Why Eating Healthy Isn't Expensive/Grocery Haul
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Really awesome post. I like the idea of buying stuff on sale and then freezing it. Some of the prices you quoted are unheard of in my area though. It is also important to me to buy pasture raised eggs and meats which are never cheap. My bill is kind of high. I do save on dry goods though. I use coupons too.
I have a garden too which helps. Last year the slugs ate all my winter produce which sucks. The year before I grew tons of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I have about 10 fruit trees also but they are all babies and not producing much actual fruit much.0 -
I see the original quite old, but I wonder how prices have changed.
.99$ for a pack of blackberries?? Is insane to me
They are on sale for 4$ for a 6 oz sometimes I've paid 5+$ for a 4 oz container.
Do you happen to have a Sprouts Farmer's Market near you? I've paid 98 cents for a 5.6 oz package of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, or 6 oz of raspberries within the past year, and it's coming to the time that the blueberry prices will drop dramatically again, at least here. Right now Sprouts has grapes for 98 cents a lb, roma tomatoes for 2 lbs/1.00, and a whole pineapple for 98 cents too! But I'm in the Midwest, and food prices tend to be lower here.0 -
nickssweetheart wrote: »I see the original quite old, but I wonder how prices have changed.
.99$ for a pack of blackberries?? Is insane to me
They are on sale for 4$ for a 6 oz sometimes I've paid 5+$ for a 4 oz container.
Do you happen to have a Sprouts Farmer's Market near you? I've paid 98 cents for a 5.6 oz package of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, or 6 oz of raspberries within the past year, and it's coming to the time that the blueberry prices will drop dramatically again, at least here. Right now Sprouts has grapes for 98 cents a lb, roma tomatoes for 2 lbs/1.00, and a whole pineapple for 98 cents too! But I'm in the Midwest, and food prices tend to be lower here.
Your post made me laugh, the farmer's market around here has either equal or even higher priced food. I go there occasionally and buy things and justify the price by well I'm buying local and supporting the local economy.
I live in a college town that is fortunately large enough to support a giant Wegmans, which is to me the best grocery store ever, and they are pretty good about buying a fair amount of locally sourced food too (especially in apple season) and selling it at reasonable price.
Hoping come july/august the price will drop on blackberries, because they are the only berry I like enough to eat a whole package of.
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kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »jwagner1204 wrote: »I live by myself and in the past two years of not eating healthy or working out I found that I was eating out or ordering in a lot. Even though I like to cook I just found that I didn't want to cook just for myself so I got into this habit. I came on this app to lose about 20 plus pounds and get back on my normal eating healthy kick. The problem I always seem to run into is grocery shopping and finding good deals, and also not wasting food because it goes bad in refrigerator. I don't get any newspapers or mailings for sales, so for someone in my situation does anyone have any advice for me on how to shop smarter and get good deals, too??
Also, I'm brand new to this app, especially the community forums, so any advice or direction on how to maneuver through or make the most of my experience here. Thank you very much for any help!!
Going to bump this thread since it's an interesting read.
Most major grocery retailers have their own apps that can be downloaded on phones & tablets that will list their weekly sales flyers. Wal-Mart also has the Savings Catcher part of their app that will match most major retailers that are competition for that particular Wal-Mart store. The only stores I know of that they don't match are stores like Dollar Tree, CVS, Big Lots, & maybe Rite Aid.
You can also find weekly sales flyers grocery stores official websites.
One of my favorite stores to find some good deals on food is the Grocery Outlet. The only thing I don't buy there often is produce since it seems smaller & more expensive than Wal-Mart & Aldis.
I've never seen the Walmart app, but I can say that the Walmart I shop at now has signs that say that they will not longer price match. I'm not sure if it's just this Wal-Mart, but I suspect that at some point it may be the policy for all Wal-Mart's.0 -
Raspberries are practically weeds as they grow. If you really like them, grow a patch. The only reason they are so expensive in the store is that as soft fruits they do not transport well.0
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nickssweetheart wrote: »I see the original quite old, but I wonder how prices have changed.
.99$ for a pack of blackberries?? Is insane to me
They are on sale for 4$ for a 6 oz sometimes I've paid 5+$ for a 4 oz container.
Do you happen to have a Sprouts Farmer's Market near you? I've paid 98 cents for a 5.6 oz package of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, or 6 oz of raspberries within the past year, and it's coming to the time that the blueberry prices will drop dramatically again, at least here. Right now Sprouts has grapes for 98 cents a lb, roma tomatoes for 2 lbs/1.00, and a whole pineapple for 98 cents too! But I'm in the Midwest, and food prices tend to be lower here.
