Eat healthy without spending a fortune. Here are proven tips to keep your budget and your waistline in check:
1. Eat more frozen vegetables
Flash-frozen foods like veggies come with a lower price tag and you’ve got a staple in your freezer at home. Green beans, broccoli, and even butternut squash can have a freezer life of up to eight months.
2. Stretch expensive ingredients
Serve up dishes like salad with salmon on top, vegetable beef soup, and chicken bowls with rice and a fried egg.
3. Skip a week
Replenish only staples (milk, eggs, bread, butter, coffee, and veggies). Get creative and make it a goal to prevent food waste.
4. Plan how much you spend on food
Make a plan, and then you use the plan to make decisions. Let’s say your grocery target this month is $500 and you’ve already spent $425, and you’ve got a week left in the month. Now you know: $75 left for groceries. No moving target! It might not feel impactful in the moment, but if you know you usually spend $550 on groceries, and you’re able to shave off just $50/month, and only spend $500, in a year you’ll have saved yourself $600!
5. Shop alone
Have the person most committed to the budget shop solo.
6. Shopping online for groceries
Shopping for groceries online is a great way to stay see the running total and put items back if you go over budget.
7. Stock up on healthy snacks
Stock up on grapes, blueberries, canned pears, apples, oranges, mini cucumbers, mini peppers, baby carrots, string cheese, hummus, nuts, and bananas.
8. Eat at home together
Launch “potluck at our house!” as a way to get together with friends.
9. Buy pantry staples in bulk
For things like beans, rice, paper goods, oatmeal—buy in bulk when you have the space. Know where to buy staples at the lowest price.
10. Plan your meals
Planning ahead will make things easier and more affordable and reduce your stress along the way.
11. Cook several meals at once
Always cook more than you need and use the extra servings for other meals that week. Leftovers and lunches for work for the same effort as a single dinner!
12. Unit price is critical
For an apples-to-apples comparison, many stores show the unit price on the shelf price label. This is also a great way for comparing products in varying sized containers.
13. Don’t shop hungry
You’ll buy more food and your decision-making abilities will be unreasonably compromised by “what sounds good” rather than “what works for my weekly grocery budget” if your stomach is doing the talking.
14. Try a new store
You may be able to save money by shopping at an Aldi or a Trader Joe’s or a discount warehouse. What if it is just that easy? You’ll never know until you try.