Food is a huge expense over your lifetime. Consider that once you start having to buy your own food, you’re generally stuck with that obligation for the rest of your life. If you buy your own food for 50 years, that’s $260,000 if you spend $100 per week.
Saving a little money each week adds up to a lot of money over 50+ years!
Of course, it’s also important to purchase and consume healthy food. Consider that nearly every cell in your body at this point is composed entirely of the foods you’ve eaten, the beverages you’ve drank, and the air you’ve breathed. You are made of the food you eat, so eat good food!
Eat well and save money at the same time with these techniques:
- Eat at home. The food in a restaurant is always more expensive than what you can prepare at home. Restaurants have to pay employees, utilities, rent or mortgage payments, taxes, maintain a parking lot, and make a profit.
– It’s true that most restaurants might taste better than your meals prepared at home, but you can just take that as a challenge to increase your chef skills.
– You can also use healthier ingredients than your local restaurants choose to use. - Buy in bulk. A large bag of rice or potatoes costs less per pound than a smaller bag. Stores like Costco and Sam’s Club have a lot of great deals if you can handle larger quantities of food. Having a large freezer and pantry can certainly be helpful if you’re going to take advantage of this tip.
- Have a garden. A garden is practically free from a financial standpoint, but it does require some labor to prepare the soil and to plant the seeds or seedlings. A garden also requires time to deal with the weeds, water, fertilize, and harvest the food.
– The advantages are great cost savings, access to high-quality food, and you’ll get some exercise, too. Children love gardens, too. - Substitute other ingredients for meat. Meat is expensive, but there are other sources of protein than just meat. Beans, lentils, eggs, and some types of fish are considerably less expensive than most cuts of meat.
- Buy whole foods. A whole chicken costs less than all the parts cost separately. A block of cheese is less expensive than shredded cheese.
- Take advantage of sales. There’s always something on sale. The meat section often has meat with a reduced price of 50% or more because it needs to be sold the next day. Buy and cook it that night or put it in the freezer.
– There’s always one type of apple or grape on sale. You never know what’s going to be on sale from week to week. Keep your eyes open and take advantage of those sales. - Avoid highly processed foods. A can of soup has a lot of different ingredients, the contents have already been cooked, it has to be put into a can, and there are a lot of additives to keep the soup from spoiling. All of that isn’t inexpensive, and the additives make the soup less healthy.
The foods you eat have a huge impact on your health and your bank account. There are many ways to limit your grocery bill without compromising on the quality of the food you put into your body.
Inexpensive food can be healthy and satisfying, so avoid the belief that good food and enjoyment has to be costly.