How do you lower your grocery bill eating healthy..

A big part of this is where you live! My family is me, my partner and our toddler, and we spend $500-$600/month on groceries. Things are just expensive here.

I buy a lot of frozen produce, particularly in the winter when fresh is either hard to find or prohibitively expensive. Usually I stock up when things are on sale, I think I got 2 bags of a stir fry mix (President's Choice brand) for $5 last week? Fresh would be ideal, but I really don't mind frozen as an alternative.

The same goes for meat - I buy what is on sale, and then at home pack everything into meal sized bags and freeze it. That means the value packs of ground beef, or a tray of pork chops, etc.

Thirdly, I dedicate usually Sunday afternoons to baking for the upcoming week. We always have a big roast meat meal on Sunday nights (beef, chicken, turkey, etc) and that turns into lunches for a few days, and then the carcass (if there is one) gets roasted and turned into a soup for a supper or lunch. As well, I will bake a week's worth of muffins (last week's used frozen blueberries, yoghurt and stuff), maybe some cookies for DH/DD, possibly a dozen buns and/or a loaf of bread. That sort of thing. Then it gets stored in the fridge for a week.

It is definitely more time intensive to eat healthy for a lower cost, but to me it's worth it. Plus I love baking/cooking, so I enjoy it all.

I strongly recommend looking into meal planning. You don't have to become a crazy couponer, but planning meals around your typical store's flyers can also really reduce your food budget. It takes a bit of getting used to and definitely requires prep work, but in the end it saves money.

SInce having my son and turning our family of 3 to 4 we definitely had to tighten the purse strings. I do the grocery shopping and I've turned into a sale fiend. I frequent 3 different grocery stores and watch their sales. I'll buy meat only when it's on sale...and I mean like $1.99 a pound for ground beef compared to $3.88 a pound or whatever regular price. Whatever is on sale I try to stock up as much as I have room for. Veggies and fruit I will only buy what is on sale and more "in season". Spaghetti squash was as low as $.38 a pound back in November...now I saw it as high as $1.18 so I don't buy it at all.

So I guess my suggestion is buy in bulk when it's on sale and watch the flyers. Buy what is "in season" and tailor your eating to it. There's also nothing wrong with buying processed foods if they're cheaper. You may have to find a balance so the budget is stuck to. I couldn't imagining doubling my food budget right now... and I think most people would feel the same way. I've been really paying attention the past year or so and kind of know in my head what is a decent price, where something is the cheapest at regular price, and what sale price is worth to buy in bulk or to hold out a few weeks for an even lower sale price.

In the summer there are multiple farmer markets a week at different places and those can be even cheaper. This year I plan to grow a couple vegetables....I have never done that before so it'll only be like 2 different things just to see if it's worth my time to save a bit.

When planning a meal...I've found we can use about 1 lb of chicken, 1 lb of pork chops or so, and atleast 1.25 lbs of beef. That's for my family of 4 which is me, my husband, a 12 year old and an almost 2 year old. (The 12 year old can sometimes eat more than my husband so he evens out the 2 year old). So when I buy a 10 lb package of meat I divide it up right away into approx 1.25 sections. If I'm making chili or something that requires more meat, I might put aside some browned meat to save for a lunch to throw on a salad or what not.

A few things that worked for us:

If you live in a decent-sized city, hit the smaller ethnic markets for produce. The big chains here have super-expensive for produce UNLESS they're running a good sale.

If you can, grow some of your own stuff. Even if you only have a balcony, you can get a couple of pots going--a cherry tomato plant will give and give and give for a while. Do as much as you can, and even if you're not a gardener it's really not that hard.

We buy whatever meat is on sale and buy double of the best deals so we have some freezer stock.

We also eat meatless 2-3 nights a week. (I realize this is a hard one for some; trust me, it took us time to get to this point :-)

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I second the Aldi's suggestion. And it may take more of your time, but clipping a coupon here and there helps a lot too.

At the moment theres four people in our household.
Before I started losing weight, we were spending anywhere from $100 - $140 a week in groceries.

Now that Im cooking healthy meals from scratch, and buying fresh produce, fish, meat and such it's getting ridiculous.

My bill is up to 200$ or more a week now and my family is about to stop and go back to processed foods.
Not eating those foods has totally changed my health and gastrointestinal problems ( sugars and wheats and processed stuff really bothers me ), but they dont care because we cant afford such a jump in cost.

How do you guys eat so well on a budget?

There are several different produce stores in our valley - one is significantly less expensive because most of their produce is already ripe - like you better eat it soon or its gonna go bad, ripe - I get a lot of my fruits there and cut them up and freeze them to use for smoothies, it's also on my way home from work so I can stop there and get a few things for dinner and use them right away if need be.

