The Best Tips For Eating Healthy on a Budget

People say it all the time: "It's expensive to eat healthy." I'm gonna hafta call that for the load of bull that it is, and I'll tell you why with an example from last night.

My children attend public school, and we all know what a cesspool that place can be with all those little nose-miners sharing much more than their glue sticks. (Ack!) My punks are snotty and have persistent coughs, and Facebook is lighting up with tales of the flu, so we had an immune-boosting supper last night to load up on some of nature's simplest medicine. Let's look at the menu and break it down by food group, and you'll see just how cheap it can be to eat well.

My garden helper, cutting and washing turnip tops. Oh, my heart!

1. Beverage: Water. We drink tap water, straight up. When the kids are fighting allergies or a bug, we stay away from sweetened drinks, artificial sweeteners and dairy. Fruit juice doesn't even make the cut because of sugar content, but I will sometimes allow fruit-and-veggie drinks (limited to one a day, of course). Tap water gets a bad rap sometimes, but get a filter for your faucet or a filter pitcher, and you'll still spend less than if you bought drinks, and your kids will be healthier. Voila.

2. Garlic toast. Normally, I limit the amount of bread my family eats if at all possible, and then it's usually only homemade (less than 50 cents a loaf for whole wheat bread). Last night we had some free whole wheat hot dog buns (thanks, Mom!), so I toasted them in halves and loaded them with a smidge of butter and SIX minced garlic cloves. It's spicy, but whatever they can get down, fresh, raw garlic is magic stuff when it comes to boosting the immune system and preventing infection.

3. Salad. We're in that phase where my boys whine about veggies (totally new to me, I've been spoiled!), so I make them as colorful as possible and sweeten the deal with a favorite dressing (homemade Ranch or Italian) and a tiny amount of shredded Parmesan to "fancy" it up. The ingredients, diced small: Organic Romaine hearts (worth it to buy organic for lettuce), red bell peppers (vitamin C powerhouse!), celery, cucumbers and carrot coins. Salad fixings vary depending on what's cheap at the store, but sometimes we also include apples, mandarin orange sections, sweet peas (frozen or from our garden) and pecans from our own front yard. Make a theme, mix it up and make it fun!

4. Chili Penne. This is my least-favorite part of the meal, but it's a concession to the pasta hounds. I used whole wheat penne pasta (bought on clearance at HEB for 75 cents a box) and dressed it while it was hot with leftover beef-and-veggie chili. I was told it was "awesome!," and gratified to see that my kids actually ate very little of it after the first course. Score!

Desserts at our house are rare, but I do allow yogurt and honey (or chocolate chips) when the kids aren't sickos. Otherwise, a chopped apple (with skin!) topped with cinnamon and microwaved for a minute makes an "apple pie" dessert that won't result in a psychotic sugar rush when it's time to wind down for bed.

So, instead of bottles and bottles of cough syrup at $4-7 a pop, I feed my family real food and water. It's important to buy organic only if it's important to you, and I'll spring for an extra 50 cents for organic lettuce and carrots. I can still feed my crew for less than $5 per meal, and although that messes with my food budget, it's a worthwhile trade-off to avoid hospital co-pays, antibiotic prescriptions and kids who feel yucky. Even for cheap moms, healthy meals are not only possible -- they're the essential ingredient to keeping the family healthy and sane.