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As someone who likes to be as frugal as possible, I’m always hunting out ways I can save a few bucks here and there. It may look like I’m pinching pennies, but I strive to avoid being flat-out cheap. I want to live well on less, not deprive myself or my family of things we need and will use or enjoy just so I can save a dollar or two.
It is especially important to me to avoid being cheap when it comes to buying food. Balancing the need for healthy meals and the need to keep the grocery bill in check is a struggle for many households. But it doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, there are several steps you can take to improve the quality of your diet and eat healthier foods while actually spending less. Here are three ways you can improve your health while saving money at the grocery store:
Take Part in Meatless Mondays
Don’t panic. No one is taking your bacon away from you. But you may want to consider participating in something like “meatless Mondays” to improve your health and your grocery bill. This means you simply cut out meat for one day of the week. If we’re concerned about our health, we should be eating about half a pound of meat a week – right now, the average American consumes a half-pound a day.
By simply cutting back, you reduce your chances for heart disease, for various cancers, and you’re less likely to be overweight. Buying less meat will also save you money on food. Protein-packed foods like beans, quinoa, lentils, Greek yogurt, nuts and seeds, and even spinach can all take the place of meat in a meal – and all these items can cost less than the amount of meat required to be a main dish. Occasionally having meatless meals can save a family of four about $100 per month.
Cut Out Processed Food Products
Many folks complain that whole foods, especially organically-sourced fruits and vegetables, are so much more expensive than what you can find in the ready-made meals or snack sections of the store. Who can justify spending $6 on a pound of organic strawberries (the price I saw the last time I was in Whole Foods in Atlanta) when you could spend the same $6 and get a bag of chips, two frozen meals, and a candy bar?
The secret is to not buy the frozen meals, snacks, candy, and other processed food products at all. Strive to make meals out of whole foods or foods that are comprised of less than five ingredients. If you’re looking to eat healthier and cut down on how much you spend on food, shop on the perimeter of the store. In other words, fill your cart from the produce, dairy, and meat sections and avoid the aisles where the chips, sugary cereals, TV dinners, and meals-in-a-box are waiting to wreck your diet and jack up the price of your groceries.
Understand What Makes a Proper Portion
It’s no secret: most of my fellow citizens in America are eating huge portions at every meal. By overeating, you’re hurting your health and your finances. Most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re piling on massive amounts of foods onto our plates simply because we don’t understand what a proper portion looks like. WebMD has a helpful tool you can use to help you visualize and learn what the correct portions for different foods look like. When you learn that one serving size of cooked beef or chicken should be the size of a deck of playing cards instead of the size of your head, you can adjust the amount of food you purchase at the store. Buying less means spending less.
Armed with this knowledge, you should feel confident that you can improve your diet – and save money while you’re doing it. The next time you head out to the grocery store, keep these tips in mind and pair them with other fundamental money-saving ideas: plan your meals, bring a list, and use coupons. Then, enjoy the savings and the tasty, whole foods you bring home.
Author Bio: Kali blogs about common-sense financial advice at Common Sense Millennial. She’s passionate about personal finance and finding new ways to live well on less. Currently, she is pursuing the ultimate dream of writing for a living and moving abroad. You can connect with her by tweeting @CSMillennial.
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Photo by Emilian Robert Vicol
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Thanks so much for letting me guest post for you, David! :)
CSMillennial Of course! Anytime.
We are meatless year-round and it really does cut down on grocery costs. We do buy more produce, over all, but it still saves money to not eat meat.
Holly at ClubThrifty I agree cutting meat entirely is a great way to save – but I understand that not everyone is willing to go full veggie :)
The portion thing is a major issue in my opinion, especially when it’s unhealthy food. We garden a lot and involve the kids with it as we want them to know where our food comes from and it gives us the added benefit of saving money too.
FrugalRules That’s awesome that your kids are involved with something like that! One of my goals for next year is to try and get started with a small vegetable and fruit garden. I think growing your own food is another great way to save on your grocery bill – and it makes you appreciate your food that much more because you saw all the work that went into getting it to your plate!
I eat meatless meals all day every day, my grocery budget should be down to zero by now ;) Seriously though, I’m all for the veggie meals. People freak out about protein when there are so so many other sources (my fav is peanut butter). I’m running the marathon on Sunday and I haven’t eaten meat in two years!
brokeandbeau Couldn’t agree with you more about the protein – as you pointed out, there are tons of different sources of healthy proteins besides meats. Peanut butter is my favorite too! That is so exciting about the marathon and I wish you the best of luck! You’ll have to fill us in on how it goes.
We do most things from scratch and the products in Guatemala are prime quality. Now when I go back to Europe I almost never eat meat, is is overpriced and pretty bad taste-wise.
RFIndependence It’s interesting how you really do lose taste for a lot of meat when you go without it (or are having something that is locally sourced versus highly processed and trucked in from hundreds of miles away). I’ve been a vegetarian for four years, and on the few occasions when I’ve had a bite of my spouse’s meal when we’re out at a nice restaurant or traveling, I’ve always thought things I used to like such as chicken tasted so bad!
Thanks for sharing that WebMD link, it’s interesting to see how much we should be eating. I eat smaller meals throughout the day as I get full rather easily, so portioning isn’t an issue for me. I only eat chicken and ground turkey for little burgers. I always get them on sale and one pack is good for a week. I try to only involve meat in meals 2-3 times a week.
