She has also had 16 wellness books published by major publishers including the bestselling Easy GI Diet, The Macro Method, Quit Alcohol (For a Month) and Eat 5. Her books have sold over one million copies.
- 26 Cottage Cheese Toast Toppings - June 17, 2026
- Simple No-Carb Tabbouleh Recipe - October 12, 2025
- 24 Healthy Egg-Based Breakfasts - August 22, 2025
Think superfoods are an expensive luxury? Think again. You don’t need to eat acai bowls or buy your groceries at Whole Foods or Erewhon to stock up on superfoods. Here are 11 you’ll find in every supermarket.
Superfoods are foods that have high levels of nutrients and compounds that have been shown to help reduce the risk of certain diseases. Often, they’re exotic foods from far-off climes like goji berries or quinoa -but they don’t have to be. There are a lot of foods with ‘superpowers’ on the shelf in your local supermarket.
The Wellness Nerd contains affiliate links. See more details here
1. Button Mushrooms
It’s not just pricey varieties of mushrooms like reishi or Lions Mane that will give you an immunity boost from mushrooms, the humble button mushroom also offers an immunity boost.
According to a trial at the US’s Tufts University, consuming just 100g of button mushrooms increased the activity of natural killer cells in the body, powering up your immune system’s defences.
Nor do you need to grind them in powders to get beneficial effects of button mushrooms; you can just eat them! Try them in sauces, stews and soups. Grill them and have them on toast – or just throw them into salads.
For an extra boost, leave mushrooms out in the sun, stalk side up, before you eat them—this increases their vitamin D content.
2. Prunes
Medjool dates might get all the superfood love, but prunes contain virtually the same levels of many nutrients (per 100g) at a fraction of the price – for example, Medjool dates have 0.9mg of iron, and prunes have 0.93g. Prunes also have slightly more fibre.
In addition, research has specifically linked prune consumption to improved bone health. Eating just 100g a day has been shown to help women maintain bone density.
Prunes are also good at keeping the gut moving, which is also beneficial for health. See our guide to why gut transit time matters to find out why.
3. Oats
Oats are a budget breakfast staple that shouldn’t be underestimated. They’re a great source of soluble fiber and can help lower cholesterol. An oats meal is like a warm hug for your heart.
Oats also contain beta-glucan, a type of fibre that has been linked to improved immunity.
Time to start experimenting with those overnight oats recipes.
Or, why not spice things up with a savoury porridge/oatmeal – you can have these for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
4. Blueberries
The OG supermarket superfood, blueberries, are tiny but pack a huge nutritional punch.
When in season, these berries are not only affordable but also full of vitamin C, polyphenols that boost gut health, and antioxidants that help fight oxidative stress.
The equivalent of one cup a day has even been shown to help slow down age-related memory loss.
Think of them as little soldiers fighting for your better health.
RELATED READ: You’ll find smoothies containing berries and many other of these budget superfoods in our gut-healthy smoothie guide. Why not check it out after this?
5. Cabbage
This versatile vegetable is incredibly cheap during the growing season and provides fiber and vitamin K.
But that’s not why it makes it onto the superfood list—it contains sulforaphane, an ingredient that has been shown to have cancer-fighting properties.
It’s even more powerful when combined with foods in the mustard family, so break out the yellow stuff as a condiment.
Not a fan of boiled cabbage – try it raw or stir-fried to give your meals some crunch. You can even grill cabbage.
While we’re here, broccoli and cauliflower also contain sulforaphane, so you can also add them to the list of budget superfood stars.
RELATED READ: Changing the way you cook vegetables is one way to change how you think about eating veggies. See more tips in our guide to learning to love vegetables.
6. Beetroot
Beetroot deserves more love. Often seen as a winter staple, it’s loaded with nitrates that improve blood flow. This isn’t just good for your heart—like a natural energy drink for your workouts!
And I mean that literally – one study showed that when endurance athletes regularly drank beetroot juice, they extended the time they could run to exhaustion by 25 seconds.
Drinking beetroot juice is a bit of an acquired taste—it’s pretty earthy—so if you’re not planning on breaking any speed records, try adding it to salads or sandwiches. There’s a delicious beetroot and lentil salad recipe in our list of 20 lentil salads.
And talking of lentils…
7. Lentils
Lentils are the number one item on our list of healthy pantry essentials. And for good reason.
Incredibly versatile, they can stand in for both starchy carbs and meat in meals, they are packed with nutrients, including iron, and it might surprise you to hear that they include almost twice as much protein as quinoa, a very commonly mentioned superfood (24g to quinoa’s 14g per 100g).
The Cleveland Clinic says that regularly consuming lentils has been linked to a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
8. Green Tea
If you thought only pure matcha powder had superpowers, think again. Matcha is a powdered form of green tea, and while it’s true that it contains higher levels of antioxidants called catechins than green tea leaves, there’s enough evidence out there showing that you get health benefits from normal green tea to indicate that you don’t need the higher doses in matcha.
If you want to power things up, research at Purdue University found that adding a little lemon to regular green tea increased catechin uptake 13-fold.
9. Apples
As the saying goes, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ Now that isn’t quite true, there’s no correlation between the amount of apples people eat and actual doctor visits, but studies have shown that people who eat one apple a day do tend to take fewer prescription medications, while two a day has been linked to a decreased risk of heart disease.
Many of the healthy compounds in apples are found in the skin, so don’t peel them; just wash them before eating.
Available nearly year-round, apples add fiber and vitamin C to your diet—and are super economical!
10. Kale
We know what you’re thinking. Kale, really? Could you be more cliched – but this leafy green powerhouse deserves its healthy title. It’s loaded with vitamins A, C, and K and is inexpensive when in season.
Kale leaves are best eaten whole, as you get a health boost from the fibres they contain. If they feel a little tough massaging them with olive oil can soften things a bit. But research has also shown that drinking kale juice can help improve cardiovascular health.
So, swap those potato chips for baked kale chips next time.
11. Onions
Onions might make you tear up in the kitchen, but they won’t upset your budget – and their health benefits are nothing to sniff at.
Known for their antioxidant properties, onions and their close relative, garlic, have been linked to a lower risk of some cancers.
Cooking reduces the compounds in onions and garlic that are believed to confer the most health benefits, so don’t just add them to sauces or stews, also add some raw onions to salads or sandwiches, and try recipes like hummus, dips or salad dressings that use raw garlic in the mix.
If you’re feeling super brave, you might want to try drinking garlic-infused water—but rather you than me!