Eating well on a tight budget – what to buy first

Most nutrition writing quietly assumes you can buy whatever it recommends. Much of it falls apart in a household choosing between items. The South African dietary guidelines hold up better than most, because they were written for this country and name foods that are widely available and inexpensive.

Nothing below is a superfood and none of it needs a health shop.

• Dry beans, split peas, lentils and soya. Protein, fibre and iron, and they keep in a cupboard for a year.
• Eggs. Complete protein, quick, and they suit any meal of the day.
• Maas, milk powder or long-life milk. Calcium and protein without refrigeration problems in the case of the last two.
• Frozen mixed vegetables. Nutritionally close to fresh, no spoilage, and usually cheaper.
• Cabbage, carrots, onions, butternut and spinach or morogo. The vegetables that last longest for the least outlay.
• Tinned pilchards or sardines. Protein, omega-3 fats and calcium from the soft bones.
• Peanut butter without added sugar. Energy-dense protein that keeps well.
• Brown bread, samp, oats and maize meal — the fortified staples that carry added vitamins and iron by law.

It is often not the healthy food that is expensive — it is the things bought alongside it out of habit.

• Cool drinks and sweetened juices, which deliver sugar and nothing else.
• Airtime-style small purchases of snacks through the week, which quietly total more than a shop.
• Individually packaged single portions rather than the bigger bag.
• Fresh produce that spoils before it is eaten — the most common source of waste in a small household.
• Meat as the centre of every meal, when beans could carry two of those meals a week.

Dry beans and samp take a long time to cook, which is a real problem when the power comes and goes. Some ways around it:

1. 1Soak beans overnight — they cook far faster and are easier to digest.
2. 2Cook a big batch when the power is on and freeze or refrigerate portions.
3. 3Bring a pot to the boil, then wrap it in a blanket or a home-made hay box; it keeps cooking for hours without power.
4. 4Use split peas and lentils, which need no soaking and cook in around half an hour.
5. 5Keep a few no-cook options for the worst evenings: tinned fish, peanut butter, maas, bread and fruit.

Going without food affects blood sugar control, medication that must be taken with meals, children's growth and concentration, and mental health. It is worth telling a clinician rather than working around silently — they can adjust medicines that need food, and they know what local support exists.