A college students guide to grocery shopping on a budget....
Options
xlolitabandita
Posts: 242
I am by no means an expret on eating well and the science of nutrition, but I am a busy college gal on a very tight budget. Here are my best tips for grocery shopping without breaking you wallet.
-Stay away from most the freezer section and most of the middles aisles in general: The foods in these sections are usually crap and will cost you way more money. You don't need expensive special k or any other name brand pre-packaged foods to lose weight, The sections around the store are typially where the most whole, natural foods are found. Produce, meat, and dairy.
-This brings me to my next point about buying produce and meat: Buy produce in season, otherwise do venture into the frozen section for frozen veggies. In season produce will be muh cheaper. Also, look for this produce at local farmers markets instead. If you're like me the frozen veggies will be your best bet. I'm rarely home between work and school, so produce usually spoils. Store brands bags of things like broccoli, spinach, green beans and more usually run about $1.00-1.50. Name brands like bird's eye tend to be twice as much. For the meats find out when your grocery store puts out reduced price meat. As long as you freeze it you can save it for a long time, there's nothing wrong with it!
-Stock up on things like brown rice, legumes, and beans. You can find big bags of them dry, and if you go with the store brands you can find them for about 20 cents a serving. Plus, they're super filling. You can also buy some cheap broth and use them along with meat and veggie left overs to make soups. It's a great way to make a quick meal and keep from wasting food.
-Oats: Again, another healthy item you can buy store brand for about $1.00 a serving. I buy the big, unflavored container and add whatever fruits, jellys, or nut butters I happen to have and it makes a hearty breakfast.
-Stop shelling out money on bottled water. It's expensive and you don't really need it. By a filter or filtered water bottle. It could save you over $30 a month depending on what brands of water you buy.
-Eggs: Eggs are one of the cheapest and most versatile foods you can buy. Just about any meal, you can serve eggs. There are tons of recipes online for quiches/egg casseroles, omelettes, and wraps.
-Coupons and sale ads: Sometimes you can actually save money by buying the name brands. Check your local stores weekly ad and see whats on sale, and check the paper for coupons. If there's a certain brand you really like you can emial them and ask for coupons and they'll probably send you some! Also remember you price match other stores ads. Most grocery stores do this, but you should double check first.
-Unless your planning on making a big haul, grab a hand basket instead of a cart, I worked at a grocery store for years, and customers were always commenting that they only meant to get a few things and ended up filling a whole cart. If you have the small hand basket you'll be less llikely to over shop and over spend.
-After you've checked your sale ads and coupons, make a very specefic grocery list and set a budget for yourself. I even suggest brining a calculator and adding the total as you go. It will really open your eyes to any un-needed spending you might be doing. If an item is going to put you over budget ask yourself if you really NEED the item, and if the answer is yes figure out something that you don't need and take it out of your cart/basket,
And that's my "two cents" on shopping on a budget. I hope some of you find it useful. If you have anything to add, please feel free!
-Stay away from most the freezer section and most of the middles aisles in general: The foods in these sections are usually crap and will cost you way more money. You don't need expensive special k or any other name brand pre-packaged foods to lose weight, The sections around the store are typially where the most whole, natural foods are found. Produce, meat, and dairy.
-This brings me to my next point about buying produce and meat: Buy produce in season, otherwise do venture into the frozen section for frozen veggies. In season produce will be muh cheaper. Also, look for this produce at local farmers markets instead. If you're like me the frozen veggies will be your best bet. I'm rarely home between work and school, so produce usually spoils. Store brands bags of things like broccoli, spinach, green beans and more usually run about $1.00-1.50. Name brands like bird's eye tend to be twice as much. For the meats find out when your grocery store puts out reduced price meat. As long as you freeze it you can save it for a long time, there's nothing wrong with it!
-Stock up on things like brown rice, legumes, and beans. You can find big bags of them dry, and if you go with the store brands you can find them for about 20 cents a serving. Plus, they're super filling. You can also buy some cheap broth and use them along with meat and veggie left overs to make soups. It's a great way to make a quick meal and keep from wasting food.
-Oats: Again, another healthy item you can buy store brand for about $1.00 a serving. I buy the big, unflavored container and add whatever fruits, jellys, or nut butters I happen to have and it makes a hearty breakfast.
-Stop shelling out money on bottled water. It's expensive and you don't really need it. By a filter or filtered water bottle. It could save you over $30 a month depending on what brands of water you buy.
-Eggs: Eggs are one of the cheapest and most versatile foods you can buy. Just about any meal, you can serve eggs. There are tons of recipes online for quiches/egg casseroles, omelettes, and wraps.
-Coupons and sale ads: Sometimes you can actually save money by buying the name brands. Check your local stores weekly ad and see whats on sale, and check the paper for coupons. If there's a certain brand you really like you can emial them and ask for coupons and they'll probably send you some! Also remember you price match other stores ads. Most grocery stores do this, but you should double check first.
