Slash Your Food Costs and Eat Better
A lot of people want to save money these days, and let’s face it — it’s hard sometimes. Where do you start?
You can’t easily change your rent or mortgage payment. Your electric or gas bill can only go down so far. And there’s always something that comes up just when you think you’re getting ahead: your car needs repairs, you need dental work that insurance won’t cover, your dog gets sick, or your cell phone dies.
And you’re not frivolous. You don’t waste money. Or do you?
Ten years ago, I only knew the general price of groceries. I was recently divorced, and with two incomes, I hadn’t thought much about food prices. We weren’t extravagant, and we weren’t wealthy by any stretch; we just had a fair amount of discretionary income, so we bought food — and dined out frequently — without thinking about it.
A few years later, with a fixer-upper house of my own and savings dwindling, I stared at a wedge of brie cheese: Ten dollars? Wow. I guess I’ll get cheddar. Huh? Five bucks? I had to get serious about my food budget.
And now, as a freelance writer working on a novel (which pays nothing as I write), I really have to be careful with money.
Food is one of my biggest expenses (and probably yours), but it’s an expense I can control. Thing is, I like good food. Healthy food. Yummy stuff. Getting my food costs down was a challenge.
But now I pay a lot less and eat far better. Here are some of the tricks I’ve learned that keep more money in my savings account.
Not sure how much you should be spending? Check out the Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels.
Eat out less often.
Avoiding high-priced restaurants makes good sense, but I’m not talking about special occasions. I mean the money you spend daily and monthly on food and beverages consumed outside your home.
- The morning bagel or muffin and coffee
- A stop at McDonald’s or other fast food joint
- Starbucks or other coffee shops
- A beverage and chips or a chocolate bar from a convenience store
- Take-out or delivery food
If you spend $5 every day on breakfast and coffee, let’s say, your total monthly cost is about $150. That’s $1800 a year, and $9000 over 5 years. Amazing how it adds up, right?
All food has to cost something, of course. But the price of breakfast and coffee made at home plus a thermos or travel mug is far lower than fast-food or restaurant fare.
If lunch or dinner often means a restaurant, try packing a lunch or eating dinner at home more often. It sounds simple, but changing habits and the way we do things isn’t easy.
Let’s say you eat lunch at a restaurant every day. Don’t try switching to packed lunches overnight. Instead, opt for a home-packed lunch once or twice a week, to start. Or shoot for every day except Mondays and Fridays.
When that becomes routine, go for packing your lunch every day. But don’t guilt-trip yourself if you want to join the crowd sometimes. The savings will add up regardless. Remember to plan, and check out these 100 Lunch Ideas.
Eat fewer convenience foods.
When you’re tired and just want to get home and relax, prepared dinners from stores like Whole Foods or upscale supermarkets aren’t usually a poor choice, nutrition-wise. The only bad thing about ready-to-eat fresh salad, grilled salmon, and whipped sweet potatoes is the price.
But think about frozen, mass-produced meals from the supermarket (Marie Callender’s, Lean Cuisine, Hungry Man) that seem inexpensive. If you’re feeding a family — maybe two kids and your partner — $3.00 for a chicken potpie becomes the $12.00 you could spend on fresh vegetables, pasta, and an entire chicken.
With some planning (more on that below), you can make home-cooked meals an inexpensive solution more often and with far less work and stress than you think.
Cut down on non-essentials.
If your grocery cart is chock full of chips, soda, cookies, crackers, ice cream, and other snacks or treats, think about it. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it’s called junk food for a reason.
Other than ice cream (made from real cream, not the chemical-laden soft-serv type), most snack foods and sweet treats have little nutritional value. The excess sugar, salt, oil, and highly processed flour is one thing; many snacks also contain ingredients known or suspected to cause health problems. And while certified organic treats can be great (though not always), the prices are high.
