Guest Contributor
Nov 14, 2010
Most busy professionals find that they barely have time to eat. So they end up skipping breakfast or eating at irregular intervals. This may be even worse for single busy professionals who find that they are microwaving processed food or eating junk food. The perception is that eating healthy costs either too much time or too much money.
In this article, we have some examples of healthy meal preparation while saving time and money.
No matter how busy you are, we do not recommend skipping breakfast in the morning. Breakfast is considered to be the most important meal of the day.
For breakfast in the morning, you may choose a cereal brand that has low sugar (if possible, no artificial sugar at all), high fiber and high protein. Most whole grain cereals fit this description. Several Kashi brand cereals are whole grain cereals with a good amount of protein. You can mix this with yogurt or probiotic kefir. The benefit of probiotic kefir is that it replenishes your large intestine with good bacteria that helps digestion. In average, eating cereal with yogurt or kefir will cost you about $2 per day or less in money and about 15-20 minutes to prepare and finish eating the breakfast.
If you are still running late for work and do not have 15-20 minutes, it may be a good idea to grab some whole grain energy bars so that you can eat in your car or work. Although this is less preferable than the breakfast described above, it still beats eating an expensive and fatty breakfast at a cafeteria or restaurant later.
During the day, let’s say that you have meetings all day and do not have time to eat at all. If that’s the case, you can bring some whole grain crackers or energy bars along with some fruits. So you can eat throughout the day when you get a 5-10 minute break between meetings. Finally, if you a get chance to get a longer break, you will finally be free to eat a good lunch. If you plan carefully, your healthy meal will cost less than $10 with tips. Generally, if you go to a more expensive restaurant, chances are that you will get a huge portion. You will end up eating and spending much more than you planned.
For dinner, we recommend that you minimize processed food, fried food and sugary food whether you eat out at a restaurant or eat at home. Let’s assume that you are exhausted at home and want to prepare a meal without cooking. An example of an easy meal would be making a sandwich with whole grain bread, lettuce, tomato and pre-sliced turkey. If you add an apple or orange to this meal, you will get vitamins and minerals from the fruits as well. This dinner will probably cost your about $5 per person or less.
There are thousands of other ways to eat healthily on the run without spending a fortune. So it is not too late to transition to a healthier lifestyle even though you are busy but broke.
(The information in this article reflects the opinion of the writer and not the opinion of healthonabudget.com. This article is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical or nutritional advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider or nutritionist to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation.)
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