5 Ways to Shop Healthy While Saving Money

Are you trying to save money by cutting back at the supermarket? Are you passing on the organic produce, grass fed beef, wild fish or free range eggs?  I want to help you keep these items in your cart by learning to shop differently and making cuts in other areas. You owe it to your health!

1. Cook for an Army

If there are two people in your household cook for four or even six. Double every recipe. When you have extra prepared meals in the refrigerator or freezer, you are less likely to stop for take out on the way home from a late night at the office. Those take out meals can cost $10 or more each time. That can add up. People think cooking is a chore. Well if you cook one large meal, that can feed you and your spouse 3 times, how much work is that?

2. Shop your local Farmer’s Market

Many farmers can’t afford the cost of organic certification, but they will advertise that they use no pesticides. If this is the case, you are purchasing local produce that is pesticide free. In these economic times, wouldn’t you rather give your money to your local farmer than to grocery chain?  Extra tip: shop the Farmer’s Market near the end of the day. Sure they may not have as much to choose from, but they also don’t want to pack it all up so they often offer their produce at reduced prices.  This website will help you locate a market near you. http://www.localharvest.org/

3. Buy Whole Heads of Lettuce

Why spend 2-3 times more for bagged lettuce leaves that you end up rinsing anyway. Come on, you know it. We have been programmed to at least “rinse to refresh.”  Bagged lettuce is not as convenient as you may think. Let the salad spinner be your new best friend.  Trust me; it tastes a SO much better too. This goes for other “convenience” foods. Pass on the baby carrots and buy whole carrots and cut them up yourself. You get the picture.

4. Stop with plastic water bottles.

Purchase a stainless steel water bottle and fill up your water at home or at the office. Bed Bath and Beyond has them very inexpensively and you can find them everywhere these days. Please make sure you purchase stainless steel and NOT aluminum. I have probably 6 stainless steel water bottles. I keep one at the office, send one with my husband to his office, and I always have one in the car. And hey, if you leave it in the car on a hot day, at least it won’t leach chemicals like the plastic ones do.  I was recently at an expo and when we broke for lunch I went to the food booth and got a salad and bottle of water. They wanted to charge me $4 for a bottle of water!! I told them to keep it. I don’t forget my stainless water bottle anymore!

5. Stock up

When your local grocer has a “Manager’s Special,” on clean meats like grass fed beef, wild fish, or free range chicken, that means they need to move it. Buy as much as you can fit into your freezer. The meat is not bad, it just needs to be cooked or frozen that same day. I have even seen these specials at Whole Foods. If you don’t understand why you should only be eating clean meat, please watch Food Inc., the movie. You can get it on Netflix now.