Eating In A Budget!

Indian metropolitan cities are coming face-to-face with globalization, consequentially urbanization stems from it and due to easy availability & accessibility, people are now shifting to exotic foods which are usually sold at a cost double of that of local produce.

Urbanization is proving to be a key determining factor that promotes sedentary lifestyle. Stringent working hours of adults in such cities often leaves little or no room for them to think consciously and cautiously of what they are eating throughout the day. This brings them to yet another quandary of how to choose nutritious meals that are easy to prepare and are pocket friendly.

For ease in understanding, the methods that can be employed to eat in a budget can be divided into two categories:

(i) Either by adoption of techniques that encourage low cost sustainable eating or

(ii) By incorporating low cost ingredients into daily meals.

Dietary diversity, while maintaining a budget, can be achieved by adopting techniques like: kitchen gardening and maintaining a worksheet. This therefore, helps in consumption of a balanced diet. Kitchen gardening has become a famous trend wherein people grow their produce in their backyard and/or in pots in the kitchen area. Vegetables like tomatoes, chilies, potato etc. are easy to grow and can be harvested with minimum proficiency in farming techniques. Green leafy vegetables like cilantro, spinach, basil etc. are among other favorites. This low cost sustainable technique can be used to grow fruits as well, hence aiding in reducing the overall cost of the diet while encouraging consumption of self-grown foods.

One can also maintain an ‘eating on a budget worksheet’ for tracking the expenses. It should precisely specify the monthly and daily expenditure the individual is willing to spend on food. The person can then daily track his/her individual ingredient expense and in case of a spillover, he/she can opt for more pocket friendly options for example, replacing tetra-packs of juice with freshly squeezed juice or making curd at home. This method has another benefit, while helping in making wise decisions in choosing good quality low cost ingredients, it is also fruitful in providing ample opportunity to the individuals to reflect back on their diet and thus, track faulty eating habits and trends.

The next way to eat healthy on a budget for everyone and especially, for population groups who have space and money crunch (like: college going students, hostellers and early career birds), is opting for low-cost, locally produced fruits, vegetables and other seasonal produce. This is the most efficient way to cut down on expenditure. This practice is now being encouraged by the government as well under the ‘Vocal for Local’ movement. Moreover, locally produced food items that are native to the geography are proved to be best sources of micronutrients.

In addition, the notion of expensive foods being more nutritious is faulty and needs appropriate error correction. The most suitable example of the same includes the underrated Indian gooseberry and the love for exotic kiwi. It is to be understood that such exotic fruits take nearly months to be transported from their native country to ours, during this time period they are liable to lose their original taste, colour, texture and nutritive qualities. To delay this process they are often loaded with wax coating and other chemical substances (usually sulphur dioxide and sulphites derivates). Thus, their Indian counterparts can be found that are readily available, accessible and cost-effective locally harvested produce. A brilliant example of such a swap can be that of replacing quinoa with an array of Indian millet. They serve the same purpose as the former but at a significantly low cost.

Conclusively, it can be inferred that eating on a budget for any age group, gender, ethnicity or geographic locale will majorly depend on the awareness of the individual about his/her food environment and how perseveringly he/she aims to include nutritious foods that are present in the food circle around him/her. Eating on a budget calls for conscious decision making and if done correctly then, it can be sustained as a habit.

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