I was watching The View the other day because they had a segment on that caught my eye- How To Eat Healthy On A Budget. The tips were given by Joy Bauer.
This is right up my alley as I have been making huge cutbacks to our grocery bills for the past few months.
I wanted share with all of you these awesome tips that I learned:
1) Eat like a Veggie
Did you know that eating like a vegetarian is cheaper than eating like a meat eater? Stock up on lentils, beans, and eggs for cost efficient meal ideas such as lentil stew, bean chili, and egg frittatas. The average cost per person for one of these meals above is only $1.25 USD per person!
2) Buy Produce that is in season
When you buy produce that is in season it is cheaper! That’s why you rarely saw me buy berries in the winter time. Way too much money. The cheapest fruit to buy are apples, oranges, grapefruit, and bananas. The cheapest vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, carrots (not baby), sweet potatoes, and onions.
3) Banish Expensive Drinks
Stop buying sodas and expensive coffees that drain your wallet. Joy suggested buying a seltzer machine (around $80) and making your own bubbly drinks for only 20 cents a litre! Try adding slices of cucumbers, oranges, or lemons to your at-home drinks to make them more fun (I Love this idea!). She also said that buying powdered drinks mixes are much cheaper than buying them already with water added.
4) Buy Bulk!
Instead of wasting money on those 100 calorie pre-packaged artificial foods, buy healthier foods in bulk such as nuts, seeds, and dried fruit and create your own pre-packaged portions! If you took a box of the 100 calorie snacks and dumped all the food out on the counter, there wouldn’t be much food there. You really aren’t getting much bang for your buck! I love trail mix. You can add so much variety and constantly change them up. Once you find a mix you love just portion it up in reusable containers and it is ready to go.
What are your favourite tips for saving money on grocery bills? Share your ideas below!
Day 18 (April 13th): Ok, so the Easter Bunny was good to us. Maybe a bit too good to us! But that is no reason to fall off the BBBC Challenge wagon, is it? Here is a great tip when receiving lots of candy or chocolate: FREEZE IT! Yup, that’s right. Package up that chocolate and candy in plastic wrap + zip lock baggies and throw it in the freezer. Our of sight, out of mind! Sometimes I like to have frozen chocolate without dethawing it- it lasts longer!
To snap us all back into BBBC mode after a somewhat sugar blur of a weekend, let’s make Monday a fun cardio day. Now is the day to get back on track and start off the week on a healthy foot! Aim to do at least 30 mins. of heart-pumping cardio, as well as a 1 minute plank, 1 minute right side plank, and a 1 minute left side plank. Ahhh…doesn’t that feel better?
I thought I would show a few more pictures of our visit this weekend to the In-Laws. Their house is just too cute! The following pictures are from the older (1800’s) section of the house!
The (Haunted) Laundry Room:
Apparently a young girl died in this house shortly after it was built. There is a rumour that she haunts this laundry room! There is a creepy long mirror on the back of the door and many people have said (including myself) that there is something very creepy about the mirror when they look in it (Sorry NO picture!!). Eric and I have also slept in this room overnight on several occasions before the extension was built. It was really creepy and I always felt a bit ‘off’ in that room! We also had one female guest say that she woke up to her bed shaking and bouncing about!
The (previous) Master Bedroom, now guest room:
This room is just cute, cute, cute. I love the antique armoire. My In Laws have a love for antique furniture and the house suits it so well. The original wood floors are just fabulous!
The stair way landing:
I love this picture window with the view of the water. At the top of the landing (sorry not shown) is my father in law’s desk and computer- what a view he has!
Well, I am off to make a huge green monster! I can’t wait :) Enjoy your Morning- I hope it is a great one!
"If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." – Thomas Edison
Thanks for the budget tips! It’s just what we needed!
Hi! My name’s Jason, and I love your blog so much (its very classy :D)
Such a wonderful powerful resource for women in the world. I love to see this kind of thing. Your story of health really touched me, and I love all the love and light I feel from you. I can’t wait to swing by the bakery and savour some good eats. Thanks for putting yourself out there for everyone.
-J.
I love your In-Laws house… it is a dream for me to own a home like that!!
I’m about to make myself a green monster.. I need it after this past weekend LOL.
Great tips by the way, love them. Steve & I have been saving money by eating like vegetarians as well. He’s a bean lover too so we stock up on canned beans & they work well as staples in meals!
We always try to shop the reduced sections too. I find a LOT of the produce that is thrown into the reduced pile is actually quite good and sometimes lasts up to another WEEK on the kitchen counter. We won’t buy reduced meat though, just because that is a bit more risky.
We also always plan our meals for the week around the items that are on SALE.
I totally made a pamphlet with this exact title for people in my work’s healthy eating support group! It’s true that not eating meat is much less expensive. ah the perks just keep on coming!
Creepy story, but definitely an adorable home!! Looks very peaceful :)
Wonderful tips!! I always make a meal plan for the week so that I purchase what I need.
Yikes!! Frightening about the haunted laundry room – but very interesting as well. Lots of history there!!
Great budget tips!! Thanks for sharing those! I think my best money-saver is to always check the flyers and see what’s on sale before shopping. I try to create my week’s list based around what’s on sale (besides the staple needs like spinach, apples, bread, etc). I also freeze all of my bread-like products and keep only a few slices (or wraps or buns) thawed at a time. That way, nothing goes to waste and gets moldy!
That is SUCH an adorable home. It must be so nice to live right on the water like that. Do you know what year the house was built?
Loved seeing the photos, what a beautiful home.
I find buying certain items at Costco in bulk helps a lot. Buying fruit & veg at local markets, not the big-box store helps. Freezing leftovers too works wonders!
Loved your frugal section, so good. I’m a vegetarian and my husband isn’t and he admits that it’s cheaper to eat like a veggie and in fact he likes it a lot, so I make a lot of vegetarian meals for him, its great!
I try to eat a lot of beans too. I also try to shop the rim of the store and avoid convenience foods.
Thanks so much for pics! The tips are great too. All the budgeting ideas are basic commonsense…but yet still so easy to forget to do!
thanks so much for the Frugal tips! One thing I like doing that really helps me save money: instead of buying canned beans, I buy dry – boil them in one huge batch and then pre-portion them into ziplock baggies to store in the freezer whenever I need them =)
Excellent! I particuliary agree with buying produce season, it’s always cheaper. A community supported agriculture program is a good idea too.