With so many new options for grocery shopping it can be hard to narrow down what’s actually going to save you money. From meal delivery kits to food delivery services to diet trends, the way we buy and consume food has vastly changed, but the way to budget your food spending hasn’t changed much.
To slash your food budget in this decade, you'll need a new playbook that accommodates such modern inventions as the food truck, paleo eating, and maybe even the Instant Pot. Instead of trying to save 30 cents here and there on boxed meals, you should probably focus on a bargain lover's approach to Whole30. Here's the plan, according to Consumer Reports and frugal-minded bloggers:
Balance your real-life food habits. The most important concept to learn when you're trying to save money on food is to know yourself. In a nutshell: Quit paying for homemade lasagna ingredients if you're highly likely to order out pizza instead.
Also, don't bother to buy a juicer when you routinely skip breakfast and don't stock up on a lot of cute lunchboxes, whole-grain bread and smoked meats, when you took a sandwich to work exactly once in 2018. Good intentions that fail cost you money. And setbacks drain your will to make smaller, more effective changes. Here's the hard part, though. You'll need to keep a quick food journal for a week or two just to see where your food dollar actually goes and how much of the food you buy gets consumed.
Stop feeling guilty. When you feel guilty for overpaying or buying too many desserts, you're just going to undermine both your budget (buying "should-have foods" you'll never eat) and your enjoyment. Science and psychology have proven that food guilt makes you weigh more and spend more. "Feeling bad about yourself because you ate something indulgent doesn't motivate you to double-down and try harder," according to Women's Health. "Instead, it weakens your willpower so you more easily give in to temptation. It's much more productive to view treats as celebratory and, by that token, not completely off-limits." To save money on lavish desserts and other indulgent foods, give yourself permission to purchase them and eat them in controlled amounts.
Take casual dining seriously. With 94% of millennials responding to a 2018 Lend EDU survey revealing that they ate out and spent an average of $163 each month, that could be a good place to save money. But here's the counterintuitive approach: If you will succumb to a restaurant meal (see "don't feel guilty" above), it's better not to double the expenditure by also keeping food on hand at home to prepare.
Another way to save money dining is to scrupulously plan around restaurant specials and Happy Hours. If you love Mexican food, for example, only indulge on Taco Tuesdays at a place that offers a great deal. Same with pizza: If you're going to get delivery, make sure you use a Groupon or local coupon each and every time. You can save literally $20 each time you use this tactic, and soon it will be second nature.
Last, if you're following a ketogenic, Whole30, vegetarian, vegan or paleo diet, consider skipping independent restaurant forays altogether in favor of a potluck meetup with people who eat the same food.
Choose the best grocery delivery service. If you do opt for someone else to buy your groceries, Consumer Reports has a handy report that reviews the different services, including AmazonFresh, Amazon Prime Now, FreshDirect, Instacart, Peapod, Shipt and a Walmart-Door Dash combination. The biggest takeaway is to save money by ordering from the service with the freshest produce. Also important from a food budget standpoint: "Seek redress if you're not satisfied; all the services offer a refund, a replacement, or a credit voucher," CR added.
Other money-savings tactics with grocery deliveries:
–Get those groceries cold again, fast. "With deliveries, you don't know how long food might have been above 40 degrees," said Sana Mujahid, manager of food safety research at CR, "so make sure someone is available to receive perishables, and refrigerate them as soon as possible."
–Only order if you can meet the minimum. Otherwise, you're paying for delivery.
–Take advantages of promotions. "Avail yourself of free trial memberships and seasonal discounts. An annual membership to Instacart Express, FreshDirect DeliveryPass, and Shipt will save you money over monthly memberships or nonmember rates," noted CR.
–Choose the cheapest delivery time. Unlike cable, if you're willing to receive the delivery in a wider window, you can get discounts. Same if you choose hours that aren't "peak" for your delivery.
–Check what delivery is costing you. After you've had a couple of orders filled, stop by the store to compare the price you were charged with the in-store price. CR determined that "Costco member pricing on delivered grocery items — including fresh salmon, blueberries, avocados, eggs, milk, and its famous rotisserie chicken — was 31 percent higher, on average, than what it charged members in its warehouse."
Cheap out on keto, Whole30 and paleo. It's a sound financial strategy to spend more on foods that will make you healthier, save money on doctor's visits, and increase your energy. But you can still save money in this area with a little planning and a lot of self-knowledge. First of all, if you aren't sure you'll stick with the program, don't invest in a lot of groceries to start with. For example, just a little nut butter is good to begin Whole30, seeing how it can cost upwards of $20 per pound.
Also, stick with the simplest recipes, to begin with. Not only will it be less expensive to cook, say, tomato soup instead of blanched chicken with tomato coulis, but it will also save money on ingredients. And make sure to time your diet to be budget-friendly. For keto, that would typically be late spring and early summer.
For Whole30, with its absence of sugar even in fruit, winter makes more sense. As Cheapskate Cook confided, her family's experimental Whole30 meals "were basic — sweet potatoes or potatoes, steamed veggies or salad, and a little bit of meat. Or a hearty stew made with homemade bone broth, vegetables, and potatoes. This makes Whole30 more appealing in the winter — you can make huge pots of soup. When I wasn't just tossing leftovers into a big pot and calling it a meal, we liked these frugal, Whole30 recipes ... (like) Potato Peel Soup and Picadillo."
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