How to cut diet costs without giving up a healthy lifestyle
With the rapidly rising cost of living, more and more people are looking to save money, including when it comes to food products. This can affect the quality of your diet. Find out how you can cut your diet costs while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
It may seem that a healthy lifestyle is something exclusive and expensive. This is not true! Everyone can afford a healthy diet, as long as we approach the subject with common sense. If someone wants to regularly attend a nutritionist or use diet catering or exercise daily with a personal trainer, the cost of these services will indeed be high. Fortunately, there are other solutions available on the market for those who want to live a healthy lifestyle in a more economical way.
How much does a healthy lifestyle cost?
Healthy lifestyle – diet costs
Based on the experience of our nutritionists, we have been able to estimate that the average monthly cost of a healthy diet for one adult is about £122 per month (assuming that all meals are eaten at home and prepared independently). This amount will, of course, increase the more we choose ready-made semi-finished products, superfoods and more exotic fruits and vegetables. If you still don’t know how you should compose healthy meals and need help, you can take a look at our article 4 rules to help you easily compose a balanced meal.
With help also comes the Fitatu® app. Free of charge, you can use a database of as many as 1,500 specially composed recipes. And by opting for the Premium version starting from around £2/month, you gain access to another 2,000 dishes. This is a great alternative to visiting a dietician or diets available online, whose costs are much higher.
Healthy lifestyle – the cost of physical activity
The cost of physical activity can vary widely, but it actually starts at… £0. Yes, you read that right. If you decide to train at home with videos available for free on the Internet, such as YouTube, then physical activity will cost you nothing. Other free activities include running or cycling (if you already have a bike, of course).
However, if you don’t know how to get started and what workout videos to look for, you can opt to buy a subscription to workout apps. Trainers from all over the world create their own platforms and offer paid access to apps with a wide variety of exercises, arranged in ready-made workout plans. Most often, they are tailored to be performed at home. The cost of such subscriptions starts at around £10 per month. It can be higher for a more personalized service. On the other hand, if contact with others is important to you, gym offers will certainly be tempting. Prices for monthly passes currently start at PLN £30. You can also opt for the support of a personal trainer, with the fee for an hour of such a service averaging PLN £35/hour.
Remember that visits to specialists are not necessary for healthy people. However, if you have doubts about the state of your health, go see a nutritionist and/or physiotherapist and consult with them about your concerns.
5 steps to economical, healthy eating
Plan your meals
If you want to approach your diet in an economical and sustainable way, meal planning is a must. First and foremost, planning helps you avoid overbuying. Planning will also save you time wondering “what I feel like”. It will be easier for you to follow your diet and achieve your goals if you prepare for it.
Meal planning can make you start trying new dishes instead of eating the same thing over and over again, which is what most often happens when we try to make a meal on the fly. Not sure how to go about it, and planning has never been your forte? Take advantage of the Menu Selector feature, available in Fitatu® Premium. Up to 6 suggestions are waiting there: Balance, Vege, Less sugar, Gluten free, Keto High-protein. By selecting one of them, the app will suggest recipes tailored to your daily calorie limit. If a dish doesn’t appeal to you, you can exchange it for another.
So if a healthy lifestyle is your priority, meal planning is the first step to making savings in your food budget. In addition, it will speed up the process of creating a shopping list.
Go to the store with a shopping list
Meal planning allows you to create shopping lists so that you limit throwing unplanned items into your shopping cart “on the spur of the moment” and choose only the ones on your list. Don’t like creating shopping lists, and find it inconvenient to walk with a piece of paper between shelves? Take advantage of the Smart Shopping List, available to Fitatu® Premium users. You can add the products you need for cooking to it based on the recipes available in the app, as well as add your own items. In addition, the shopping list on your phone is a very convenient solution when visiting the store.
Don’t throw food away
Reducing food waste is a natural positive effect of meal planning and shopping with a prepared list in hand. However, if you want to go a step further and make use of everything lingering in your refrigerator, Fitatu® Premium and the Refrigerator function will help you do so. Type in the product you have and the app will suggest what you can cook from it.
Remember that by not wasting food, you not only save your own money, but also contribute to taking care of the environment.
Buy seasonal and local fruits and vegetables
Exotic fruits on store shelves tempt you with their colors and fragrance, while their price can often knock you off your feet. No wonder. To get them on a store shelf in Europe, they have to travel a long way, which is very expensive. When you buy local fruits and vegetables, you don’t pay for such distant transportation, making their price lower. In addition, you are helping to reduce your carbon footprint, and supporting local businesses and thus your own country’s economy.
Take advantage of promotions
Supermarkets offer daily promotions of up to -50% on products with short expiration dates. If you see a product that looks fresh and you know you’ll use it quickly, don’t hesitate to buy it. Of course, do it with your head. Don’t buy arugula with an expiration date of today if you know you plan to eat it in a few days. Remember, too, that you can freeze some of these products and thus extend their shelf life by up to a few weeks.
Fitatu support group
The Fitatu® app is not only an array of features that make life easier but also a fast-growing community. The “ENG: Lose weight without hunger or sacrifices using the Fitatu app 📲🥑” Facebook group is already waiting for you. Surrounding ourselves with people with similar goals and experiences makes it easier to persevere in our resolutions and achieve our goals. Do not delay and join the group now!
Fitatu app – healthy eating assistant
To speed up meal planning and shopping list creation, use the Fitatu® app. It’s a real healthy eating assistant that will help you plan a well-balanced diet and then easily generate a shopping list. In addition, the Fridge function will make sure that by typing in the overdue products in the refrigerator, you will quickly find an idea for a dish using them. Download the app from the Play Store or Apple Store and lead an economical but healthy lifestyle with us!
If you are interested in the described features, take part in the “New Year’s Resolutions 2023 with Fitatu” action available in the app and get Fitatu® Premium for £14.99/year as a reward.
What else will you find in Fitatu® Premium?
- additional intermittent fasting plans,
- filtering of products and recipes,
- more synchronization with fit apps,
- access to the web version of the app,
- no ads!