Buying nourishing food to help you health and wellness is an honorable way to spend your money, but it is still understandable that you would want to save a little anywhere you can. Nutritious food can sometimes seem very expensive but with a little planning and knowledge you can get a lot of bang for your buck! Today I want to share with you my favorite ways to save money while eating the most nutritious food that I can.
- Skip the “super foods” and skip to the basics. Gogi berries, macca powder, raw cacao, acai, and other “super foods” are super expensive and super unnecessary. While they do have their benefits and are certainly potent in nutrients, you are better off spending you limited funds on the basics: Meat, potatoes, leafy greens, other fruits and vegetables, cooking fats, nuts, and maybe some grains. These foods will give you the best nutrient and calorie bang for you buck so you won’t go hungry and you wont break the bank, but you will also eat a healthy diet.
- Buy foods with a long shelf-life in bulk. Grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and cooking oils do not go bad quickly, which means you can buy big quantities at a time without worrying about food waste. Buying in bulk usually means you pay less per ounce, so you can save a decent amount of money over time by shopping this way.
- Buy fresh food in season and on sale. Depending on the time of year and where you are, different fruits and vegetables, and even meats will be less expensive. Instead of being a slave to your shopping list, choose food that is the best deal. This means you may eat fewer berries during the winter time, and fewer apples and root veggies in the middle of the summer, but that’s okay! Variety in your diet is important, so why not introduce some more while saving money at the same time? Even stores like Whole Foods can have great sales. A lot of the meat I buy is from the Whole Foods sale section!
- Choose frozen over fresh. Fruits, veggies, meat, and seafood are often less expensive per ounce when they are frozen instead of fresh. For veggies that you are going to cook or fruit you are going to blend, go for the frozen versions. Frozen produce can also often be more nutrient dense than fresh because it is picked at peak freshness instead of ripening on the shelves. Buying frozen food is also a great way to reduce waste because it will last much longer in the freezer than it will in the fridge.
- If you don’t eat the skin, don’t worry about organic. Buying organic produce is a good decision if you can afford it, but it is really only important with fruits and vegetables with thin or no skin like leafy greens, apples, and peppers. Produce like this highly likely to have pesticides all the way through. Any fruit or veggie with a thick skin or rind like citrus, melons, squash, bananas, and avocados, the conventional version is perfectly okay and much less expensive. These types of produce keep the pesticides on the outside part that you don’t ingest and leave the inside safe.
I hope you can use these tips to save some money on your next trip to the grocery store! Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive if you stay smart and keep it simple