Outside of your home and health insurance expenses, what is the biggest expense for your family? I bet you are going to say food/groceries. Feeding your family is one of the most important things you need to do in life, but it is also one of the most expensive. Keeping your food bill on a budget is an important tool for keeping your entire budget on track, but it can be done.
We have made it to where I can feed my family of 5 for $500 per month. I’ve seen people do better, but I’ve seen a lot of people do worse too. The thing is though, I like to feed my family a healthy diet free of packaged and convenience foods, which can be much cheaper.
Here are the tips I followed to learn how to save money on healthy foods:
- Shop at my local farm stand. Just a couple miles from my house is a non-gmo farm stand where I can get really cheap produce! I find apples 5/$1.00 zucchini 4/$1.00 and watermelons for $3 each. The food is fresh, local and cheap and it helps keep my food bill down.
- Shop sales at the grocery store. I almost never buy anything full price so just about every single meal at my home has been planned around the sales at the grocery store.
- Meal plan. I know, I know, I talk about it all the time, but the reality is, meal planning is such an integral part of maintaining a budget. Try this: create one month of healthy meals and shop around that plan (while sticking to sales).
- Avoid pre-packaged meals. Convenience foods that proclaim to be healthy meals are almost always going to be more expensive than other healthy foods. Try the good old rule for grocery shopping: stick to the perimeter to eat healthiest!
What are your favorite tips on keeping the price of healthy foods down?