Your post made me laugh, the farmer's market around here has either equal or even higher priced food. I go there occasionally and buy things and justify the price by well I'm buying local and supporting the local economy.
I live in a college town that is fortunately large enough to support a giant Wegmans, which is to me the best grocery store ever, and they are pretty good about buying a fair amount of locally sourced food too (especially in apple season) and selling it at reasonable price.
Hoping come july/august the price will drop on blackberries, because they are the only berry I like enough to eat a whole package of.
Sprouts Farmer's Market is a chain of grocery stores (that frequently have very good deals on produce), not like the farmer's market that you're thinking of.0 -
I assume that you don't eat a lot of meat? Even if I was the only one eating it, that amount of pork and chicken would only last me a few days. Plus, I like to have variety and also eat a lot of fish and red meat. I think that the point of your post is a good one, but there is so much missing from your list that I do buy, and so many additional items that I would never buy, regardless of price.0
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Moondancer77 wrote: »kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »jwagner1204 wrote: »I live by myself and in the past two years of not eating healthy or working out I found that I was eating out or ordering in a lot. Even though I like to cook I just found that I didn't want to cook just for myself so I got into this habit. I came on this app to lose about 20 plus pounds and get back on my normal eating healthy kick. The problem I always seem to run into is grocery shopping and finding good deals, and also not wasting food because it goes bad in refrigerator. I don't get any newspapers or mailings for sales, so for someone in my situation does anyone have any advice for me on how to shop smarter and get good deals, too??
Also, I'm brand new to this app, especially the community forums, so any advice or direction on how to maneuver through or make the most of my experience here. Thank you very much for any help!!
Going to bump this thread since it's an interesting read.
Most major grocery retailers have their own apps that can be downloaded on phones & tablets that will list their weekly sales flyers. Wal-Mart also has the Savings Catcher part of their app that will match most major retailers that are competition for that particular Wal-Mart store. The only stores I know of that they don't match are stores like Dollar Tree, CVS, Big Lots, & maybe Rite Aid.
You can also find weekly sales flyers grocery stores official websites.
One of my favorite stores to find some good deals on food is the Grocery Outlet. The only thing I don't buy there often is produce since it seems smaller & more expensive than Wal-Mart & Aldis.
I've never seen the Walmart app, but I can say that the Walmart I shop at now has signs that say that they will not longer price match. I'm not sure if it's just this Wal-Mart, but I suspect that at some point it may be the policy for all Wal-Mart's.
Ya, my Walmart has stopped price matching as well. I thought that was because it is very small as far as Walmarts go, but perhaps not.0 -
Raspberries are practically weeds as they grow. If you really like them, grow a patch. The only reason they are so expensive in the store is that as soft fruits they do not transport well.
Ya, I can attest to raspberries growing like weeds for sure. At my last place I gave sprouts away on freecycle spring - fall.
This is another fruit I buy frozen when not in season locally.0 -
I usually stay far away from fresh berries but had a hankering so just paid 6.99 for 250g of blueberries, lol. I should really stick with frozen berries (8.49 for 750g frozen).0
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sky_northern wrote: »I usually stay far away from fresh berries but had a hankering so just paid 6.99 for 250g of blueberries, lol. I should really stick with frozen berries (8.49 for 750g frozen).
Frozen berry smoothies are great in the summer but I'm just not a fan when dropping them in my yogurt and they give plain Greek yogurt such a fresh burst of flavor that I ended up buying them year round.0 -
Yeah this amount of food would last maybe a week between me and my husband. And our food budget is $100 a week for 2 of us. And even that is cutting things really tight with the cost of food going up and up. Hooray for Canada and super high gas prices
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nickssweetheart wrote: »I see the original quite old, but I wonder how prices have changed.
.99$ for a pack of blackberries?? Is insane to me
They are on sale for 4$ for a 6 oz sometimes I've paid 5+$ for a 4 oz container.
Do you happen to have a Sprouts Farmer's Market near you? I've paid 98 cents for a 5.6 oz package of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, or 6 oz of raspberries within the past year, and it's coming to the time that the blueberry prices will drop dramatically again, at least here. Right now Sprouts has grapes for 98 cents a lb, roma tomatoes for 2 lbs/1.00, and a whole pineapple for 98 cents too! But I'm in the Midwest, and food prices tend to be lower here.
I had a chuckle at this too! Tiny whole pineapples are $6.99 where I am. They went on sale two months ago for $4.99 and I was excited. Food in Canada is a disaster for low income families.
