How to Maximize Your Grocery Budget

How to Maximize Your Grocery Budget
You should be cooking more of your meals at home if you want to lose weight and save some money at the same time.  Cooking at home should not mean spending a bit more on fresh produce and lean protein. You can most certainly buy what you need and still stick to your food budget!

Follow these tips to save grocery money, without sacrificing taste or nutrition.

Go “shopping” in your kitchen before you head to the store

You may be surprised to find that some of the ingredients that your recipes call for (spices, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, canned beans) are actually already in your cupboard and pantry. Try to rotate your canned goods so you use the older items first so they don’t expire and have to be tossed.

Love your leftovers

Turn leftovers into meals and snacks to enjoy a day or two later and you will see your food bill decrease. For example, you could thinly slice some leftover flank steak and toss it with lettuce and other veggies for a lunchtime salad. Or recycle that extra broccoli into a delicious vegetable frittata for breakfast, lunch, or brunch.

Consider international

Some of the most exotic meals are also the most economical. Think Moroccan chicken stew, an Asian-flavored tofu stir-fry, or turkey meatballs with low-sodium tomato sauce and whole-wheat pasta. Plan on a regular “ethnic night”—maybe every Friday—and enlist the help of other family members in coming up with a global theme for the weekly feast.

Discover meatless

One or more days a week, resolve to enjoy vegetarian fare. You’ll be surprised by how your food bill drops when you’re not buying meat, poultry, or seafood. For filling and delicious vegetarian meals, consider baked tofu, black bean burgers topped with reduced-fat goat cheese, eggplant Parm made with part-skim mozzarella and freshly grated Parmesan, or a veggie-filled omelet.

Be flexible 

Yes, you should take a list to the store with you! But if your recipe calls for codfish and you see haddock on sale, buy the on-sale item instead, as long as it still looks fresh. Likewise, for a salad recipe that calls for asparagus (which can be twice the price of broccoli), rethink your menu and see if broccoli would do just as nicely.

DIY whenever possible.

Take salad dressings, for instance. How many bottles of half-empty high-fat salad dressing does your refrigerator door hold? Rather than buying premade dressings, which can contain unhealthy ingredients, make your own dressings using dried herbs and spices that you already have in your kitchen, along with extra-virgin olive oil, your choice of vinegar, and maybe a little Dijon mustard.

Buy frozen and canned 

When fresh fruit and vegetables are out-of-season and expensive, buy canned or frozen instead—just be sure that the products don’t contain any added sugar and are low in sodium. Many frozen and canned products are just as high in healthy nutrients as fresh because they have been packaged very soon after the produce is harvested. You’ll find that the frozen strawberries you buy in January make a much more delicious yogurt smoothie than the expensive fresh berries that have been transported thousands of miles, for example. And canned or frozen vegetables like asparagus and beans are a good winter alternative to fresh and taste perfectly fine. END THE SNOBERRY AGAINST CANNED FOODS!!

Venture beyond the supermarket

Don’t forget to stop by the local farmers’ market to check out the prices on produce. You might be surprised to find bargains in season and farmers may give you a deal on produce late in the day.

Put your supermarket bill in perspective

While you will be spending your hard earned dollars on fruits and vegetables in order to attain your weight loss goal, you will be saving your money by not buying expensive non-nutritious items like packaged cakes, cookies, chips and sugary sodas.