Money Saving Tips

Money-Saving Tips- VegWithMandy.com (Originally posted 2/2024, Updated 7/2024)

Plant-based made Fast. Easy. Affordable. Making your budget s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

My Top 7 Ways to Save Money at the Grocery Store.

Want a Deeper Dive into how we saved 25% on our Grocery bill Every Week? Join me for a Health Coaching Session covering ~25 Tips. > Go to the VettedCoach.com Home Page.

Shop at a value grocery store - Examples in our area include Walmart, Aldi, and Lidl. If trekking through a huge Walmart sounds daunting, especially if you have a physical challenge, shop at one of their smaller Walmart Neighborhood Market stores, or order it for pick-up. (By the way, pick-up is another great way to save money; you see the bill add up as you throw things in your virtual shopping cart). If you have an Aldi or Lidl, use them. Find a store you enjoy shopping at, that doesn’t feel like such a chore. Our family is small, so I take advantage of Lidl’s half-sized shopping carts…because, how cute are they? P.S. I’m not referring to the kiddy carts…but they are just doubly cute!
Buy generic - This is huge, friends. While we have a few items we prefer name-brand on, we typically buy generic on almost everything. Take canned black beans, for example. Generic at our local store is $0.82 for regular, $1.16 for organic (which is lower in sodium), over $2.00 for name brand in the “International” section. *It is almost always cheaper to buy generic items than it is to buy name brand with a coupon. (And coupons are not usually for healthy foods, but rather processed junk food items.)
Reduce/Avoid Pre-packaged Meals - This is another biggie. I can pack a lunch much cheaper (and healthier) than I can buy frozen entrees. I do keep some in the freezer for a rainy day, but I don’t buy them each week. Not only does the cost quickly add up, but they really pile on the sodium.
Don’t drink your calories - Think of sodas as a treat, if you drink them at all. We call them “empty calories”, because the calories quickly add up without making you feel full. Also, it’s easy to spend a lot of money on drinks. Try to drink water, or water with lemon. Or consider herbal teas.
SEE-FOOD - Store any meal-prepped items and any leftovers in transparent storage containers in your fridge. You’ll forget about what you can’t see. I love food storage containers - glass ones, BPA free plastic ones, you name it. So much so that when Hubby and I were dating, he bought me rubbermaid containers for our first Valentine’s day together. I can hear the gasps now, but you know what? I loved his practicality, and he got them in my favorite color. Point is, I’m still using them, and they reduce food waste and the temptation for excess take-out.
Eat on Repeat - Learn to love leftovers (if they can last in your house) - When people tell me they won’t eat leftovers, I am completely confused. Like, do you love wasting money and cooking more than you have to? No thanks. Find meals you love, and consider eating them a couple days in a row.
Eat On Repeat, Part II - Also, find meals you really enjoy, and make them often. (Hopefully my Recipe section can help!) Love a healthy breakfast cereal or smoothie? Or a certain dinner recipe? I’ve been eating a variation of the same smoothie since 2016, and it works for me. Hubby loves my “To Thai For” Peanut sauce with broccoli and rice, so I make this recipe almost every week. And I tend to gravitate toward the same five packed lunches on rotation. This may sound boring to some, but it keeps the grocery list simple, and I can meal prep almost on auto-pilot once I memorize a common recipe.
Meal prep - In my 20+ years of cooking, I’ve worked 55+ hours and I’ve worked much fewer hours at my job. I’ve found a way to make home cooked meals happen, and brought lunch to work most days. Find what works for you. The last thing you want to do is come home late from work and have to cook a lengthy meal, or to repeatedly eat greasy drive-thru food on your lunch hour all week.

Hopefully VegWithMandy (now VettedCoach.com Recipes) can help, since most meals are made in about 30 minutes. What can you do to speed things up? Prep lunches for the week ahead, and pre-chop veggies or make sauces. For example, on Sundays I make two types of salads for our lunches and put them in individual food storage containers so they’re ready to grab and go. I might also chop some onions or potatoes, or roast some veggies ahead of time, or even make a sauce we’re going to need for later in the week. That way when we come home from work, a 30 minute meal may only take fifteen or twenty.

BONUS TIP- Avoid/limit meat and cheese, and caution with the fakes. It’s probably no surprise on a plant-based recipe site that I’d advocate for reduced animal product consumption, but hear me out. Let me tell you that cutting out meat/cheese saves a LOT of money, but only if you don’t replace it with some of their expensive fake counterparts. If you plan to fully transition to a plant-based diet and need those substitutes for a while, go for it, but keep in mind that they often cost *more* than the real thing, and some are just as loaded in fat (although perhaps less inflammatory ones). P.S. Can I just mention that my seasonal allergies improved after I stopped eating dairy? UPDATE to Original Post (7/2024): More recently, I’ve been playing with some healthier meat-substitutes and have found some I enjoy and are low in fat/saturated fat.

Lastly, a plug for prayer. If you are a person of faith, I can tell you that I’ve prayed many times over purchases; big ones and small ones. I’ve asked God to help me make wise decisions with our money at a store. Little things like that (along with bigger things) played their part in allowing us to pay off student loans years ahead of schedule.

A sample grocery run at Lidl. This particular week (~Spring 2024) cost us $65. Before incorporating my Money-Saving Tips, a weekly grocery trip cost us ~$90 (and this was Pre-Covid, before costs rose). Over time, we cut out meat, started buying little to no dairy or dairy substitutes, and began shopping at a value grocery store more often. This reduced our Grocery Bill by at least 25%! That percentage can apply to any family size, depending on how many of these tips you are willing and able to use for your family.