What Is Preventing You From Building a Healthy Meals Budget?

Cleaning products, even the cheap ones, can be a big expense. Especially at today's prices. There are recipes on the internet that can be used to make cleaning products from household cleaners to laundry products. The recipes usually use common ingredients that makes them much cheaper in the long run.

The same holds true for beauty products as well. A few simple ingredients that are usually already on hand, such as sugar and salt make really good facial cleansers. Not to mention the fact that they are much cheaper and easy to put together.

Baking soda is a common ingredient that can be used to brush your teeth at a fraction of the costs. It can also be mixed with water to be used as mouthwash that does the same job as conventional products.

Look for ways to reduce utility expenses. Small changes, such as reducing thermostats, reducing water usage, and cooking in bigger batches can make big differences in utility costs.

Collect coupons for foods and other products that household uses on a regular basis. Coupons can be coupled with store sales that makes the products even cheaper in price.

Stock up on seasonal produce. It can be canned or frozen to get the cheaper price for the long run. Concentrating on eating seasonal produce affords a better balanced diet when the budget is tight.

Meat can be one of the biggest grocery costs. Reducing the amount of meat used in a meal makes the budget lasts longer. Things, such as only using half the hamburger to make that casserole, will stretch the meat budget and still give the desired flavor in the dish.

Eating meatless meals at least once a week is another way to cut meat costs. Meat can be substituted with beans or eggs to still get the protein in the meal.

Want to make a dish, but don't have all the ingredients? Instead of running to the store, look for substitutes that serve the same purpose. There are sometimes simple things that can be used in place of some ingredients. If buttermilk is needed in the recipe, regular milk and vinegar or lemon juice serves the same purpose.

Make some or all of the cleaning and personal care products. Look for ways to reduce utilities. Take advantage of coupons and other savings methods. Use less meat and prepare some meatless meals. Learn what ingredients can be substituted to give the same effect as other ingredients. All of these methods can reduce costs to make eating healthy more affordable.

Although this is a good list to start, it is not exhaustive. Can you think of other ways that reduce costs in other areas to afford more healthy meals?