Healthy eating on a budget: 10 cheap foods that are secretly nutritious (and a simple weekly plan)

Quick answer: The most nutritious foods are often the cheapest: dal, chana, eggs, seasonal vegetables, bananas, oats, peanuts, curd, millets and frozen peas. Plan meals around them, cook in batches twice a week and buy seasonal produce, and you can eat well for much less than packaged "health" foods cost.

Superfood marketing has convinced many people that eating well is expensive. It isn't. Your grandparents' kitchen was a masterclass in cheap, nutritious food.

10 cheap foods that punch above their price

• Dal and lentils: protein, fibre, iron and folate for very little per serving.
• Chana and rajma: filling, high in fibre and great for batch-cooking. Dried is cheapest.
• Eggs: one of the cheapest sources of complete protein.
• Seasonal vegetables: always cheaper and fresher. Cabbage, carrots, pumpkin and greens are budget heroes.
• Bananas and guavas: fibre and vitamins for less than a packet of biscuits.
• Oats: a filling, high-fibre breakfast that costs little per bowl.
• Peanuts: protein and healthy fats. Roast them yourself instead of buying packaged snacks.
• Curd: protein and live cultures. Setting it at home is cheaper still.
• Millets: jowar, bajra and ragi are nutritious, filling and often cheaper than refined options.
• Frozen peas and vegetables: frozen at their peak, with no waste.

A simple weekly plan

Shop once, with a list

Plan five dinners, check what you already have and write a list. Most overspending happens on unplanned trips and hungry shopping.

Batch-cook twice a week

On Sunday and Wednesday, cook a big pot of dal or chana, a tray of roasted vegetables and a batch of rice or millets. Mix and match them into different meals through the week.

Use the "base + 2" formula

Every meal is a base (rice, roti, millets or oats) plus a protein (dal, eggs, chana, curd) plus a vegetable. It's cheap, balanced and quick.

Swaps that save money and add nutrition

• Packaged juice to whole fruit
• Chips to roasted chana or peanuts
• Instant noodles to vegetable poha or upma
• Flavoured yoghurt to home-set curd with fruit
• Ready meals to a double batch of dinner, frozen for later

Read labels for value

When you do buy packaged food, compare the price per 100 g, not the pack price, and check the ingredients list. Fewer ingredients you recognise is usually a better buy.