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Save Money on a Low Carb Lifestyle After many years of eating a (frugal) diet of mostly carbs and sugar, my husband and I adopted a healthier low carb lifestyle in January, 2004, which lasted for a good while. Although we were unable to stay with it forever, I always say better some changes than none at all! If you've been with me for a while, you know (as a frugal family of six), we have no desire to spend a ton of extra money on groceries, and a low carb diet can certainly be expensive if you don't continue making an effort to save wherever you can. If you're following a low carb lifestyle or know someone who is, I hope these tips will help you keep the grocery costs down like they helped us when we were trying so hard to cut the carbs out of our diet. Now I'm going to head back to our Cookie Club site and try to recover from editing this page. ;o) - Michelle, Editor Tip # 1 - One of the most expensive products low carb dieters may find themselves becoming quickly addicted to is low carb meal replacement bars or shakes. Since adopting a low carb lifestyle my husband and I have learned the best way to save on these products is to ration them out (never having more than 1 per day), and to pay the lowest price, always. We buy our low carb products (including sugar-free candy and gum) at discount stores like Wal-Mart, Target, K-mart, etc... (The grocery stores in our area are charging at least $1.00 more per package, so if you buy just one item each week that's $52.00 extra a year, down the drain!) Tip # 2 - It's very tempting to buy those premade bags of ready-to-eat salads, but with just 5 minutes of preparation a head of fresh lettuce (iceberg, romaine, green leaf or even spinach) will make twice as much salad and cost less than half! Tip # 3 - If you're on a budget, keep it simple! Buy the low carb fruits and veggies that are in season and on sale, and likewise for the protein items. Use our Grocery Saving Tips rule... if it's not on sale it doesn't go in your cart! Tip # 4 - Plan your weekly meals around whichever meats, poultry and seafood items are on sale. If you will just take an hour each week to plan your meals carefully (use our free printable menu planner at BetterBudgeting.com, in the frugal recipe section), you can save hundreds off your grocery bill each month! Tip # 5 - Sugar-Free (diet) sodas... don't be brand loyal, buy whatever's on sale, period! If you just can't live without your one favorite diet soda, then stock up whenever it goes on sale. If the sale is really good there will likely be a limit of 4 per customer, but nothing says you can't return to the store the next day, for 4 more! Tip # 6 - We are thrilled that fast food restaurants are catering to low carb lifestylers now, kudos to them! Just don't make a habit of buying these expensive conveniences on a daily basis, make your own wraps and bread free burgers at home and save a bundle of cash instead! Tip # 7 - And much to our delight, we've also discovered that the store brand artificial sweetener is just as good as the expensive name brand (the one in the BLUE box), and costs about half as much! Tip # 8 - As with any diet, avoid prepackaged foods as much as possible. The more you cook fresh foods at home the more money you'll save, hands down! If you need quick meals on the go prepare a little extra each time you cook and freeze individual portions to use throughout the week. Tip # 9 - Don't follow daily meal plans exactly as written in any book or magazine, continue to work with what you have and buy what's on SALE! If we start buying foods based on special weekly meal plans and not what's on sale, we'll lose more than a few extra pounds; we'll lose a ton of cash! * * * Readers' Tips... Contact Michelle to Submit a Tip
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