As a food loving Lifestyle and Fitness Coach, I love to share tips on how you can meet your wellness goals. Nutrition is responsible for at least 80% of your success.

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Here are some ways to focus on your nutrition without going broke! The top tip I always share with my clients is to make sure you make a menu and build your grocery list around it. 

The second tip is STICK TO THE LIST… don’t buy that darn chocolate bar or tub of ice cream just because you think you need it. You likely don’t; think heath-wise AND budget-wise.

Here are a few more tips incorporate to help you keep your grocery budget happy.

<h2>Go Simple</h2>

I tend to get carried away with the notion of cooking. The recipes just dance on my computer screen and I can imagine I enjoying them, the way they look, taste, smell… and suddenly my grocery list becomes my next mortgage payment. I just get carried away! If this happens to you, go back to basics. Try to limit yourself to one new recipe a week and the rest more tried and true recipes.

Thankfully, my freezer meal menus are budget minded so you can have the novelty of “new” recipes that have been tested in my own kitchen and husband approved.

<h2>Go Seasonal

Produce is affected by the seasons, without doubt. This in turn affects the pricing. Our grocery stores have cycles. I try to plan my monthly menus around these cycles to make sure we’re not breaking the bank with our food love. If you develop your own grocery list and menu, it’s important to learn about the sale cycle to help you plan efficiently.

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<h2>Go Meatless</h2>

My husband and I move back and forth between vegetarian and meat dishes. We actually prefer a vegetarian diet; we find that the taste of the foods is so lovely. You learn to appreciate the different flavors and colors nature provides.

Meat is NOT cheap. The prices differ by region and store but regardless, it’s not cheap. There is a lot of information these days about the health benefits of a meatless diet too. Beans, grain, or even extra seasonal veggies can be found for at least half the price of meat.

I’m not saying “eliminate meat” from your diet but commit to one meatless meal a week, or reduce the amount of meat in a recipe can have huge cost savings.  If a casserole calls for 1 lb of meat, try using 1/2 a pound perhaps.  You can bulk up the recipe with other vegetables.  If the meat is a main dish (ex. roast beef), reduce the serving size and include a large salad.

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<h2>Go Substitute</h2>

It’s sooo hard for me to follow a recipe. I find that I’m constantly subsituting one ingredient for another. I do this for a few reasons but usually it’s because I use what I have on hand instead of buying something else.  I’m a very frugal cook.  There will be times that a recipe calls for chicken but maybe pork is on sale; use pork! Maybe you don’t have quinoa but you have some rice in your cupboard; use rice!

Improvising in the kitchen is a fun way to let your creativity do the work while keeping your recipes budget minded. If you aren’t sure whether your substitution will work, double check with a friend who is handy in the kitchen.

<h2>Go Bulk Up!</h2>

I buy all our groceries in bulk. Even veggies! Yes, we’ve been known to freeze what we can’t eat for later OR one of our favorite things to do is make “Sunday Slop”. We throw everything in the crockpot on Sunday that is perishable from our fridge and we have a yummy dinner later that night. It’s amazing what is created sometimes.

What are your best tips for saving money at the Grocery Store?