12 Tips for Eating Well on a Budget

It’s no secret that food prices are not what they used to be. This year, you may drive anywhere between 5 to 14% more For some more food than I did at the same time last year.

Overall, food prices have risen steadily over time, but the increase during the first half of 2022 has some people wondering how they will stay within their food budget while eating healthy.

In this article, we’ve compiled tips and suggestions from financial and nutrition experts. Applying these tips may help you stay within a budget and continue to eat healthy meals, whether at home or on the go.

Keep the budget

If you don’t have an expense budget yet and want to save money, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get a budget.

A budget is a plan to allocate funds to various items and activities. In short, whatever you spend your money on in a month should be reflected in your budget. This includes groceries, rent or mortgages, streaming services, transportation, gifts, gym memberships, contributions to savings and retirement accounts, and outings.

Some people don’t budget because they have no idea what they’re spending each month on. Even if you’re trying to be price and food conscious and consider what you’re spending on picnics, it’s very difficult to know where your money is going and how you can save unless you have a budget.

If you have a budget – great! Learn how to get the most out of your budget by creating subcategories and updating them each time you spend to see how much you have left in your budget.

Still not convinced that you need a budget? Financial expert Amy Bell He suggests six reasons why budgeting is essential to achieving your personal and family goals.

It helps you set long-term goals and work towards them.
Helps ensure you don’t spend money you don’t have.
Helps you plan for retirement.
Helps you prepare for emergencies and unexpected expenses.
Helps illuminate bad spending habits.
It stops you from guessing where your money is going.

If you don’t have a budget, you can start by keeping track of all your expenses for a month or two. Know what you’re spending money on and how much you’re spending. Based on this information, you can set goals for how much you want to spend in these categories.

There are many budget apps, including YNAB And the Mintwhile some prefer a plain old Excel spreadsheet.

Keep track of all your food expenses

Having a budget is great, but it’s useless unless you keep track of all your expenses. Track every coffee and vending machine purchase, impulse purchases, and big grocery store stops.

Fortunately, there are tools that will help you keep track of your expenses. You can download apps like Expense Manager And the money manager Which allows you to enter your instant expenses or save your receipts and check your card transactions to enter your expenses at the end of the week. Most budgeting programs also have an integrated expense tracker.

Remember, if you forget to keep track of even one transaction, things will not be in order at the end of the month.

Make a weekly or monthly list

Whether you call it a weekly menu or a monthly meal plan, knowing what you’ll eat each day is a helpful way to plan your grocery trips effectively. Write down the days you will eat out and the meals you will prepare at home.

After you’ve decided what you’re going to eat, make an inventory of what you have at home and what you need to buy for these menu items. List items that you don’t have will automatically appear in your shopping list.

Pro tip: Leave enough for a day or two of “free meals.” Here you can choose to eat leftovers, try a new recipe, or order it. This will allow you to have some flexibility in planning your meal and increase the likelihood that meal planning will continue.

Always take a shopping list

When you take the shopping list, you are unlikely to make impulse purchases and forget about this necessary component.

Your shopping list – ideally linked to your meal plan – can keep you focused and save you time. Also, if you’re someone who often forgets to use the $6 berries you bought, this can help reduce food waste.

For best results, take your shopping list, and pledge to stick to it.

Take a calculator (or open the calculator app) when you go to buy food in person

Once you are aware of your monthly food budget, now you have to do your best to stay within that budget. No matter how much mental math you do, chances are you’ll reach for the cash register only to widen your eyes in total. Either you swallow your tongue and tell yourself you’ll find out later, or you remove some items from your cart.

The best way to figure out the cost of a grocery trip is to calculate your total merchandise yourself. You can do this as you go along, or at the end of your shopping trip before stepping into the checkout line, if the items have sticky prices.

Subscribe to the Grocery Rewards Program and Membership Programs

Most grocery stores have free loyalty rewards programs for signing up and using. Others have access to membership at very low prices on some items. Each program is different, but it may allow you to access special savings, get coupons to help you save on some of your favorite foods, or accumulate points to use as cash in the store later.

Pro tip: Read the details before subscribing to anything! Make sure there is no hidden cost. If there is a membership price, make sure the savings on items that regularly appear on your list make the cost worth it.

Order groceries online

The COVID pandemic has made ordering groceries online more popular than ever, but many people are back to shopping in person as they adjust to the “new normal.”

However, you may want to consider shopping for groceries online to save money. Online grocery shopping can help you:

Compare prices across items and across stores
See your running total
Prevent over-purchasing or forgetting items. You can check your store while placing the items in your virtual shopping cart.
Save time and money on transportation you might use to get to and from your grocery store
You can easily delete the items you no longer want in your cart and adjust the amounts to fit your budget
Set frequent grocery deliveries for essentials. This is useful if you have a few of the same items that you buy weekly or biweekly.
Purchase items that are often out of stock

Note that most grocery stores charge a convenient fee for delivery. For many people, the amount of money and time they save to buy online instead of going to the store makes the extra cost well worth it.

Eat seasonal and local products

Eating locally produced and in-season produce generally costs less than eating imported and out-of-season produce. This is usually because if product orders can be met by local farmers, a lot of transportation costs will be cut. If there is a need to import food from other parts of the country and the world to meet the demand, the prices go up.

For example, one study found that Cantaloupe costs 36% less In high season compared to off season.

Another plus: Buying local products supports your local economy.

AFPA has an article on The benefits of eating local seasonal produce here. We also have a file Produce a shopping guide by season.

Consider frozen fruits and vegetables

Did you know that frozen fruits and vegetables contain almost the same nutrients as fresh fruits and vegetables? In fact, frozen fruits and vegetables often contain More nutrients than fresh produce Because freezing them at their peak freshness preserves the nutrients, while storing them on the shelf or in the refrigerator may lead to a loss of nutrients over time.

Another important reason to consider frozen products is that they help take care of your wallet. Frozen products tend to be much cheaper by the pound. Since you can only use what you need, it also helps prevent food waste.

Frozen products are not suitable for all dishes, but they are definitely something to keep on hand for convenience, budget and nutrition.

When eating out, get an idea of portion size

Some restaurants are famous for having large portions of meals. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re thinking frugally.

If you know that a restaurant tends to serve portions that you can rarely finish yourself, plan to take half of your meal (or whatever you don’t eat) home for your next meal. If you’re not someone who likes to eat leftovers, find a meal buddy willing to share the meal with you (and split the bill!).

Choose to eat out for lunch, rather than dinner

If you enjoy eating out, consider scheduling lunch instead. Dinner options tend to be much more expensive than lunch options. Sandwiches, wraps, soups, and lunch buffets may be your ticket to eating well on a budget on the go.

For more savings tips on dining out, you can check this out Penny HorderWeb site for .

eat vegan

Eating a vegan diet isn’t your automatic ticket to saving on your purchase bill at the end of the month. However, when you are a conscious vegan buyer, you can save significant amounts of money. a recent study He revealed that plant-based consumers save an average of $23 per week on groceries. Considering family size and local pricing – that’s about $100 a month!

The reason is simple: protein-rich plant foods like beans, lentils, chickpeas, and tofu are much cheaper than chicken, pork, beef, and fish. The difference is even greater if you buy dried legumes and pulses rraised from canned Of which.

Home Takeaway

The rising cost of living can cause us to turn our attention toward how much the food we eat costs.

While there is nothing people can do about inflation, they can make smart choices at restaurants, at home, and in grocery stores that can help them continue to eat well while also keeping their budget in mind.

In this article, we’ve suggested twelve proven tips that can help you save money on food without sacrificing nutrition, joy, or taste.