Saving Money with Groceries

Eating healthy is hard enough when you can eat anything you want to eat. It gets harder when you have or want to avoid certain things in your diet. For me, I try to eat organic veggies and gluten-free food is a must. I am trying to keep myself on a restrained, don't eat the whole paycheck diet and have been excited with a couple of things I have discovered.

First, the 99 cent store has organic lettuce, just like the local grocery store, only it is about 1/4 the price. Everyone probably already knows that...but, if you check the freezer section, many times you will find Udi's bread-which is definitely gluten-free and, last week, I found Quorn chili-not all of their stuff is gluten-free, but the chili was...and it is delicious! Again, both of these products are 4 to 5 times more expensive in the mainstream stores.

                   (The one in the middle was $1-the one of the left was $5)

We also have what I call a scratch and dent grocery store. The real name is Green Tree, but I keep forgetting that. Anyway, I stopped by, just to see what they had. I came away with Lucy's gluten-free cookies, gluten-free blueberry muffin mix and several cans of organic soups and vegetables. I spent $36 and change and came out with nine bags of groceries.

Finally, our local mainstream grocery store, Fry's (Kroger in the middle of the country) has a markdown section that I check when I am shopping. I have found many gluten-free items there, as well as a few organic items. The deals are great.

Now, this is the best part, if you can eat anything, these stores will stretch your dollar farther than you thought it could be stretched. Many of the items at the Green Tree are priced at $0.50 each. Imagine Wolfgang Puck soup for half a dollar-been there and bought it at that price. Don't be afraid to check out the less than prime time stores for deals on your groceries. You may be amazed at the amount of food you can provide your family on a small grocery budget.