased for around 40p each.
Next comes the spices! Fajita seasoning costs as little as 60p a pack, and if you fancied adding a can of chopped tomatoes, that's 30p more. So 90p total.
Finally comes the wraps to contain it all. To cover the whole family, a couple of packets may be required so this can be around £2 to keep everyone satisfied.
Total this all up and we can see that the healthier choice costs around £9.30 for the whole meal. Per person this equates to £1.86 each.
Conclusion
64p per meal might sound like a small saving, but times that by 5 people each day of the week and it soon adds up! This is just one quick example to show that a healthy diet can be affordable for us all.
I hope this inspires you to ditch the takeaway and cook simple and healthy delicious meals.
Myth busted.
Honey Garlic Chicken with Aromatic Rice
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