Eating healthy food feels great. It’s better for your brain, your body, and the Earth, but sometimes it’s hard to keep up. When healthy products feel hard on your wallet, we need some extra tips on how to keep our pantries nutritious.
Cut Back on Meat
The fact is that it will always be cheaper and healthier to consume plant based foods, no matter what. Cut back on chicken in your stir fry. Even better, substitute it with tofu, Boca burger soy meat, or Quorn products. Try replacing all the meat items on your grocery list with plant based products for a month. The savings are tremendous, and it’s a healthier month for your body and the Earth.
Buy Frozen Healthy Foods
My first thought when I hear the idea that “buying healthy food is expensive” is: what about frozen produce? I sometimes wonder if the idea that healthy food costs a lot is part of the problem. Buying canned or frozen vegetables is so affordable that it’s a no brainer. If you prefer fresh fruit, buy seasonal fruit in the summer and freeze it for the winter. Doing this doesn’t sacrifice any of the fruit’s nutrition. Bonus: it saves a healthy summer snack for when you’re feeling those winter blues.
Don’t Waste Food
Make an effort to use every part of the food you purchase. Schedule more frequent shopping trips with smaller food hauls. More frequent trips help minimize the waste of perishable foods you’ve picked up and help you only buy what you need. Save leftovers when you end up preparing too much for the meal. Keep recipe scraps in a “soup-someday” container in your fridge. Say your recipe only calls for a pound of potatoes, but the last potato you’re cutting is pushing the scale? Set that spud butt aside to join with tomorrow’s chopped carrot excess. By the following week, you’ll have a carrot, potato, and onion soup ready to go!
Comparison Shop Healthy Food
Make a list of your top 20 go-to grocery items and go around to a few stores in your area, writing down what these items cost at each location. There are apps out there that claim to have this information, but all the ones that I’ve tried haven’t been entirely consistent or accurate. Be careful with sale items and make sure to write down the original item cost as well as its sale price. A lot of people don’t want to make more than one stop on their weekly grocery store runs, but it’s usually worth it. Before you decide that efficiency of the trip is more important than the savings, take a moment to do the math. The savings could surprise and entice you!
Check out rebate and discount programs
My favorite ways to dodge full prices on healthy food are coupons, rebate apps, and discount/loyalty programs. Hands down, the number one website for couponing is Coupons.com. This website offers manufacturer coupons that will work at any grocery stores. As my Mom always says, “it’s like money in your pocket.”
On the other end of the cash register are rebate apps. The best rebate app out there is iBotta. It offers cash back opportunities on everyday items including produce. Sometimes it’s as little as .25 cents back on a head of lettuce, and sometimes it’s as generous as covering the entire cost of the item. Between couponing and rebates, I’ve earned money on buying groceries. Discount and loyalty programs are the last edition to the golden trio of grocery savings! Lots of stores have personal loyalty cards that can be used to store coupon information and keep track of sales opportunities. BumbleBar offers savings through our website via points rewarded after each purchase and discounts for subscribing to our newsletter!
Whether you’re cooking for one or have a family in mind when you’re meal planning, eating healthy is an affordable option. The hardest part is the planning and organization. But you’re here, and you read these tips! You’re already halfway there.
