So almost everyone knows that they should be eating the least processed, most natural types of food they can find, but for one reason or another, a lot of people don’t do it.  The reasons are many, including: lack of knowledge of what constitutes those types of foods, budget constraints, availability of fresh foods, minimal cooking skills, etc.  Today I’d like to address the limited budget aspect of grocery shopping for healthy foods.

Why do I think I can talk to the wide world of the internets about grocery shopping on a budget?  Let’s just say that 3 years of private law school education isn’t even remotely cheap.  I’m also on a fixed income (can you call it income if it’s actually debt?) so I know a thing or two about stretching a buck.

Instead of droning on and on about this, I figured I would just lay my tips out in a list.  Here we go:

  1. Learn how to cook.  Like, really cook, not just opening a box of something and adding water.  It can be really fun, eating at home is cheaper, and the quality of foods is likely to be better.
  2. Buy fresh vegetables and fruit at a farmers market.  If you can’t afford organic, buy local!  It’s cheaper (less miles traveled) and it’s better for the environment and your community.
  3. Skip convenience/prepackaged/prepared foods.  Most are (by definition) heavily processed and contain gross chemicals and additives.   If you follow tip #1, you don’t need them anyway!
  4. Buy in bulk.  I’m a big fan of oats for breakfast, and I like granola in my yogurt, so I buy tons of oats from the bulk bins for a great price, and make my own cereals for wayyyyy less than packaged cereals cost.  Oats are really cheap anyway.
  5. Learn to like and make oatmeal.  It’s good for you, the organic version is not much more money, it’s quick, and cheap.
  6. Have a plan for the things that you buy. Just because something randomly looks good doesn’t mean you should buy it.  If something does catch your eye at the store and you would like to try it, decide what you will make with it and pick up the ingredients while you’re at the store.  That way, there’s less of a chance of it spoiling or collecting dust in your cupboard.
  7. Skip most of the middle aisles.  Sure you can find some canned beans, canned tomatoes, etc. in the center aisles, but you also find cookies, crackers, chips, and soda.  I think this might be the #1 place where I save the most money.  It’s not that I never buy these things, but granola bars, tortilla chips, and oreos are super expensive and give you next to nothing in terms of nutrition.  90% of the time it’s not worth it to me.  (The other 10% of the time I really frickin want those chips and salsa!)
  8. Frozen foods. If you’re a sporadic cook, buy frozen vegetables.  Fresh is definitely better, but if you don’t have a plan for using all of the portion you buy in a week or so, they will spoil and it’s a waste of money.  Frozen vegetables can be really cheap, too.  Also, if you like a certain bread and it goes on sale, stock up and place the extra loaves in your freezer.  Bread keeps really well in the freezer.
  9. Take advantage of sales. The grocery store where I normally shop doesn’t always have the best sales, but the quality of the food is good, and the prices on a lot of the things I like to buy are usually cheaper than other stores.  But today I hit the jackpot and there we’re a billion little sale signs out so I picked up some extra bread, sushi and arborio rice, and flour.  They weren’t on my list (gasp!) but they would be within the next few weeks, so since they were on sale, they went in the cart.
  10. Go to the store on off hours, if possible. Avoid Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Nuff said?

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