Meal Deals: Eating Healthy on a Budget

Buying fresh vegetables and fruits can add up quickly, but dietitians say with the right strategy you can eat well on a shoestring budget.

Dietitian Holly Scherer says, "Choose fruits and vegetables that are in season these are going to be less expensive and also taste better."

Growing your own fruits and vegetables is the ultimate cost cutter. Even if you don't have room for a garden you can have a potted tomato plant on your porch. You should also think canned and frozen.

Scherer says, "Canned beans, lower sodium soups, frozen meals that have at least a serving of vegetables in them are good choices. Canned fruits and vegetables and meats that are on sale are also good. Also whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread are excellent as well."

Save by shopping generic store brands. Stock up on non perishables when they're on sale. Substitute meat a few meals with another protein like beans, eggs or peanut butter. The more work you can do the more money you'll save. That means season your own meats, cut your carrots and make your own single servings.

Scherer says: "Some thing that are really popular right now are the prepackaged single serve snacks. Some of the 100 calorie packs or the little bag of chips are not deals. You can buy the bigger box and package them yourself in the little snack bags and your paying about half of what you would if you were buying the single serve packs."