This Week #4 - Plant-based grocery shopping on a budget 🥕
Grocery shopping with zero stress and lots of savings for your wallet.
Hey friends,
Welcome to the fourth post of The Plant-Based Diet Club! If you have a question/suggestion you'd like me to write a post about, let me know here. I'll be happy to write about it in a future post.
This week’s post is all about helping you save some time and money when planning for your week ahead. Hope you enjoy it!
COVID-19 has shown how learning more about basic skills like cooking is important. Now that staying in closed spaces is not safe, you might have noticed that getting to the grocery store with a plan is a great idea.
The truth is that just by doing something simple such as spending ~15min per week to plan ahead can save you so much time and decision making!
Planning and doing meal prep is key to have a smooth week without worrying about what you’re gonna eat everyday. Or getting scared seeing how much you spent eating out 😮.
Before going to the grocery store 📝
💾 Select some ‘weekly meals’ to see which ingredients you’ll need. I use Instagram collections for that.
🕵️Do a quick pantry audit. It’s the perfect moment to watch out for things that are close to the expiry date.
👀 Take a quick look at the grocery store’s flyer. If you’re feeling bold, why not plan your meals around discounted items?
🍒Is there something that you’re craving and want to add to the list?
At the grocery store 🛒
Stick to your list.
Savings tips 💳
Collect points or join a membership program, if you can. I got a 20 dollars discount this month 👌
Find a local Asian market. The last time I did this, I bought 3 packs of Shimeji mushrooms for $2!
Buy frozen veggies and fruits to avoid wasting food. I always have frozen veggies to add to soups, stir-fries, etc.
Choose processed items as much as possible. Produce, canned items, and grains are cheap, so make sure to avoid animal product alternatives, both for your health and your wallet.
Meal Prep Magic 🦄
I love this channel and I think you will, too!
The tips are great for beginners, and the meals are simple and affordable. Plus, Frankie is super fun!
Meal prep saves you so much time! Check out this 7-Day Meal Challenge:
Note: Even though the channel is not plant-based, you can get some ideas :)
Nerd time 🤓
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. A research was published comparing the cost of a Standard Australian Diet with a Planetary Health Diet for a family of 4. You can read it here. But to give you a spoiler, here’s what they concluded:
The Planetary Health Diet basket was shown to be less expensive and more affordable than the Typical Australian Diet basket nationally, in all metropolitan areas, in all socioeconomic groups across Australia (median cost: Planetary Health Diet = AUD$188.21, Typical Australian Diet = AUD$224.36; median affordability: Planetary Health Diet = 13%, Typical Australian Diet = 16%; p = < 0.05).
This study showed the Planetary Health Diet to be more affordable than the Typical Australian Diet for metropolitan-dwelling Australians.
Source: The affordability of a healthy and sustainable diet: an Australian case study
Many other factors also influence food choices, however, nothing like a scientific research to debunk the popular misconception that eating healthy is expensive.
Before you go 🥳🎁
November 24th is my birthday!
I want to get to 100 subscribers by the end of the year. Would you share The Plant-Based Diet Club with your friends as my online gift?
I hope you found those tips valuable. If you want to check out my meals during the week, follow me on Instagram :)
Now, I am super interested in knowing more about you:
What is your biggest struggle with meal prepping?
What is an item that is always on your shopping list? To me, it’s potatoes 🥔🍠
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Have a great weekend, and as always, thank you for reading. 👋
I always have Brussels sprouts, asparagus and tomatoes on my list. It would be nice to read about the spices you use to cook your meals. I love how creative vegan recipes are when it comes to mixing spices and herbs. Adding herbs to non expensive ingredients takes recipes to another level. That is my tip for eating chef food on a budget.