Cut your grocery budget down to size – Finding a less expensive protein

$586 to $1,159 is the average grocery bill for a family of four in the US. For most American families, meats make up forty percent or a lot more of that food budget. With food costs expected to rise easily in the next five years, cutting your grocery budget is one step numerous families are investigating. Eating cheaper, however, should not mean eating less healthily.

Article Resource: Finding a cheaper protein – Cut your grocery budget down to size By Personal Money Store

The math behind an affordable diet

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

Being a 'weekday vegetarian'

Going entirely vegetarian, while is cheaper in numerous ways, is simply not a move everybody wants to make. If you cut meat out of your diet, it can conserve you around $200 a month. You can also try making meat a much smaller portion of your entire meal – the USDA recommended serving size for meat is just three ounces, not the five to eight that most Americans eat. Your pocketbook will thank you if you eat just a little less meat.

What should you eat?

If you are not eating meat, that doesn’t mean that your vegetables should replace anything in your diet (though more vegetables never hurt any person). Protein is very important in helping you feel full after a meal though. Replacing your meat, then, with some other protein is very important. Replace your expensive meat with:

• Rice and beans – 20 cents per serving
• Hummus – about 30 cents per serving
• 45 cents per serving – lentils with a nut sauce
• Oatmeal with milk – about 25 cents per serving

The basic idea is to blend legumes, grains and nuts or seeds together during the day. Alone, each of those three groups does not make a complete protein. Together, though, any of the two of them do.