How to Save Money While Dieting and Losing Weight

Dieting or losing weight does not have to be expensive. Often people associate diets with high priced specialty foods. There is no need to go broke while trying to eat healthy and lose weight. Follow these suggestions to keep your pocketbook full while trying to shed a few pounds.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   Convenience often means more expensive. Those little 100 calorie packs of snack goods may be easy and convenient, but you are mostly
   paying for packaging. Yogurt and cottage cheese cost usually more when you buy it in individual servings than a big container. To make sure
   that the larger size is more cost effective, you need to compare price per unit. Suppose you can buy 4 pack of cottage cheese cups. Each cup has 4 ounces. The 4 pack costs $3.29. The unit cost is determined by dividing cost by unit, in this case, 2.99/16. The price per ounce for
   the 4 pack of cottage cheese is 19 cents. Now suppose you can buy a 24 ounce container of cottage cheese for $3.49. The cost per ounce for the
   large container is 15 cents. So even though the 4 pack costs $2.99, you are paying more per ounce. To get the same amount of cottage cheese as
   the large container, you will actually end up spending $4.49.

2. 
    

   Buy in season. Maybe your diet plan tells you that you need to eat strawberries or you feel that to eat healthy you need lots of fresh vegetables. I also eat lots of fresh vegetables. But buying them out of season, can be costly. One of my favorite vegetables is asparagus
   but there is only a small window each year where it is in season and reasonably priced. Learn when your favorite produce is in season. Try
   to buy seasonal produce. Take this time to try things you may not have tried before. If you are in the United States, this website can show
   you what produce is in season during what months for your state: http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/eatseasonal/

3. 
    

   Shop the sales. Most grocery stores now have their weekly sales flyer online. Check the website for your local grocery store and see
   what they have on sale that week. Make your menu plan based on the sale items. Maybe chicken breasts are really cheap that week. Then plan
   your menu around chicken and not the lean pork loin you had originally planned.

4. 
    

   Freeze and stock up. This step goes with step 3. While you are watching sales, when you see an item that you like or use often, this is
   the time to stock up on it if possible. If those chicken breasts are on sale for the cheapest price you have ever seen chicken breasts, then
   stock up. Buy a lot. Buy as much as you can afford and that you have room to store in your freezer and will reasonably use. Take that
   chicken home and portion into meal size amounts and put in freezer bags and freeze. You now do not have to pay full price for chicken. You can also stock up on canned items. If a canned item you like and use often goes on sale, buy as many s you can afford, store and use in a reasonable amount of time. Think you don't have anywhere to store cans? Think outside the box. If you don't have a pantry, maybe you can store a box of cans under your bed. Or maybe your linen closet has an extra shelf that you are not using. Food items do not have to be stored in the kitchen as long as they are stored in a safe manner, for example you would not store cans in a really hot area.

5. 
    

   Do not shop hungry. This tip is good for anyone who is going grocery shopping whether they are on a diet or not. I often find that junk and expensive convenience items end up in my shopping cart if I am hungry when I go to the grocery store.

6. 
    

   Pack a lunch. Packing your lunch to take with you to work can save a lot of money. This way you know what it is you are eating and that it fits into your healthy eating plan.

7. 
    

   Have a plan. Plan out your menu. Know ahead of time what snacks you would like to have during the week. Use the weekly sales flyers to help you plan. Planning will help when you are tired, hungry or short on time. You will already know what is for dinner or what snacks you have available. This will help lessen the urge to stop for fast food or ordering a pizza which can be costly and not healthy.

[0sara0]

on 1/6/2009 Whenever I try to diet my food bill goes up so thanks for the tips.

[Gardengates]

on 12/31/2008 I particularly second the part about not shopping when hungry. Everything looks good! Nice article on dieting and saving money. Thanks.