Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Finding cheaper protein to help reduce your grocery budget

For a family of four in the US, the average food bill is from $586 to $1,159. Meat makes up for forty percent or a lot more of that spending budget. In the next five years, food costs are expected to rise which is why you should cut down your grocery budget. You need to eat less healthy just because you're eating cheaper.

Article Resource: Finding a cheaper protein – Cut your grocery budget down to size

The math behind a cheap diet

You don't have to put a lot more work into a cheap healthy diet. Although $1 burgers from a restaurant may seem cheap, they are costly. A family of four eats 360 meals each month. A liberal food spending budget of $1,159 means each meal should be no a lot more than $3.22. Eating less meat is an easy way to cut down how much you spend.

The ‘weekday vegetarian’ concept

Despite the fact that it may be cheaper to go totally vegetarian, people are unwilling to make that move. Cutting meat out of even part of your daily diet, though, can cut more than $200 a month out of your food budget. You can in addition try making meat a smaller portion of your meal – the USDA recommended serving size for meat is just 3 ounces, not the five to eight that most Americans eat. If you eat just a little less meat, your pocketbook will thank you.

What is it best to eat?

If you’re not eating meat, that does not mean that your vegetables should replace everything with your diet (though a lot more vegetables never hurt everyone). A total protein, though, is very important in helping you feel satisfied after a meal. Protein needs to replace the meat somehow. Try swapping your $2 – $3 per serving meat with:

  • Rice and beans – 20 cents per serving
  • 30 cents per serving – Hummus
  • Lentils with a nut sauce – 45 cents per serving
  • 25 cents per serving – oatmeal with milk

The basic idea is to blend legumes, grains and nuts or seeds together during the day. Alone, each of those 3 groups doesn’t make a complete protein. Any two do when with each other.



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