5 Tips To Make Healthy Living Budget Friendly
I love grocery shopping. I love going to the grocery store and checking out all of the fresh produce and new healthy brands. I find it to be so fun… until I get to checkout and find out the total.
There have been so many times that I have gotten home from the grocery store and realized that I spent $200 on 2 or 3 light bags of groceries. I would look at what I bought and first try to figure out how I spent so much on food for the week and then I would try to justify it to my fiancé.
Health has always come first to me. I am someone who has dealt with body weight issues, gut health issues, hormone imbalances and I have lost people close to me to heart disease and heart related issues. So, when I grocery shop my health is my first priority and my wallet is second. However, healthy doesn’t have to mean spending a lot at the grocery store.
I recently wrote a blog post about how to stay healthy on a budget. There you will find a lot of my favorite ways to save money on groceries. Since then, I have discovered more ways to stay healthy while remaining on a budget. Below are a few of my favorite tips to save money on groceries:
Shop local- Supporting local businesses is so important for your community, and it can also save you a lot of money. Most Saturdays or Sundays, Bobby and I will make a trip down to the farmers market and shop for produce. Produce from the local farmers market is so much cheaper than buying from your local store (especially if you buy organic). I have a favorite farmers market stand that takes donation where you can donate as much as you want and take home as much produce as you’d like. We also purchase pasture raised eggs through the farmers market because it is so much cheaper than buying in store (plus the quality is better). This is also a great way to save on grass fed meat and sustainable wild caught fish. You can also support a local CSA, which will allow you to buy fresh from the farm! Most produce is harvested the day before it goes to the farmers market so you are getting it fresh as can be. You can also start your own garden. If you don’t have a green thumb, you can do things as simple as grow your own herbs (which will save you money). If you have the space, sunlight and soil I recommend starting a garden (that is the cheapest option for groceries).
Make what you can’t buy- Check your receipt after grocery shopping. What were some purchases that were expensive? Could you make these yourself? My goal this year is to start making things on my own. I love buying healthy salad dressings, mayonnaise, salsa, marinara sauces, grain free tortilla wraps, plant based milks, cashew cream cheese, etc. but they can be very expensive (especially if you are buying good quality, vegan, paleo, etc.). So instead, I offer the idea of making your own versions. Some of these are very easy to do! Some things like grain free wraps only require water, oil, salt and flour. Plant based milks only require water, nuts or seeds, dates and a blender. Mayonnaise only requires oil and egg yolks. Marinara sauces only require canned tomatoes and good seasonings. A lot of these don’t require much time to do and they will help you to save money! If you bought a bottle of paleo salad dressing, paleo mayonnaise, salsa, marinara sauce, grain free tortilla wrap, plant based milks and cashew cream cheese (all of which run at around $6 each if not more) you will be up to $42 before you even start shopping for meat, eggs and produce! You could make your own items for just half of that cost (if not less!). My suggestion is to start with one of the items on your list and then experiment making your own version!
Shop on the outskirts- You may have heard this tip before as a way to avoid buying unhealthy foods but it also a great way to save money too. When I go to the grocery store, I will shop along the edges of the store. I will start with produce, head to the dairy section, over to the meat/fish section and that is it! Sometimes I will go into the aisles for frozen produce or sparkling water. This is a great way to save money! The rest of the items I need like canned foods condiments and dry foods, I will buy from Thrive Market (which is a great way to save money).
Buy in season produce- During spring you can find peaches on sale and in the fall you can find apples on sale at almost every grocery store. Buying in season produce is such a great way to save money. Of course you don’t just have to buy in season, but it is a good way to save money!
Stock up on sales- This is something we do often. We have select items that we really love, and when they are on a big sale (like a buy one get one free sale), we will stock up. Pro-tip: Store your “stocked up” items separate from the rest of your food. If we a buy a few boxes of crackers that were on sale and store them in the pantry where the rest of our snacks are, we will eat them all at once (which defeats the purpose of stocking up). I suggest keeping your “stocked up” items in a separate bin and on your grocery shopping days, pull out the items (that you normally would have bought while grocery shopping) from the “stocked up” bin. For example, if you normally buy 1 box of crackers for the week, pull out 1 box of crackers from your “stocked up” bin on your grocery shopping days.
These are just a few of my favorite ways to save money on groceries! It is important to remember to follow EWG’s dirty dozen and eat whole foods when possible!
Let me know your favorite budget friendly tips in the comments below!