Try replacing some of those snacks with fresh fruit like grapes or tangerines. Slice a cantaloupe or watermelon when you get home from work so you or the kids aren’t starving while you fix dinner. Nuts, hard-boiled eggs, and healthy trail mixes are good, too. Or keep raw veggies like carrot and celery sticks or broccoli bites in the refrigerator. Paired with a healthy dip, you’ll spend less and eat better.
Beware of beguiling marketing. Ads and commercials make it seem like “snacking” is a necessary, normal part of life. But it’s not, and it doesn’t have to be.
Note: If you have diabetes or some other health issue, snacks are a different story. You might need to snack regularly, but high-priced junk food is never recommended.
Drink more water.
Did you know cola drinks have such a high level of acidity they’re used to dissolve hardened, undigested food clumps in people prone to gastroparesis, also known as “delayed gastric emptying?” That doesn’t mean Coke® will dissolve your stomach, but it does suggest it might not be the best drink around.
Plus, regular soda is loaded with sugar. And diet versions usually contain aspartame, which has been documented in scientific literature as unsafe.
If you consume a lot of beverages like soda, store-bought iced tea or lemonade, artificially flavored fruit punch and the like, consider drinking more water.
I know. It’s boring, and your tap water might taste awful like mine did when I lived in North Central Florida. You can buy spring water on the low end for less than $1.00/gallon, but using a filter, whether it’s the pitcher-type or a high-end water-purification model, costs far less in the long run.
Look at it this way: If you can drink water instead of half of the beverages you typically buy, you’ll save a lot of money. It depends on how much you consume, of course, but if beverages are a big part of your food costs, drinking more water means savings that add up.
Warning: If you regularly consume beverages containing caffeine (Red Bull®, Pepsi®, Mountain Dew®, Coca-Cola®), don’t stop suddenly. Kicking a caffeine habit (including coffee) can mean a vicious headache, anxiety, stress, and other symptoms of physical addiction. Taper down gradually instead.
Choose coupons wisely.
Coupons can help you save money on necessities like toilet paper, toothpaste, and other personal care or household items.
But when it comes to food, I rarely see coupons for the basics. Your experience might be different, but coupons are usually for high-priced non-essentials or convenience food: snacks, frozen meals, protein shakes, and pre-packaged lunchmeat (more expensive and often higher in sodium than what you’ll get at the deli).
Since I don’t often find coupons for foods I eat, I rarely use them. But I always look for sales, specials, BOGO discounts, and two-for-one sales if (and only if) it means real savings. Two boxes of pasta for $3 is more than another brand’s single boxes at $1.45 each. And some stores, like Trader Joe’s, carry high-quality pasta at the regular price of $.99/pound.
Just remember: Coupons are a persuasive marketing tool meant to get you to buy something new, develop or strengthen brand and product loyalty, and keep you buying at the regular or higher, post-promotion price. Food manufacturers don’t care if you save money or eat well; it’s business and profit, after all.
Buy store brands of equal quality.
In my experience, store brands are often just as good as higher-priced brands, but it depends on what it is.
If I want canned beans for burritos or a quick bean chili, the store brand is fine. Even if the beans are mushy, it doesn’t matter since they get mushed up anyway or are hidden in the sauce.
If I want canned kidney beans for a salad, on the other hand, I’ll buy a regular-priced brand because the beans are more attractive, and they taste better.
Some store-brand items like peanut butter, jam, non-dairy beverages like soy milk, and tea or ground coffee just aren’t worth the savings to me.
And stores are different: Whole Foods’ 365 line is pretty good for most things. Publix, Wegman’s and other upscale chain supermarkets are usually okay as well. But proceed with caution, especially in lesser-known, smaller grocery stores. Store-brand food isn’t bad, and it won’t kill you, but the lower quality might not be worth the savings.
