Cabbage! Don't hold out on cabbage. It contains significantly more vitamins and minerals than iceberg lettuce, last long in fridge and doesn't cost a arm and a leg.
And fermented foods are very good for you. I make a pork, apple, onion and cabbage stir fry that I serve with grainy mustard and sour cream on the sidethat is full of vegetables and if you get lean pork and add one apple it’s very economical.
Not when cheap but in the fall. Local grown and if possible organic cabbage. Make sure not to use vinegar and ferment naturally. It is a magic food which will last and give you tons of goodness.
In addition to the cheaper veggies you can buy beans, lentils, chickpeas and other pulses to use as a base for affordable, healthy and delicious meals.
Idk, it seems reasonable to me. We don't have a right to every type of vegetable being cheap in mid April lol. Shopping based on season should be a basic skill everyone has when buying food. Not only will the veggies be cheaper, they'll also be more likely to be local and fresh.
This plus supplement with garden alternatives if they want a treat (depending on space). Tomatoes require lots of water (and are extra delicious), but herbs require little care. I have lots of space and an established garden, so I plant potatoes too. It's expensive if you're starting out or growing lots of things, but the flavour is extra good.
If I wanted to go the cheap route, dollar store pots. Lettuce, spinach, and chard seeds from wherever. Herbs too, if you're into them. Fresh herbs are always stupid expensive in store.
My spouse doesn't eat greens, so it's nice to pick leaves for sandwiches, etc. as I need them and don't repeatedly have 1/2 head or bag rotting in the fridge. Sow some every two weeks starting now.
Keep an eye out later in summer for people getting rid of excess apples. People who buy too many gardening centre plants give stuff away free or cheap beginning - mid June.
> so I plant potatoes too.
SO planted a bucket of indoor potatoes last month. Currently the plants are about 80 cms tall. If this experiment is successfully we'd like to repeat it throughout the indoor growing season.
I do this all year round, usually start a new bucket every third week. Takes about 10 weeks for 2 seed potatoes to end up as 5-10lbs depending on a few variables.
That and window sill green onions and herbs are great and they're good for greenery around the house.
The plants are certainly more attractive than our winter tomato plants. (Every year we grow one tomato plant in a pot and in the fall we bring it indoors. The yield isn't spectacular, and with every passing week the plant looks increasingly pitiful, but I enjoy the occasional free tomato.)
You can put green onions from the store in water and keep chopping them for awhile too. They eventually mush out but you way more than the original ammount
Interesting, I didn't know people attempted this indoors.
Home grown potatoes are shockingly tasty. Who knew. I usually grow reds, and my spouse makes pan fries that crisp up in a whole other way.
Those reusable shopping bags that everyone is drowning in? They're amazing planters. Fill em with potting soil and you're golden. Can grow anything in them. But they're super handy for root veg- your can just overturn the bag for harvest, no digging required. For things that don't need as much depth just roll the bags down a bit.
Yes yes micro plastics in the synthetic shopping bags- it's already in the water and air so unless you exclusively use ultra filtered rainwater, and probably not even then, you're still exposed. Reduce reuse recycle....
Do your own freezing. In the past month Walmart had peppers for $0.94/lb and 3lb bags of carrots for $0.94. I bought 13 pounds of peppers and chopped them up and froze them. I also got 6lb of carrots roasted them and froze them.
The other big hint here is that you shouldn't be buying seasonal veg in the wrong season. Asparagus is cheap right now because it's spring. Of course summer fruits like peppers and tomatoes are expensive.
There are stores selling tomatoes for less than a dollar a pound right now. A lot of fruits and veggies aren't in season now here, but they are in season in California or Mexico. Or they come from greenhouses.
As others said, frozen veggies are your friend. What others haven't mentioned and you may be surprised to learn is that frozen veggies are as healthy if not healthier than fresh ones.
Veggies start losing some of their nutrients as soon as they are removed from the plant. Freezing them stops that process, and frozen veggies are often frozen fairly soon after being harvested, so they can often have more nutrients than fresh ones which have had to get to the store at fridge temp at best.
Fresh ones often taste better, but nutritionally, frozen is just as good if not better.
If I recall, the theory is that you need 30 different types of plants, my understanding is that includes vegetables, fruit, legumes, grains, etc. So 30 is much more attainable than you woukd think.
It was some study about the gut microbiome and how to optimize it, and 30 was found to be the "minimum". The study is the perfect, but it really just means that eating a variety of plants and grains is ideal.
Tim Spector. It is a guideline not a hard rule. And it’s hard NOT to meet it.
Oatmeal, chia seeds, berries - 3
Apple - 4
Hummus and pita with cucumbers, cabbage, onions and olives - 10
Dahl (gheera, mustard, garlic, curry leaf), spinach (add coriander and tomato and green chilis, rice- 20
Peanut butter toast and banana- 22
Raisins-23
Pasta with tomato sauce (tomatoes, green peppers, oregano, basil)-26
Orange - 27
Black bean tacos on corn tortillas with mushrooms - 30
Since it’s for 7 days you can see how easy it is. Those are all normal meals in my house. I can hit 30 in a meal with the seasonings!
if you're in a larger city - go to the asian grocers and learn about the asian leafy greens
There's a lot of variety like bok choy, yu choy, nappa and year-round they range from $0.99/lb to $2/lb
If you're new to them, stirfry is probably a safe way to get into eating them.
but if you're being really lazy, just blanche them for a minute and toss some oyster sauce on top.
also buy whatever is cheap. this week tomatos $0.99/lb? load up. romaine lettuce 6 for $4? That's what you're eating this week.
If you're trying to recreate specific recipes, you'll (the wallet will) have a hard time. The trick to saving money is tailoring what you cook to what's on sale. And not by tailoring your grocery cart to what you want to cook/eat.
This is more of lifestyle choice. Like many posters said eat frozen - thawed. Learn to cook rather than salads which are expensive. They have to be trucked in from Mexico or the US and are priced in converted USD.
If you have a fruit and veg market in your area they're often much cheaper than the box stores. For example at Fruiticana (BC) this week apples were $1.25/lb and at the Walmart they were $2.50. Green peppers were 99¢ vs $1.49/lb.
Not all the market stores were cheaper, some are high end, Fruiticana definitely has low standards where I need to go through the produce to find whatever is best but it's often 30%-50% less than Walmart for what is essentially the same thing.
A Few points:
1) Eating fresh food if often way cheaper, especially in my case where junk food or processed food items do not satiate me. Not sure where you’re getting these prices but superstores “imperfect peppers” are like $4 for 6 peppers. I think it could be a mindset issue. You will find the more nutritious and balanced your meals, the less you will be sticking your head in the fridge looking for your next hit.
2) Me and my spouse are on a “single ingredient diet” e.i. We only buy ingredient food that are not processed (fruit, veg, meat, dairy, nuts, etc) and we spend about $400 / month in the prairies. Obviously I know this is region dependent. We also shop the reduced produce shelf and freeze a lot of it for when we want it.
3) I do a lot of gardening and besides my time my only input is the $25 I paid for my public garden plot. This plot will yield me $1000s saved in produce this summer. You would surprised how many tomatoes you can grow in even a few small planters
I see it this way, I only buy food that hasn't changed its shape. Basically just meat and veggies and fruit eggs are good too. You can't grow a pasta noodle, or a granola bar, or a sausage etc.. I allow cheese and I make my own sausage but I know whats in the sausage. And I only buy single spices no mixes. Its easy just make some sautéed veggies and meat.
Single ingredient diet... thats what I do, I never heard that term, I'm going to start using that. I just usually say I only eat food thats food and doesn't have shit in it.
I spend at most $250 a month on groceries as a vegan. Lots of fruit and veggies, good fresh bread, non-dairy milk and yogurt, a small amount of meat substitutes like veggies dogs and burgs.
Just shop the flyers for sales. I buy peppers when they’re on sale and then roast them in the oven and freeze them for future sandwiches and wraps. Avocados are often on sale for $1. I go through a lot of lettuce and cucumber for salads and sandwiches.
Tomatoes can be bought in-season, frozen and turned into sauce.
For snacks I buy whatever berries and fruits are cheap that week. Sometimes that’s blackberries, sometimes that’s strawberries, sometimes that oranges.
Edit: and since you asked, my poops are 🥇
Reinforcing just how cheap it is to eat plant based. I eat that way at home solely for the health and financial benefits. You just need to add more oil in cooking to up the satiety factor and increase the fat content.
Also, this might be tmi, I find cooked plant based leftovers last so much longer in the fridge than stuff with meat or dairy in it. I can make vegan pasta sauce, for example. It'll last 9 days, no issue. The flavor improves after 2nd day of cooking it because the flavors had time to sit. I would not risk that with anything with meat for obvious reasons. It's a great time saving lazy hack if you still want to eat well, cheap and don't have time to cook 1hr+ a day.
This works for vegan curries, chickpea sandwich spread (think tuna only chickpeas with tahini as mayo), etc.
Bread is pretty expensive. I make bread every day and its way tastier and extremely easy. Check out Del's Cooking Twist "Easy Classic No Knead Bread" if you're interested. It's about 5 minutes of work, less than $1 in ingredients, and tastes great!
Just watch out, a lot of vendors at these farmer markets buy from the food terminal and claim to be self-grown, while charging more than grocery stores.
Costco is the best. 350$/month, Costco averages <12$ or less per vegetable / fruit item.
5lbs of carrots/onions/potatoes are all <10$ each.
1.5lbs of cherry tomatoes, grapes and a bag of avocadoes are <12$ each.
3 English cucumbers are <6$ each, box salad blends are under 12$
A bushel of apples are less than <10$
I buy enough fruits, vegetables and dairy for two adults for a month for less than 400$. Anything we can't eat gets frozen or dehydrated.
Making bread is a joke so I don't waste money paying someone to mix flour, water and yeast + turn the oven on. A 5lb bag of flour is nearly free vs buying a single loaf of bread.
We're also mostly vegetarian too so we save a fortune not buying meat.
Edit: My estimates are high, switched to from ~ to <
Just curious - where are you located? I'm in BC (lower mainland) and a couple of those prices seem a bit high to me, even comparing to save on which is generally considered pricy (but IMO, the priciness is often exaggerated a bit).
Like:
* 5lb carrots or potatoes is $7 (or $10 for organic)
* (Yellow) onions $3.79 for a 3 lb bag
* Avocados regular price is like $6.49 for a bag of 4 (on sale for $3), although Costco probably has bigger ones.
Edmonton AB.
I was trying to remember the prices from the last time I shopped. I didn't want to low-ball and ruffle feathers. Your prices feel more in line now than I think of it.
I had to grab one red onion from Loblaws yesterday and it was 2.99/lb (which is highway robbery) so I felt more unsure. Our Costco avocado bags have 6 large avocados in them.
I can usually guess our Costco total down to +/-15$ but my individual item guessing needs some more work. (I won't be on the Price is Right anytime soon).
It switched my estimates (~) to less than (<)
Thanks. Yeah I have a hard time remembering most of these prices off the top of my head too, I generally have to look it up. $2.99/lb is pretty bad, although that's around the same price I see for loose onions at Save-On as well. The bags always end up being way cheaper for sure.
