How to eat healthier without a lot of money
$120.00 groceries that will last a month
I don’t know anyone who would want to eat the way I am about to explain, but the truth is that going through a hard time is real, and struggling to pay bills let alone worry about food is a reality. I know because I’ve been there. Yet I did not resort to fast food because it was cheaper. I did not change my health conscious mind just because I wasn’t making as much as I was before because I’m determined to never go back. To the life where I didn’t have a lot of energy to be myself and only got slow drops of creativity that’d come so seldomly whereas now vivid dreams and downloads fill me weekly. I never want to forget eating was a part of that change. I once read this on a spiritual tarot card:
Eating healthfully = increased energy levels = increased focus = increased efficiency = increased creative birthings = increased attraction of beneficial relationships = increased manifestation of opportunities leading to what we desire most in life
And I believe in all of this. So instead of giving up, I still went to the grocery store - on a 120.00 spending plan that had to last me an entire month - but I made it work and you can too. It’s not going to be the most delicious food you ever had, you will be a little hungrier than usual between meals, macros will be a bit off balance (but they will still be more under control than if you were eating fast food every day) and food will be repetitive, but if you’re committed to yourself it won’t matter. Being committed is what true change requires, and that doesn’t mean being perfect - it means showing up to the best of your ability. So let’s get into the way I handled food when I didn’t have a lot of money coming in.
Daily
For breakfast, I soaked oats in rice milk because that’s my go to breakfast - but I couldn’t buy all the trimmings like blueberries, maple syrup, sunflower seed butter or anything else that would make it taste extra delicious. I remember trying my best to eat this after 12pm so that it would last me into the afternoon so that I could go about my day and not be starving before lunch - you might want to do the same.
For lunch, I kept it really simple and ate one serving of chickpeas or lentils and added a few drops of balsamic vinaigrette to give it some taste and had good bean dried chickpeas or raw sunflower seeds or banana chips on the side for a snack. Alternatively, I had 1 can of polar kipper snacks or a tuna pouch with one of the same snacks. I also kept an eye on Wawa rewards in the app, because having a sub for lunch instead for $1 was worth a million dollars to me at the time.
For dinner, I had raw shrimp, broccoli and rice or tofu mixed with cheddar cheese and rice. I would either make buffalo shrimp or sprinkle a bit of Adobo to make it more of a Spanish dish, or I would just use a condiment on the side to make it a little more flavorful and not repetitive or boring.
Weekends
For breakfast on Saturday and Sunday I ate Kashi cereal soaked in rice milk. Again, I tried to eat after 12pm so I could go about my day without too much interference.
For lunch on Saturday and Sunday I had chickpeas or lentils again.
For dinner on Saturday and Sunday I had pink salmon and rice. For an after dinner snack I had salt and vinegar popcorn - since it tastes so strongly I couldn’t eat a full serving and this was beneficial so I would cut the serving in half and since there are 4 servings in a bag that provided me with 8 servings, which covered all my Saturday and Sunday nights for one month (this is why a scale comes in handy, you can weigh your servings so you will know how long bags will last you and you can save money by using this method as well - I will be talking about this upcoming).
I learned to plan my meals over the years, never this tightly but I’m used to a schedule so on this plan, just like all the other times, I did not have to think or worry about what I was going to be eating every day and the prep for this stuff was quick and easy. I had enough on my mind to worry about, I didn’t want to worry about food too. If you need it, you can download the 5 day meal plan below which you can use for an entire month because the items on the grocery list that’s also included will last an entire month and cost a little less than $120.00. The cost of these products may even be less depending on your area. Remember you can tweak the plan to your liking, as long as the servings will last you the month - it will work.
One last note: I mention above a lot of “or’s” and that’s because I had some extra things on hand like condiments or snacks left over from previous grocery trips before the money slowed down. Just so you know the meal plan below assumes you have none of this and literally need full breakfast/lunch/dinners, so no need to worry.
Jennifer Diane is a writer, artist and intuitive based out of New Jersey. Healing with the Occult is a guide that shares hidden, transformative knowledge to assist with self-mastery.
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