Eating Healthy On A Budget: Part 2
I’ve been hearing a lot about using coupons to save money. However, when eating natural foods, coupons can be hard to come by!
After looking in the usual places like the Sunday paper and online coupon sites, try Ebay. You can search for “organic coupons” and you’ll be surprised at what you find! (You are paying them to “clip and ship” your coupons.) I’ve bought 20 $1.00 off coupons for as little as $2.50. I’m buying these products anyway…so I’m saving a lot of cash!
One of the best ways to find healthy and inexpensive food is to shop the edges of the store. After that, quickly go into the middle aisles for pantry staples. For foods like rice, beans, grains and spices, see if you can buy them in bulk.
Here’s what I bought on my last grocery trip…the total was $179.36. I think I did pretty well, since about 80% of these things are organic. These groceries, combined with food from the pantry and freezer, will feed us for about two weeks.
When you shop, look around for the mark-down areas. This week I found salad, artisan bread and milk on clearance; everything was in perfect shape and still in date.
I’m going to try making yogurt, for the first time, with the milk I bought. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
This is what works for me, but how do you save money on your groceries? Have you found any money saving blogs? Please share what you know so we can all feed our families frugally!
For further reading look at these posts:
Top 100 Blogs for the Frugal Gourmet
March 11th, 2009 at 7:04 am
My number one saving strategy is making a menu for the week. I shop weekly to keep all our fruits and veggies but I do my best to ONLY GO ONCE a week. The more trips I make, the more I spend, PERIOD. Even if I think I’m sticking to my list when going more than once, there’s always something I wind up picking up extra. Maybe gals wouldn’t mind sharing how much they spend per week and how many are in their family? My budget is $125 a week for EVERYTHING – that means groceries, cleaning supplies, personal care products, protein powder, dog food, etc. BUT, it’s only me and DH – no kids right now.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Great tips! I always try to do as little shopping in the center of the store, and focus on the perimeters where the fresh food is. I forgot to mention this on my list of money saving ideas I posted for WFMW.
Looks like you did a nice job shopping and getting some quality products for decent prices! Best of luck with the yogurt.
Thanks.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I love this idea! I have never heard of looking for coupons on ebay. Thanks! I am wondering how many people livingtoworship feeds for that amount. I’s love to know that about you too. Hearing other people’s budget helps me to know what’s realistic. I spend $250 a week (twice as much as living) but that is for 11 people. I am wondering how I could cut that down and still eat healthfully. Thanks! Lisa~
March 12th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Lisa, thanks for the comment! To answer your question, Living To Worship feeds 2- herself and her husband on that amount. (She’s my sister in law, so that’s how I know!) I feed myself, my husband and our two children on around $175 a week. This is for all of my household needs, including food. I have to use all my frugal ideas to stay in budget: coupons, cooking from scratch, gardening, generic brands, sales, etc. Hope this helps! Please share any ideas you have on frugal living, we can always learn new ways to save!
March 12th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Thanks for the comment, Lisa! You have some great ideas in your post; thanks for sharing. I’d love to hear of more tips as you have time to share them. I’m always wanting to lower my spending!
March 12th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Whew! I feel better. It sounds like I am doing ok with my budget, consider the larger family size. I, too, am buying everything for that…including feminine products for four girls. LOL! I hope the yogurt turns out. I have made our own yogurt for years. We have farm animals, so I make goat yogurt. It’s the easiest thing to make. You’ll do great! Lisa~
March 25th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Great tips! I always look for discounted items and do well finding great buys that way. If I find milk that only has a day left I make soup. If I find a nice bread, I make great sandwiches or spinach dip depending on what kind it is. Planning menus ahead is not for me because I’m always changing my mind, or finding a deal that changes everything.