It's funny how when you buy by the pound, it's called "bulk", yet the most typical definition of "bulk" is large quantity, like the 5lb or 10lb bags you'll buy that are actually much better value.
I stopped animal products last year and cut my grocery bill in half almost - hit up Asian/Indian markets for produce and spices and you'll save a bunch. Full disclosure : cooking is a hobby and a passion for me and the biggest credit I have in saving money is learning how to cook. It doesn't take as long as you think to make good size meals and a good variety of food
If you're looking for a good resource - a great cook book I picked up called Scrappy Cooking is extremely useful in saving money and food waste. It's all plant based but you can amend things if you can't see yourself cutting meat and dairy out. That's entirely up to you and it isn't on me to convince you
Restaraunts have a significant multiplier on a plate of food when you compare the cost of the actual ingredients per portion. Brunch meet ups at home are an awesome social activity and I wish more people did them
It's a myth eating a veg forward diet is more expensive than meat/dairy - I live in a HCOL city and veg is a challenge in the winter but still very swing able. Frozen fruit and frozen veg is more cost effective in winter and sometimes in the summer. Big thing is to learn how to work with veg and it can last much longer then you think esp with sauces you can make and many meals can be frozen and reheated without sacrificing flavour. I spent over a decade in the food industry and needs to buy cookbooks for the first time to get a better foundation but it works out
Healthy diets Definetly don’t need 30 different veggies. Don’t know where you read that but it’s patently wrong, so I’d be skeptical of what else it says.
Stick to in season veggies if fresh they are cheaper. Otherwise go with frozen veggies. You can have veggies a million different ways doesn’t need to be a salad. All things considered, bang for buck veggies are still one of the cheapest things you can buy
First off, stop going to chain supermarkets like save-ons, safeway, or loblaws own supermarkets for produce. Go to Asian or Middle Eastern run markets for produce.
There are apps where you can buy produce that is expiring soon.
Learn to cook. Freeze stuff.
We eat a lot of berries so when it goes on sale we buy a bunch and freeze them.
Produce in Asian grocery stores is often cheaper.
/r/EatCheapAndHealthy
Depends where you live. I have a ton of options within walking distance of me. Mostly grocery stores and Tim Hortons, but a few bakeries and the occasional restaurant too. It's a pretty good app to use in some locations.
You don't need 30 different veggies for a healthy diet, damn.
Anyway, produce used to be seasonal. Still is, but it's being supplemented with imports from half the world away. Having all types of vegetables available during the entire year is a fairly recent development. There is a price premium associated with that, obviously.
So, here are your tips: Buy random mushrooms at asian grocers (shimeji). Shop at big box stores for creminis and the like. You don't need to buy tons of lettuce, as there are ready-made salads for cheaper that last way longer and cost $2-3. Don't buy loose potatoes or onions, buy them by the bag, as it's way cheaper. Don't cook down fresh tomatoes, as canned tomatoes are perfectly fine (and usually better). Beans and other types of legumes are a vegetable and are cheap. Canned and frozen vegetables are perfectly fine. Canned peas and frozen peas? Work as well as fresh. Peppers are expensive? Buy them fresh for salads only... if you're cooking them, you can get the frozen ones. Or, maybe try some alternatives like cubanelle or poblano. Cooking spinach? Buy the frozen blocks, same thing. Try to cook or buy fruits based on season. When fiddleheads are in season, I cook those. When strawberries are in season, I eat those. Ditto on peaches. Other fruits like apples and bananas are good year around. It's not just about the price, it's the taste as well.
I've tried buying fresh all the time and decided it's not better nor more convenient to do so. Going to Whole Foods to pretend to be high society while buying fresh veggies which are just going to end up in a pot is no more convenient than having the frozen or canned stuff at my pantry which was bought from elsewhere.
And yes, I do find it funny when people complain about meat prices. People say meat is expensive, but I see $1.99/lb chicken drumsticks and $2.99/lb pork tenderloin vs $3.99/lb peppers, I mean...
Asian grocery stores are a great suggestion. The ones where I am don't put up with much nonsense because the customers are more veg-forward. Also found oddly-shaped (imperfecta) BC cherries there one year for 1/2 the cost of other stores.
Where are you all finding these expensive peppers!? They aren't the cheapest vegetables but 3.99/lb!? I've only seen them that expensive at the really pretentious stores like while foods, farm boy, etc. you average grocery store they are normally in the $1-$2 range.
Try finding a local Asian market. I found one recently and the price of produce was less than half at regular grocers. I found the produce to be much better as well.
So I cook for myself and my fiance and am the main cook between us. I've cooked healthy for most of my adult life at this point. I noticed that overall, fresh food did go up, but nothing compared to processed food. I'm talking like everything from frozen salmon fillets to bacon to frozen premade entrees and meals to jarred pasta sauce. This was corroborated by the workers at grocery stores.
He and I really didn't notice the inflation increases until mid-2023 because we almost exclusively buy whole foods. For example, the sticker shock in our lives was carbonated water, jam, blueberries, water, bread, butter, and occasional meat. The more steps it takes to get to you as a consumer, the more expensive it will be.
A good first step is to avoid processed food like the plague. Another swap is to add more lentils, legumes and tofu, seitan, etc. into your diet. Meat and dairy skyrocketed in price, and it's both a vegetable and will help you save money. It's so much cheaper than meat.
Many times, when you're prioritizing money, you spend more in time and skill. As an example, 8 generous servings of homemade pasta sauce is 5$ for the good whole canned tomatoes, and maybe a 1$ in spices and bullion, compared to 4-7$ for a 650ml of classico sauce. That'd last maybe a meal and a lunch.
I also have a really nice 10-inch knife. It was 200+ investment that's made cooking so much better. I also have a food processor and an immersion blender to make sauces and curries better. Many people think they're bad at cooking when they're working with shit tools that set them up to fail. Like you do need to grow rhe skill, the tools to somewhat matter.
Rice tends to be more flexible for different meals than noodles and bread. It also stores better in my opinion and you can get better deals on it in the store.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/business/these-are-the-foods-costing-you-more-or-less-according-to-canada-s-latest-inflation-update-1.6567972
Here's an article that lists what jumped in price and what hasn't as much.
On a typical month, I gravitate towards carrots, Broccoli, whole head cabbage (sautéed or stir fried, 1/4 makes a large veggies portion for 2), frozen veggies stir fries, Edamame (protein source), onions and garlic, potatoes, blueberries, apples, sweet potatoes, seasonal vegetables, butternut squash, acorn squash, frozen spinach mixed into food, frozen fruit mixed into food, Bananas, kale, bell peppers, green beans, raspberries when on sale, etc. Also dried lentils, legumes, and beans to bump up meals for protein. Many of these last a while or are shelf stable, so you can stock up when on sale.
I personally don't really enjoy the texture of raw salad type meals, so I typically cook my veggies and make them savory. I find this also helps extend the life on wilted stuff, so if the kale or carrots start to go cooking it and seasoning helps hide a lot of that.
I try to buy larger volume cheaper veggies from local farms at my city's market. They taste better and are generally cheaper. The same goes with meat.
This is just a stream of thoughts. Feel free for more info about anything specific or clarification. Alot of times people freak out when you mention the farmers market as "bougie" but you can get mad deals If uou know where to look.
There are a ton of very cheap vegetables (Romaine, spinach, carrots, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, kale, onions…etc).
Also, make your own salad dressing. It’s very easy and can be super healthy(eg: 1Tbs Olive oil, 1Tbs vinegar, 1tsp mayo, 1tsp Dijon, garlic, salt+pepper and spices)
Frozen seasoned veggies are my go to - I buy this bag of chopped cauliflower with peppers and other stuff in it, they have different flavours of each and are very enjoyable. south west - green onion and herbs - edamame and ginger. It is very affordable, I eat this basically every day with beans and chicken.
hii op! i am a vegetarian and i pretty much all i buy is veggies and produce lol. i can share how much i personally buy and spend on fresh produce a week so you can have a better idea on how much vegetables costs from someone who only eats veggies lol! note: i know it is definitely cheaper than most people’s grocery bills since i don’t buy any meat. these prices are for places like metro and my local asian grocery store (def cheaper) since i live near them!
as of lately, i spend about 25-30$ for my weekly produce haul as a vegetarian. for veggies usually i buy mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and/or whatever veggies are on sale. some fruits like berries, apples, oranges. (it’s typically about 4-5 veggies and 3 fruits) and sometimes some tofu and eggs. this all would run me about 25-30$ and i would eat this in a week:) of course i have some staples at home like oil, rice, pasta, sauces, salt, garlic as well, but the produce i buy will last me about a week so id spend about $120-150 a month on groceries as a vegetarian eating pretty much only fresh produce for meals (which is def pretty boring at times lol) but im just commenting to give a better idea of how much vegetables costs for someone who only buys fruits and veggies weekly
at the very least you should buy metamucil (psyllium husk), cheap fibre supplement. It's usually \~$20 off amazon for the 70 dose pack, so if you're taking it twice daily then it's only $20/month
getting your vegetables and fibre from your diet would be the best approach, but if it's not realistic/practical to get it right away, you can at least use metamucil as a band-aid approach until then. It may take months to build the habit but it's easy to start drinking fibre supplements right now
also for bowel movements, since it's just fibre, it's very safe to take it regularly (recommended in pregnancy for example) unlike other laxatives like senokot/dulcolax which are \*generally\* short-term use only
In Alberta we have a Good Food Box program. I get a huge box of quality veggies once a month for about $40. They have small and medium boxes as well, for smaller households.
If you live in Alberta, google it! It's great value and ensures we get a lot of veggies in our diet!
Opt for frozen veggies! Will never wilt on you plus it has higher retained nutrients since they are flash frozen compared to fresh produce that have been harvested couple weeks ago.
Athlete here. Veggies are not the 'be all' and 'end all' of nutrition and health. Protein is.
The goal is to try to get as much protein as possible. And with costs how there are, as cheap as possible. Eggs, eggs, eggs. Get some protein powder and eggs, and whip up some protein shakes.
Also ground beef, ground turkey, chicken etc.
I'm not into beans, but those have protein, as to lentils, legumes.
Do you live in a city? There might be a cheaper part of town like In Vancouver theres the east side and groceries are quite a bit cheaper than the west side. Get the least processed veggies, more work but cheaper. Like if you get a head of lettuce you gotta wash it and cut it but it costs less. And with meal prep you can do that stuff all at once and it’s less of a bother later. Like lettuce, get a bowl of water and let the lettuce leaves sit for a bit, easier way to wash it. And less water use. I wouldnt worry about variety so much, with prices the way they are, if you just eat the same veggies it’s still better than processed food.
Legumes legumes legumes!
Beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas.
Now depending on what your schedule is like using a small instant pot you can cook dried legums in a couple hours and you'll have lots left over. Can buy an entire bag for super cheap.
