Cheap & Healthy Grocery List Ideas

I often think eating healthy is just so dang expensive, even today I still think it for the most part. I do know of the cheap things to get like beans, frozen veggies, eggs and so on..but came up with some more ideas and wanted to share this page with everyone.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cheap-healthy-15-nutritious-foods-about-2-dollars

I didn't read that list yet but from my experience and a sample of my usual grocery list.

Basmati or Brown rice (Basmati is almost as good for you on the glycemic index compared to brown rice)
Chicken breasts - Costco! I get no hormone added, big packs of it for $20 for around 7 lbs. Most stores here charge 4-5$ a lb for no hormone added.
Spices - Curry powder, garlic powders, cumin, all types of seasonings.
frozen or canned vegetables (Green veges only)
Egg whites/whole egg cartons
Bacon

I don't eat a huge variety in my meals but I find it's better to look at food as fuel instead of how you look at it now.

I don't think eating healthy is expensive at all, at least not more than eating unhealthy, lol. We are very lucky though in that there is a local produce market in town that has "dollar baskets" in the back of the store of produce that is about to spoil. We've started going there each week and picking out the baskets we want and plan our meals around those. Last week I got a 3 heads of of broccoli, 5-6 bunches of green onion, 4 ears of corn, and 5 pablano peppers all for only $4.

I also cook for the week every Sunday, so all of my meals are home made and not prepackaged.

I buy the big containers of Greek yogurt and oats and just add what I want.

We grow what we can and buy produce in season. If I see a really good deal, I'll buy in bulk and freeze the veggies or fruit that I can't use right away. Like this past summer, we went to a pick your own blueberry farm and got tons of blueberries for cheap. I froze a lot of them and now have frozen blueberries for my smoothies for the rest of the year.

It also helps to make your own food as much as possible. I often make whole wheat waffles on Sundays and freeze them for my family to eat during the week (just pop them in the toaster and you're good to go). Much cheaper and healthier than a package of eggo waffles.

For meats, buy in bulk and on sale.

For me the litmus test is the cost of a homemade nutritious meal vs fast food. Even though food is more expensive in Canada than the US homemade always wins, I made a nice roast beef dinner (for 4) last weekend that cost about $35 to $40 (including the vegetables) and I have half the roast for leftovers (you can easily spend $10 per person at McDs and be eating garbage), if you're on a really tight budget you can save even more by buying cheaper cuts of meat, dried beans etc etc. The difference is the time it takes to prepare the food.

if anyone is looking for great meal ideas check out pinterest. I frequently will make mass meals and freeze them. I find it is cheaper to buy in bulk and pretty much everything can be frozen. So we do 1 large grocery shop and i make about 50 meals as well as breakfast wraps. Ill keep the reciepts this next time i do it... i honestly dont spend much and we have food for a month and a half.

Thank you for sharing :)

Chicken breasts - Costco! I get no hormone added, big packs of it for $20 for around 7 lbs. Most stores here charge 4-5$ a lb for no hormone added.

Read the note. It is illegal in the US to inject any poultry with hormones. So they put it in the feed. Looks like you didn't get caught in this marketing scheme. But don't think those chicken were not exposed to any hormones.