This month of nothing is teaching me so much about needs vs. wants and the myriad of little ways we can save money, even when budgets are already tight. There are many reasons why I could justify spending a whole lot more on food, in fact, the average family our size spends $450 a month on food, not including household products, pet food/supplies or toiletries. But I have found with careful planning you can eat a very good diet on half that. Now here is my caveat. Years ago and again when I became a parent, I researched how to stick to a food budget, so I had a look at some of the big websites {can’t remember their names now, I can’t tell you the last time I read a blog properly!} and was quite appalled at what people thought constituted a healthy diet. One mother said her children ate exceptionally well on next to nothing by feeding them oatmeal every morning, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch every day and then dinner {tacos, pizza, maybe chicken and rice} always had a veggie and they also had one fruit most days of the week. I came away thinking there was no way I would be able to cut our spending and still eat a varied, healthy diet receiving more than the minimum recommended fruit and veg, as well as sticking to important principles like eating fairtrade items where possible and organic when deemed necessary. And yet, honestly, it is possible. Yes, it may not be through the clipping coupons route, and it probably won’t be by serving meals without veg, or by using cookies as snacks instead of fruits and veggies, but it really is possible to eat very well {and by well I mean a whole food, varied diet with adequate fruits/veg/protein/grains/dairy} on less.
Here are my 100 tips for how to save money on food in 2013 while still eating healthy!
1. Shop no more than once a week (though you may go to more than one store/market). I know, it isn’t exactly rocket science, but the going into the shops more than that is so tempting. If you are the person who can consistently go into a shop and only buy the one thing you need, then maybe you can skip this step, but if you are anything like me, then at least initially forcing yourself to only go grocery shopping once a week will be a big help! {I should mention some blogs and home economics experts suggest shopping once every 2-4 weeks and while that may work for them, for me fresh produce is too important to skip (they tend to eat more canned and frozen foods with support from produce that last a long time like cabbage and carrots)}.
2. Agree a budget for food in advance and only take that money into the shop with you. If you don’t have it, you can’t spend it. Simple. 
3. Shop with a calculator. There is nothing worse than getting to the cash register and finding you are $5, $10 or $15 higher than you thought. That is, at least in my experience, the time I then pull out my debit card. Not good (and if you stick to point 2, that won’t even be possible!). If you know exactly what you are putting in your cart, then you will have no surprises and not either leave the grocery store feeling frustrated/sad/disappointed you couldn’t buy something or frustrated/sad/disappointed you went over budget.
4. Before you go to the till, have a look at your cart and put back things that you don’t need, especially things that aren’t healthy {soda, chips, cookies} or things that you just plain don’t need to buy that week to feed yourself or your crew. I can usually find at least two things that I can return. In fact the last time we went grocery shopping my daughter said “what are we putting back this time, Mummy” Ahem! 
5. Menu plan – now, I take a flexible approach to this. I do believe it can save you money, but I think like most things in life, you need to find a way that works for you. Some people plan what they want to eat then go to the grocery store, others buy then plan. I do a mix of the two. Don’t feel you have to know what you are going to eat on set days, unless that works for you. For me, I simply know what meals we can make and then choose when to make them.
6. Have a soup night. I know it probably sounds silly. But my fish pie post made me realize that for many families a dinner can mean a good $10-$20 sitting on your plate. You can make most soups for less than $5 so there alone cuts an average of $10 off your budget per week, or $40 a month. I do understand that beginning to cook from scratch can be overwhelming, so allowing for one night a week where you cook a simple meal like soup, will help gain your confidence and not be overwhelming. In coming posts I’ll share my favourite, easy, frugal soup recipes.
7. Take that soup recipe and double it. Then on a night when you really are time crunched, or for a weekend lunch, you have a helthy meal to enjoy! Suddenly you’ve save even more!
8. Make something each week – a loaf of bread, a batch of muffins, a few dozen cookies. This is more about getting into the habit of cooking from scratch, but it is also about finding small ways to shave additional $$ off of your budget. Muffins at a coffee shop can be $2 a piece, 6 (overly generous) muffins at a grocery store may be $5-$7. A dozen of any one of my frugal muffin recipes come in at less than $4 and that includes using eggs that are free-range, and using fairtrade sugar. One of my best muffin finds is a small, handmade muffin recipe book by a woman in her 80′s, it is simply a small collection of her recipes that must have come from a contents sale. I found it at a second hand shop for $1 and is my go-to source for no-nonsense, frugal, practical and healthy muffins. In the coming days I’ll post a few fool proof baking recipes for beginners!
9. When you are thinking of going out to eat, imagine for the same amount what you could purchase in groceries. A couple of weekends ago I was very tempted to purchase three nice smoothies at a local independent shop. It would have come to $15 and would have been huge splurge for us. But for that same $15 we could have a big batch of soup, two dozen muffins, fairtrade bananas for the week and a few apples. In the end the decision was clear. Now, I have to say again I don’t think there is anything wrong with buying smoothies out, and probably the next time we are all sick and in need of a treat, I may plan to do so {though we also make them at home}, it is the habit of just spending without thought, or without having the money set aside to do so that is problematic.
10. Find a way to live by your principles and do it. You know, I don’t think everything comes down to the mighty dollar or pound. I believe in ethical eating, in living fairly on this earth and eating organic when possible (more so with priority items). As a family we have set a rule that we only purchase fairtrade bananas, fairtrade sugar, fairtrade chocolate and fairtrade coffee. A simple committment that lets me feel better about how our money is used, and helps make a difference. We probably spend $1 more per week on bananas and $1 more per month on sugar as a result, as for coffee I broke the daily habit, and with chocolate I purchase fairtrade cocoa and make our own! But to me that is worth it and I think it helps me stick to a frugal budget because I not only don’t feel hard done by, but I can see I’m helping people.