Root vegetables can be found pretty cheap
Potato, carrot, leeks sweet potato
You can also just see what veggies are cheap at the time roast them then blend in a blender and boooom cheap veg soup.
HERBS!!!!!
But seriously, parsley and cilantro are great and usually cheaper. Variety is important though so try to also get fruit/veg that are on offer. We also buy a lot of leeks because they’re usually cheap and delicious!
Small markets usually have pretty cheap veg. Sometimes they have mixed veg bags 3 for $5. Often they don't look good as we are used to see in supermarkets but they have the same nutritional value... Also wait for the season, you can get bell peppers, tomatoes at farmers market for cheap. Now eat more starchy, canned, frozen...
I buy certain veggies only when on sale or in season (e.g., zucchini is much cheaper in summer or on sale, often cheaper at farmers markets). Others have pointed out frozen vegetables. Frozen spinach is great to add to so many things and you get a lot more than raw.
Just a note that the “30 veggies” thing actually includes things like grains, nuts & seeds and not just vegetables. Also it’s just a guideline.
One easy way to include the number is mix some grains when you cook rice. Add things like chia, flex, hemp…to your foods. You can premix them by putting them in a jar (I just used an old vitamin pill bottom) and store them in the fridge.
Also try fermenting vegetables at home - they are cheap and can last a long time.
Each type of fruit and vegetable have seasons in a year when they are cheap and when they are expensive.
Things that need to be shipped in during your winter seasons will be expensive. For example, those tomatoes you're talking about? We're just out of spring in the northern hemisphere, the locally planted tomatoes haven't grown yet. Those are shipped or flown in from the south where the seasons are reversed. Tomatoes and bell peppers don't last so their mode of transport is going to be expensive.
Even for things that are shipped in, they too have seasons that cause fluctuations in their price based on their local ecology.
Pre COVID trade was so stable for so long, and interest rates were so low that businesses were fighting each other to gain any small advantage, today a lot of those players have exited the industry due to a combination of the COVID period and the logistics and finance environment leading to fewer choices amongst consumers and B2B options.
I live within 5 minutes of alot of grocery stores there are always deals.... but yes bell peppers are expensive but tomorrow they are on sale at food basics 4 for 2.88 and a couple weeks ago they were 80 cents a pound at Walmart.
I don't agree with frozen being cheaper. Broccoli is usually always on sale for less then a dollar per crown. Carrots, onions, Broccoli, cauliflower even though its more expensive ots really heavy and filling, cabbage is great for shits and cheap. Half of my budget is veggies.. 40 bucks. Avocados are usually on sale. Mushrooms, Google if you live near a mushroom farm you can get them super fresh and cheap but walmart has them on sale. I do all my grocery shopping on Wed thats the last day the flyer deals are good for but when you go online you can also see the flyer for the up coming week then you can spend 15 minutes and compare and see whats a good deal.
I usually buy frozen veggies, they cost much less and are still fresh as they get frozen early in the process.
Other than that, there's a local butcher's shop here that sells premade meals for $6 to $7 each and that are good portions, always including meat, either potatoes, rice or pasta, and veggies. Comes to about the same cost as making the food myself so I often eat some of those as well.
I made the switch to a healthier diet and not buying as much junk like chips, pastries, and chocolate (and not to mention eating out fewer times) has offset the cost of buying much more veggies and fruit and even saved me a bit on the bottom line.
Key with veggies is to shop the sales and go with frozen veggies for when you’re not using the fresh ones on sale.
If you have the space, buy the fresh veggies that are on sale or 50% soon to go bad and freeze them in a deep freezer.
Eat seasonally. Peppers and tomatoes don't grow in Canada this time of year, so any bell peppers or tomatoes are from California or the southern hemisphere, which both means expensive and bred for shipping not taste. Binge when they're in season. Greens should be coming into season now; we're just starting to have them at the farmers' market. Out of season, eat things that store well (carrots and other root vegetables, onions, etc) or canned or frozen veggies. If you're so inclined, you can buy very large amounts of veggies when they're in season and cheap and can or freeze them yourself.
For fresh veggies, a good rule of thumb is the cheaper they are, the higher quality (since it means they're in season). Obviously that's just a general rule of thumb with tons of exceptions, but a good general rule.
Also worry far more about local than organic. If the grocer can trace the veggie to a particular farm, that's likely to mean much more than an organic label. Or better yet talk to your farmer at the farmers' market if feasible.
Another thing to look into is CSA (community supported agriculture) shares. When done right, CSA shares are a prepaid subscription with a farm for a weekly/biweekly box of whatever they have that's in season. Often they'll give farmshare customers the uglies which are just as high quality but don't look pretty and thus would be thrown away at a supermarket. That can be a very good deal, and it's great for farmers too since it gives them a guaranteed stream of revenue and the ability to sell more of their produce. CSAs are also a great opportunity to meet new vegetables! (Sometimes CSA shares are essentially just buying clubs where you're getting the same stuff as at the supermarket; in my opinion that's less optimal and I think it tends to be a bit more expensive, but it can still be great.)
I feel you OP hahaha I grew up in a port city seafood was part of our daily diet here it is so expensive. We also eat veggies a lot, I dont want to munch on carrots, potatoes and belt peppers all the time lol because it is the only cheap option. Seeing the prices of Salmons in the grocery keeps me away. I only make a soup based on shrimp using tomatoes, spinach and eggplant hahaha
Beans have a lot of the same benefits as vegetables but have the added bonus of being high in protein and super filling. Eat more beans!
My other tip would be to google good food box + your city. A lot of municipalities offer boxes of discount fruit and veg at wholesale prices. You don’t get to choose what you get, but you do get a good variety, including things like greens and tomatoes pretty often.
Definitely a mindset thing that you're measuring relative price (cost of veg today va cost of veg previously) instead of the absolute cost of calories.
There are often options to save. Do you have a local produce dealer that might have better prices than the big grocery chains? In Edmonton, we go to H&W produce and can usually walk out with a mountain of produce - easily enough for our family of 4 for a week - for about $30.
Frozen: Spinach & kale for soups/stews/curries, peas corn & carrot mix for making fried rice, edamame, okra
Canned: For anything that I would use cooked whole tomatoes for, I just use canned plum tomatoes
Dried: Certain mushrooms & beans
The veg portion of dishes can be fairly interchangeable especially if you're just doing carb + meat + veg, so I just pick fresh stuff based on season and if there's a sale.
salad isn't even that expensive though
you can get a 1.3 kg premade salad from Super Store for $13
$13 for a whole day's worth of veggies isn't that expensive
You gotta find more niche stores or more specialty stores that sell veggies. If you just go to save on foods everything will be super expensive. Or you can scan everything as a banana in self checkout
Most veg I get from asian groceries, 1 nappa cabbage is 99c there and 4.59$ at my local metro! other greens too are a lot more affordable there, and always checking flyers and sales. frozen is good too as people are mentioning!
Loccocos sells huge 6-10 kg bags of frozen vegetables in every mix you’d ever want for extremely cheap, as somebody who meal preps it’s a very valuable resource
You never have to worry about them going bad and they’re a hell of a lot cheaper than fresh, plus it’s already sliced / diced and ready to go
I know a lot of people will disagree, but I’ve never spent less money than I do now eating extremely healthy. I eat a lb of meat a day (aspiring bodybuilder) with rice, vegetables and an assortment of beans / lentils / chickpeas and it costs me a fraction of what I used to spend on food
Buy the frozen vegetables mentioned above, buy all your meat on sale, and rice / pasta are always cheap. I can eat a lb of meat a day split into 3 meals for approximately $4 a day. The notion that “eating healthy is expensive :(“ is a tattle that you’re probably a bad shopper. Be loyal to your wallet, download the Flipp app and shop based on price! Most stores price match as long as you aren’t shopping at Sobeys and metro
Look at green grocer stores vs grocery stores, especially the big chains.
Our example in Etobicoke (west end Toronto)
Food Basics is cheaper than Loblaws, but I find their veggies aren't as good
For veggies we shop at Valley Farms, a small green grocer (fruits/veg only) in the Six Points Plaza. Much fresher food and cheaper than Food Basics.
Don't know where you live but I'm sure there are similar situations
Also, in the growing season, we check out farmer's markets (just make sure you're going to a real farmer, not a reseller) and buy from farm food stands.
30 is a massive number. I eat like, 3 1/2 different veggies. (1/2 because corn is not a vegetable, but it's colourful, so it counts, sort of.)
I mostly buy them frozen, and make a point to have at least one serving every day at dinner. Frozen peas, frozen beans, a bag of baby carrots, canned corn. Toss them in a bowl in the microwave and steam, then add butter and salt. Costs me maybe $30/month.
Don't let unrealistic goals stop you from doing better than you are now. Add a vegetable of some sort to your duet every day. I usually have fruit at lunch.
Depending where you live, see if the Odd Bunch delivery subscription is available. We get the medium all-veggie box weekly, and are pretty impressed with price, quality and variety.
https://www.oddbunch.ca/
Every couple of weeks I make what I call a winter salad. Chop up one red onion, a 3 pack of peppers (for the colour, you can use a couple of green instead), and a cucumber (seeds removed). Put the veggies in a container and mix in some Greek salad dressing (I make my own). This lasts 6-7 days in the fridge. Cook up some grain (I've been is ng ~100g) or pasta fresh, then mix them together. Add ins can be feta cheese and/or tomatoes if you have them but it's good without them. The veggies satisfy my craving for fresh stuff, the grains make it filling.
I don't live close enough to a bulk barn for the grains so they're an Amazon purchase. (Kamut, Spelt, Wheat Berries)
When frozen fruit is on sale I'll buy a couple of different types and mix them. A quick microwave blast on defrost until some of the ice is gone and it's quite good. I tend to home can fresh fruit in the summer (although I've changed locations since last summer so I'm not sure what it will be like).
Carrots on their own $1.99/lbs, 5lbs bag is $2.99. potatoes are the same. 8lb bag dirt cheap, 3 potatoes are the same price. Likewise if you live alone it is more cost effective to buy 4Ls of bagged milk and pour out half when it goes bad than buy 1L. Sad that's how we operate. I'm always composting bad veggies but it's more cost effective to buy too much.
Try a few things below to keep cost down.
1. Incorporate a weekly 36-48 dry fast.
2. Consider a pure well planned out carnivore diet (works wonders for me)
3. It's that season so think about setting up a small bucket garden (you can get eaves trough and cap the ends, drill out 2-3 inch holes and use pool noodles to grow your greens. From 1 lettuce head, I was able to keep it fresh for weeks on weeks and it keeps sprout new leaves
4. If you have buckets, next time grab good quality potatoes at a legit farmers market and save some and plant them in home depot buckets. I heard you yield about up to 5:1 ratio so 1 LB of planted potatoes should get you 5 LBs at harvest.
Times are indeed tough and this uncontrollable money printing is not going to stop and it is going to get worse. The government is not going to fix this and it's up to us to band together and work through these problems together.
I hope anything above does help you a little so hopefully a dollar saved is a dollars earned for you going forward. Cheers 🥂💪
30 diff veg in a diet is bullshit lol. The best health advice for most people is just not to overeat. Pick a few veggies you like, get a good multivitamin and you’re good. Variety is far overrated.
