Save on Food

How do I save money on groceries and still eat healthy?

Eating well does not have to break your budget. Do you find yourself gravitating towards foods that are less healthy but cheaper? In today's economy people who want to eat healthy and not break the budget find that they can eat healthier by being better shoppers.

Prepare a shopping list that will help you strategically plan meals. Look in your pantry and make a list of things that you already have and combine it will things you do not have to make a meal. To help you plan meals you can go online to your local health food store and skim the healthy recipes for ideas. My local organic food co-op is Valley Natural Foods in Burnsville, Minnesota whose website I have used many times for ideas. They have a section called Valley Natural Foods Fresh Meal Solutions which lists recipes and has a grocery list at the bottom of each recipe. This helped me try new things that I was not familiar with eating like watercress for example.

I first started shopping for healthy food at my local supermarket until I saw that the prices added up to lots of extra money. In most super markets buying healthy food can cause your grocery bills to double, triple and skyrocket if you are not careful where you shop. Most supermarkets still ship organic items from great distances which inflates the prices. We all know that the regular produce that is sold in supermarkets has so many down sides for your health but there are alternatives. There are other places that sell healthy food you just need to look because they are well kept secrets. I have found that a little bit of planning before shopping for food will help you go to the store less often, buy in bulk and eat healthy on the same budget you have now.

One of the ways you can eat healthy and save on food is to look for local Corporative (Co-Ops), Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or natural food stores in your area. Visit them with a pad and paper and compare prices on the things that you usually buy. Research if the stores have websites where you can check their prices and sales. My local Co-Op is Valley Natural Foods and they do a nice job at listing their specials and coupons right on the website. They also have quick recipes online listed on the sales flyer that go along with the stuff that they have on sale. Last week for instance they had organic Broccoli for 99 cents, that's a deal that will help stretch my food budget. There are also large selections of bulk foods available in natural food stores that can be bought cheaply and costs much less, taste much better, and are healthier for you than supermarket brands.

Community Supported Agriculture or CSA's are farms or a Co-Op of local organic farmers that offer weekly shares during growing season. Buying through a CSA you'll save at least 20% off what you'll pay in a natural food store for organic foods store. Most CSA's ask you to volunteer some time at the site doing various things like composting, gardening or delivering left over's to a soup kitchen. Most CSA's have a membership fee and the fee may look high at first until you look at how much you spend on vegetables and fruits already. Don't forget to include in the canned vegetables in your estimate. I know during the summer time produce and fruit prices in supermarkets cost less, but they are not healthy for you. So why eat unhealthy? when you can get local organic food from a community of people you know for less.

Another great well kept secret for eating healthy for less is local Asian, Thai and Indian markets. We first started going to foreign markets for fun about 10 years ago. We found you have to compare prices between stores but the dried spices, beans, rice and sauces are really inexpensive. For instance a 1-pound bag of dried pinto beans in a supermarket is $1.29 (on sale) compared to a 2-pound bag of pinto beans from the Indian market at $1.79. The spice prices are really inexpensive, but I will save that for another article.

To eat healthy you do not need to spend more money on groceries you need to be a better shopper. So get familiar with what kinds of stores and markets are in your area and check out the local CSA program. Use their websites where you can keep track of specials, coupons and offers the savings and health benefits can be more than you realized.