10 Tips for Saving Money When On a Diet
“Fooducate”
Losing weight means switching to a lifestyle of healthy eating. We’ve heard complaints from many dieters that the healthy options in the supermarket are always more expensive.
This is actually false.
The truth is that in order to eat healthfully AND save money you need to invest more time and effort. If you have just a bit of extra time and are willing to cook, eating healthy can be cheaper than eating junk food.
If you have time to watch TV or scroll through Facebook and Instagram, surely you have time for health!
Tip #1 Never go shopping when hungry
When you are hungry, you are weak and easily swayed. Supermarkets are finely oiled marketing machines that rely on your impulse purchases to make a profit.
Tip #2 Shop only with a grocery list
Plan your weekly meals ahead and prepare a master ingredient list. When working off of a shopping list in the supermarket, you’ll stand a better chance to withstand the temptation.
Tip #3 Predefine a weekly junk food limit
Set a quota for your sweet / salt tooth. Buy the exact number of servings you plan to eat. If you buy a bigger package, consider portioning it off into individual packs.
Tip #4 Learn to love the produce section at your local grocery store
This is a no brainer. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be a major part of your food spend. Most people tend to stick to a very small number of favorites. Make a decision to buy a new produce item each week and find a recipe for it. There are amazing recipes for relatively cheap vegetables and roots such as cabbage, cauliflower, and beets.
Tip #5 Buy frozen fruits and vegetables
The price of fresh produce fluctuates based on season and availability of locally harvested goods. Sometimes a pint of fresh strawberries will be just too expensive. This is an opportunity for frozen foods. Frozen vegetables and fruit are actually just as nutrient dense as their fresh counterparts.
Unlike fresh fruit, they are picked at peak ripeness. They are then flash frozen, a process that retains almost all the nutrients, sometimes even more than a fresh fruit waiting for you on a supermarket shelf.
Tip #6 Buy bulk whole foods
The bulk section of a supermarket will give you the best bang for your buck. Items such as oats, brown rice, legumes, nuts, and seeds are cheaper than smaller, branded and bagged items. They usually don’t have any added ingredients that you want to avoid.
Tip #7 Don’t buy liquid calories
You can save $100-200 a year just by avoiding sugary soft drinks and fruit juice. Learn to love water and spend more on whole fruits.
Tip #8 Eat less meat
For some people, this may sound sacrilegious, but there is no nutritional reason to eat meat more than once a day. Instead, consider cheap and healthy sources of protein such as beans, lentils, eggs, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. When you do have meat, mind the serving size – think of it as the topping, not the main part of a dish.
Tip #9 Learn just ONE recipe each week
You don’t need to be an expert chef or making anything fancy. If you choose just one recipe to prepare every week, within a year you will have a repertoire of over 50 from which to choose. There are lots of simple ingredients available in the RECIPES section of the Fooducate app.
Tip #10 Find excuses to walk
Walking is a great way to improve your health and burn off some calories. You’ll also be saving money that would be spent on gas for your car, or bus fare.