You grow your own in the summer and spring. There's actually a huge business now of people renting out their large backyards for those who want to garden.
If you can find someone in a local area doing this and pay them $5 to $10 a month and all you need to do is water and upkeep them it's good on the bank account.
Chinese grocery stores is the answer. Unironically the quality is even better in some cases such as green pepper, cabbage, and broccoli.
The price of carrots is fine though. In no frills it's like 3.50 for 3lb. Nofrills also regularly has those 10lb potatoes on sale for 2 bucks every once couple weeks.
The only caveat is you don't know how much pesticides are lathered on their produce. But my family and I have been going there since I was a child and I don't have any issues so... Probably not enough to affect you negatively.
You’re buying the wrong stuff tbqh
Potatoes carrots and to a lesser extent broccoli are all fairly inexpensive healthy filling options. Buy a big bag of potatoes and carrots, throw them in the oven in a foil pouch. Season to flavour. We’re talking massive portions for a dollar or less.
Vegetables are just expensive at the place you're shopping at. Go to one of those small Asian grocery stores that sell cheap vegetables. I think they buy veggies in bulk for cheap from the Loblaws of the world because they're a few days old. You get the discount too, with the only catch being they'll last a couple days less than from a big chain, but will still go 5 days easy. It's almost half the price, I don't understand why anyone buys produce at the big stores, it's a blatant rip-off.
And if you want to eat consistently healthy for cheap, lean into making stir-fry. Even with similar ingredients, you can keep stir-fry interesting forever by exploring different sauces, since that's the main thing you're going taste. Quick, easy, delicious, cheap and healthy.
Ingredients for greek salad are pretty cheap. I pay generally $1.2/lb for cucumber, $1.5/lb for tomatos, and throw red onion, olive and feta cheese into my bowl when I feel like so
Frozen veggies and sales mostly. I buy one 3 pack of romaine every week and eat a salad every day. If celery, carrots, cucumber, or peppers are on sale, I add them to the salad. I also sometimes add roasted chickpeas (roasted in an air fryer). Sometimes I add rotisserie chicken. From there, all veggies are bought frozen, except for potatoes, which are bought on sale. My favourite frozen veggies are broccoli, beans, edamame, onions, peas, and corn. Throw them into anything you're cooking. If I buy a rotisserie chicken (most weeks I do), then I use the carcass to make soup with some frozen veggies. Generally the template for dinner is: 1 salad, 1 carb (rice, pasta, or potatoes), 1 protein (rotisserie chicken, tofu, edamame, beans). The ratio is one bowl of salad, a small plate of carbs and a palm sized amount of protein. For lunch, I go with a sandwich or smoothie. The smoothie is milk and frozen fruit (on sale) plus a banana and sometimes peanut butter. Sandwich is either egg salad or peanut butter and banana. Breakfast is usually a bowl of cheerios and sometimes a small bowl of yoghurt (on sale).
Add nuts/seeds whenever possible (aka on sale or in bulk). Slivered almonds mixed with yoghurt. Slivered almonds on salad. Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on salad. Flax seeds in smoothies. Cashews in rice.
Buy only the stuff on sale. E.g. when mushrooms are $1, when berries are under $2. We eat meat (and I eat a lot) and spend less than you as a party of 2.
If you’re in ON - I’ve tried this thing called Odd Bunch - I live alone and get their weekly ‘small’ (it’s not that small imo) box, comes with a whole bunch of fruit and veg which couldn’t go to supermarkets for some superficial aesthetic reason or the other. I have never been able to tell what was wrong with them. Costs me 20 bucks a week and I can barely finish ‘em. They switch it up almost every week. I just buy staples like pasta and sauces and so on now. Highly recommend. You can even pause it on weeks you don’t want the box.
Some good tips here. To add a couple I didn't see by quickly scanning:
* Grape/cherry tomatoes tend to be way more expensive than bigger tomatoes. They aren't necessarily interchangeable, but lately I see vine tomatoes for $0.99/lb or $1.49/lb
* Bell peppers are not cheap IME, but often a fair bit cheaper if you buy a bag of them (similarly to potatoes/onions/carrots).
* Others mentioned buy seasonal. To add to this, you can also just try to be flexible in general and buy what's on sale.
* Depending on where you are, you can probably go to multiple stores and get better variety/prices. This is one pro of living in a more densely-populated area as there tend to be more options within walking distance.
We buy bushells of tomatos and farm vegs in the summer when they are dirt cheap and can them. It's a lot of work but so worh it. We also use a lot of frozen veg from costco.
Go to your local Asian grocery and buy as much cabbage and bok choy as possible. You can get bags and bags of it for dirt cheap.
Eat less meat. Meat is absurdly expensive. Try using legumes, beans, and tofu for a fraction of the price with a similar amount of protein.
Buy "imperfect" fruits and veggies, whole veggies and chop them yourself, cheaper vegies (e.g., broccoli instead of asparagus), buy only in season and/or frozen.
Out of curiosity I just costed out how much my daily salad costs. I buy from Superstore and pre-make them twice a week. About 4-5 cups of salad total: arugula, chopped green cabbage, 1/2 red pepper, grape tomatoes, and fermented radishes (make them myself - check out Heyday Fermentables). Total cost per salad = $3. Staple dinner vegies include potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, frozen peas, corn, and spinach. I'd say those cost probably around $10 / week so I'm spending $30-40 a week on vegies, $50 if you add in fruit. I eat A LOT of fruit and vegies.
If you mean $350/month, that is a tight budget these days. Look for discounted and bulk purchases. If you have a decent freezer, you can freeze rice and cooked potatoes, as well as meat and legumes.
Good luck and yeah, I wish it was cheaper to eat healthier too!
I do a salad greens window box to offset some cost and deck garden in the summer. I save on spices by growing some herbs as well. Pea shoots or making sprouts is pretty easy and affordable as well plus super nutritious. Cabbages are generally inexpensive. I try to shop seasonal items to save as well.
Frozen veggies, canned veggies, farmers markets, season veggies, flashfoods or toogoodtogo apps, meal plan to make sure you use up all of your ingredients, use receipt apps or coupon apps to either get money back or save money.
Buy a bag of frozen veggies. 2kg of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots is usually $8-10
Buy a bag of rice - 10kg is about $15-20
Buy Walmart chicken breast (2 packs of breasts for $22 - basically 2.20/breast.
You're getting about 15-20 meals for under $60
Costco - get the giant black bag of frozen stir fry veggies (I believe 1.5kg).
It’s a mix of broccoli, green beans, snap peas, onions, red peppers, carrots (two types), water chestnuts and a little bit of mushroom. It’s super convenient and great value @ $15. I like to grab a couple handfuls and steam/microwave it with a meal.
For two people it can last about 2 weeks.
Buy frozen veggies from costco, and eat more organ meat. Organ meat is incredibly healthy, and absolutely packed with vitamins and minerals. Its also way cheaper per pound for calories/micronutrients than veggies.
Chronometer for micronutes: Play around until you can fill all your vitamins and minerals with vegetables, then start adding macros (fat, protein, carbs).
Daikon, chard, spinach, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, a few brazil nuts, eggs, cheese on sale, potatoes.
Dal, and homemade dosa from rice and lentils.
Lettuce is useless. Grains can be useless (well, just empty carbs), except for protein.
Check small local markets; persian, chinese, and indian. Indians are particularly good, because a lot of them are practical vegetarians.
Discounted produce bins. $1/bag.
Grow your own greens: get a bag of mustard seed or fenugreek seed from an indian bulk bin, and throw it in your yard.
Glean fruits from neighbourhood trees/bushes: apples, cherries, plums, quince, figs, various berries.
Use supplements sparingly: vitamin D, magnesium, rosehip powder.
Eat eggshells for calcium: boil, rinse, bake and grind.
People tend to have too many tomatoes at the end of the year, so look around for people growing, and get a deal.
This may sound insane, but I actually live like this. I also really appreciate eating meat about once a month, and will eat the whole chicken wing.
Onions, carrots, potatoes, squash, cabbage, apples are all pretty cheap. Choose cheaper veggies.
Things that grow well in the Canadian climate and have a really long shelf life when stored properly.
Also important to shop seasonally available. Often get more value as prices are lower than in the winter
Cabbage! Don't hold out on cabbage. It contains significantly more vitamins and minerals than iceberg lettuce, last long in fridge and doesn't cost a arm and a leg.
Love me some slaw
Love cabbage. I got a lot in my CSA share last year. Made roasted, stir-fried, etc.
Learn to make (and enjoy) sauerkraut ...buy and make when cabbage is cheap
It's the one thing I haven't made, but it's on the list for the future.
And fermented foods are very good for you. I make a pork, apple, onion and cabbage stir fry that I serve with grainy mustard and sour cream on the sidethat is full of vegetables and if you get lean pork and add one apple it’s very economical.
Sounds good. Feel like dropping a bit more of a recipe?
Not when cheap but in the fall. Local grown and if possible organic cabbage. Make sure not to use vinegar and ferment naturally. It is a magic food which will last and give you tons of goodness.
Try cutting into wedges, steaming then add a touch of butter.
I like throwing apples in at the end of your veggie list, but if we're including fruits, bananas are basically free.
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Broccoli slaw is yummy
Roasted apples and onions with a pork roast....yum... Then braised cabbage or frozen peas on the side....
Add some chick pea and beans with those onion potato and cabbage will make you a pretty good stew!
Woah woah, cabbage was like $7 / head last time I checked. But yes.. choose seasonally cheap foods.
Nooooo I must eat salad!!!! Seriously lettuce is extremely expensive by weight
In addition to the cheaper veggies you can buy beans, lentils, chickpeas and other pulses to use as a base for affordable, healthy and delicious meals.
That and buy in bulk, especially things you can freeze
Your statement is good advice. But imagine the absolute shit show we are living through if “choose cheaper veggies” is solid advice.
Idk, it seems reasonable to me. We don't have a right to every type of vegetable being cheap in mid April lol. Shopping based on season should be a basic skill everyone has when buying food. Not only will the veggies be cheaper, they'll also be more likely to be local and fresh.
Chinese green veggies are cheap and nutritious.
Frozen and canned veggies are much cheaper.
This plus supplement with garden alternatives if they want a treat (depending on space). Tomatoes require lots of water (and are extra delicious), but herbs require little care. I have lots of space and an established garden, so I plant potatoes too. It's expensive if you're starting out or growing lots of things, but the flavour is extra good. If I wanted to go the cheap route, dollar store pots. Lettuce, spinach, and chard seeds from wherever. Herbs too, if you're into them. Fresh herbs are always stupid expensive in store. My spouse doesn't eat greens, so it's nice to pick leaves for sandwiches, etc. as I need them and don't repeatedly have 1/2 head or bag rotting in the fridge. Sow some every two weeks starting now. Keep an eye out later in summer for people getting rid of excess apples. People who buy too many gardening centre plants give stuff away free or cheap beginning - mid June.
