Food & nutrition · 4 min read · Updated October 2026
Eating well on a small budget
Healthy food does not have to be expensive. Local staples, beans, greens and small changes to how you cook can protect your family from both malnutrition and diabetes.
Clinician review pending This article is awaiting sign-off by a doctor.
Many African families now face two problems at once: children who are not getting enough of the right foods, and adults gaining weight and developing diabetes and high blood pressure from processed food, sugar and oil. The answer to both is mostly the same: local, varied, lightly processed food.
Cheap sources of protein
Beans, lentils, cowpeas, groundnuts and soy cost a fraction of meat and are rich in protein and iron. Eggs are one of the most nutritious cheap foods for children. Small dried fish (dagaa, omena, kapenta, bonga) eaten whole give protein, calcium and iodine. Combine a grain with a legume (rice and beans, ugali and beans, gari and groundnuts) to get complete protein.
Vegetables and fruit
Local leafy greens such as amaranth (efo tete), cowpea leaves, pumpkin leaves, sukuma wiki and moringa are rich in iron, vitamin A and folate and cost little, especially in season. Add a handful to every pot. Orange-fleshed sweet potato, pawpaw, mango and carrots give vitamin A. Aim for colour on the plate at every meal.
Watch the sugar, salt and oil
Sweet drinks, biscuits and sweets are expensive for what they give and drive diabetes and tooth decay; water is free. Use stock cubes sparingly: they are mostly salt. Fry less; boil, steam, grill or stew more. A small amount of palm oil or groundnut oil is enough.
Feeding children
From six months, give soft, thick porridge enriched with groundnut paste, mashed beans, egg or fish, plus mashed vegetables and fruit, and keep breastfeeding to two years. Children need to eat 3 to 5 times a day because their stomachs are small. Avoid giving tea or soft drinks to children; they block iron absorption and fill the stomach with nothing.
Stretching the money
Buy grains and legumes in bulk when prices are low; dry greens and tomatoes for the off season. Grow a few vegetables in sacks or tins. Cook once and eat twice. Compare the price per kilogram, not per packet.
When to seek help
See a doctor if a child is losing weight, is much smaller than other children the same age, is always tired, or has pale palms and eyelids (anaemia). Go to a hospital now if a child has swelling of both feet, visible wasting, or is too weak to eat or drink. Adults with constant thirst, passing urine often and unexplained weight loss should be tested for diabetes.
Emergency numbers
767 works in Lagos State; 112 is the national number. Numbers change: please check locally. If a number does not connect, go straight to the nearest hospital.
Related doctors
Questions about this? A family medicine doctor can help today.