Buying healthy foods and eating well doesn’t have to break the bank. Eating well is about making sensible choices, watching our serving sizes, checking labels, knowing what foods give us the healthy advantages we need and even clipping coupons.

Read the labels, remember what you’ve learned

During the course of these healthy eating blogs, we’ve covered a lot of important tips and facts worth remembering. Eating healthy often is a simple choice between products A or B. Taking time to read and understand the labels of what we’re eating helps keep us on the right path to nutrition. Teaching children what to look for and accept will lay the foundation for them to make healthy choices throughout their lives.

Coupon clipping can lead to great savings, but it’s up to us to still make healthy choices. Many grocery stores will not only offer great savings for a variety of items, they’ll even include recipes that help you create full and nutritious meals your whole family will enjoy. Still, check the labels. If fruits and vegetables are canned in their own juices or water, you’re in business. Try to avoid vegetables preserved in extra sodium, but if you select a product with sodium, make sure the label notes low sodium or drain the product yourself to get the extra salt off. It’s much the same with deli meats and cheeses. Look for a reduced-fat option and pick up the low-sodium pack.

Don’t forget how easy it is to prepare, serve and enjoy frozen vegetables and fruits. If you can, buy in bulk and use a bag of corn, peas or different mixed veggies as a side with dinner. Frozen is just as good as raw as they retain all nutrients.

Sensible choices make a positive impact

Convenience in snacking is always tempting but when we turn to the vending machine or packaged treats, we’re paying extra for that convenience. While it’s easy to pop a few quarters or a dollar bill in the lunchroom vending machine, it’s a cost that adds up and can quickly become habit forming. Not only is there an added cost for vending machine food that comes individually packaged, those items are less likely to provide us with the nutrients our bodies need.

Growing children, especially teenagers, need to snack to meet the demands their bodies put on them. Providing our children with easy to eat options like nuts, fruits or string cheese will not only give them a nutritional and habit forming building block for their diets, it’ll save money and teach them just how easy it is to turn a healthy choice into a habit early in life.

When buying fresh fruits and vegetables, be on the lookout for farmers’ markets; because many of the vendors are local, you’re doing a service to the ecosystem by supporting our local farmers, reducing a reliance on the extra cost of fuel for transportation, and getting healthy and affordable fruits and vegetables in season. It’s affordable, good for you and has a feel good impact.