I know, it sounds like I'm about to pitch some sort of spam here, but I was going through my shopping bills the other night and I was startled.

I used to find myself at the local supermarket almost nightly, and I was buying WAYYY too much stuff. I think I probably spent $10.00 daily just on junk food, and I was buying excessive quantities of other food. Packet of pasta? Serves 4? Well, I'd eat at least 2 servings of that.

Now, I've started doing my shopping for the week on a Sunday night. I buy some meat (buying in bulk, repackaging & freezing at home), and all my vegetables that I will need for dinners.

Also, every time I went to the shops I was tempted to spend money on junk food. Less trips there = less temptation.

I'm spending maybe $80.00 - $100.00 per week on groceries (not just food) for two people. A few months ago my estimate was nearly double that.

I'm not just saving money, I'm getting slimmer and happier! So is my partner (she's happy about it too!)

What a bargain!

What I do buy -

• fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly any which will last well in the fridge or are on special. My local greengrocer has excellent prices and good quality.

• Bulk meat. My local supermarket often has bargains for buying a large tray of meat rather than smaller ones. The initial outlay may be pretty high, but suddenly I have enough chicken breasts in the freezer to make 6 meals or so. I also don't eat a lot of meat now, so that saves money too.

• Rice & pasta. I don't eat much of it, but it's an excellent filler for a meal, and you can use it to work with leftovers.

What I don't buy -

• Any fried or heavily sugared junk foods, I just won't keep them in the house.

• Fizzy drinks of any kind, even diet drinks (I do like soda water occasionally)

• Pre-packaged food in larger portions than I need

I do all my own cooking, so I can make a nice meal with some meat and a good range of vegies for under $10.00 to feed two people. (By comparison, a takeaway meal could easily cost double that).

Plus, I'm getting back all my clothes that stopped fitting me! I rediscovered a couple of shirts on the weekend, and a pair of pants I had given up on last year some time. hooray!

Anyway, that's enough from me! Comments and your experiences with this will be very interesting!

I seem to be spending more money on groceries now that I'm dieting, mainly because I'm eating more. I never used to eat so much believe it or not. But not I eat 5-6 small meals a day, my food has probably doubled, maybe tripled...

Yea, I spend ALOT more on groceries now then I did when I was eating bad. Think about it...a watermelon is like $5 and a box of little debbies is $1. You know? Sucks that fresh fruits and veggies aren't cheaper.

I am absolutely spending less money due to not buying any junk food or sodas, I thought it was going to be a great way to save some money, but I have ended up spending it all on new cloths. LOL, oh well I guess having to buy smaller cloths is the better problem to have.

New clothes could give you lots of self esteem, and last you for years. Snacks last for minutes, and give you lots of fat to carry around for years

I'm looking at all the clothes I have in my cupboard which will hopefully fit me by year's end. Some of them I have never worn!

It depends on how far you take it really. Obviously if you just eat less, you could almost chop your bill in half. But, what happens when you're beyond the eating less stage and just want to eat better? Unfortunately the cheapest stuff is often the worst for you. When you start getting the good stuff, the grocery bill can really shoot up. Consider:

olive oil instead of vegetable oil $$$$
soy milk instead of cow milk $$$$
natural turkey instead of processed turkey with sodium nitrate $$$$
organic Kashi instead of processed mostly empty cereals $$$$
basmati or long grain brown rice instead of instant $$$$
grass fed beef instead of normal beef with synthetic hormones and way too much fat $$$$$$$


I could go on and on. It can really add up.

I think you save in some way such as less drive thrus and
less out to eat but as far as grocery shopping it cost more
to shop healthy.Healthy deserts such as weight watchers
is around $3.50-$4.00 and you get 2 small deserts in which
a gallon of store brand ice cream $2 same goes for healthy
100 calorie package snacks and I buy lean cuisine alot so
those aren't cheap.
Also my bubble gum bill has sky rocketed to lol to cut out the late
night cravings lol! Tammy

I definately spend a lot less money now -I don't buy the food in this household BUT before I started my weightloss I was forever buying food for myself when I was out -"oh I'll get a baguette from the baguette shop for lunch", or I would buy myself some crisps and dip, or a croissant or something for a snack for later. Or worse, decide dinner would be fine as a portion of chips from the chippy, or a mcdonalds before I headed home.

I reckon I was buying at least one thing nearly every day. The extra money must be adding up! Not to mention the "nights out" every other week or so, spending £30-40 on drink.

I should mention, there are other things beyond your grocery bill that will help you save/earn money:

1. Getting thinner and fitter will help your appearance and will probably make you more pleasant to be around, therefore helping you advance in your career.

2. Being healthier means less trips to the expensive doctor and dentists! This is HUGE!!!!!

3. Once you are fit and trim there's a good chance you'll start walking and riding your bike more for errands, therefore saving money on car maintenance and gas.

4. Being healthy tremendously decreases your chance of dying from heart disease when you're about 50, potentially padding your bank account for another 20 years and ensuring that you'll be around to enjoy all the fruits of your labors.

5. Once you are more active, you'll find yourself spending less on lazy indoor activities, such as movie rentals, video games, cable TV, etc. You will find that you would rather be outside playing some type of sport or at least playing with the kids in the yard.


So yes, you will save TONS of money. It just may not be apparent right at first, especially if your grocery bill does actually go UP instead of DOWN.

I guess it also depends on where you are starting from. I always have bought meat and vegetables of pretty good quality, but in excessive quantity, and also padded the shopping bill with lots of snacks. So for me, reducing consumption generally meant buying less and spending less.

I've also taken to buying in buli

olive oil instead of vegetable oil $$$$
Depends on how much you use. I buy a 10 litre container for $40.00, and it lasts me about 6 months. Most of my cooking is oil free.

natural turkey instead of processed turkey with sodium nitrate $$$$
I can buy fresh poultry cheaper per kilo than the processed stuff.

organic Kashi instead of processed mostly empty cereals $$$$
My local supermarket has plenty of low sugar, pretty healthy cereals.

basmati or long grain brown rice instead of instant $$$$
I've never bought instant rice. Perhaps this is a difference between Australia and other countries, but rice is pretty cheap. Particularly if I buy it in bulk.

grass fed beef instead of normal beef with synthetic hormones and way too much fat $$$$$$$
Organic meats are more expensive, but it depends on whether you want to eat just to lose weight or embark upon a full change to everything being organic produce.

Nowadays I buy a lot of my foods in bulk where I can. Last month I bought an entire lamb from the butcher, he cut it up and vacuum sealed it, and although it cost me $120.00, I ended up with at least $300.00 worth of meat, because it was charged at a flat rate of $6.00 per kilo rather than the higher costs of the cuts.