Also, if I am going to the meat section in the grocery store - I buy stuff on "Manager's special" and freeze it imediately for later use. I also just discovered that if you go to the actual meat counter at any grocery store - it ends up being cheaper than buying the stuff they've already butchered and packaged - I had absolutely no idea - I had always thought of the meat counter as "fancy" lol but I did significant comparisons and it really is cheaper...

Also, look for the specials at your grocery stores in the papers. This works for me but I am only buying for one - I understand it is probably more difficult for a family of 4.

I'm not being snarky. I don't understand these posts. eating fresh is so much cheaper than eating premade crap food. A whole chicken is less than $5. After you eat it, you cook it and make soup and add left over, and almost spoiled veggies and stuff. You have a few more meals.

It's so cheap to eat better, but I think there's a learning curve because everyone does it wrong for a while. It takes a while to figure out what healthy really means. And, then, it takes even longer to figure how that translates into savings.

Edited to add that frozen veggies are extremely expensive. I go to buy them and cringe, and then go buy fresh. I'm not paying in excess of $8 a bag. It's crazy expensive where I live, or where I shop, I don't know.

Where do you get a whole chicken for less than $5?

Aldi! It is owned by the same people that own Trader Joe's~ Very nice.
Also check out international food stores. They sometimes have really great deals.

Shopping in bulk can also be smart. There's a store near me that is similar to whole foods and they have a huge bulk section. Things are almost always cheaper than pre-packaged. (Flour, grains, dry beans, spices, pantry staples, etc) And if you sign up for their free member program, you get 10% off bulk stuff once a week.

In the summer months, look into a CSA. (Community supported agriculture) You buy produce/eggs/etc directly from the farms. It can be a great deal, and also helps support local farmers!

oh also! buying pre-frozen bags of chicken is WAY more expensive than buying fresh and breaking the package up and freezing dinner sized portions for your family.

Unless I find an amazing sale, the cheapest whole chickens here are $12. Food, eating and prices are so highly dependant upon where you live!

We're a family of 6 and I'm able to stay home, so all of our meals are cooked from scratch. It's just a habit of getting into, to bake everyday, use beans and lentils in ways you never thought possible, and do all the prep work at home. Buying healthy foods is cheap, if you don't buy it all pre-cut up and pre-washed and if you stick to what's in season in your area. Shop the flyers, plan your meals and try new recipes… bake your own bread, make things that you can take with you, mini quiches to go for breakfasts and summer oats are great to grab and go, wash cut and chop everything yourself. Buy frozen fish and veg they're just as good as fresh and usually way cheaper. We buy all our pork and beef from our neighbour, and raise our own chickens for meat and eggs. It's doable, and even raising 4 boys our grocery bills are around $150 a week.

I never buy anything full price unless it's something we actually need. Otherwise I send my husband (who is amazing for doing the grocery shopping that I hate so much) to the store with a list of various options like :Buy strawberries, blueberries, or grapes - whichever is on sale. And I will do that for fruits and veggies. i've also learned that some veggies, like celery and carrots, always seem to be ridiculously cheap.

We never buy meat full price. Our grocery store sometimes has specials on fihs buy one get one free - plus we have coupons. I ALWAYS use coupons. Some grocery stores have double daze where they double the price of your coupon certain days. Does yours?

Sometimes, we just eat breakfast for dinner - like a bowl of cereal and toast. My daughter likes it, my husband likes it, and after we get home from the gym at 7pm, we only have so much time. I don't get a lot of opportunities to cook during the week so I only make 2-3 meals per week. We then eat leftovers or "whatever we have" the rest of hte time. We have nutritious food on hand at all times, and value eating as a family - it doesn't have to be chicken and veggies for dinner.

I started my garden last year and was able to get fresh tomatoes and cucumbers all year. It took me a day to dig up the sod, get the seeds, plant etc and after that all I needed to do was water it here and there. Oh so easy! I am going to do it this year again and bigger. So cheap to grow your own stuff!!

We have a family of 3 and average 80 a week for groceries, if that. We don't spend more than $5 a week on "treats" like quaker granola bars or goldfish.

ETA: I also eat WAY less when I eat more nutrition dense foods.... so there's a cost saver there

Aquaponics

I don't know where y'all are shopping, but unless you are insisting on organic everything, fresh produce is not expensive, especially the in-season stuff that doesn't have to be shipped from a foreign country. See if there's a farmer's market or any "pick your own" farms in your area. It's usually even cheaper there.

Meat, okay. But become friends with the meat guys, ask them when things go on sale, and then go buy a bunch of stuff and freeze it.

Cook in bulk, eat leftovers, etc.

If you truly can't eat wheat products, well, rice and beans are way cheap.

If push comes to shove, look for other areas in your life where you could cut back. If you seriously have medical conditions that force you to be more picky about your diet, then you are going to have to prioritize that over some other things. You are not forced to eat stuff that makes you sick because it's allegedly cheaper.