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nickssweetheart wrote: »I see the original quite old, but I wonder how prices have changed.
.99$ for a pack of blackberries?? Is insane to me
They are on sale for 4$ for a 6 oz sometimes I've paid 5+$ for a 4 oz container.
Do you happen to have a Sprouts Farmer's Market near you? I've paid 98 cents for a 5.6 oz package of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, or 6 oz of raspberries within the past year, and it's coming to the time that the blueberry prices will drop dramatically again, at least here. Right now Sprouts has grapes for 98 cents a lb, roma tomatoes for 2 lbs/1.00, and a whole pineapple for 98 cents too! But I'm in the Midwest, and food prices tend to be lower here.
Your post made me laugh, the farmer's market around here has either equal or even higher priced food. I go there occasionally and buy things and justify the price by well I'm buying local and supporting the local economy.
I live in a college town that is fortunately large enough to support a giant Wegmans, which is to me the best grocery store ever, and they are pretty good about buying a fair amount of locally sourced food too (especially in apple season) and selling it at reasonable price.
Hoping come july/august the price will drop on blackberries, because they are the only berry I like enough to eat a whole package of.
Blackberries also grow like weeds. I planted one at Mom's in a place where it didn't get enough sun, left it there for 10 years, finally moved it a few years ago and now it is spreading and producing berries like crazy.
My experience has been that farmer's markets featuring organic don't have great prices, but ones that don't do.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »We have a large family (4 kids during school year, 6 kids in the summers) and I find that the variations of beans and rice are the cheapest healthy option. That's usually the core of our diet even now that we do have more $. Sometimes I get the big bag of chicken breasts from Sam's but generally speaking it's beans beans beans. And eggs.
And dayum they can be super delicious:
Lentil Salad (lentils, carrots, onion, jalapeno, dressed with olive oil, lemon, mustard, salt and pepper)
Lentil or Yellow split pea Dal
Chili
Black Beans & Rice with platanos
Pinto Bean and tomato soup
Tostadas, burritos (not in a REALLY tight week because these are a million times better with cheese)
Channa Masala
Lots of other stuff. Where we find it very difficult is fruits. Fruit just seems to be very expensive now - I saw apples listed at 4.99/pound the other day - that's literally a five dollar apple. At the old house we had trees with lemons, limes, and carambola, loquat, longan, papaya and oranges (but the orange trees died) so we had some fruit even when we could not buy it; but now no trees, it all has to be bought and to get, say grapes for the kids for one day, while grapes are "on sale" at the store, will cost over $15. That's not something that fits into a small or even a reasonably generous budget like we have now. I spend about $50 every two weeks on fruits from Sam's club, and the kids eat fruit one week but not the next, and I get the big bags of frozen diced fruit, that's the way we handle it for now.
Potatoes aren't cheap in my city, never were really, except the occasional loss leader sale.
Even dried beans have become more costly, but still seem to have the best bang for the buck.
I've had weeks with $20 to feed everyone but thankfully on those weeks we had already olive oil, spices, canned tomatoes, things on hand to use with the $20 of grocery spending, and back then the kids got school lunch, that helped.
Now I want lentils...
@robininfl what's your recipe for Channa Masala?
Here's what I'm going to make next with lentils: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/88500/minty-orzo-lentil-and-feta-salad/
Thinking about this, but it looks like it will make a lot, not really soup weather consistently anymore and not sure my OH will like it: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13443/harira/
Funny, both recipes call for red onion, which I looked at at the store yesterday, but didn't get. That will teach me!0 -
I know it was 2 years ago, but one of the early posts said they bought a bag of avocadoes for $1.00 for 11 avocadoes!?!? Holy moly, where I live, we know it's time to stock up on avocadoes if they go on sale for less than $1 EACH.
Also agree with an earlier comment about food allergies/sensitivities. Finding out I can't eat dairy has been huge. I love yogurt for breakfast; regular greek yogurt often goes on sale for $1 each or regular non-Greek yogurt for even less. Almond milk yogurt is $1.89. I buy it because I can afford to, but wowza! Same with non-dairy milk.
I grew up in a poor family and yes, it was cheaper to buy crap foods. That's because most coupons and sales were for processed stuff, so my mom would buy 20 boxes of mac and cheese for $5 and stuff like that. If it weren't for my grandma having a garden, I swear I would never have seen a real fresh vegetable until I became an adult. Other than potatoes maybe. A sack of potatoes was always cheap. It was all about getting the biggest volume of food for the least amount of money. Nutrition was never considered.2
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