JourneytoSaving No problem! I thought it was really helpful to actually get a visual of portion sizes – that’s something I still struggle with, because I LOVE to eat! Really smart to buy what meat you do eat when it is on sale, and to stick with meats that are inherently less expensive.
Great tips.I always try to avoid the snack aisles because then I’ll end up buying junk food. I find that for me, the people in my household are to lazy to cook so when I buy like meat and raw vegetables I’m the only one who ends up eating it which saves me money
MonaSez I’m with you, I have to avoid the snack aisles entirely! Even though I junk food makes me feel awful after I eat it, I don’t have the willpower to resist it if it’s in the pantry. It’s better to just avoid that part of the store entirely – my health AND my wallet benefit that way :)
We don’t an official day for it, but we have been doing more vegetarian meals over the past few months. It does help save money and it’s still delicious. Though I definitely couldn’t give up meat full-time.
Matt @ Mom and Dad Money I completely understand asking people to give up meat entirely is a little too extreme. Although I’ve been a vegetarian for four years now, my husband is most certainly not – he makes sure I keep my veggie gospel from getting too out of hand! And he makes sure that I understand where meat-eaters are coming from. It’s good to keep some perspective.
This year we decided to cut back on sugar, snacks and other unhealthy items. My husband lost 28 lbs and I lost 10 lbs because of the changes. One thing I want to get better at is planning our meals for the week. I usually have a few staple dishes I like to cook but I need more variation.
Practical Cents That’s excellent, congratulations on the weight loss! It’s amazing what cutting out junk food and sugar can do for you. I completely understand on the meal planning – it’s an area I need to improve on, as well. Like you, I have a few of my favorite go-to meals, but I need to branch out a bit and learn some new recipes to throw into the rotation.
I try to avoid buying pre-packaged food as much as possible and it really does help both my wallet and my weight. In order to eat, I need to actually cook the food. If I just want to eat out of boredom, I’m a lot less likely to go through the trouble of making a meal. If I am truly hungry, then I will. This helps me only eat when I need to which keeps the weight down and the wallet a lot more full. Using a healthy does of olive oil also helps provide cheap filler calories.
MicrosMissions That’s big for us, too! If we have to make some effort to cook it, we usually find that we’re not quite as hungry as we thought we were.
femmefrugality MicrosMissions I completely agree – when you have to actually do some prep work and put in some time to cook food, it helps you stop mindless snacking or eating out of boredom. Good for your weight and wallet, for sure!
Portion control is tricky for me — I’ve always eaten way too much, pretty much my whole life. I can manage smaller portions for a while, but they always end up creeping back up if I’m not exhaustingly vigilant about it.
I do feel a lot healthier these days — we’ve cut out a ton of processed foods, and we’re eating more vegetarian meals and snacks these days. A surprising favorite: spinach, apple, and banana smoothies, with just a dash of local honey.
Adam Kamerer That smoothie recipe sounds delicious; I think I’ll be trying that this weekend sometime! Thanks for sharing. And I understand what you mean about portion control.. I absolutely love food and eating! I have to make a conscious effort to be mindful of how much I’m putting on the plate. Knowing that being aware of the quantity I’m eating at each meal has positive affects on both my health and wallet is pretty good motivation.
I can go 2 or 3 days meatless. Portions is another story. When I was seriously working out, I used to be very strict on the amount of food I ate. Right now I either eat so much or starve myself before eating which is bad.
BorrowedCents I know it’s hard to work out what the right portion is. I’m a runner, so it’s hard not for me to use that as an excuse to go crazy at every meal! I’ve found that after I was very disciplined about eating the correct amount and not going back for seconds for about a week, it just became a habit to not overload my plate. I think it’s like most other things – practice will make perfect :)
you make some good points here.. but in general.. i have found the exact opposite to be the case. i try to only shop around the outside of the store, but fresh fruits and organic meats cost a ton more than all of the junk in the middle.
seedebtrun I agree they can cost more per item than the processed foods – and if you’re buying both high-quality produce and a lot of processed food items, your grocery bill is going to be pretty high. What I was suggesting was to only purchase whole foods, and avoid the processed products 100%. In my experience, at least, this has helped keep our total when we check out lower than trying to eat healthy by buying fresh produce, but still indulging in snacks and sodas. Buying only whole foods does require a little more effort in the way of meal planning and knowing what you’re going to make out of all your ingredients, but for us it’s been worth it because I know we’re eating better and it’s cheaper than including convenience foods like chips, cookies, and ready-to-eat meals like frozen pizzas or dinners in a box.
I do meatless almost every day – which does save us a lot of money.
Suburban Finance Awesome! I think that’s great – but as a full-time vegetarian, I may be a little biased ;)
Eating healthy has always been something I’m willing to pay extra on. My grocery bill still around $100-120 a month (just me), even with all the produce and organic things I buy. I’m also a pescatarian, but I rarely buy/cook fish.
alexislives I agree that eating well is worth the cost, but I believe it’s a misconception that it’s more expensive than eating junk. I think you can eat healthy meals without breaking the bank at the grocery store, and it looks like you’re doing just that yourself! :)