Healthy food shopping list on a budget

On this Page:

• How to plan a budget, healthy shopping list
  • Meal and recipe planning for your shopping list
  • Using your shopping list effectively
  • Creating a healthy online shopping list
• Healthy budget shopping list ideas
  • Fruit and vegetables
  • Carbohydrates
  • Proteins
  • Dairy and vegan alternatives
  • Oils and spreads
  • Snacks
  • Seasoning, sauces and condiments
  • Store cupboard essentials
  • Drinks

Never go into a supermarket hungry or unprepared!

Research shows that planning meals, making a shopping list, and stocking cupboards with healthy staples helps you to eat more healthily, reduce food waste and stick to your budget.

Some studies also link meal planning and shopping lists with a healthier body weight and reduced anxiety.

Just a little bit of forward planning can help you take control of what you eat and spend.

How to plan a budget, healthy shopping list

Planning meals ahead will help you to create a structured shopping list, shop more effectively, make healthier choices and minimise reliance on takeaways and ready meals.

Here’s our top tips to make planning easier and more cost effective:

Meal and recipe planning for your shopping list

• You could start slowly by simply planning 2 or 3 days of meals or try BHF’s 7-days healthy meals on a budget to get you started.
• Go for a realistic, flexible meal plan with shared ingredients. For example, cottage pie and meat balls share extra lean minced beef.
• Think before you shop. What ingredients are already in the fridge and freezer?
• Is your freezer a food graveyard? If so, label freezer foods with a date, name, and portions so you know what it is, when it went into the freezer and how many people it serves.
• Who’s in and who’s out over the next few days? Know how many you’re cooking for.
• Pre-prepare a base for multiple meals, such as a tomato sauce to use on pasta, pizza or as a base for soup or curries.
• Make enough for leftovers for the next day or to freeze for later. To save time, you could batch cook at the weekends and freeze to use in the week.
• Use the BHF recipe finder to discover lots of heart-healthy recipes.
• To get a good balance of nutrients in your meals, base them on the Eatwell Guide. This will help provide the right balance of fruit and veg, wholegrains, lean meat, fish, egg, beans, dairy foods and fats or oils.
  
  

Using your shopping list effectively

• Organise your shopping list in sections according to your supermarket layout.
• Sense check before bulk buying. Although often a lot cheaper, there’s no point buying in bulk if it is not going to get used.
• Read front of pack food labels and choose foods that are mainly green (low) or amber (medium) in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt.
• Buy supermarket own brand and budget ranges, or go for special offers on pasta, rice, noodles, oats and canned or fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Do not forget to take the list with you and tick off as you shop!

Creating a healthy online shopping list

• The same shopping list principles apply to online shopping. Plan ahead and use your regular buys list to save time.
• Online shopping can provide a bigger variety of healthier food options than is available in smaller, local shops, and could help avoid impulse buys. But be aware of product recommendations that may not be so healthy.
• Some shoppers are hesitant to buy lots of fresh foods online. If so, do a separate, regular in-store shop for fresh foods, rather than relying on processed ready meals.

Healthy budget shopping list ideas

Use this guide below to plan your healthy shopping list.

If it’s too much to make changes all at once, you could start by focusing on one section.

Fruit and vegetables

• Fresh
• Frozen
• Canned (no added salt or sugar)

Dietitian’s top tips:

• In-season and ‘wonky’ or oddly shaped fruit and vegetables are often more affordable and equally nutritious.
• Loose produce is often less expensive than pre-packaged.
• Look out for ‘end-of-the-day’ or ‘near sell-by-date’ deals.
• Canned is often less expensive than fresh and can be just as nutritious if free from added salt or sugar. Check labels and avoid brine or syrups.
• Frozen produce is also cheaper than fresh, can help reduce waste (cook what is needed and put the rest back in freezer) and is just as healthy as fresh fruit and vegetables.
• For instance, a 1kg bag of ‘imperfect’ frozen berries (which can cost the same price as 250g of fresh raspberries) can provide you with lots of versatile portions of fruit – to add to yogurt, porridge or to warm as a pudding.

Carbohydrates

• Wholemeal bread, chapattis, naan, flatbreads
• Wholewheat pasta, noodles and cereals
• Wholegrain rice, couscous, barley, quinoa
• Potatoes, plantain, yam
• Oats

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Most people are not eating the recommended amount of fibre for good health (30g per day). Choosing wholemeal or wholegrain carbohydrates provides much more fibre, B vitamins and protective plant chemicals than ‘white’ carbohydrates.
• Choose seeded bread to add ‘healthy’ unsaturated fats, vitamins and fibre.
• To avoid food waste, freeze half of a regular wholemeal loaf and take out of the freezer when needed.
• Porridge oats contain a type of soluble fibre called beta-glucan that can help lower cholesterol levels.
• Check breakfast cereal food labels for fibre content and choose those low (green) in sugar and salt.
• Eat the skin on potatoes – it’s where the fibre and most of the vitamins and minerals are.

Proteins

• Lean unprocessed meat such as chicken, turkey, extra lean beef mince (fresh or frozen)
• Fish, fresh, frozen or canned in water (not brine) or tomato sauce
• Chickpeas, beans and lentils (pulses), canned in water
• Plant-based proteins such as plain tofu, plain soya mince
• Eggs
• Nuts (plain, unsalted) and nut butters

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Bulk out meat recipes with beans (canned in water) to make them healthier and to save money. For example, use a quarter of a 450g pack (approximately 115g) of mince for a cottage pie and add half a 400g can drained cannellini beans (200g) to add some plant protein and fibre.
• Choose nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter), that are 100 per cent nuts with no added salt, sugar or palm oil.
• Try to eat at least 2 portions of fish twice a week, one of which should be oily fish. Limit how much smoked fish you have, as it is high in salt.
• If you eat mostly plant-based protein, chickpeas, beans, lentils and tofu are often healthier and work out cheaper than processed vegan foods such as plant-based burgers.

