Healthy food for less money
Spending less money and still eating healthy is not as difficult as it seems. With these simple tricks you can save a lot on your groceries.
Supermarkets are full of expensive, unhealthy temptations. Especially if you don’t know exactly what you need and your stomach is growling, it is difficult to resist them. So go armed with a shopping list. Then it is much easier to search for your supplies and skip the rest.
Check your stock
Making a shopping list at home has even more advantages. First, take a look in the fridge, freezer and pantry to see what you still have at home. This prevents your valuable food from spoiling and you need less new stuff.
Go through the brochures at home so that you know what’s on offer. Make sure that you only put discounted products on your list that you actually need. Long-life products that you will definitely use up are useful to stock up in bulk if they are discounted.
Do it yourself
Packages and bags, pieces of fruit and salads that you no longer have to do anything about: they are easy, but also pricey. With some DIY you can save a lot of money.
Cleaning and cutting vegetables and fruit yourself takes more time, but is much cheaper. So do not buy pre-cut lettuce, vegetables or expensive bowls of mixed fruit. See what’s in your favorite mixed salad or bag of vegetables, buy the individual ingredients and you can copy them in no time. You can also DIY herbs, sauces and soups from packets and sachets. You can find countless recipes on the internet.
Choose seasonal vegetables
Many fruits and vegetables are now available all year round. Still, it pays to choose seasonal products. They are widely available and therefore cheaper. Moreover, they do not have to come from abroad or from a greenhouse and that is also better for the environment.
Milieu Centraal has a handy fruit and vegetable calendar in which you can look up the environmental impact of fruit and vegetables per month. Class A products are the most environmentally friendly products. This includes many fruit and vegetables from the Netherlands and other European countries that are delivered by road. These products will often be less expensive than fruit and vegetables that have to be flown in from far away.
Buy fewer perks
If you cut back on extras, the knife cuts both ways. Sweets, savory snacks and soft drinks do not contain healthy nutrients, but are often full of sugar, salt and fat. In addition, they cost a lot of money. Less sweets and snacking is therefore good for your health as well as for your wallet.
Drink tea (without sugar) or plain water from the tap instead of soda, which costs next to nothing. Inexpensive, healthy snacks include a piece of (seasonal) fruit, a boiled egg, a bowl of cottage cheese, a cup of stock and a handful of raisins. Or eat an extra slice of bread in between.
Shop smart with these tips:
- Pin a fixed amount every week for groceries and try to save it.
- Avoid shopping when you are tired, stressed or hungry.
- Look at the bottom and top of the shelves: there are products that are cheaper than the stuff you see at eye level.
- Just walk one round through the supermarket.
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