-Unless your planning on making a big haul, grab a hand basket instead of a cart, I worked at a grocery store for years, and customers were always commenting that they only meant to get a few things and ended up filling a whole cart. If you have the small hand basket you'll be less llikely to over shop and over spend.
-After you've checked your sale ads and coupons, make a very specefic grocery list and set a budget for yourself. I even suggest brining a calculator and adding the total as you go. It will really open your eyes to any un-needed spending you might be doing. If an item is going to put you over budget ask yourself if you really NEED the item, and if the answer is yes figure out something that you don't need and take it out of your cart/basket,
And that's my "two cents" on shopping on a budget. I hope some of you find it useful. If you have anything to add, please feel free!
0
Replies
-
Awesome advice! I myself am a busy college student on a very strict budget. One thing I find very useful is a good set of Tupperware or other food storage containers and a lunchbox. There are days when I have class for five hours and then a five hour shift at work without a break in between. On these days, I always pack leftovers or snacks to eat throughout the day to avoid grabbing a bag of chips from a vending machine between classes. Apples with peanut butter is easy to pack in tupperware and it's a healthy and filling snack!0
-
Awesome advice! I myself am a busy college student on a very strict budget. One thing I find very useful is a good set of Tupperware or other food storage containers and a lunchbox. There are days when I have class for five hours and then a five hour shift at work without a break in between. On these days, I always pack leftovers or snacks to eat throughout the day to avoid grabbing a bag of chips from a vending machine between classes. Apples with peanut butter is easy to pack in tupperware and it's a healthy and filling snack!
Yeah! It's also great to portion left overs and freeze, to sort of make your own microwave dinner. ;] I know somedays it's impossible for me to get a decent meal if I don't pre-plan.0 -
I do most of these things already and it really does help when you are on such a tight budget and have no time. another thing that helps is making a meal that will last me a day or two just so I am not tempted to eat something unhealthy0
-
Stupid question: How are you supposed to figure out when the store puts out discount meat? I always look when I go to the super market but I've never noticed much of a pattern. I would think that it only happens when they have extra meat that didn't sell and is going to spoil soon.0
-
The grocery store I go to does put out extra meat they didn't sell, but I haven't noticed a specific pattern. Occasionally my fiance and I will find a big pack of meat with a "Price reduced!" sticker on it and we freeze it immediately. It will last us a while once it's frozen.0
-
Stupid question: How are you supposed to figure out when the store puts out discount meat? I always look when I go to the super market but I've never noticed much of a pattern. I would think that it only happens when they have extra meat that didn't sell and is going to spoil soon.
Some stores do it randomly just whenever they have it, and others do it at certain times. You're most likely going to find it early in the morning when they open or late at night right at close. I know the store next to my work puts there's out at 10 am most days. It doesn't hurt to call around and see if any stores near you have specefic times or days they mark down their meat.0 -
Stupid question: How are you supposed to figure out when the store puts out discount meat? I always look when I go to the super market but I've never noticed much of a pattern. I would think that it only happens when they have extra meat that didn't sell and is going to spoil soon.
Ask them? Chances are they will be happy to tell you.
OP - that's a great list of suggestions, and I agree that planning is the key.
I have an app on my phone (MealBoard) that lets me plan my meals and then create a shopping list (with $$) for the items I need to buy. This is great because I can plan what we'll be eating for the week (or fortnight) based on what we have and what we like, then see how much the list comes to before I go shopping. It's always a good game to see if I've got the prices about right when I get to the checkout.0 -
Great post!
0 -
bump to read later. I'm going to need to take note for when school starts back up.0
-
This was so helpful! This is my first year as a real college student( i had been living at home going to community college the past 2 years! I will totaly keep all of this in mind!
THANKS SO MUCH!!!0 -
I eat loads of legumes and oats. Better than getting store brand bags, though, is finding somewhere that has a quality bulk selection. This is generally NOT a big chain grocery store- go somewhere where the bulk stock is regularly cycled through so it's not stale and icky. At home, the newer Fred Meyer's has a good one. Here at school, I can go to the Co-Op and get locally-grown, organic varieties of lentils or steel cut oats for a dollar-something per pound (and regular oats are under a buck a pound, I think). If you look at the per-pound price of bagged beans or oats in a canister, it's usually quite a bit more than that. A shopping trip to get my bulk foods can cost $20 and give me enough of everything but fresh produce to last a month (I rarely eat meat and dairy and don't eat bread), meaning I can buy better quality produce to fill out my meals.0
-
any type of noodle
hotdogs
cereal
meat on sale
its counterintuitive because the processed foods in the middle of the store are the cheapest but also generally the worst for you.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 999 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions