My 25% Grocery Savings Rule In Action-Part 3-Challenges

Published January 16th, 2009

This week we move on to the next step in our series on my 25% grocery savings rule–dealing with some of the challenges you may face while trying to implement the system to your life.  I’ve covered some challenges in this post, but I’m sure there are others I haven’t thought of, that might pertain to your individual situation.  At the end of the post, you’ll have the opportunity to share them, and more importantly, share some potential solutions to help other readers who may be in a similar situation.  For those of you just joining us, you can start with Part 1-Introduction.

We are all busy.  Not many of us feel like we have the time to deal with making big changes unless we have to.  The Digerati Life posted a great article on what the author had learned from the Economides, the Cheapest Family in America, a family of 7, who live happily on under $40,000 a year.  Now, I wouldn’t take things as far as they have, but the biggest thing that impressed me about this family is their success by all working together as a team.  Whether you’re single, part of a couple, or a family with children, you can come up with a variation of this system that can work for you.

There are some monthly expenses that are fixed, some like heat and hydro that we have some control over, and groceries that we have even more control over.   Of course groceries are a necessity, but as consumers in North America, many people have the power to choose what they eat–and that power should not be taken for granted.  You may feel like there is little or no choice because of your economic situation, but there always is–it just may involve opening your mind to new food choices–and thinking outside the box.  There are people in our country, and in many other countries around the world who are not so fortunate to have the choices we do.

This is by no means a complete list, but I’ve listed below a few of the common obstacles or challenges readers may face when trying to apply the rule to their individual situations:

1. Thinking that it is more expensive to eat healthier

This one is relative to what you are eating.  It is possible to eat a well balanced, healthy diet, comprised of whole foods for a reasonable amount every month, specially if you buy what is seasonal–and therefore often on sale.  If you add up the amount spent on take out, restaurants, and office lunches and multiply that over the whole year, that would buy a whole lot of groceries.  While we have the occasional splurge, I’ve done the math, and for us, it really is less expensive to eat healthy compared to the large amounts of pre-prepared and restaurant foods we used to eat.  Less expensive to the tune of thousands of dollars. There’s a great website called Cheap Healthy Good, this site and its content are proof that it doesn’t have to be more expensive to eat delicious, healthy meals.

2. Feeling too busy to cook from scratch

I’m the first person to admit that making meals as opposed to buying something pre-made can take more time–in the beginning.  There is a learning curve, and an investment of time to making healthy meals quickly.  Thanks to all of the cooking shows on TV and countless recipes online, and even all of the pictures in the free cookbooks you can borrow from the library, the possibilities are endless.   I started small, trying out fast recipes on the weekends, or Friday night when there was no rush. Every time I made a dish, I got faster.  I read and absorbed every time saving trick I could find.  I made good friends with my slow cooker When we make most dinners, we plan to have extra portions for lunches the next day, or portions for the freezer for days we have less time.  It can be done.  It may be a struggle in the beginning, but it is possible, and it’s worth the investment in your health and the money can save. Having said this, everybody needs a little help sometimes, and all pre-prepared foods are not evil–some of them can turn into a decent healthy meal when paired with a salad or some veggies on the side. I occasionally will buy something like a Skillet Sensation to have in the freezer–but only if it goes on sale for less than I could have made it for myself, and usually pump it up by adding some extra veggies.

3. Thinking that eating healthy food means eating weird food

I’ve got news for you, we live in a place where we are lucky to have the choices that we do.  For many people, being able to choose between 6 different kinds of lettuce, or 35 choices of pop is an impossibility.  The specifics from the 4 basics food groups may vary in different parts of the world, but there are more similarities than you think.  What many North Americans may consider “weird” food, is just regular food for other people.  Likewise, when people from other countries see our regular diet, they may think some things are “weird” as well!  All I’m saying is that different doesn’t have to be bad, and that being more open minded in what you eat gives you the freedom of having more choices.  Many people have no idea that couscous is in fact a pasta :)  Interested in reading more about this? Check out Food Around The World.

4. Thinking that this system can’t work for meat eaters

Oh, but it can.  There are many creative ways to still incorporate meat into your meals, but to not make an expensive slab of it the main focus of the dish.  Wisebread wrote a great post on just this subject that I suggest you read: Meat Money: Grocery Tips For Carnivores.  We’ve been doing many of these things we’ve been doing for years like dicing, and using meat as an accent ingredient, and my husband, who grew up a “meat and potatoes” guy is satisfied.

5. This won’t work for eating organic

You can still use this savings idea if you eat organic–it’ll just involve thinking outside the box.  Many of your favourite companies give out very valuable coupons through their websites, sometimes even a few times a year if you join their fan/loyalty clubs. Organic produce does go on sale at the grocery store–sometimes for the same or even less than the non-organic produce.  The idea is the same though, you may need to plan your meals around what’s on sale that week.  Sometimes the larger stores will clear out their organic inventory and you can stock up.  Depending on where you live you may be able to get certain things from a farmer’s market for less.  Some butchers, including halal butchers, may have good quality and organic meats for less than you’d think.  The organic options are really going to vary depending on where you live, but with some detective work and planning, you can eat well for less than what the big grocery stores and health food stores regularly charge for organic foods.

Well, I’ve gone over some of the challenges that I could think of.  Feel free to contribute any other obstacles you have faced, and even more importantly, what the solutions were, so other readers can benefit from your comments.

Read the rest of this series:

Original post: My 25% Grocery Savings Rule
My 25% Grocery Savings Rule in Action-Part 1: Introduction
My 25% Grocery Savings Rule in Action-Part 2: Planning and Resources
My 25% Grocery Savings Rule in Action-Part 4: Case Study #1
My 25% Grocery Savings Rule in Action-Part 5: Case Study #2

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