Jasmine Birtles
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5 Ways Professionals Can Manage an Affordable Healthy Diet
Moneymagpie Team
24th Feb 2025
Here is a question for you busy professionals out there. How healthy is your diet?
Are you able to regularly eat delicious and nutritious meals every breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Or do you succumb to the temptations of fast food just because you don’t have the time or inclination to prepare anything in advance?
Maintaining a healthy diet while working long work hours and facing tiresome commutes can be extremely tough. But it is something that is very important to do if you are to remain in top physical and mental condition.
However, eating well doesn’t have to consume all your free time, or for that matter break the bank either.
Indeed, with the right strategies, you can enjoy a nutritious diet that supports your health and energy levels without overspending. In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how you, as a professional, can manage an affordable, healthy diet.
What is a Healthy Diet, and Why is it Important?
We’ve all heard that it is important to maintain a healthy diet. But do you actually know what it is and why it is so vital to your well-being?
Essentially, a balanced diet is one that provides your body with all the nutrients it needs to function properly. It involves eating a variety of foods from the five main food groups of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy every day.
The reason why incorporating these foods into your daily meal intake is important is because doing so can help prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and even some cancers.
Additionally, it helps you maintain a healthy weight, boost your immune system, improve your mood, and give you more energy throughout the day to perform your work effectively and efficiently.
How to Maintain a Healthy Diet?
So, now you know what a healthy diet is and why it is so important, you may well be wondering how do you go about maintaining one.
Here are five steps you can take.
1. Plan Meals in Advance
Taking the time to plan your meals is one of the easiest and most effective ways busy professionals can eat healthily.
By setting aside time each week to plan your meals, you will go a long way towards ensuring you consume a balanced diet with plenty of nutrients and reduce the temptation of making impulsive purchases for takeaways that can end up being expensive in the long run.
If you simply don’t have enough time during the week to cook, then consider ordering from a service like MACROS ready meals. They offer pre-portioned, nutritionally balanced options that cover many different culinary genres.
Best of all, you just need to heat them up in the microwave, so it saves time and effort in food preparation.
2. Batch Cook
If you like to cook, then a good tactic is to prepare meals in advance in bulk because this can save you both time and money during the week.
Instead of preparing food daily, set aside a few hours at the weekend to cook multiple servings of healthy meals, such as lentil and vegetable soups, curries and stews, and trusty favourites like chilli con carne and spaghetti bolognese.
Once done, simply portion them up in separate containers in the fridge or freezer for you to have at a later time.
The great thing about doing this is that you will always have a healthy meal on hand, particularly when you get home late from the office, which therefore will reduce the temptation to spend money on unhealthy fast food.
3. Stock Up On Some Basics
You can’t eat healthily if you don’t have healthy and sustainable options in the pantry and the fridge or freezer.
For this reason, you should make sure you always have the basics of good quality rice, pasta, potatoes, cous cous, and quinoa at home because this can quickly form the basis of any meal.
Additionally, having a good range of vegetables in the fridge or freezer provides extra sides to any dish, while it is always good to have frozen fish at your disposal, as it defrosts and cooks very quickly.
Other good options to have are oats, whole grains, and eggs for breakfast, tinned fish like tuna, sardines, and mackerel, and legumes like kidney beans and black beans for lunch, and a good range of low-fat sauces that will add extra flavour to anything you make.
4. Use a Slow Cooker
If you want to come home to delicious, warm, and filling comfort food every night after work, a slow cooker can be your best friend.
It allows you to prepare healthy, hearty meals with minimal effort and slowly cook all day to ensure they are ready to eat when you return home.
To prepare them, simply add your ingredients in the morning, and by the time you get back after your working day has finished, your meal will be ready to serve.
Here are some excellent slow cooker recipes that should be affordable for many people to make.
5. Work
To help you stay on track with a healthy diet, try to take your lunch to work every day.
Doing this will always give you something delicious and nutritious to eat and reduce the likelihood of you forking out for a takeaway option just to provide you with quick sustenance during your working day.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.
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