These tried and true Ways to Save Money on Healthy Food may seem small, but they can add up to huge savings over time.
If you want to know How to Save Money on fresh and healthy food, check out the tips below.
If you find that your grocery bill each month is more than you want to spend, there are some things that you can do to help lower it.
It’s true. Eating healthy can be expensive.
However, it really doesn’t have to be. You can still eat healthy and save on your trips to the grocery stores, sometimes saving as much as half.
Here are a few simple strategies to eat well on a budget and start saving lots of money.
Plan ahead
The worst thing that you can do is wait until the last minute to pick up dinner from the store.
You will likely end up buying more or paying more to grab whatever is the easiest after a long day.
This isn’t cost effective. Instead, plan ahead and make a meal plan each week. Make a list of breakfast, lunch and dinner meals on the weekend.
Choose recipes and make sure you have the ingredients. If not, add them to your list.
Make sure that you stick to your list. If you deviate from your list make sure it makes sense to do so.
Here is a FREE Meal Planner you can use.
Use the store sales
The store ads are often found in the newspaper or online.
Before you make your weekly shopping list, grab a copy of the weekly store sale ad. Use the ad to plan your meals and create your shopping list.
For example, if apples are on sale for ninety-nine cents a pound, then you know you’re having apples this week. Maybe apple dump cake or apple bread for breakfast.
Stock up
Many things freeze well.
You can save tons of money each month if you stock up on sale items and freeze them.
Ezekial Bread, for example, can cost up to five dollars a loaf. I eat this almost daily. So whenever I find it on sale, I buy several loaves.
Chicken and other meats often go on sale too.
Buy in bulk. Buy family packages. You can separate them at home into smaller meal-sized portions. Place them in freezer bags.
Make sure to label the freezer bags so you know when you bought it and what it is.
Visit the butcher
Often, you can save as much as 50% on your meats if you buy them from the local butcher. Visit yours and compare prices.
Visit the farmer’s market
If you have a farmer’s market in town, visit it and compare prices.
You can often save money just by buying your produce from a local seller, since they don’t have to cover the cost of shipping it.
And the produce generally tastes wonderful.
Buy what’s in season
Buying in season simply means when it would naturally be ripe and ready to pick in your area.
This is a great time to get good deals on apples or stock up on squash because it is is season.
I always buy strawberries in June because I can get them at such a low price, since they are in season during that time. If I wanted to buy strawberries in January, I would pay almost four times as much for them.
When you choose to buy produce that is not in season, it has to be shipped to you from another area in the world that does have it in season, so you’ll pay a much higher price for it.
Buy your fruits and veggies when they’re in season and save money.
Cut back on meat
Do you really need to eat meat every night?
Did you know that beans and rice are a complete protein?
Some people choose to swap out at least one meal each week for a meal of beans and rice, which are a whole lot cheaper than a package of meat would be.
If you want to save even more, try adding a few vegetarian meals each week to your menu plan.
This will help you save more money and you’ll enjoy the health benefits as well. And there are some really tasty vegetarian recipes.
With a little advanced planning and some thought you can feed your family really well and still save money.
Pay attention to what’s on sale. Always plan ahead. And cut back on the pricier items like meat and processed foods whenever you can.
Use these tips to find extra money in your budget each week that you can use to start paying off debts and reach your savings goals sooner.
Spending money is necessary, but you can learn to make small changes that will have massive long term results. Start with just one money saving tip listed here today and see how much you can save.
Check out How to Coupon for more money saving tips!
