Posted in Home, Home Archive | Monday, April 19th, 2010
1. Shop your fridge and cupboards – Sexy will never let me forget about how when he moved in, I had about 5 bottles of mustard, and 4 boxes of foil because I kept buying them forgetting I had them already! After you make your grocery list, be sure to look through your fridge, freezer and cupboards and be sure that you don’t already have what’s on your list. Then move the food to the front of the fridge and cupboards so that you’ll see it.
2. Buy non-food items at the dollar store – Foil, ziploc bags, wax paper, mixing bowls, and other items are, well, a dollar at the dollar store. Don’t buy them at the grocery store. (You should eventually aim for cutting back on foil as well!)
3. Don’t buy everything organic – strawberries, peppers, pears and a few more items should definitely be purchased as organic, but others, like onions, eggplants, and corn don’t have to be purchased organic. As always though, wash everything when you get it home, with a DIY Vegetable Wash. For more information on what to what to eat organic and what you can skip, check out the links below.
4. Buy frozen veggies and fruit – Do you end up throwing away fresh food because you don’t cook it as quickly as you like? By frozen. I buy frozen peas, corn and spinach. Frozen blueberries always seem to be cheaper than fresh ones too.
5. Shop at the farmer’s market – Farmer’s markets are cheaper, and have a lot of healthy and sometimes organic food, herbs, bread and even milk. And many times you can haggle at farmer’s markets, especially if you’re buying multiple items. Savvy shoppers LOVE to haggle. (It should be an Olympic sport, I swear!)
6. Make your own bread – Or at least buy it from the bakery. Not only is this usually cheaper, but it’s healthier too! Flour, milk, butter and sugar which can make several loaves of bread at once cost less together than 1 single loaf of bread. Need a recipe? Check out my post Homemade Bread for Dummies.
7. Stop buying paper towels – Use cloth napkins, microfiber cloths, or Skoy cloths and toss them in the wash when dirty. Check out my post How We Stopped Using Paper Towels
8. Stop buying plastic wrap – You should stop using plastic wrap, especially in the microwave because heating plastic in the microwave may leech chemicals like BPAs into your food, and foods can be wrapped and stored in other things. For more info click here.
9. Buy loose foods – beans, rice, cereal, spinach, carrots, pasta. This isn’t always the case, BUT the packaging is what usually costs more. Compare prices and see. This includes vegetables like spinach, carrots and celery. You’ll save if you wash and cut them up yourself at home.
10. Don’t buy any food in a box or a bag- This is tough, but unless it’s potatoes, most of the stuff that comes in bags or boxes you shouldn’t have anyway. Like cake mix, cookies, crackers, chips, pizza and frozen dinners. I’m not saying you have to cut it out altogether, but do our best to make your own, and you’ll eat less of it and it’ll be better for you!
11. Don’t buy laundry detergent, fabric softener or bleach – Making your own saves money, your health and the environment. Period. Check out these recipes.
12. Don’t buy soda – buy fruit juice and mix it with seltzer or tonic water instead. You’ll make them both stretch that way.
13. Healthy Online coupons – I stopped clipping coupons, because they always seemed to be for packaged products and things that I would never eat. But then I found Yoli Ouyia’s site, which has coupon and alerts for all sorts of healthy foods. I also just found a few more like Mambo Sprouts, Eat Better America and you can even find a few more at Coupon Sherpa
14. Stop buying herbs – Grow them yourself! You can make it fun and get your kids involved by using a kit like this one. Or you can get herbs that have already sprouted at the farmer’s market.
15. Stop buying salad dressing – $5 for oil and high-fructose corn syrup? I don’t think so. Salad dressing is one of the easiest things to make. The easiest dressing? Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Or here’s try this recipe for Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing.
About Savvy Brown
I believe being healthy doesn't have to be complicated, being green can be easy and being broke isn't an option!
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THANK YOU for giving us some coupon sites that have “real” food. I subscribe to some coupon sites but I’m sick of hearing about great deals on Macaroni and Cheese and Pop Tarts (LOL)! These are great!
When you say don’t buy things in bags or boxes do you mean things like pasta or rice? Of course, I’m referring to brown rice and whole wheat pasta
@Megan ur welcome! I had the same problem. I rarely look at circulars anymore so I was really happy when I came across these…
@SisterBoyd I mean ANYTHING. It’s better to stay away from Entemann’s cakes and hostess piesa, cookies and chips anyway. BUT often, bulk items sold by the pound can be cheaper. There is a store out here in NY called Fairway that has cereal, rice, pasta, beans, couscous, dried fruit, oatmeal etc. sold in bins. They even have a machine that presses fresh almond butter and peanut butter, and it all comes out cheaper than buying it in a package. If you don’t have that option, (or inclination), try and cut back on those items.
You actually SHOULDN’T wash produce when you get it home – the extra moisture will make it spoil faster – then you waste $$. You should actually wash it just before you are getting ready to use it………..
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Hi Savvy!
I’m lovin’ these tips. Thanks for posting this.
@ChocolateOrchid You’re so welcome! I like your blog too!
Hey Savvy,
I came across your blog via a friend. I am so glad I read this post about adding the seltzer to my juice. I am hooked on sodas or so I thought. I think I’m more hooked on the carbonated water but as you know there are so many unhealthy things in it drink. Today I purchased some mango juice and some club soda, no calories, no sodium, no fat and no high fructose corn syrup. It is so good. I has that fizz that I love minus the hfcs. You now have a new fan!
@Notorious Spinks Thank you! Oooh Mango juice, yum! Welcome to the party!
[...] find out the meaning of and history behind Earth Day. Here’s a bonus Savvy post for you too 15 Healthy Green Ways to Save Money On Your Grocery Bill Now Be Sociable, Share! Tweet └ Tags: corn, Earth Day, Gloria, Joel Makower, [...]