The dreading 6 letter word.....B-U-D-G-E-T! Now a days, everyone is on one (or would like to be!) and most people seem to think that you can't eat healthy when you're trying to save. WRONG! You can!
This is my meal planning chart for August. Make sure to include on the calendar
days that you know you won't be home to cook, so that you can budget accordingly!
Here are 7 shockingly SIMPLE tips for buying groceries while sticking to a budget:
1. Plan Meals
The first step is meal planning! Challenge yourself to spend an evening looking through your healthy cookbooks, pick out your fav's or those that sound yummy to you and write them down. Then "assign" the meals to a day of the month (or week, if a month seems too overwhelming right now) and there you go! I make meal plans for our dinners for the whole month. I "assign" meals to days but I'm constantly switching around the meals during the week, depending on our moods. It works out because I shop for the week and so, I've already got the ingredients.
2. Make a grocery list
Ever walked into the grocery store to only get milk and toilet paper...and walk out having spent an extra $20 you weren't expecting? Without a list, you end up throwing things in your cart that you don't really need on impulse (on many occassions, I've boughten more tortillas thinking we were out...only to find 2 packages at home! Talk about a waste!). If you grocery shop for the week, write down the names of the meals and the ingredients needed for each. Cross out any repeats, double check your cupboards and only grab what's on the list!
3. Choose ingredients that you can use in many meals!
When you're planning out your meals, try to pick recipes for the week that contain many of the same ingredients. Bean, lentils, brown rice, salsa, etc, etc are great staple items that you can stock up on (especially when they are on sale) and use in a variety of different meals.
4. Buy WHOLE foods when possible
Skip the processed stuff and opt for the real thing in order to save money and empty calories from your daily intake.
5. Double the recipe and have leftovers!
Remember the college days when you wouldn't think twice about eating that remaining half of a pizza the next day? Why not think that same way with your healthy dinner?! You'll end up wasting less food, having to cook less and skip extra spending.
6. Shop seasonally for fruits and veggies.
Buy your produce at farmer's markets, local farms and whenever it's on sale at the grocery store. Most stores come out with their food ads on Sundays. If you check online before you go to the store, you'll be able to see what's on sale, plan meals with on sale produce and save money!
7. Buy in bulk and generic brands.
Does the recipe call for some new ingredient that you've never tried before? Instead of forking over $5.00+ for a jar, head over to the bulk section! You can get the amount you need for the recipe and save money!
Also, READ the ingredients lists and COMPARE your favorite brands to its generic siblings. Most times, they contain the same stuff and taste almost the same. I love Special K cereal but at $3.00/box, I'd rather get the generic store brand for half the price and it tastes the same!
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