Some store-brand products I’ve found worth buying include
- vinegar
- olive oil (for general cooking needs)
- granulated sugar
- salt
- spices and dried herbs like garlic powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, and basil
- rice, certain pasta, and dried beans
- canned, chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce/paste for recipes
- canned pumpkin
- raw nuts and ground flax seeds
- cheddar cheese (in blocks)
Don’t waste food: Repurpose aging fruits and vegetables.
I used to waste loads of food simply because I forgot about it or put off using it until it was too late. These days, I check my refrigerator and freezer weekly and use things up before buying more.
Produce can go bad quickly. Here are some tips.
- Place limp celery in water to make it crisp again
- If carrots look old, cut off the ends and peel; they might be fine
- Onions, especially in spring after months of storage, can go bad quickly. Cut off the good parts and use them
- Remove soft or bruised parts of mushrooms
- Cut out eyes or soft spots from potatoes, peppers, and other veggies.
- Sort through greens like kale or spinach for the good stuff.
Aging veggies might not look pretty, but they make a great pot of soup and can be used in any recipe.
As for fruit, chop up a mealy apple and add it to hot cereal like oatmeal. You can even make a quick jam or syrup with soft (but not rotten) blueberries or strawberries (or use up berries or fruit that wasn’t sweet and tasty in the first place). And toss a variety of good-tasting fruit for a fruit salad.
Don’t have time? Wash, dry, trim, freeze, and make something later.
Just be sure to use whatever’s left before you go grocery shopping again. And toss anything that smells bad or has been open too long. Check expiration dates, too, and use up those canned goods.
Think twice about expensive breakfast cereals.
Even if you have a coupon, most breakfast cereal is expensive, plus it’s loaded with sugar and highly processed with lots of chemicals. You might as well pop a multi-vitamin and chew on sugar-coated cardboard. It’s just not wholesome, and one serving barely counts as a meal.
Instead, explore real-food options like old-fashioned oatmeal or bulgur with crushed walnuts, plain yogurt, or a dollop of peanut butter and fresh fruit. Try fruit and veggie smoothies with whole-grain toast or a couple of hard-boiled eggs.
Or bake a big batch of oil-free banana-walnut muffins, freeze, and set out to thaw the night before. This recipe is fabulous, and they freeze well. (I replace the expensive maple syrup with molasses and a little brown sugar). I like mine toasted in the toaster oven with a glass of plain soy milk.
Or try eggs with leftover rice or a mixed-grain pilaf. A bean burrito from last night’s dinner (make extra) works well, and French toast made with hearty homemade bread (see below), eggs, or silken tofu along with some fruit will satisfy almost any appetite.
With combos like that, you’ll have enough protein and fiber to keep you going long after a sugary cereal buzz leaves you feeling drained.
Remember, almost any breakfast can be made or at least prepped the night before. Plus, you can get a lot more breakfast for the buck — and healthy nutrition — with just a little creativity and planning.
Bake your own bread.
Sounds crazy, right? Nobody would ever think I’m the type to bake bread (if you saw me on my mountain bike, splattered with mud, you’d agree).
But the thing is, spending $4 or $5 on a loaf of whole-grain bread is ridiculous. And even Arnold’s Whole Wheat, the bagged bread I used to buy (currently $4.89), contains less-than-desirable ingredients. It smells perfumey, too, not like flour and yeast, and it’s squishy as a marshmallow, like most processed bread.
I’ve been baking my own bread for a few years now, and I made some calculations.
For my usual, everyday bread, I use whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water. That’s it, and it’s delicious. One loaf costs just under $1 if I use a high-quality flour (King Arthur, around $4/5 pounds=6 loaves). With ordinary flour, the price comes down to around 50 cents per loaf.
I bake 2–4 loaves at a time, cut them in half, and freeze most of it. Homemade bread gets moldy in a few days, so I refrigerate half a loaf and leave another out, depending on my plans. (Ever notice that store-bought bread doesn’t get moldy? Scary! It’s the preservatives.)