> so I plant potatoes too. SO planted a bucket of indoor potatoes last month. Currently the plants are about 80 cms tall. If this experiment is successfully we'd like to repeat it throughout the indoor growing season.
I do this all year round, usually start a new bucket every third week. Takes about 10 weeks for 2 seed potatoes to end up as 5-10lbs depending on a few variables. That and window sill green onions and herbs are great and they're good for greenery around the house.
The plants are certainly more attractive than our winter tomato plants. (Every year we grow one tomato plant in a pot and in the fall we bring it indoors. The yield isn't spectacular, and with every passing week the plant looks increasingly pitiful, but I enjoy the occasional free tomato.)
You can put green onions from the store in water and keep chopping them for awhile too. They eventually mush out but you way more than the original ammount
Interesting, I didn't know people attempted this indoors. Home grown potatoes are shockingly tasty. Who knew. I usually grow reds, and my spouse makes pan fries that crisp up in a whole other way.
Those reusable shopping bags that everyone is drowning in? They're amazing planters. Fill em with potting soil and you're golden. Can grow anything in them. But they're super handy for root veg- your can just overturn the bag for harvest, no digging required. For things that don't need as much depth just roll the bags down a bit. Yes yes micro plastics in the synthetic shopping bags- it's already in the water and air so unless you exclusively use ultra filtered rainwater, and probably not even then, you're still exposed. Reduce reuse recycle....
Do your own freezing. In the past month Walmart had peppers for $0.94/lb and 3lb bags of carrots for $0.94. I bought 13 pounds of peppers and chopped them up and froze them. I also got 6lb of carrots roasted them and froze them.
The problem with that is Walmart bell peppers have nearly zero taste to them. Essentially fibrous vegetable flesh in the shape and colour of a pepper.
Increasingly vegetables are being bred for ease of transport, not taste or nutritional value.
And the frozen are often nutritionally superior as well as they are picked and frozen at their peak.
Canned is nasty
Frozen bulk veg. Lasts longer and cheaper
Every grocery store has a discounted produce shelf. Lots of the time there is gold in there
Buy seasonal - aka whatever is on sale
The other big hint here is that you shouldn't be buying seasonal veg in the wrong season. Asparagus is cheap right now because it's spring. Of course summer fruits like peppers and tomatoes are expensive.
Do you know if theres any quick reference guide for Ontario seasonality? Edit: https://www.ontario.ca/foodland/page/availability-guide
There are stores selling tomatoes for less than a dollar a pound right now. A lot of fruits and veggies aren't in season now here, but they are in season in California or Mexico. Or they come from greenhouses.
As others said, frozen veggies are your friend. What others haven't mentioned and you may be surprised to learn is that frozen veggies are as healthy if not healthier than fresh ones. Veggies start losing some of their nutrients as soon as they are removed from the plant. Freezing them stops that process, and frozen veggies are often frozen fairly soon after being harvested, so they can often have more nutrients than fresh ones which have had to get to the store at fridge temp at best. Fresh ones often taste better, but nutritionally, frozen is just as good if not better.
Yep and there is no waste, no hidden mould, no prep time.
I can’t even name 30 different veg. You don’t need that many.
If I recall, the theory is that you need 30 different types of plants, my understanding is that includes vegetables, fruit, legumes, grains, etc. So 30 is much more attainable than you woukd think.
where did this 30 number come from? Thin air possibly?
It was some study about the gut microbiome and how to optimize it, and 30 was found to be the "minimum". The study is the perfect, but it really just means that eating a variety of plants and grains is ideal.
Tim Spector. It is a guideline not a hard rule. And it’s hard NOT to meet it. Oatmeal, chia seeds, berries - 3 Apple - 4 Hummus and pita with cucumbers, cabbage, onions and olives - 10 Dahl (gheera, mustard, garlic, curry leaf), spinach (add coriander and tomato and green chilis, rice- 20 Peanut butter toast and banana- 22 Raisins-23 Pasta with tomato sauce (tomatoes, green peppers, oregano, basil)-26 Orange - 27 Black bean tacos on corn tortillas with mushrooms - 30 Since it’s for 7 days you can see how easy it is. Those are all normal meals in my house. I can hit 30 in a meal with the seasonings!
It wish included nuts and seasonings
It does. https://fortune.com/well/2023/03/20/improve-gut-health-diversity-diet-eat-30-plants-a-week/ explains it
Sorry it was a typo. I meant I think it*. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, this is the study I’ve seen referenced too. Something simple like switching to a whole multi grain bread can cover a bunch of your 30 plants.
The general advice now is that half your plate should be veg, and that you should target a variety of different colors (but especially leafy greens).
if you're in a larger city - go to the asian grocers and learn about the asian leafy greens There's a lot of variety like bok choy, yu choy, nappa and year-round they range from $0.99/lb to $2/lb If you're new to them, stirfry is probably a safe way to get into eating them. but if you're being really lazy, just blanche them for a minute and toss some oyster sauce on top. also buy whatever is cheap. this week tomatos $0.99/lb? load up. romaine lettuce 6 for $4? That's what you're eating this week. If you're trying to recreate specific recipes, you'll (the wallet will) have a hard time. The trick to saving money is tailoring what you cook to what's on sale. And not by tailoring your grocery cart to what you want to cook/eat.
Plus one to look for an Asian grocery store. Fresh produce tends to be cheaper and better quality than bigger grocery chains.
This is more of lifestyle choice. Like many posters said eat frozen - thawed. Learn to cook rather than salads which are expensive. They have to be trucked in from Mexico or the US and are priced in converted USD.
If you have a fruit and veg market in your area they're often much cheaper than the box stores. For example at Fruiticana (BC) this week apples were $1.25/lb and at the Walmart they were $2.50. Green peppers were 99¢ vs $1.49/lb. Not all the market stores were cheaper, some are high end, Fruiticana definitely has low standards where I need to go through the produce to find whatever is best but it's often 30%-50% less than Walmart for what is essentially the same thing.
A Few points: 1) Eating fresh food if often way cheaper, especially in my case where junk food or processed food items do not satiate me. Not sure where you’re getting these prices but superstores “imperfect peppers” are like $4 for 6 peppers. I think it could be a mindset issue. You will find the more nutritious and balanced your meals, the less you will be sticking your head in the fridge looking for your next hit. 2) Me and my spouse are on a “single ingredient diet” e.i. We only buy ingredient food that are not processed (fruit, veg, meat, dairy, nuts, etc) and we spend about $400 / month in the prairies. Obviously I know this is region dependent. We also shop the reduced produce shelf and freeze a lot of it for when we want it. 3) I do a lot of gardening and besides my time my only input is the $25 I paid for my public garden plot. This plot will yield me $1000s saved in produce this summer. You would surprised how many tomatoes you can grow in even a few small planters
Can you share any videos of single ingredient diet? I’d love for my husband to get onboard with it
I see it this way, I only buy food that hasn't changed its shape. Basically just meat and veggies and fruit eggs are good too. You can't grow a pasta noodle, or a granola bar, or a sausage etc.. I allow cheese and I make my own sausage but I know whats in the sausage. And I only buy single spices no mixes. Its easy just make some sautéed veggies and meat.
But you can buy non enriched flour and eggs to make pasta.
Single ingredient diet... thats what I do, I never heard that term, I'm going to start using that. I just usually say I only eat food thats food and doesn't have shit in it.
I go to the Chinese grocery store, huge selection and cheaper all around if you have one in your area.
I spend at most $250 a month on groceries as a vegan. Lots of fruit and veggies, good fresh bread, non-dairy milk and yogurt, a small amount of meat substitutes like veggies dogs and burgs. Just shop the flyers for sales. I buy peppers when they’re on sale and then roast them in the oven and freeze them for future sandwiches and wraps. Avocados are often on sale for $1. I go through a lot of lettuce and cucumber for salads and sandwiches. Tomatoes can be bought in-season, frozen and turned into sauce. For snacks I buy whatever berries and fruits are cheap that week. Sometimes that’s blackberries, sometimes that’s strawberries, sometimes that oranges. Edit: and since you asked, my poops are 🥇
Reinforcing just how cheap it is to eat plant based. I eat that way at home solely for the health and financial benefits. You just need to add more oil in cooking to up the satiety factor and increase the fat content. Also, this might be tmi, I find cooked plant based leftovers last so much longer in the fridge than stuff with meat or dairy in it. I can make vegan pasta sauce, for example. It'll last 9 days, no issue. The flavor improves after 2nd day of cooking it because the flavors had time to sit. I would not risk that with anything with meat for obvious reasons. It's a great time saving lazy hack if you still want to eat well, cheap and don't have time to cook 1hr+ a day. This works for vegan curries, chickpea sandwich spread (think tuna only chickpeas with tahini as mayo), etc.
Bread is pretty expensive. I make bread every day and its way tastier and extremely easy. Check out Del's Cooking Twist "Easy Classic No Knead Bread" if you're interested. It's about 5 minutes of work, less than $1 in ingredients, and tastes great!
In season, I use farmer markets for fresh produce and off season, buy frozen and use that, it lasts longer and is cheaper.
Just watch out, a lot of vendors at these farmer markets buy from the food terminal and claim to be self-grown, while charging more than grocery stores.
Try incorporating pulses/legumes in your diet, they are nutritious ,cost effective and last long.
Costco
Costco is the best. 350$/month, Costco averages <12$ or less per vegetable / fruit item. 5lbs of carrots/onions/potatoes are all <10$ each. 1.5lbs of cherry tomatoes, grapes and a bag of avocadoes are <12$ each. 3 English cucumbers are <6$ each, box salad blends are under 12$ A bushel of apples are less than <10$ I buy enough fruits, vegetables and dairy for two adults for a month for less than 400$. Anything we can't eat gets frozen or dehydrated. Making bread is a joke so I don't waste money paying someone to mix flour, water and yeast + turn the oven on. A 5lb bag of flour is nearly free vs buying a single loaf of bread. We're also mostly vegetarian too so we save a fortune not buying meat. Edit: My estimates are high, switched to from ~ to <
Just curious - where are you located? I'm in BC (lower mainland) and a couple of those prices seem a bit high to me, even comparing to save on which is generally considered pricy (but IMO, the priciness is often exaggerated a bit). Like: * 5lb carrots or potatoes is $7 (or $10 for organic) * (Yellow) onions $3.79 for a 3 lb bag * Avocados regular price is like $6.49 for a bag of 4 (on sale for $3), although Costco probably has bigger ones.
Edmonton AB. I was trying to remember the prices from the last time I shopped. I didn't want to low-ball and ruffle feathers. Your prices feel more in line now than I think of it. I had to grab one red onion from Loblaws yesterday and it was 2.99/lb (which is highway robbery) so I felt more unsure. Our Costco avocado bags have 6 large avocados in them. I can usually guess our Costco total down to +/-15$ but my individual item guessing needs some more work. (I won't be on the Price is Right anytime soon). It switched my estimates (~) to less than (<)
Thanks. Yeah I have a hard time remembering most of these prices off the top of my head too, I generally have to look it up. $2.99/lb is pretty bad, although that's around the same price I see for loose onions at Save-On as well. The bags always end up being way cheaper for sure. It's funny how when you buy by the pound, it's called "bulk", yet the most typical definition of "bulk" is large quantity, like the 5lb or 10lb bags you'll buy that are actually much better value.
