Writing on the Doorposts

The trouble with fruit and vegetables is that they are expensive. They are especially expensive if you like to buy organic… which I do! If you have money to spare, then I guess this isn’t a ‘trouble’ for you, but I find most people are like me – on a tight budget. So here are some of the ways I have found to save money and still eat healthily:

• Set a budget and work to it.  To do this effectively I break it down. My budget is £250 per month. From this I make a rough weekly budget, which is £60. I also break that down to a daily budget, which is roughly £8 per day.
  

  Work out your budget right down to a daily amount.

  Doing these rough calculations helps me to stay on target. It means when I am out in town and tempted to buy a quick burger instead of going home for lunch, I can immediately see just how much extra that costs. £6 doesn’t sound like much on its own, but when compared to a total daily budget of £8 for the  whole family for the whole day, £6 on one meal suddenly seems huge!

  Breaking it down also helps me when I go grocery shopping. Instead of trying to estimate how much I need for a whole month, or how much I have already spent, I go knowing that if I just stick to my weekly budget then the whole month will balance. I use the handy calculator on my mobile phone to add up the cost of things as I go, aiming for no more than a £60 trolley load.

• Eat less meat.  Fruit and veggies are expensive, but so is meat.  To allow extra money in my budget for fruit and veg, I cut down on meat.  We eat meat, on average, once a fortnight.  Instead, our main meals are mostly based on grains, veggies, eggs and fish (usually tinned, as fresh is too expensive).
• Make your own.  While it is not always cheaper to make your own foods, it usually is. It is also almost always healthier. I love to make my own bread and my own hummous.
• Stock up on eggs and bananas.  Both of these are cheap, healthy and filling. So we buy LOTS.  I took my brother with me to the grocery store one time, and he was shocked to find me buying 45 eggs at a time! To be fair, though, that was actually for two weeks 😉
• Eat less.  Probably the best grocery money-saving tip ever! We don’t go hungry, but on the other hand we don’t (or at least TRY not to) eat more than we need. The principle ‘eat only until you are full’ helps both your waistline and your purse.
• Drink water.  I guess this is easy for me, since water is my favourite drink! But even if you don’t much like it, I recommend you drink it almost exclusively. It’s much cheaper than buying drinks, and it’s super healthy too.
• Look for deals. As I said, I like to buy organic where I can. I wish I could get everything organic, but I can’t. Instead I look at what organic produce is on sale each week, and get those. Then, if I have ‘spare’ money, I also buy a few select other things organic. When I do buy meat I almost only get organic (can’t bear the thought of eating growth hormones and antibiotics by the mouthful!). I also try to get fruit and veg with softer skins organic, as the pesticides are absorbed into the fruit more easily on these.I also look out for other kinds of deals and coupons. At Tesco right now they have a ‘spend £40 on this week’s shop for £5 off next week’s’, which is a great deal for me. I have also seen ‘get £10 off your first online shop’ promotions and things like that, which are good to take advantage of if you are eligible.

I hope these are helpful for you. So far, they have been working for me 🙂 Tomorrow I will share the last part of the Five a Day series, with some ideas for getting kids to eat your yummy, healthy, accurately budgeted food!