I read an article a while back about how to save $30 on your weekly grocery store bill. I don’t know about you, but a $30 saving would be amazing! When I read the article, the tips … well….left much to be desired. It had tips like, skip the meat and use canned beans (really, if I told my husband we were skipping meat and using canned beans, we would just stare at me). Use frozen produce, dry milk- seeing the pattern here? In other words shop in the middle of the grocery store. Where you can’t pronounce half the ingredients listed on the cans and boxes. To the articles defense, it did have some good suggestions- like buy produce from the grocery store instead of big box stores.

We have all heard to shop the perimeters of the grocery store. This is where you will find the healthier options. But lets me honest, sometimes that can be a little damaging on your pocket book. Here are some ways we buy healthy food on a budget.

1) Shop Local!
+ Farmers Markets: I love our local market! It’s open every Saturday and has a wide variety of vegetables! Normally, these vegetable are at a much lower price then what you would be at the grocery store. On one of our trips we bought 2 zucchini, 1 squash, 2 bananas, and an orange for $4.50. A word of caution with shopping at farmers markets, a lot of the good stuff goes fast-so get there early!
+ Enroll in Community Supported Agriculture. This is where you get a box of fruits or vegetables (or both) each week. Each farm is different in their prices, box sizes, and produce variety. This is also a great option to go in together and split with friends and family.

2) Thrive Market
“Thrive Market is the first socially conscious online store offering the world’s best-selling natural and organic products at wholesale prices”. They have a great selection of specialty items: gluten free, dairy free, you know it. For most items their prices come in cheaper than the grocery store and a lot of times they come in cheaper than Amazon. Coconut Secrets Coconut Aminos is my favorite soy sauce alternative however only one grocery store in town sells them and its hit or miss as to when it’s in stock! On Amazon the cheapest I could find it was $11.35. On Thrive Market- $4.45! Thrive Market offers a 30 day free trial- which is a great way to see if you will use it enough to get your money’s worth. Just make sure you cancel the trial membership or they will automatically charge you! {Lesson Learned}

3) Freeze some go to meals!
This works really well for soups, meats, and broths! Pinterest will be your best when it comes to freezer meals. Also, summer is a great time to buy veggies in bulk and freeze them for the winter. {I have no clue how to do that, I’m just throwing that out there for all you people who are gifted in blanching and freezing department}

4) Walmart Neighborhood Market!
Barney’s Almond Butter is Barney’s Almond Butter no matter if I get it at Publix or Walmart. But its about $2 cheaper at Walmart! We save on an average $20-$30 on our grocery bill when we shop at Neighborhood Walmart. They sometimes don’t have everything we need, but we can get about 90% of our grocery shopping done there.