Reducing Your Grocery Bills and Eating Healthy

Reducing Your Grocery Bills and Eating Healthy
VH Melville


There was a time when I felt I needed to be more wise with how I spent my money on food. I felt I needed to save so that my family could spend money on what really mattered, technology, visiting grandparents and other things. I’ve had this article for some time. I can no longer use some of the tips but wanted to help those who can.

You spend more in the long run not taking care of yourself and your family.
These saving techniques, sadly, are not available yet in some cities and states. Many people who write money-saving articles don’t realize that their tips won’t work for all areas.

Not everyone wants to save on groceries. Some people would rather live in a small home and eat gourmet food.



Deep Discount shopping

Once a Week shopping: Aldi or Save a Lot.

Your Aldi might not have light bread or other items listed. If you have a large freezer, you can buy light bread at a bakery outlet. Now, if you want to make your own light bread you will have to go once every month or two for specialty flour. I buy light bread somewhere else but plan to make my own. Don’t go to a bunch of different stores each week. You will defeat the purpose. You do not have to get everything on the list. In fact, you shouldn’t.

Aldi

Aldi has many low-point foods. Aldi’s varies with merchandise so you might want to find which of the items your Aldi might carry.

• Fit and Active Rice Cakes. Bag them into plastic bags.
• Fit and Active Light Cool Whip
• Fit and Active Light Bread
• Tomatoes and other vegetables
• Bagged apples and salads
• Sugar substitute in packets
• Cheap canned green beans and other vegetables, including ingredients to make chili
• Light Fit and Active canned fruit as well as pumpkin (in season).
• They have 2 types of English muffins. Check the brand.
• Sacks of potatoes. You can make your own microwave baked potatoes or low-fat oven baked potato chips.
• They have cheap cake mix. I use this to make my diet cola cake. I get my diet cola elsewhere because I do not like caffeine. The diet soda is for cooking.
• Fit and Active Yogurt. This is a good way to get dairy in your diet.
• Aldi does not have low-point cheese but you can use parmesan cheese for a cheese fix.
• Fit and Active Turkey meatballs
• Pierogies: “This is a slightly lower point cal pasta filled with potato”
• Cornish game hens. You can prepare without the skin.
• Freezer bags
• Eggs. You buy them, then remove the yolks after you crack it open. You have an instant eggbeater substitute. Remember ¼ cup of egg beaters is two egg whites. Although, I hear that some Aldi stores do have their own egg substitute as well.
• Dill pickles
• Skim milk and low-fat cottage cheese
• Fit and Active dressings and powdered drinks
• Canned beans are cheap and filling source of protein


Save A Lot:

Save A Lot Has:

• Fresh vegetables
• Nice meat, but chicken breasts can get expensive if you buy it de-boned.
• Cheap low-point biscuits
• 2-point fudge popsicles “At my save a lot”
• Light frozen yogurt
• Sugar substitute
• They also have a good name brand of baby food. I have decided to do my once-a-month shopping at Save-A-Lot for baby food.
• Sacks of potatoes. You can make your own microwave baked potatoes or low fat oven baked potato chips.
• Diet root beer and diet citrus soda
• Cheap cake mix to make diet soda cakes
• Freezer bags
• Eggs. You buy them, then remove the yolks after you crack it open. You have an instant eggbeater substitute. Remember, ¼ cup of eggbeaters is two egg whites.
• Spicy mustard as well as dill pickles
• Canned beans are cheap and filling source of protein

• Skim milk and low-fat cottage cheese

• Sugar-free gelatin and pudding mixes


Super Walmart
You can do your discount shopping at Super Wal-mart. They do have very good prices, but a lot of variety. You have to be more strict with your list. Also, when you can, opt for the Walmart store brands.



Other Ideas:

If you have a freezer, do your once a week shopping at Aldi or Save A lot. Also, do your once-a-month shopping at either Costco, Trader Joe's, Super Walmart, or Sam's Club. For your once a month shopping, restrict it to light bread, fat-free mayonnaise, fat-free cheese and fat-free cream cheese, wheat flour, chicken breasts on sale and in bulk, and one to two Weight Watchers treats. Try and limit yourself to two or four boxes of each treat. Do not over-buy your treat just to make the month. Unless you are getting 55 pounds of chicken breasts that you plan to be using from a great sale, or you're buying a wedding cake, try to keep your once-a-month grocery bill to $27 to $180. Try to avoid spending $300 to $500 dollars at once.
If you eat all your special bread and cheese and your treat in a month, you cannot get more until the following month. Make sure you have flour on hand to bake bread. Also, for one month only, get bread, and another month only get fat-free cheese if it’s on sale. If it’s not, go for 2%. Make sure you rotate your food and know their freezer life. Remember most cheeses do not give a full calcium serving, so you don’t have to buy cheese for your dairy serving.

Money-Saving Lunch Bag Ideas
Instead of high-priced cupcakes and chips, why not make diet cola cupcakes and put them in a freezer bag and freeze them? Pull out a frozen one and place in lunch bag if you make normal sized cupcakes that makes 24 from one box. This great for kids or for yourself. Sure beats high-priced, low-point snack cakes!
Make your own low-point wraps and fill them with Veggies and lean meats.
Buy one big bag of the kids' favorite greasy chips and have them help you put them into small plastic bags for them.
Suckers are low in points, and they might be a nice treat in a lunch sack every now and then. Just make sure the school allows them. Some schools have a no junk food policy.

Gifts of Garden Vegetables
If a friend offers you a large amount of vegetables like zucchini, take them. What you can’t use right away, you might be able to freeze or dehydrate.