Stay tuned for installment two….!
Brilliant! Would love to know how you make your own chocolate – that’s not something I have thought of before!
What is the picture of ? it looks amazing ! x
FT, great tips! I am SO bad about going to the store with A List, and coming out with twice as many things. Sometimes I genuinely didn’t put things I needed on the list, but more often it’s things we don’t really need. I will definitely try your method of “culling the cart” before going to check out.
I am sure it will be in your top 100 tips, but may I suggest planting a garden? Anyone can grow lettuce on your window sill year round, even if you live in a cold climate. Plus you have the knowledge that if you’re a bit short on a veggie, you can usually scrounge something from the garden. And there are a couple of really good plants (like broccoli) where you can eat the entire plant, leaves and all – very thrifty, and delicious too! I would love to hear about your gardening with your beautiful children – it can be so rewarding!
I love the last one – live by your principles. I just cleaned out my coupon binder and threw away anything that goes against my principles. It is now almost empty. I realized though that as long as I was tempted by the cheap stuff (after sales and coupons!) I might buy it and what kind of example does that set for my kids. If we avoid certain things, then why clip and keep the coupons for foods that contain those ingredients?
Great post. Looking forward to reading more tips.
Blessings
Diane
I can’t wait to read more of your tips. I find in the winter months when I normally eat some kind of soup once a day it drastically cuts down on the food bill. I too would love to hear how you make your own chocolate. I nixed coupons years ago as they were usually for items we didn’t really need or were more expensive items even after applying the coupon than other brands, and you don’t find coupons for most whole foods around here.
I agree with the first two comments: how do you make your own chocolate and what is that in the picture because it looks divine!
I have never been a big couponer because although I don’t eat a 100% whole foods diet (but I’m working on it!), the coupons were rarely for things we ate. Condiments maybe. I do tend to shop the perimeter of the grocery, where the produce, meat and dairy are located. I don’t usually find coupons for a gallon of (organic) milk or bunch of carrots.
Can’t wait to hear more tips!
Have you ever tried flax meal to replace your eggs in baking? It works spectacularly well in dense things like pumpkin and banana breads, and keeps in your freezer for quite a while. It means you can save your eggs for recipes where only eggs will do.
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Loving this series
Do you also do soup in summer? We are having a bit of a heatwave here in Australia so I’m mostly sticking to salads at the moment 
I also do the “think how many groceries you could buy for X amount” when eating out, and that has helped me cut down on my eating out. I still eat out, but it is definitely a treat!
Great tips! I love homemade muffins–the store bought ones are overly sweet for my taste and way too big. The “month of nothing” is helping me to get more organized about my baking. I would love to find a source of fair trade sugar in my area. We eat soup for dinner so often in the winter that sometimes I have to axe it off the menu and think of something “solid” for a change, but we love hearty soups. This week my errands took me past the fish market (not on my usual route), so I stopped in and got fish for the pie. Oh joy! It was delicious, and made enough for our small family for two meals, so tonight when I got in late, I just had to warm it up and add a veg. Thanks again for sharing it. We like fresh parsley, so I made a slight variation and just tossed all the raw parsley into the sauce before pouring it into the pie dish. It looked lovely and green in the white sauce.
Great, great post. I completely agree with all your points! We plan the meals for the week, but not which day we are going to make them – depends what we fancy each day
Along with the products you only buy faitrade/organic, we only choose msc fish. That usually means a tin of mackerel, the French don’t seem to have as much choice as in the UK (did you hear Sainsbury’s basics tuna will now be msc!?). I have the luxury of being at home with our baby so during naps make everything I can from scratch. So looking forward to your next installment 
xoxo
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Love this post and look forward to reading more on cutting food budget. I shop at a local market and buy from a farmer and I have found that has cut my bill drastically – I tend to buy more in season and cheaper fruit and veg. Shopping this way has also made me aware of the differences between prices of things … so I will look at how many bananas I can get per weight versus how many apples – and the price difference. I haven’t eaten that many bananas lately and I don’t miss them that much because the local apples are cheaper. I still use the supermarket for some stuff but what I’ve found is that by being a bit more selective, it seems to have strengthened my will power when it comes to buying supermarket stuff – I only come out with what I need and don’t pick up so many extraneous items. I love your tip about baking .. that’s something I really want to get into. I tried a recipe for granola bars but unfortunately they tasted like cardboard! So I’m on the hunt for a decent portable snack recipe. I also want to make my own bread – the price of the healthy bread I buy in the supermarket has got so expensive – $4.29 a loaf and I go through it quite quickly. The other thing I’m thinking of doing is buying toilet rolls at shoppers drug mart when they have the cheap specials on – I don’t know whether doing this and using my optimum card for points will save me money over buying them in the supermarket?
Learning to make bread is a great idea. You know exactly what is in it and you can put any grains you want. We grind our own wheat, rye, etc. and make bread and have for years. It saves money and smells fantastic. I eat oatmeal most days, and I think it is a good thing to start the day with when you put nuts and fruits in it. I was curious as to why you didn’t think that was a good idea.
Such great tips, thank you! I’m looking forward to your soup and muffin recipes (I love soup, but have not had much success with muffin-making to date!). Amy
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