If you wanted to lower your grocery budget, but...

[StaceyinLA]

you wanted to eat sugar-free, mostly grain-free, and eat no processed foods, how would you go about that? What, eliminating the above, would you eat on a budget?

[SparklyUnicorn]

eggs, tuna, bone in chicken, ground beef and/or turkey, frozen and/or canned veg, seasonal fresh veg and/or veg that can last (carrots, cabbages, etc.), homemade soups and broths

 

 

[Susan in TN]

A couple meal ideas

 

For breakfast - eggs with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. Plain yogurt with fruit or berries.

 

Lunch - Baked sweet potatoes and sliced apples. Cottage cheese with fruit. Chef salad (w/hard boiled eggs).

 

Dinner - Baked chicken quarters, steamed veggies with butter and lemon, salad greens with vinegar/olive oil. Vegetable Soup (broth can be made with the chicken quarter bones), salad.

[Btervet]

Frozen veggies are our big money saver when I need to cut back. Lots of eggs, peanut butter, yogurt. Salads with greens grown inside at home. Bananas are a very inexpensive, filling snack. We do eat a good amount of granola (in yogurt) and tortillas, I don't know if that's too much grain for you, but they are also great fillers, and tortillas make sure we never waste leftovers, as I just toss everything in one for lunch.

[TammyinTN]

I would simply perimeter shop....fruits/veggies, meats case, daily isle and pick up what canned items --tuna, veggies/fruit you need in the middle and get out of there.   The longer I stay to more likely it is to end up in my cart. 

[Laura Corin]

Beans, lentils and veg in season.  At this time of year, I can get root vegetables for very little, but everything else is flown in and is expensive.  We eat a lot of bean/lentil/root veg stews/soups in winter.  I roast a piece of meat once a week and use it up, stretched over several days, with the broth/stock used too.

 

L

[Jane in NC]

Eating locally is a huge money saver for us, although this is not true for everyone.

 

I buy a bushel of sweet potatoes in the fall then store them in my garage for winter use.  Turnips and beets are very inexpensive.  Living in the South, locally grown greens are available for me for much of the winter/early spring.  Saute greens like chard, add white beans.  Delicious, very healthy and very inexpensive.

 

I would also not just think about eating separate servings of protein but incorporating the protein into the larger meal (soup, stew).  I would buy whole chickens to create my own stock.  At present, I have some shrimp shells in my freezer for making stock.  I realize that you are not eating grains but we do. My shrimp stock will go into risotto (along with a few shrimp and more veg).

 

Baked oatmeal is great in cool weather.  One of my favorite recipes uses pumpkin.  Instead of buying cans, we bake an heirloom variety of pumpkin (called a Long Island Cheese) and freeze the pulp.

 

This is a good time of year to freeze roasted peppers, tomatoes, whatever is local and inexpensive for future use.

 

ETA:  Oops.  I mentioned two grains. Sorry about that.  Pumpkin custard (crustless pumpkin pie) would work for breakfast, as well as other dishes that use both eggs and veg, i.e. frittatas.)

[kiana]

Frozen vegetables, cheap meat (for example, chicken leg quarters are much cheaper than chicken, and beef is VERY expensive), potatoes, and eggs. The only fruit that I can find affordably are bananas and sometimes apples/oranges, and grapes. Also, lots of beans and lentils.

[Zinnia]

I might find cheaper sources for what you do buy, too. 

For instance.  I shop at an international market for my produce.  Much cheaper than the grocery store, and their turnover is much higher, so things stay fresh longer.  I've also bought produce at Aldi, and we had a grand opening of a Sprouts this summer.  I bought 150 pounds of peaches with their grand opening special.

 

For meats, if you eat grocery store meats, you might find different stores.  I shop at 2 different stores in a little bit sketchy neighborhood about 20 minutes away.  The prices are so much better than where I live. 

[Momof3littles]

More eggs, crustless quiche, frittata

frozen veggies

ethnic markets for produce?  I am not sure

soup

use your leftovers

smaller protein portions over salad greens

things like fajitas (no tortillas) where you can use a few chicken breasts and veggies vs. a chicken breast per person

 

 

[Gentlemommy]

Eggs, plain Greek yogurt, frozen produce if it's cheaper than fresh, less expensive cuts of meat (ground beef and turkey can be cheap, stew meats, and chicken). We are eating LCHP and a typical day is-

Breakfast

Eggs-scrambled with a bit of cheese or sausage and chopped veggies (this uses up the random 1/2 zucchini or cup of spinach)

 

Lunch

Sliced tomato and avocado

Deli turkey rolled up

Spinach salad (feta, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds)

 

Dinner

Protein (chicken, turkey, pork, or beef)

Vegetable

Grain or starch for the kids

Salad

 

If I need a snack, I have 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt with a tsp of low sugar (but no chemical sweeteners) jam.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Don't try to mimic the standard american diet or it will get crazy expensive.  Yes you can use almond flour and honey and a ton of eggs to make muffins, breads, etc but they really don't taste that great and they cost a small fortune.  Focus on fresh meats, veggies, fruits, and eggs and it really shouldn't cost you that much more because you will not be buying all the expensive processed junk.  

