It is one thing to pull the trigger and decide that this is the day you are going to eat healthily, it is another thing to then go grocery shopping for all of your new healthy food and see your grocery bill triple just like that. Especially if you are buying food that is organic, grass-fed, sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, etc. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive and there are even studies to prove just those facts. In order to eat healthy while not breaking the bank, it is important to follow a few guidelines. These tips aren’t rocket science but sometimes the simplest things are things we don’t think of and hopefully, these few reminders will help you to start saving money and eating healthier, now.
Plan Ahead
To save money, you can’t look at each meal individually initially. You need to take a look at the bigger picture. The easiest way to do this is to plan out two weeks of meals. This way you can figure out exactly what you need to get at the grocery store to plan these meals. If you were to just look at one meal at a time, you would be going to the grocery store way too many time and possibly buying two of something over and over again when in the grand scheme of things you could have bought twelve of that something and saved money. Plus, when you plan ahead you can also cook in batches by creating one dish that actually can feed you for a few meals.
Buy in Bulk
Shopping in bulk is a huge way to save a lot of money, especially when shopping for pantry staples that you reuse on a regular, if not daily, basis. Experts have long urged us that if we’re eating healthy, we should also be taking advantage of bulk buys. Like we mentioned earlier, buying in bulk saves you from going to the store multiple times to buy the same thing in smaller quantities. Not only can you buy pantry items in bulk but you can also buy eggs, meat, vegetables, etc in bulk too really saving you a lot of money. If you don’t have a grocer near you that sells things in bulk there are plenty of online shops that at the very least sell dry ingredients in bulk and even offer free shipping.
Meals with Common Ingredients
Taking the planning ahead and buying in bulk another step farther, you can plan your meals to include the same type of ingredients. The fear here might be that you may feel like you are eating the same thing over and over again but with a little bit of creativity and doing things as simple as swapping out herbs and spices you can completely change a meal.
