I plan ahead all the time, and look for coupons. Watch for sales and deals, there always are good sales. And plan ahead, I find that if possible having your own small garden is a good way to save money. The rest can be bought when on sale. .

Criteria for The World's Healthiest Foods

Among the thousands of different foods our world provides, the majority contain at least several of the nutrients our bodies need but to be included as one of the World's Healthiest Foods they had to meet the criteria listed below.

The criteria we used will also help you understand why some of your favorite (and also nutritious) foods may not be included on our list. For example, Readers have asked why pomegranate, a very nutritious food, is not included on our website. While pomegranates taste great and are rich in vitamins and flavonoid phytonutrients, they are still rather expensive which makes them not as widely available to many people.

1. The World's Healthiest Foods are the Most Nutrient Dense

The World's Healthiest Foods have been selected because they are among the richest sources of many of the essential nutrients needed for optimal health. We used a concept called nutrient density to determine which foods have the highest nutritional value.

Nutrient density is a measure of the amount of nutrients a food contains in comparison to the number of calories. A food is more nutrient dense when the level of nutrients is high in relationship to the number of calories the food contains. By eating the World's Healthiest Foods, you'll get all the essential nutrients that you need for excellent health, including vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids, fiber and more for the least number of calories. Read more about Our Food and Recipe Rating System.

2. The World's Healthiest Foods are Whole Foods

The World's Healthiest Foods are also whole foods complete with all their rich natural endowment of nutrients. They have not been highly processed nor do they contain synthetic, artificial or irradiated ingredients. And whenever possible, The Healthier Way of Eating recommends purchasing "Organically Grown" foods, since they not only promote your health, but also the health of our planet.

3. The World's Healthiest Foods are Familiar Foods

The World's Healthiest Foods are common "everyday" foods. These include the fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, lean meats, fish, olive oil, herbs and spices that are familiar to most people.

4. The World's Healthiest Foods are Readily Available

Although there are many foods that are exceptionally nutritious, many of them are not readily available in different areas of the country. The World's Healthiest Foods are foods that the majority people can easily find at their local market.

5. The World's Healthiest Foods are Affordable

We have selected foods that are not only familiar and available, but also affordable, especially if you purchase them locally and in season. This is also the time when they are the freshest and of the best quality.

6. The World's Healthiest Foods Taste Good

The World's Healthiest Foods are also some of the world's best tasting foods. We have created recipes using the World's Healthiest Foods that do not overpower, but enhance, the unique flavor of each food. Each recipe provides a flavor adventure so you can discover new ways to experience and enjoy the great natural tastes of these foods.

While fresh fruit is ideal, there is nothing wrong with buying frozen to meet your nutritional requirements or canned (as long as you watch that you're buying fruit packed in water and not syrup and vegetables are backed in water with no salt added). These choices are less expensive than a bag of potato chips per serving.

Water is free, unless you're picky like I am and have to have bottled or filtered...and even then the cost is less than pop.

Cooking from scratch is not expensive, nor is it as time consuming as we tend to think when we're used to processed/junk food.

Okay, so you happen to like potato chips...way cheaper to cut up a couple of potatoes and throw them in the deep fryer than to buy a bag of chips and much healthier too since you're avoiding the preservatives and extras that go into store-bought chips.

Donuts do take a little longer, but a batch of 48 costs less than $2.00 takes less than 10 minutes...

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Quick Guide to eating healthy and cheaply:

Buy the food that is listed on the link I provided.

Buy in bulk. I buy bulk flour, rice, beans, oats, canned tomatoes, etc.

Make meals and staples in bulk. I make a huge pot of marinara sauce and freeze in portions. Something like 50 servings total for about $5. I also cook a huge pot of beans and then save them in portions for side dishes, soups, etc. I make three pounds of dried beans for about $4 (including the ham hock).

Save the extra portions (freeze, can, etc)

Grow some of your food. Start with 1 square foot plots. If you produce more than you can eat, can it (or give it to family or neighbors)

Bake your own bread. I make whole wheat bread for about $1 per loaf versus $3.50 at the store.

Bake your own cake, muffins, pizza dough, etc from scratch. A bread maker makes it even easier.

Consider buying a pressure cooker. The beans I mentioned above took 45 minutes (without soaking).

Quit buying junk food!

The main problem with eating healthy has very little to do with monetary expense and much more to do with lifestyle choices.

For instance, I can go to a fast food restaurant and fill up on junk for about $5 or less...maybe $7 if I'm really ravenous.

But for $5-7, I can go to the supermarket (or even better, a family-owned grocer or farmer's market) and get enough fresh ingredients to prepare a healthy and satisfying meal for myself and another. I think that eating healthy, in monetary terms, can easily be no more expensive or even less so than eating junk.

The main problem with eating healthy in our modern society is just that people don't value it enough. This is often phrased as "I don't have time to eat healthy," which may be true at the surface, but is really just an indicator that eating healthy isn't high on the priority list. If it were, people would make time for it.

And, as has been pointed out, taking a little extra time and forethought to feed one's self and one's family well is much less expensive than trying to medically repair the damage as an afterthought.

All you have to do to eat healthy, is not be a stupid fat lazy American. You don't have to buy expensive groceries from Whole Foods, you can get plenty of healthy meals to make for cheap at your normal grocery store. Use some fucking coupons.

The key to eating healthy is not buying "fat free" food, or "light" merchandise. The key is truly understanding what you are eating in a nutritional perspective and understanding what your body really needs.

Everything you need to stay healthy is at the supermarket, and trust me, it's cheap.

I've been a vegan for 10 years, and I'm poor as shit. If people started putting more importance on what goes into their body, and their health, and less on material possessions, they wouldn't even think buying healthy, organic foods was an expense. It's people's mindset's that need to change, not the price of healthy food!

You odn't have to buy organic, specialty foods, there are tons of healthy options at the regular grocery store for afordable prices.

From a practical standpoint, it's much more difficult to eat healthy AND cheap than to eat cheap junk. so I want to go on the other side but the way the question was phrased, technically it is possible (just a pain in the @$$).

You don't have to buy expensive groceries from Whole Foods, you can get plenty of healthy meals to make for cheap at your normal grocery store. Use some fucking coupons.

You can eat cheap, if you manage to organise what you buy, where you buy it and keep watching for changes in prices. And it might require you to go to 5 stores in one day just to compare prices of stuff that's not in catalogues. And if you grow a vegetable garden, some fruit trees, etc., it comes out cheaper, but it consumes more of your time.

All in all, you spend less money and a lot more time, but the walks between stores and taking care of the garden/being on fresh air are also much healthier alternatives to sitting in front of the tv, stuffing your face with a huge, greasy, salty, yummy hamburger and fries =P