How to eat healthy on a budget: 7 tips from experts on foods to eat and diet hacks amid cost of living crisis

Henry Sandercock
By Henry Sandercock
18th Apr 2022, 5:31pm
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Record UK inflation has made the average food shop much more expensive than a year ago

A major cost of living crisis is currently sweeping across the UK, with inflation sitting at a 40-year high.

The situation looks set to get worse before it gets better, as the Bank of England has forecast that the Consumer Prices Index will hit 11% before the end of 2022.

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This gloomy prediction has mostly come as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, which is set to push up the Ofgem energy price cap by another 51% this autumn.

Rocketing food prices have also been a big driver of inflation.

Not only has the cost of the average grocery basket risen by 8.6% year-on-year (as of May 2022), but supermarket value ranges are also experiencing dramatic price hikes.

Eating a good diet on a budget is difficult but not impossible, experts have told NationalWorld (image: Adobe)Eating a good diet on a budget is difficult but not impossible, experts have told NationalWorld (image: Adobe)
Eating a good diet on a budget is difficult but not impossible, experts have told NationalWorld (image: Adobe)

So, if your budget is struggling to keep up, how can you maintain a healthy diet without breaking the bank?

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NationalWorld has sought out the advice of some of the UK’s foremost food and nutrition experts.

What impact is the cost of living having on healthy diets?

Even before the cost of living crisis, the UK’s poorest people were struggling to afford healthly diets.

The Food Foundation’s 2021 Broken Plate report found the poorest fifth of UK households needed to spend 40% (up from 39% in 2020) of their disposable income on food to meet Eatwell guidelines (the NHS’s healthy-eating metric).

For the richest fifth of households, the figure was 7% - a 1% fall on 2020’s report.

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The report also found healthier foods were nearly three times more expensive calorie for calorie than less healthy foods.

Meanwhile, children in the most deprived fifth of households were almost twice as likely to be obese by ages four to six than their peers in the wealthiest fifth.

Healthy food is much more expensive in the UK than unhealthy food (image: Adobe)Healthy food is much more expensive in the UK than unhealthy food (image: Adobe)
Healthy food is much more expensive in the UK than unhealthy food (image: Adobe)

With the cost of living getting even pricier, Sarah Coe - a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation - says it’s “likely” this situation will get worse.