Dietitians reveal their top cheap and easy meals, snacks

From this “superstar” food to stock up on, to which aisle you need to avoid in the supermarket, dietitians have revealed how to eat healthily without breaking the bank.

Professor Lauren Ball and Dr Fiona Willer from Dietitians Australia. Photo: Steve Pohlner

Dietitians have shared their tips for eating healthily as Australians grapple with hip pocket pain at the supermarket.

Dietitians Australia president Fiona Willer said people did not have a lot of time to prepare food, or a lot of money for many ingredients, amid the cost-of-living crisis.

“We should be seeing fresh (food), particularly fruit and veg and the staples, as a basic human right, and be developing our regulatory systems for the retail market around those values,” the advanced accredited practising dietitian said.

Sarah Megginson, personal finance expert at Finder, said grocery shopping was no longer a simple weekly task, but had become a strategic exercise in cost-cutting for many Australians.

Ms Megginson said it’s more important than ever to seek out savings wherever possible.

“It’s easy to grab those extra snacks that are on sale at the end of the aisle, or pick up the more expensive brand stocked at eye-level,” she said.

“Those little extras add up quickly.

Finder personal finance expert Sarah Megginson. Picture: Supplied

“Often, the store brand or a less well-known brand is just as good as the name brand, but the pricier option is more prominent and you have to dig around a little bit or bend down to find the cheaper one.”

A Finder survey conducted in January found 16 per cent of Australians had reduced meat consumption in the past 12 months due to financial pressure, while 45 per cent had cut back on non-essentials while grocery shopping.

Noodles are your friend

Dr Willer called noodles an “absolute superstar”.

“They’ve got a very long shelf life, and they’re typically pretty cheap, and they can be used in a variety of different kinds of dishes,” she said.

“Noodles and pasta are fabulous for those applications.

“There are lots of different types of noodles, and the general advice for all types of foods is to eat a variety … and that means a variety within the food type as well.

“So if you’re choosing two minute noodles sometimes, that’s cool.

Ginger pork stir-fry with vegetables and noodles.

“But also try to dabble in different types of pasta and different types of noodles in terms of the types of grains that the noodles are originating from, and you’ll be fine.

“So sometimes rice noodles, sometimes wheat noodles, sometimes buckwheat noodles, whatever’s on special.”

Noodles could be paired with frozen, canned or fresh vegies, she said.

Fresh is best

Professor Lauren Ball said the idea that packaged food was cheaper was a myth.

The Dietitians Australia vice-president urged people to ensure they had regular access to fresh fruit and vegies as the foundation of meal prep.

Dr Fiona Willer and Professor Lauren Ball. Photo: Steve Pohlner

“In our family, we go to the shops a couple of times a week, or even more than that, just to get fruit and vegies for the next few days, as opposed to necessarily doing a once a week or once a fortnight shop,” Prof Ball said.

Stick to the outside of the supermarket layout

Avoid the middle aisles of supermarkets where highly processed foods that can eat into your budget reside, Prof Ball advised.

“The fresh food is going to be right around the outside,” she said.

Steer clear of the middle aisles of supermarkets, a dietitian has warned.

She noted fruits and vegies, meat and dairy were in sections with refrigeration on the outer.

Packaged foods like chips, lollies and cereals lived in the middle, she said.

“That’s where the cost is going to go up as well,” she said.

“Sticking to the perimeter tends to work pretty well … we do that in our household.”

Leftovers for lunch and healthy affordable snacks

Prof Ball said people could bring fruit and vegies like carrots and capsicum, nuts and leftovers from the night before to work for snacks and lunch to save money.

Dr Willer recommended buying yoghurt and crackers in bulk.

“The most expensive way to snack is with smaller packages from the supermarket … buy in bulk and just take them in ziplocks or little Tupperware containers,” she said.

“You want snacks that are going to keep you going as well, and fruit and veg need to really be paired with something if it’s going to give you the distance that you need in between meals.”

Eat seasonally

Prof Ball said eating seasonally was going to be cost effective.

“At the moment, we’re coming into autumn time, it’s fig season,” Prof Ball said.

Fig season is upon us. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“It means your snacks won’t look the same all year round.”

Improvise

Dr Willer said if you found an item in your recipe had become “ridiculously expensive”, replace the ingredient.

“Break it down to the general gist,” she said.

“Most vegetables can be swapped in and out.

“And similarly, for the other kinds of ingredients, you can usually do swaps pretty easily and take a curious, experimental approach.

“If it’s the wallet that’s under strain, choosing whatever’s on special and developing this kind of flexible outlook.

“Sometimes that means we’re going to leave our food ideals on the shelf and work with variety instead.”