Eating Healthy on a Budget

beccau_20

I was having this conversation with my parents yesterday and my dad was encouraging me to me to look into local and organic foods and produce, which is funny because I'm not even sure my parents shop that way. His way of being supportive )

Anyway, I'm thinking about this and I realize that I often end up having to buy fresh foods, meat, and poultry at stores where I know the quality is substandard... and it tastes that way (and the fresh fruits and vegetables don't last). I do try to avoid pre-packed foods, relying on them only as snack items, and mainly for my husband.

What do you to try to cut costs for fresh foods? Do you find that local farmers markets tend to be cheaper? What about in the winter when a lot of local fruits and vegetables are out of season?

Also, I've been looking into produce home delivery, but wonder about the cost effectiveness of this as well. I'm cooking for two and I like to grocery shop as infrequently as possble.

Jade_Butterfly

Bump

uniqute1888

off topic... but your husband is in a kilt right?? my boyfriend is a piper and I just love to see kilts at weddings!... Love the picture its adorable. On the other hand... I am a good motivator so if you need another buddy feel free to add!

beccau_20

off topic... but your husband is in a kilt right?? my boyfriend is a piper and I just love to see kilts at weddings!... Love the picture its adorable. On the other hand... I am a good motivator so if you need another buddy feel free to add!

Haha! You are the second person on this site to comment on his kilt! His brother is a piper too and actually played at our wedding ) I'll definitely add you!

otr12

Farmers markets - quality when they open, value when they close.

theprettyone1010

I cut A LOT of coupons. I also shop at Food4Less (may not be a national chain, but I'm sure there are similar discount grocery chains) which has less name brand foods. But the quality is good & it's a lot cheaper than Jewel or Dominick's.

I'm in college, so I cannot afford a farmer's market or whole foods. On average I spend about $100-125 a week on groceries.

yeabby

There are a lot of ways to eat on a budget. I do organic produce delivery and it is actually cheaper than going to the store and supports local business. Only draw back is you don't have say over what you get other than foods you list you don't want.

I'm also a big proponent of saving money in other ways so I have more to spend on quality food. A couple ways I do this is making my laundry and dish detergent (super cheap and work great, message me if you want the recipe) and making reusable bags so I don't use ziploc.

If you are on facebook look for the page Surviving and Thriving on Pennies. It's a great site about how to save money run by a friend of mine. She feeds a family of 6 primarily organic on $50/week. Some of her ideas don't work for everyone and right now she's writing a lot about her garden but she does this year round.

yeabby

I cut A LOT of coupons. I also shop at Food4Less (may not be a national chain, but I'm sure there are similar discount grocery chains) which has less name brand foods. But the quality is good & it's a lot cheaper than Jewel or Dominick's.

I'm in college, so I cannot afford a farmer's market or whole foods. On average I spend about $100-125 a week on groceries.

Farmer's markets are less expensive than whole foods. Like someone previous said they usually slash price near the end of the market time. Also, if you have a produce stand near by get to know the owner. My local one saves produce for me that is nearing it's peak and sells it to me at a very reduced price. It has to be used in 4 or 5 days but, I'm okay with that. Just a few days for you!

temptress75519

Farmers market is best in both cost and quality. The fruits and veggies they are selling are only slightly higher priced and they haven't been mishandled by idiot stock-men or left in crates for days. They are the freshest and best quality so they will last longer in your kitchen--so less wasted foods. The big one here is on Saturdays, but the stuff I buy lasts until the next Saturday like I just went to the supermarket and bought it rather than a week ago. No supermarket stuff lasts a week fresh.

beccau_20

Thanks for the advice! Guess I should just get out there and do some cost comparison. We have quite a few local markets in my area, so I'm sure I can find something that works!

tameko2

I don't know what its like where you live but ethnic markets around here tend to be the cheapest for fresh produce and meat or fish - but what is better where kind of depends on what region you're shopping. The fruit and veggies at the vietnamese and middle eastern markets are the best - the vietnamese market is better for fish, but the middle eastern market is better for meat and the korean market does both but mixed on what is cheap where. Mind you these are large markets with populations to support them - a very small speciality shop might not be able to support those prices but I have a theory that a) there's no major distribution center and corporate headquarters adding markup to these items and b) the communities they serve just wouldn't tolerate prices that the communities served by a place like Whole foods serves.

But that said, since there's only 2 of us I tend not to bother when I really only need ONE onion and if I pay 50 cents more for it I can live with that.

Also for fruit - costco is REALLY good for fruit but obviously you have to be prepared to eat a LOT of one type since you can only buy bulk.

Another place I actually think is pretty good is the big target by me - they don't have a ton of selection but what they do have is priced well and good quality, and for fruit they tend to just stock 1 or 2 things - whatever is in season so those items are always cheap and fresh.