Most people few eating healthier as more costly. It’s true, if you buy healthier foods, you might pay more, but you might not if you know what healthy is and you know what to look for.

Have you seen healthy choice prepared meals or lean hot pockets? They are healthier than their alternative t.v. dinners and regular pizza hot pockets, but they usually arent cheaper. Guess what? These aren’t necessarily healthy choices either. They are full of preservatives and white starches. Prepackaged foods are rarely good for you. It’s cheaper and healthier to make your own food.

Instead of bringing a prepackaged healthy choice lunch or a hot pocket of any kind, eat leftovers of a healthy mean from the night before, make a sandwich, or make a fresh salad. They are cheaper than both the “healthy” or “not healthy” alternative and probably healthier than both, too.

When you eat healthy, you usually get full faster with less food. It will take you a lot more cookies to fill you up than apples and a bag of apples probably cost less than 5 boxes of cookies. Junk food makes you crave more junk food and therefore makes you spend more money.

If you are overwhelmed by the price of produce, grow your own. You can plant a small garden and even just include 2 or three different vegetables and it would still help you save money. Plant an orange or apple tree (depending on where you live) and enjoy the fruit of your labor.

The farmer’s market is another cheaper alternative. When produce is in season in your area you will get fresher vegetables, help your local economy, eat healthy, and save some money. You could even by frozen if the fresh produce was still too expensive.

You could easily spend at least the same amount on your new healthy diet and foods than you did eating junk food. In the long run you would still save money because you would be healthier and not get sick as often.

Don’t get sick and you won’t have to go to the doctors or pay for medicine. Even if you have insurance, a doctor’s visit often charges a co-pay which can eat away at your savings. Eat and stay healthy and reap the rewards of feeling better and saving money!