If you’ve never baked bread before, it might take some time to settle into a routine. But it’s easy, once you get the hang of it. No bread machine or mixer needed: I make no-knead bread.
I just dump the ingredients in a bowl, mix it up, set it aside, and go about my business for a few hours. After a few tosses on a breadboard, I pop the dough into parchment-paper-lined loaf pans (easy removal and no clean up) and bake for around 35–40 minutes. That’s it!
It’s worth the effort. And it’s fun, too, to watch it rise and get all bubbly. But most important is that the savings are great, and you don’t have to consume unknown, potentially unhealthy chemicals.
Here are two of the recipes I use regularly. Read some of the comments for ideas (I don’t use the Dutch oven, for example, but I use foil as a tent to keep moisture in).
Easy No-Knead Whole Wheat Artisan Bread
Eat less meat.
Meat is expensive, no doubt about it. And eating meat is a deeply-held tradition in the U.S. and other countries, so I understand the reluctance or refusal to switch out meat for plant-based meals.
But if you’re a staunch meat eater who wants to save money, replacing a meal or two weekly with other options can mean significant savings. And meatless doesn’t mean tasteless!
Fortunately, you can find plenty of ideas and recipes online. One of my favorite chefs is Christina Pirello. Be sure to read her story about kicking leukemia by changing her diet.
I also adore Molly Patrick’s recipes, the research she does, and her overall attitude.
Cook your own food.
And here we are at the main point of all this. Cooking your own food is the way to go if you want to save money on food.
Even if you hate cooking or don’t know how to cook, you can learn. I’m no great cook either, but with the plethora of food blogs and recipes available online, I’ve learned a lot.
Don’t have time to cook? I don’t either. But I decided if I want to save money and eat well, I have to fit it in my schedule. Slashing your food bill is all about planning and preparation, and that goes for cooking, too.
- Plan meals for the week and shop accordingly.
No plan means frustration, wasted food, time spent running out for missing ingredients, and potential failure. Been there, done that.
I switch breakfast around with oatmeal variations, homemade muesli, toasted home-baked bread and peanut butter, bananas and other fruit, occasional egg-free pancakes (I use chia seeds as an egg replacement), and smoothies in the summer. So breakfast ingredients are easy.
Lunch and dinner require more thought, though I can always fall back on a quick homemade hummus, black beans and rice (try it with sweet potatoes or fresh pineapple), stir-fry and rice, or leftovers I have on hand. Spaghetti tossed with olive oil, garlic powder, dried herbs, steamed broccoli, and a spritz of lemon juice isn’t bad in a pinch, either. Add leftover chicken, canned tuna, cashews, or pine nuts for protein.
- Prepare ingredients for the week on the weekend.
Wash, chop, and prep vegetables or salad greens for specific recipes and meals. Cook a pot of rice for Wednesday’s dinner, or sauté onions and garlic for Thursday (I keep a jar of sautéed onions and garlic in olive oil that’s good for a week or more). Make a sauce, roast or bake meat or fish, or prepare a marinade. Possibilities are endless if you plan.
- Consider batch cooking.
One way to save time and money is to double a recipe and freeze portions for another meal or two. Stews and soups keep especially well. Here are some great ideas.
15 Vegetarian Freezer Meals for Easy Weeknight Dinners
Batch Cooking Shortcuts That Will Save You a Ton of Time
Here’s the moral of the story.
If you want to save money on food, you have to change something, stop something, start something, or tweak something. Maybe get out of your comfort zone. Get uncomfortable. Be different.
And before you know it, that scary, fabulous new thing becomes your new normal, and you’ll be glad you did it. Then it’s time for something new again.
One or two tips here might appeal right away, so give them a try. Later on, try another one.
Just remember, your body needs fuel like a car needs gas. And just like a car, if you feed your body well, you’ll need fewer repairs.
But unlike a car’s gasoline, saving money can also mean better nutrition. You have choices!
Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash
