Only 20 Basic Grocery Items (Or Less) To Save You $$

 

By keeping things streamlined and simple I am able to save a lot of time and money.  This couldn’t be truer than when it comes to grocery shopping for healthy and nutritious foods that won’t bust the budget.

 

In the past few years I’ve found I keep buying and using the same old things over and over again.  This has allowed me to easily keep tabs on prices and how they might fluctuate from time to time.  It also makes it very simple to make a list, stick to it and get in and out of the grocery store in short order.  The beauty of this list of items is that I can do a lot of different things with them which gives me a ton of variety when it comes to meal preparation.

 

Because I prefer to eat a mainly low carbohydrate diet the first ten items on my list are the things I purchase most often.  The rest of the items on the list are also great for the average American diet, however these are the things I purchase the least.  They are also items that tend to last longer so I don’t need to purchase them as often.  The most important thing about this list is that all of these items are things we can purchase at the best quality for the amount of money we may have to spend.  Even more importantly there are no ultra processed foods, which is the real key to a healthy lifestyle.

 

Each item on this list allows me to be flexible with regard to what I actually buy allowing me to take advantage of sales, digital coupons, special offers, seasonal savings, markdowns and clearance pricing.  I don’t need to be brand specific either as long as the ingredient lists read clean and clear meaning I can easily identify what is in a particular product.  I don’t want any artificial ingredients, GMO ingredients, unnatural dyes or chemicals in my food.

 

Produce is one of those items I find is the easiest to buy.  With produce I can be as flexible as I need to be as there are so many different varieties of most items you can easily gauge it by price, freshness, quality and availability.  If iceberg lettuce spikes in price maybe I’ll buy kale or cabbage instead.  If the yellow onions are looking less than stellar I just choose a red or white onion, or maybe scallions.  The same can be said in the meat and dairy department as well the frozen fruit and vegetable aisle.  We are blessed with the luxury of choice.

 

Keeping a shorter list of basic groceries does not limit me in any way.  I am easily able to make so many different dishes and sides to go with my meals on any given day.  It makes meal planning and preparation super easy.  It allows me to boost my health, streamlines the way I shop and saves me a lot of time.  Best of all, it saves me a lot of money in the process and helps ensure I stay well within my monthly grocery budget.