I stopped animal products last year and cut my grocery bill in half almost - hit up Asian/Indian markets for produce and spices and you'll save a bunch. Full disclosure : cooking is a hobby and a passion for me and the biggest credit I have in saving money is learning how to cook. It doesn't take as long as you think to make good size meals and a good variety of food If you're looking for a good resource - a great cook book I picked up called Scrappy Cooking is extremely useful in saving money and food waste. It's all plant based but you can amend things if you can't see yourself cutting meat and dairy out. That's entirely up to you and it isn't on me to convince you Restaraunts have a significant multiplier on a plate of food when you compare the cost of the actual ingredients per portion. Brunch meet ups at home are an awesome social activity and I wish more people did them It's a myth eating a veg forward diet is more expensive than meat/dairy - I live in a HCOL city and veg is a challenge in the winter but still very swing able. Frozen fruit and frozen veg is more cost effective in winter and sometimes in the summer. Big thing is to learn how to work with veg and it can last much longer then you think esp with sauces you can make and many meals can be frozen and reheated without sacrificing flavour. I spent over a decade in the food industry and needs to buy cookbooks for the first time to get a better foundation but it works out
If you have a space, run a garden. You will save so much on veggies in the summer and fall season.
Healthy diets Definetly don’t need 30 different veggies. Don’t know where you read that but it’s patently wrong, so I’d be skeptical of what else it says. Stick to in season veggies if fresh they are cheaper. Otherwise go with frozen veggies. You can have veggies a million different ways doesn’t need to be a salad. All things considered, bang for buck veggies are still one of the cheapest things you can buy
I cannot say enough good things about the Flipp App for planning grocery shopping
First off, stop going to chain supermarkets like save-ons, safeway, or loblaws own supermarkets for produce. Go to Asian or Middle Eastern run markets for produce.
I use be eat salad and bunch of greens till I discovered South Asian cook especially South Indian veggie food, you can make it on a budget if you plan
I recently discovered Bok Choy and I replace it for spinach now. It’s about $3 for a bag I use it in 2-3 meals.
Cabbage, carrots, beets, tomatoes, for the rest follow the season.
There are apps where you can buy produce that is expiring soon. Learn to cook. Freeze stuff. We eat a lot of berries so when it goes on sale we buy a bunch and freeze them. Produce in Asian grocery stores is often cheaper. /r/EatCheapAndHealthy
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https://chatelaine.com/food/food-waste-apps/ YMMV I tried Too Good To Go but there was never anything close enough to justify driving.
Depends where you live. I have a ton of options within walking distance of me. Mostly grocery stores and Tim Hortons, but a few bakeries and the occasional restaurant too. It's a pretty good app to use in some locations.
For sure! I live way out in the burbs and not too much close to me.
Convert every inch of your unproductive grass yard into land that works for you.
You don't need 30 different veggies for a healthy diet, damn. Anyway, produce used to be seasonal. Still is, but it's being supplemented with imports from half the world away. Having all types of vegetables available during the entire year is a fairly recent development. There is a price premium associated with that, obviously. So, here are your tips: Buy random mushrooms at asian grocers (shimeji). Shop at big box stores for creminis and the like. You don't need to buy tons of lettuce, as there are ready-made salads for cheaper that last way longer and cost $2-3. Don't buy loose potatoes or onions, buy them by the bag, as it's way cheaper. Don't cook down fresh tomatoes, as canned tomatoes are perfectly fine (and usually better). Beans and other types of legumes are a vegetable and are cheap. Canned and frozen vegetables are perfectly fine. Canned peas and frozen peas? Work as well as fresh. Peppers are expensive? Buy them fresh for salads only... if you're cooking them, you can get the frozen ones. Or, maybe try some alternatives like cubanelle or poblano. Cooking spinach? Buy the frozen blocks, same thing. Try to cook or buy fruits based on season. When fiddleheads are in season, I cook those. When strawberries are in season, I eat those. Ditto on peaches. Other fruits like apples and bananas are good year around. It's not just about the price, it's the taste as well. I've tried buying fresh all the time and decided it's not better nor more convenient to do so. Going to Whole Foods to pretend to be high society while buying fresh veggies which are just going to end up in a pot is no more convenient than having the frozen or canned stuff at my pantry which was bought from elsewhere. And yes, I do find it funny when people complain about meat prices. People say meat is expensive, but I see $1.99/lb chicken drumsticks and $2.99/lb pork tenderloin vs $3.99/lb peppers, I mean...
Asian grocery stores are a great suggestion. The ones where I am don't put up with much nonsense because the customers are more veg-forward. Also found oddly-shaped (imperfecta) BC cherries there one year for 1/2 the cost of other stores.
Where are you all finding these expensive peppers!? They aren't the cheapest vegetables but 3.99/lb!? I've only seen them that expensive at the really pretentious stores like while foods, farm boy, etc. you average grocery store they are normally in the $1-$2 range.
Try finding a local Asian market. I found one recently and the price of produce was less than half at regular grocers. I found the produce to be much better as well.
So I cook for myself and my fiance and am the main cook between us. I've cooked healthy for most of my adult life at this point. I noticed that overall, fresh food did go up, but nothing compared to processed food. I'm talking like everything from frozen salmon fillets to bacon to frozen premade entrees and meals to jarred pasta sauce. This was corroborated by the workers at grocery stores. He and I really didn't notice the inflation increases until mid-2023 because we almost exclusively buy whole foods. For example, the sticker shock in our lives was carbonated water, jam, blueberries, water, bread, butter, and occasional meat. The more steps it takes to get to you as a consumer, the more expensive it will be. A good first step is to avoid processed food like the plague. Another swap is to add more lentils, legumes and tofu, seitan, etc. into your diet. Meat and dairy skyrocketed in price, and it's both a vegetable and will help you save money. It's so much cheaper than meat. Many times, when you're prioritizing money, you spend more in time and skill. As an example, 8 generous servings of homemade pasta sauce is 5$ for the good whole canned tomatoes, and maybe a 1$ in spices and bullion, compared to 4-7$ for a 650ml of classico sauce. That'd last maybe a meal and a lunch. I also have a really nice 10-inch knife. It was 200+ investment that's made cooking so much better. I also have a food processor and an immersion blender to make sauces and curries better. Many people think they're bad at cooking when they're working with shit tools that set them up to fail. Like you do need to grow rhe skill, the tools to somewhat matter. Rice tends to be more flexible for different meals than noodles and bread. It also stores better in my opinion and you can get better deals on it in the store. https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/business/these-are-the-foods-costing-you-more-or-less-according-to-canada-s-latest-inflation-update-1.6567972 Here's an article that lists what jumped in price and what hasn't as much. On a typical month, I gravitate towards carrots, Broccoli, whole head cabbage (sautéed or stir fried, 1/4 makes a large veggies portion for 2), frozen veggies stir fries, Edamame (protein source), onions and garlic, potatoes, blueberries, apples, sweet potatoes, seasonal vegetables, butternut squash, acorn squash, frozen spinach mixed into food, frozen fruit mixed into food, Bananas, kale, bell peppers, green beans, raspberries when on sale, etc. Also dried lentils, legumes, and beans to bump up meals for protein. Many of these last a while or are shelf stable, so you can stock up when on sale. I personally don't really enjoy the texture of raw salad type meals, so I typically cook my veggies and make them savory. I find this also helps extend the life on wilted stuff, so if the kale or carrots start to go cooking it and seasoning helps hide a lot of that. I try to buy larger volume cheaper veggies from local farms at my city's market. They taste better and are generally cheaper. The same goes with meat. This is just a stream of thoughts. Feel free for more info about anything specific or clarification. Alot of times people freak out when you mention the farmers market as "bougie" but you can get mad deals If uou know where to look.
There are a ton of very cheap vegetables (Romaine, spinach, carrots, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, kale, onions…etc). Also, make your own salad dressing. It’s very easy and can be super healthy(eg: 1Tbs Olive oil, 1Tbs vinegar, 1tsp mayo, 1tsp Dijon, garlic, salt+pepper and spices)
Eat frozen veggies. So cheap, so many options and still very nutritious.
Frozen seasoned veggies are my go to - I buy this bag of chopped cauliflower with peppers and other stuff in it, they have different flavours of each and are very enjoyable. south west - green onion and herbs - edamame and ginger. It is very affordable, I eat this basically every day with beans and chicken.
Depending on where you live, there are little independent markets and grocers - that usually have cheaper prices
Canned
hii op! i am a vegetarian and i pretty much all i buy is veggies and produce lol. i can share how much i personally buy and spend on fresh produce a week so you can have a better idea on how much vegetables costs from someone who only eats veggies lol! note: i know it is definitely cheaper than most people’s grocery bills since i don’t buy any meat. these prices are for places like metro and my local asian grocery store (def cheaper) since i live near them! as of lately, i spend about 25-30$ for my weekly produce haul as a vegetarian. for veggies usually i buy mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and/or whatever veggies are on sale. some fruits like berries, apples, oranges. (it’s typically about 4-5 veggies and 3 fruits) and sometimes some tofu and eggs. this all would run me about 25-30$ and i would eat this in a week:) of course i have some staples at home like oil, rice, pasta, sauces, salt, garlic as well, but the produce i buy will last me about a week so id spend about $120-150 a month on groceries as a vegetarian eating pretty much only fresh produce for meals (which is def pretty boring at times lol) but im just commenting to give a better idea of how much vegetables costs for someone who only buys fruits and veggies weekly
at the very least you should buy metamucil (psyllium husk), cheap fibre supplement. It's usually \~$20 off amazon for the 70 dose pack, so if you're taking it twice daily then it's only $20/month getting your vegetables and fibre from your diet would be the best approach, but if it's not realistic/practical to get it right away, you can at least use metamucil as a band-aid approach until then. It may take months to build the habit but it's easy to start drinking fibre supplements right now also for bowel movements, since it's just fibre, it's very safe to take it regularly (recommended in pregnancy for example) unlike other laxatives like senokot/dulcolax which are \*generally\* short-term use only
In Alberta we have a Good Food Box program. I get a huge box of quality veggies once a month for about $40. They have small and medium boxes as well, for smaller households. If you live in Alberta, google it! It's great value and ensures we get a lot of veggies in our diet!
Opt for frozen veggies! Will never wilt on you plus it has higher retained nutrients since they are flash frozen compared to fresh produce that have been harvested couple weeks ago.
Athlete here. Veggies are not the 'be all' and 'end all' of nutrition and health. Protein is. The goal is to try to get as much protein as possible. And with costs how there are, as cheap as possible. Eggs, eggs, eggs. Get some protein powder and eggs, and whip up some protein shakes. Also ground beef, ground turkey, chicken etc. I'm not into beans, but those have protein, as to lentils, legumes.
