The assumption that healthy eating is expensive is partly earned and partly a function of which products get the most visibility. Imported superfoods, specialty stores, and premium packaging all cost more. But the ingredients that do the most nutritional work are often the cheapest things in a Nairobi market.
Sukuma wiki costs less per serving than almost any processed snack. Amaranth leaves is widely available and routinely underpriced relative to its nutritional value. Eggs remain one of the most cost-effective protein sources available anywhere. Groundnuts, dried beans, sorghum, and sweet potato are all nutritionally substantive and consistently affordable across Nairobi markets.
The expensive version of healthy eating is buying imported quinoa and organic almond butter from a specialty store. The practical version is eating more of what Kenyan farmers already grow cheaply and well.
Where the budget argument breaks down slightly is convenience. Whole foods require preparation time that processed snacks do not. Cooking sukuma wiki is cheaper than buying a packet of crisps, but it takes longer. The gap that processed snacks actually fill is not nutritional it is logistical. Something you can eat at your desk at 3pm without preparation.
That is the specific problem worth solving at a price point that makes it accessible. Snacks built around local ingredients, requiring no preparation, priced to compete with the alternatives already on the shelf. That is what Brio is working on.
In the meantime, the most practical advice for eating well on a budget in Nairobi is to shift spending toward Kenyan-grown whole foods and away from imported processed ones. The nutritional return per shilling spent is not close.