By Corey McMickle

Not long ago I mentioned a cheap alternative to the gym. My home gym is still under construction (baby strollers and random fall decorations are holding me up). In comparison to what I preach; the old sermon of food being more vital to your health and fitness goals than your training regime, I put the wagon before the horse.

However, eating healthy is rather expensive. To be honest, we carry more fat on us due to the prices on groceries than our unwillingness to want to eat healthier. So I want to back track and go over some ideas how me and the wife tackle a healthier menu around the house.

Don’t overestimate the power of the coupon! Have you ever seen that show “Extreme couponing?” There are these people getting three hundred dollars’ worth of food for a hand full of bucks. If you take the time to email companies and research how to get the most bang out of your buck, whether its digital coupons or paper ones, the savings will actually surprise you. Captain obvious here (at least I hope so).

Buy in bulk! Can’t express this enough. Prime example being my daughter and her formula where we recently found out that by going to Sam’s club we could get twice as much formula for her for a few dollars more than we were already paying. Sure, you may not need all thirty-five of those waters right now, but saving twelve cents a bottle is going to add up on that receipt. Plus, this type of buying rolls into my next tip.

Buy with you freezer in mind. Start planning your meals ahead of time. You’re already buying in bulk so you may as well go ahead and pick up what all you need while you’re there. This helps also keep a fresh inventory of what is or isn’t already inside the depths of your freezer. You couldn’t waste more money than just putting something in your freeze and letting it contract freezer burn and eventually just throw it out.

Lastly, mix it up! I’m easy to please when it comes to rice. Off brand rice will suffice every time. Now I’m particular about my vegetables, however. Drives my wife up the wall how I enjoy more costly greens like asparagus that I have to take a lean on my house to buy, yet hate penny pinchers like cabbage (rabbit food) and what not. After several heated debates she concluded that instead of having a single side of asparagus and eating all of it in one meal, she’d throw in some rice and less asparagus. Hey I love them both and I get both more frequently, I get a healthy serving of carbs and veggies, and I’m usually not the one doing the dishes… win, win.

I’m certain there are other ways we could help one another save a buck or two with our shopping carts but these are the ones I’ve noticed that have help keep my wallet intact.

Skipping the drive-thru and hitting the grocery store as hard as you hit the weights is the biggest improvement we could learn to adopt a little more of. Happy shopping Port City.