🤑 Saving Money While Eating Well to Reduce Lupus Symptoms 🥳

Eating well with Lupus doesn't always have to be $$$$

With the price of so many things rising, here are some great tips on how to save money in your food budget.

1. Take advantage of the cheaper ingredients Many items can be found affordably even nowadays: frozen vegetables, dried beans, lentils, split peas, and stock up on foods that may be on sale. Cook dried beans with other affordable ingredients like carrots and onions for simple bean soups that can be divided up and frozen to enjoy in the future.

Also, ground meat is generally more affordable than cuts of meat. Stretch the ground meat with diced vegetables for delicious meatballs. Freezing the leftovers can save you precious time and energy in the future as well.

2. Buy in-season produce In-season produce tastes better, is cheaper, and an extra special bonus, it's often more nutritious! Instead of sitting on the shelves for weeks or traveling thousands of miles, in-season produce likely hasn't traveled as far and is fresher.

If you have access to a farmer's market, this can be a great place to find the freshest produce. Take advantage of negotiating for lower prices at the end of the farmer's market to buy the remaining produce. Farmers do not want to bring that produce back home!

3. Buy canned fish & frozen vegetables Frozen foods are less expensive and just as nutritious, if not more so! Especially in comparing out-of-season, old vegetables to frozen vegetables that were frozen immediately after harvest, the frozen would be more nutritious.

While I wouldn't suggest canned vegetables if you can find frozen, canned fish - tuna, salmon, sardines, & herring can be a fantastic source of protein at affordable prices.

4. Choose store brands Store brands especially for basic items are exactly the same or comparable in taste, quality, and package size as well as usually quite a bit cheaper!

5. Cook in batches

Your time is also precious! Cook in bulk or batches to freeze leftovers , cooking in bulk can not only ensure that you have leftovers to use in the future, but also, that all of your ingredients are utilized.

If you feel overwhelmed with making changes to feel your best, sign up for the fall Live Better with Lupus waitlist!

xoxo, The Lupus Dietitian