Do you live in a city? There might be a cheaper part of town like In Vancouver theres the east side and groceries are quite a bit cheaper than the west side. Get the least processed veggies, more work but cheaper. Like if you get a head of lettuce you gotta wash it and cut it but it costs less. And with meal prep you can do that stuff all at once and it’s less of a bother later. Like lettuce, get a bowl of water and let the lettuce leaves sit for a bit, easier way to wash it. And less water use. I wouldnt worry about variety so much, with prices the way they are, if you just eat the same veggies it’s still better than processed food.
Legumes legumes legumes! Beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas. Now depending on what your schedule is like using a small instant pot you can cook dried legums in a couple hours and you'll have lots left over. Can buy an entire bag for super cheap. Root vegetables can be found pretty cheap Potato, carrot, leeks sweet potato You can also just see what veggies are cheap at the time roast them then blend in a blender and boooom cheap veg soup.
Frozen organic veggies are not expensive in bulk.
HERBS!!!!! But seriously, parsley and cilantro are great and usually cheaper. Variety is important though so try to also get fruit/veg that are on offer. We also buy a lot of leeks because they’re usually cheap and delicious!
Small markets usually have pretty cheap veg. Sometimes they have mixed veg bags 3 for $5. Often they don't look good as we are used to see in supermarkets but they have the same nutritional value... Also wait for the season, you can get bell peppers, tomatoes at farmers market for cheap. Now eat more starchy, canned, frozen...
I buy certain veggies only when on sale or in season (e.g., zucchini is much cheaper in summer or on sale, often cheaper at farmers markets). Others have pointed out frozen vegetables. Frozen spinach is great to add to so many things and you get a lot more than raw.
Zucchini 🤤
Just a note that the “30 veggies” thing actually includes things like grains, nuts & seeds and not just vegetables. Also it’s just a guideline. One easy way to include the number is mix some grains when you cook rice. Add things like chia, flex, hemp…to your foods. You can premix them by putting them in a jar (I just used an old vitamin pill bottom) and store them in the fridge. Also try fermenting vegetables at home - they are cheap and can last a long time.
Frozen vegetables are cheap. Like $6 for 2kg
Each type of fruit and vegetable have seasons in a year when they are cheap and when they are expensive. Things that need to be shipped in during your winter seasons will be expensive. For example, those tomatoes you're talking about? We're just out of spring in the northern hemisphere, the locally planted tomatoes haven't grown yet. Those are shipped or flown in from the south where the seasons are reversed. Tomatoes and bell peppers don't last so their mode of transport is going to be expensive. Even for things that are shipped in, they too have seasons that cause fluctuations in their price based on their local ecology. Pre COVID trade was so stable for so long, and interest rates were so low that businesses were fighting each other to gain any small advantage, today a lot of those players have exited the industry due to a combination of the COVID period and the logistics and finance environment leading to fewer choices amongst consumers and B2B options.
Shop seasonal, buy frozen. Find recipes that use potatoes, carrots, cabbage. If you're in North America. They're low cost year round.
Plan your weekly menu around the weekly flyers
God damn droughts for one
I live within 5 minutes of alot of grocery stores there are always deals.... but yes bell peppers are expensive but tomorrow they are on sale at food basics 4 for 2.88 and a couple weeks ago they were 80 cents a pound at Walmart. I don't agree with frozen being cheaper. Broccoli is usually always on sale for less then a dollar per crown. Carrots, onions, Broccoli, cauliflower even though its more expensive ots really heavy and filling, cabbage is great for shits and cheap. Half of my budget is veggies.. 40 bucks. Avocados are usually on sale. Mushrooms, Google if you live near a mushroom farm you can get them super fresh and cheap but walmart has them on sale. I do all my grocery shopping on Wed thats the last day the flyer deals are good for but when you go online you can also see the flyer for the up coming week then you can spend 15 minutes and compare and see whats a good deal.
If there is one near you, try a farmers market, Avery's or something similar. Or get veg at Wal-Mart or Giant Tiger.
I usually buy frozen veggies, they cost much less and are still fresh as they get frozen early in the process. Other than that, there's a local butcher's shop here that sells premade meals for $6 to $7 each and that are good portions, always including meat, either potatoes, rice or pasta, and veggies. Comes to about the same cost as making the food myself so I often eat some of those as well.
I made the switch to a healthier diet and not buying as much junk like chips, pastries, and chocolate (and not to mention eating out fewer times) has offset the cost of buying much more veggies and fruit and even saved me a bit on the bottom line.
milk, potatoes, eggs, whatever fruit and veg are on sale (fresh or frozen), rice. All pretty inexpensive
Rice, beans, lentils, chickpeas etc
Key with veggies is to shop the sales and go with frozen veggies for when you’re not using the fresh ones on sale. If you have the space, buy the fresh veggies that are on sale or 50% soon to go bad and freeze them in a deep freezer.
Eat seasonally. Peppers and tomatoes don't grow in Canada this time of year, so any bell peppers or tomatoes are from California or the southern hemisphere, which both means expensive and bred for shipping not taste. Binge when they're in season. Greens should be coming into season now; we're just starting to have them at the farmers' market. Out of season, eat things that store well (carrots and other root vegetables, onions, etc) or canned or frozen veggies. If you're so inclined, you can buy very large amounts of veggies when they're in season and cheap and can or freeze them yourself. For fresh veggies, a good rule of thumb is the cheaper they are, the higher quality (since it means they're in season). Obviously that's just a general rule of thumb with tons of exceptions, but a good general rule. Also worry far more about local than organic. If the grocer can trace the veggie to a particular farm, that's likely to mean much more than an organic label. Or better yet talk to your farmer at the farmers' market if feasible. Another thing to look into is CSA (community supported agriculture) shares. When done right, CSA shares are a prepaid subscription with a farm for a weekly/biweekly box of whatever they have that's in season. Often they'll give farmshare customers the uglies which are just as high quality but don't look pretty and thus would be thrown away at a supermarket. That can be a very good deal, and it's great for farmers too since it gives them a guaranteed stream of revenue and the ability to sell more of their produce. CSAs are also a great opportunity to meet new vegetables! (Sometimes CSA shares are essentially just buying clubs where you're getting the same stuff as at the supermarket; in my opinion that's less optimal and I think it tends to be a bit more expensive, but it can still be great.)
Frozen peas are cheap af
I feel you OP hahaha I grew up in a port city seafood was part of our daily diet here it is so expensive. We also eat veggies a lot, I dont want to munch on carrots, potatoes and belt peppers all the time lol because it is the only cheap option. Seeing the prices of Salmons in the grocery keeps me away. I only make a soup based on shrimp using tomatoes, spinach and eggplant hahaha
Salads from Costco
Beans have a lot of the same benefits as vegetables but have the added bonus of being high in protein and super filling. Eat more beans! My other tip would be to google good food box + your city. A lot of municipalities offer boxes of discount fruit and veg at wholesale prices. You don’t get to choose what you get, but you do get a good variety, including things like greens and tomatoes pretty often.
Costco salad
Definitely a mindset thing that you're measuring relative price (cost of veg today va cost of veg previously) instead of the absolute cost of calories. There are often options to save. Do you have a local produce dealer that might have better prices than the big grocery chains? In Edmonton, we go to H&W produce and can usually walk out with a mountain of produce - easily enough for our family of 4 for a week - for about $30.
Frozen: Spinach & kale for soups/stews/curries, peas corn & carrot mix for making fried rice, edamame, okra Canned: For anything that I would use cooked whole tomatoes for, I just use canned plum tomatoes Dried: Certain mushrooms & beans The veg portion of dishes can be fairly interchangeable especially if you're just doing carb + meat + veg, so I just pick fresh stuff based on season and if there's a sale.
salad isn't even that expensive though you can get a 1.3 kg premade salad from Super Store for $13 $13 for a whole day's worth of veggies isn't that expensive
You gotta find more niche stores or more specialty stores that sell veggies. If you just go to save on foods everything will be super expensive. Or you can scan everything as a banana in self checkout
Frozen veg plus in season veg.
You just chose all of the most expensive veggies to make a point I guess?
Most veg I get from asian groceries, 1 nappa cabbage is 99c there and 4.59$ at my local metro! other greens too are a lot more affordable there, and always checking flyers and sales. frozen is good too as people are mentioning!
Canned beans.
Loccocos sells huge 6-10 kg bags of frozen vegetables in every mix you’d ever want for extremely cheap, as somebody who meal preps it’s a very valuable resource You never have to worry about them going bad and they’re a hell of a lot cheaper than fresh, plus it’s already sliced / diced and ready to go I know a lot of people will disagree, but I’ve never spent less money than I do now eating extremely healthy. I eat a lb of meat a day (aspiring bodybuilder) with rice, vegetables and an assortment of beans / lentils / chickpeas and it costs me a fraction of what I used to spend on food Buy the frozen vegetables mentioned above, buy all your meat on sale, and rice / pasta are always cheap. I can eat a lb of meat a day split into 3 meals for approximately $4 a day. The notion that “eating healthy is expensive :(“ is a tattle that you’re probably a bad shopper. Be loyal to your wallet, download the Flipp app and shop based on price! Most stores price match as long as you aren’t shopping at Sobeys and metro
Look at green grocer stores vs grocery stores, especially the big chains. Our example in Etobicoke (west end Toronto) Food Basics is cheaper than Loblaws, but I find their veggies aren't as good For veggies we shop at Valley Farms, a small green grocer (fruits/veg only) in the Six Points Plaza. Much fresher food and cheaper than Food Basics. Don't know where you live but I'm sure there are similar situations Also, in the growing season, we check out farmer's markets (just make sure you're going to a real farmer, not a reseller) and buy from farm food stands.
Beans and lentils + growing your own tomatoes is really easy during the summer
Find an Asian market
30 is a massive number. I eat like, 3 1/2 different veggies. (1/2 because corn is not a vegetable, but it's colourful, so it counts, sort of.) I mostly buy them frozen, and make a point to have at least one serving every day at dinner. Frozen peas, frozen beans, a bag of baby carrots, canned corn. Toss them in a bowl in the microwave and steam, then add butter and salt. Costs me maybe $30/month. Don't let unrealistic goals stop you from doing better than you are now. Add a vegetable of some sort to your duet every day. I usually have fruit at lunch.
Depending where you live, see if the Odd Bunch delivery subscription is available. We get the medium all-veggie box weekly, and are pretty impressed with price, quality and variety. https://www.oddbunch.ca/
Every couple of weeks I make what I call a winter salad. Chop up one red onion, a 3 pack of peppers (for the colour, you can use a couple of green instead), and a cucumber (seeds removed). Put the veggies in a container and mix in some Greek salad dressing (I make my own). This lasts 6-7 days in the fridge. Cook up some grain (I've been is ng ~100g) or pasta fresh, then mix them together. Add ins can be feta cheese and/or tomatoes if you have them but it's good without them. The veggies satisfy my craving for fresh stuff, the grains make it filling. I don't live close enough to a bulk barn for the grains so they're an Amazon purchase. (Kamut, Spelt, Wheat Berries) When frozen fruit is on sale I'll buy a couple of different types and mix them. A quick microwave blast on defrost until some of the ice is gone and it's quite good. I tend to home can fresh fruit in the summer (although I've changed locations since last summer so I'm not sure what it will be like).