[Ann.without.an.e]

One of our favorite ways to eat sweet potatoes - peel them, cut into chunks, and place them in a dish.  Peel and cut some apples and mix with the sweet potatoes.  Put a few spoonfuls of coconut oil on top, sprinkle some cinnamon, and a little stevia (or honey if you don't use stevia).  Cover and let them bake together.  Stir a few times while it bakes.  It is very yummy.  Even my kids who aren't crazy about sweet potatoes like them :)

[ScoutTN]

Lots of soup and stew with homemade broth. If you look a bit, you can often find bones free or very inexpensively. I got a huge sack of beef bones from the local gras fed dairy farm. (They raise their steers for beef.) That is beef stock for about four months for us. Whole Foods, never known for being inexpensive, will give me fish bones and heads free.

 

Beans, in season veggies, root veggies to be starch in place in grains, eggs, yogurt, peanut butter.

As others have said, meat in things rather than as dish itself. Ground meats work very well for this.

 

Search out good sources for meat. I can get local, pastured ground beef for only a dollar more than Aldi's price per pound and ground pork (to which I add my own seasoning) for less than the regular grocery - far better quality too. I know several people here who have local souces for eggs that are free or less expensive than the grocery.

 

It takes more time and gas and energy to shop various places for low prices. I rotate through my local options and I do read the weekly circulars for the sales and loss leaders. I tend to stock up on pantry staples like olive oil, salt, sugar, condiments, canned tomatoes, once a quarter or so.

 

Plant a garden! We live in the south and can grow greens, broccoli and other cold weather things with an inexpensive plastic tunnel on a southwest exposure. Veggies for pennies! If you live someplace too cold for that, plan ahead for the spring. I have grown my own herbs inside when I lived in colder climates. Fresh herbs are pricey at the grocery, but they are so yummy and good for you. Parsley, sage, thyme, orgegano, basil and rosemary all grow fine in pots in a sunny window.

[umsami]

For vegetables and fruits, I've found our organic buying club is actually a good deal.  It also exposes us to some things that we'd never try.  

 

I would probably plan on legume based meals 2 days per week.  In the winter time, we like to make a white bean cassoulet in the dutch even.  Can be vegetarian, or use only a small amount of meat.  Soaked white beans, carrots, tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil, course salt and pepper….baked in the over for 2-3 hours or more.  I'd also have an eggs for dinner meal 1x/week.  Shakshuka (eggs in spicy tomato sauce), omelettes/fritattas/crustless quiche, etc.

 

If you can afford to buy a portion of a cow (if you eat beef) that can be more economical long-term.

 

I would get in the habit of making bean and/or vegetable soup weekly.

 

I buy my almond flour at Trader Joe's.  They also have good quality stevia (if that's allowed on your plan).

[Tanaqui]

Sugar free like no added sugar? Or sugar free like low-carb? Because if it's the latter, large quantities of potatoes are definitely out.

[StaceyinLA]

Great ideas! I actually practice a good many of these, so I don't know how much I can curtail the budget, but I DO tend to have an easier time in winter because I make the soups and stews that I won't in the summer. It's just too dang hot here to eat soup in the summertime.

 

My goal right now is to go to the farmers market on Saturdays with $100, and buy most of what we need for the week with about 75 of that. I can then stop by Trader Joe's and round it out.

 

That's $400/mo and I can use another $100 to get all our toiletries, garbage bags, etc.

 

I'm just trying to go from $600 to $500 and see if that works for how we eat. Since I'm not really willing to compromise my food quality (ie my good meats from the market, mostly organic veggies, etc.) I'm just trying to think of other healthy foods to fill in.

 

This isn't a must-do right now; I just want to challenge myself to get the food budget as low as I can.

[JoJosMom]

Looking at your last post, I was thinking that perhaps the meat portion would be an option for a reduction.  Have you investigated local sourced meats?  Buying directly from the farmer can be surprisingly affordable, but I suspect this depends upon your area.  The other downside is, of course, that there is a substantial one-time bill when you buy the animal. I will say, though, that we have grass-fed and -finished beef in our freezer at a lower price per pound than the supermarket meat.

[Space station]

If you have a big lots near you, you can often find canned organic goods for quite cheap (I just stocked up on organic red sauce there for $1 a jar, as well as organic canned black beans for .80 per can.). I also by beans and nut meals in bulk from a buying club so that I can bake grain free without breaking the bank.

[StaceyinLA]

We do buy beef from my sister once or twice a year. I only get 1/8 or 1/4 of a cow because we don't eat that much beef. I get my chickens from a local lady who does grass-fed whole birds. I fill in with grass-fed boneless, skinless thighs as well because those are easy.

 

I buy grass-fed ground pork at the market and I have been making my own ground sausage from that to use in my crustless quiches that I keep on hand for breakfasts. I can also make patties to eat with eggs (and we have chickens so we have good, free-range eggs).

 

I think I need to just fill in with a little more beans, lentils, etc. for lowering costs. I do use my chicken bones for stock and bone broth. I just tend to do a lot less of this in the summer, so now that I'm seeing all this, I'm realizing that winter should be an easy time to lower the bills some.

[EmilyGF]

Do you use cash envelopes for your grocery budget? It makes you so much more thoughtful about what you buy. You likely would save money, unless you're currently a black-belt stick-to-your-lister.

 

(I'm not, so using cash envelopes saves me huge amounts of money, even when I'm eating in the same way.)

[StaceyinLA]

I haven't been because I usually just put so much per week in our budget. Since we do a zero-based budget, I AM pretty good about sticking to my amounts. The farmer's market is especially easy since I have to use cash there; I just pull $100/week out for that, and use the other $200 as needed. I just want to drop that last $200 to $100.