Dairy and vegan alternatives

• Reduced fat milk (semi-skimmed or skimmed)
• Unsweetened non-dairy alternatives to milk
• Reduced-fat cheese (including low-fat soft cheese, cottage cheese and half-fat cheddar)
• Lower-fat yogurt without added sugar

Dietitian’s top tips:

• If choosing non-dairy alternatives to milk such as oat, almond or soya milk, ensure they have no added sugar and are fortified with calcium.
• Be aware that non-dairy milks (except for soya milk) are often much lower in protein than dairy milk.
• Choose natural yogurt or flavoured yogurts with no added sugar. Buying a larger tub of yogurt rather than individual servings can work out cheaper.
• See our list of healthiest cheeses ranked. 

Oils and spreads

• Unsaturated oils such as olive oil, rapeseed oil (vegetable oil) and sunflower oil
• Fat spreads made from olive oil or vegetable oils

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Oils in plastic bottles labelled ‘vegetable oil’ are almost always 100 per cent rapeseed and are often much cheaper than those labelled ‘rapeseed’ in fancy glass bottles.
• Consider getting a reusable oil spray bottle. A one-time-use 200ml vegetable oil spray can cost the same as a regular 1L bottle of vegetable oil. But you can refill the reusable spray bottle with the regular 1L bottle and use a much smaller amount of oil in one squirt than you would with a spoon. This can save you money and help you control how much fat and calories you’re adding.
• If not using a spray bottle, use measuring spoons to measure out oil and fat spreads; it’s easy to over ‘glug’ or spread and add unnecessary fat and calories to food.
• Instead of butter, choose fat spreads made from olive or vegetable oils so you’re having less saturated fat. Choose lower or reduced-fat spreads to cut how much fat and calories you’re having.

Snacks

• Fresh or dried fruit
• Vegetable batons
• Unsalted nuts and seeds
• Popping corn
• Oat, rice or corn cakes (plain varieties)

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Dried fruit is a healthy, sweet alternative to sugary chocolate, cakes and biscuits. However, they are still high in natural sugars, so limit to small portions and avoid snacking on them if you are diabetic or managing your blood sugar.
• Choose a handful of unsalted, uncoated nuts and seeds, and consider making your own trail mix to save money and limit added sugar and salt.
• Serve vegetable batons with home-made hummus, yogurt dip, or make your own salmon pate.
• Making your own popcorn works out much cheaper and you can control the salt and sugar levels.
• Check the ingredients list to choose oatcakes without palm oil, which is high in saturated fat and avoid flavoured, sweetened rice or corn cakes.

Seasoning, sauces and condiments

• Fresh, frozen or dried herbs
• Spices such as ginger, garlic, chillies
• Lemon (zest and juice)
• Vinegar
• Low-salt or salt-free stock
• Reduced-salt and sugar sauces and condiments, such as ketchup or soy sauce

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Herbs and spices, lemon juice and zest are a great way to flavour foods and cut back on salt and sugar in your cooking.
• Consider purchasing herbs and spices in bulk and explore the international aisles of your supermarket or local greengrocers, as they often sell spices for lower prices per gram.
• Dried and frozen herbs can be more affordable and do not forget to freeze or dry out any leftover fresh ones.
• Even reduced-salt soy sauce and light coconut milk can be high in salt and saturated fat, so use them sparingly.
• A dash of cheap vinegar can be a more cost-effective and less salty alternative to Worcestershire sauce.
• Mustards, relishes, chutneys, jams and conserves are often high in salt and/or sugar. Use sparingly and opt for lower salt and lower sugar options if available.
• Check labels on stocks and choose low-salt or salt-free varieties.

Store cupboard essentials

Stock your cupboards with essentials, to help you prepare and cook healthy meals even when you’re running low on fresh foods:

• Cans or jars of vegetables in water, not salt (brine) such as tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, peas, potatoes, pickled vegetables Canned fish (tuna, sardines, mackerel) in spring water or tomato sauce
• Canned pulses (beans, chickpeas and lentils) in water (not brine or salt)
• Wholegrain (brown) rice, wholewheat pasta, noodles or couscous
• Olive or vegetable oils
• Unsalted nuts, seeds and nut butters

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Limit the amount of processed or ready-made sauces you have in your cupboard.
• Canned tomatoes work out much cheaper than ready-made pasta sauces and you can make them tasty with herbs, spices and vinegar instead of adding salt.
• Using store cupboard foods, you can knock up a tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake in no time. Just mix a can of tomatoes, a can of sweetcorn and a can of tuna together with cooked wholewheat pasta. Add a light sprinkling of half-fat grated cheddar cheese and bake.

Drinks

• Water or flavoured water with no added sugar
• Tea, black, green or herbal
• Coffee, black or with reduced-fat milk
• Skimmed or semi-skimmed milk
• Unsweetened cold drinks

Dietitian’s top tips:

• Go for plain coffee with reduced-fat milk and avoid sugar, syrups and cream which will add calories and fat to your drink.
• Avoid cordials or carbonated drinks with added sugar.
• Limit fruit juice and smoothies to at most one small glass per day (150ml), and drink with a meal as they are high in ‘free’ sugar.
• Check nutrition labels on drinks and go for mainly green or amber colour-coded labels.