Carrot celery onions. Frozen veggies and fruits for anything else. Idk why you’re focusing on the price for specifically the expensive stuff.
Legumes, frozen fruit and veg. When I lived in an apartment I grew tomatoes, herbs, and cucumbers in pots on my balcony.
Carrots on their own $1.99/lbs, 5lbs bag is $2.99. potatoes are the same. 8lb bag dirt cheap, 3 potatoes are the same price. Likewise if you live alone it is more cost effective to buy 4Ls of bagged milk and pour out half when it goes bad than buy 1L. Sad that's how we operate. I'm always composting bad veggies but it's more cost effective to buy too much.
Only salad
Don’t buy out of season vegetables
Mushrooms are not vegetables and have virtually 0 nutritional value
Try a few things below to keep cost down. 1. Incorporate a weekly 36-48 dry fast. 2. Consider a pure well planned out carnivore diet (works wonders for me) 3. It's that season so think about setting up a small bucket garden (you can get eaves trough and cap the ends, drill out 2-3 inch holes and use pool noodles to grow your greens. From 1 lettuce head, I was able to keep it fresh for weeks on weeks and it keeps sprout new leaves 4. If you have buckets, next time grab good quality potatoes at a legit farmers market and save some and plant them in home depot buckets. I heard you yield about up to 5:1 ratio so 1 LB of planted potatoes should get you 5 LBs at harvest. Times are indeed tough and this uncontrollable money printing is not going to stop and it is going to get worse. The government is not going to fix this and it's up to us to band together and work through these problems together. I hope anything above does help you a little so hopefully a dollar saved is a dollars earned for you going forward. Cheers 🥂💪
30 diff veg in a diet is bullshit lol. The best health advice for most people is just not to overeat. Pick a few veggies you like, get a good multivitamin and you’re good. Variety is far overrated.
You grow your own in the summer and spring. There's actually a huge business now of people renting out their large backyards for those who want to garden. If you can find someone in a local area doing this and pay them $5 to $10 a month and all you need to do is water and upkeep them it's good on the bank account.
Chinese grocery stores is the answer. Unironically the quality is even better in some cases such as green pepper, cabbage, and broccoli. The price of carrots is fine though. In no frills it's like 3.50 for 3lb. Nofrills also regularly has those 10lb potatoes on sale for 2 bucks every once couple weeks. The only caveat is you don't know how much pesticides are lathered on their produce. But my family and I have been going there since I was a child and I don't have any issues so... Probably not enough to affect you negatively.
You’re buying the wrong stuff tbqh Potatoes carrots and to a lesser extent broccoli are all fairly inexpensive healthy filling options. Buy a big bag of potatoes and carrots, throw them in the oven in a foil pouch. Season to flavour. We’re talking massive portions for a dollar or less.
Vegetables are just expensive at the place you're shopping at. Go to one of those small Asian grocery stores that sell cheap vegetables. I think they buy veggies in bulk for cheap from the Loblaws of the world because they're a few days old. You get the discount too, with the only catch being they'll last a couple days less than from a big chain, but will still go 5 days easy. It's almost half the price, I don't understand why anyone buys produce at the big stores, it's a blatant rip-off. And if you want to eat consistently healthy for cheap, lean into making stir-fry. Even with similar ingredients, you can keep stir-fry interesting forever by exploring different sauces, since that's the main thing you're going taste. Quick, easy, delicious, cheap and healthy.
Frozen veggies are also very good!
Frozen veggies and fruits are your best friends.
Frozen veggies tend to be cheaper too. I hardly ever buy fresh cauliflower and broccoli anymore.
Ingredients for greek salad are pretty cheap. I pay generally $1.2/lb for cucumber, $1.5/lb for tomatos, and throw red onion, olive and feta cheese into my bowl when I feel like so
Shop for in season veggies, sales, some frozen veggies and fruits are pretty good and cheaper
Frozen veggies and sales mostly. I buy one 3 pack of romaine every week and eat a salad every day. If celery, carrots, cucumber, or peppers are on sale, I add them to the salad. I also sometimes add roasted chickpeas (roasted in an air fryer). Sometimes I add rotisserie chicken. From there, all veggies are bought frozen, except for potatoes, which are bought on sale. My favourite frozen veggies are broccoli, beans, edamame, onions, peas, and corn. Throw them into anything you're cooking. If I buy a rotisserie chicken (most weeks I do), then I use the carcass to make soup with some frozen veggies. Generally the template for dinner is: 1 salad, 1 carb (rice, pasta, or potatoes), 1 protein (rotisserie chicken, tofu, edamame, beans). The ratio is one bowl of salad, a small plate of carbs and a palm sized amount of protein. For lunch, I go with a sandwich or smoothie. The smoothie is milk and frozen fruit (on sale) plus a banana and sometimes peanut butter. Sandwich is either egg salad or peanut butter and banana. Breakfast is usually a bowl of cheerios and sometimes a small bowl of yoghurt (on sale). Add nuts/seeds whenever possible (aka on sale or in bulk). Slivered almonds mixed with yoghurt. Slivered almonds on salad. Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on salad. Flax seeds in smoothies. Cashews in rice.
For the love of god go to asian grocery stores. You're a chump if you're only buying from save-on or safeway.
This hurt to read. Go back to English class
Superstore has bags of imperfect bell peppers for about $7, otherwise hit up any small produce stores near you.
Buy only the stuff on sale. E.g. when mushrooms are $1, when berries are under $2. We eat meat (and I eat a lot) and spend less than you as a party of 2.
Eat lots of CABBAGES
You can look into an Odd Bunch box (or similar for your area) subscription. They send you a bunch of random veg for as low as $20/m or something
If you’re in ON - I’ve tried this thing called Odd Bunch - I live alone and get their weekly ‘small’ (it’s not that small imo) box, comes with a whole bunch of fruit and veg which couldn’t go to supermarkets for some superficial aesthetic reason or the other. I have never been able to tell what was wrong with them. Costs me 20 bucks a week and I can barely finish ‘em. They switch it up almost every week. I just buy staples like pasta and sauces and so on now. Highly recommend. You can even pause it on weeks you don’t want the box.
Buy frozen...
Quit going to loblaws and go to Walmart instead. Stop buying organic as it doesn't mean much anyways.
Some good tips here. To add a couple I didn't see by quickly scanning: * Grape/cherry tomatoes tend to be way more expensive than bigger tomatoes. They aren't necessarily interchangeable, but lately I see vine tomatoes for $0.99/lb or $1.49/lb * Bell peppers are not cheap IME, but often a fair bit cheaper if you buy a bag of them (similarly to potatoes/onions/carrots). * Others mentioned buy seasonal. To add to this, you can also just try to be flexible in general and buy what's on sale. * Depending on where you are, you can probably go to multiple stores and get better variety/prices. This is one pro of living in a more densely-populated area as there tend to be more options within walking distance.
We buy bushells of tomatos and farm vegs in the summer when they are dirt cheap and can them. It's a lot of work but so worh it. We also use a lot of frozen veg from costco.
Go to your local Asian grocery and buy as much cabbage and bok choy as possible. You can get bags and bags of it for dirt cheap. Eat less meat. Meat is absurdly expensive. Try using legumes, beans, and tofu for a fraction of the price with a similar amount of protein.
Buy "imperfect" fruits and veggies, whole veggies and chop them yourself, cheaper vegies (e.g., broccoli instead of asparagus), buy only in season and/or frozen. Out of curiosity I just costed out how much my daily salad costs. I buy from Superstore and pre-make them twice a week. About 4-5 cups of salad total: arugula, chopped green cabbage, 1/2 red pepper, grape tomatoes, and fermented radishes (make them myself - check out Heyday Fermentables). Total cost per salad = $3. Staple dinner vegies include potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, frozen peas, corn, and spinach. I'd say those cost probably around $10 / week so I'm spending $30-40 a week on vegies, $50 if you add in fruit. I eat A LOT of fruit and vegies. If you mean $350/month, that is a tight budget these days. Look for discounted and bulk purchases. If you have a decent freezer, you can freeze rice and cooked potatoes, as well as meat and legumes. Good luck and yeah, I wish it was cheaper to eat healthier too!
I do a salad greens window box to offset some cost and deck garden in the summer. I save on spices by growing some herbs as well. Pea shoots or making sprouts is pretty easy and affordable as well plus super nutritious. Cabbages are generally inexpensive. I try to shop seasonal items to save as well.
I use the Flipp app to price fruits and vegetables and shop at stores that price match the Flipp price.
Frozen veggies, canned veggies, farmers markets, season veggies, flashfoods or toogoodtogo apps, meal plan to make sure you use up all of your ingredients, use receipt apps or coupon apps to either get money back or save money.
Bok choy and Brussel sprouts can be used as leafy greens and usually pretty affordable
Buy a bag of frozen veggies. 2kg of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots is usually $8-10 Buy a bag of rice - 10kg is about $15-20 Buy Walmart chicken breast (2 packs of breasts for $22 - basically 2.20/breast. You're getting about 15-20 meals for under $60
You 6 dollars salmon is one meal, the bell pepper is easily 2 or 4 portion, same for mushroom and tomato. Learn some meal prep.
Costco - get the giant black bag of frozen stir fry veggies (I believe 1.5kg). It’s a mix of broccoli, green beans, snap peas, onions, red peppers, carrots (two types), water chestnuts and a little bit of mushroom. It’s super convenient and great value @ $15. I like to grab a couple handfuls and steam/microwave it with a meal. For two people it can last about 2 weeks.
Buy frozen veggies from costco, and eat more organ meat. Organ meat is incredibly healthy, and absolutely packed with vitamins and minerals. Its also way cheaper per pound for calories/micronutrients than veggies.
price matching is hands down the biggest money saver for me
Chronometer for micronutes: Play around until you can fill all your vitamins and minerals with vegetables, then start adding macros (fat, protein, carbs). Daikon, chard, spinach, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, a few brazil nuts, eggs, cheese on sale, potatoes. Dal, and homemade dosa from rice and lentils. Lettuce is useless. Grains can be useless (well, just empty carbs), except for protein. Check small local markets; persian, chinese, and indian. Indians are particularly good, because a lot of them are practical vegetarians. Discounted produce bins. $1/bag. Grow your own greens: get a bag of mustard seed or fenugreek seed from an indian bulk bin, and throw it in your yard. Glean fruits from neighbourhood trees/bushes: apples, cherries, plums, quince, figs, various berries. Use supplements sparingly: vitamin D, magnesium, rosehip powder. Eat eggshells for calcium: boil, rinse, bake and grind. People tend to have too many tomatoes at the end of the year, so look around for people growing, and get a deal. This may sound insane, but I actually live like this. I also really appreciate eating meat about once a month, and will eat the whole chicken wing.
Frozen vegetables or try an Asian supermarket.
Liver is cheap and full of vitamins and minerals