Groceries on a Retiree Budget

Retirement can mean pinching pennies because you have less money. Even though we are getting older it doesn’t mean we don’t need to be healthy. In fact our health declines as we get older and nutrition is quite important. How do you live on a budget and eat healthy?

You’ve already cut expenses when you retired. You don’t use the gas to drive back and forth to work anymore. You also aren’t spending money on lunches or the vending machine in the hallway.

You are retired, it’s time to get a green thumb or a hobby. Plant a garden and grow your own vegetables. You might be surprised how much money you can save. If you have too much then sell it at the market or barter it with a friend for something else.

You can utilize the library to find low cost recipes that are healthy and if you are diabetic there are plenty of cookbooks on the subject. Now that you are retired you have the time to cook your meals and prepare them.

There is an abundance of coupons out there! The internet has coupons, the newspaper has coupons and the flyers you get in the mail has coupons. Use them! Just be sure to only clip the coupons for the products you actually use or you’ll just waste money.

Join the senior citizens programs in your area. You can make friends and learn new ideas from them. You can get the senior citizen meal and reduced rates a lot of places.

Freeze any of the leftovers you have because you can use them another day when you don’t feel like cooking. Speaking of freezing, purchase food when it is cheapest and freeze it for a later date. For example turkeys can be bought when it’s priced lowest and you can eat it year round.

You can get deals on bread at the bakery outlets in the area. Sometimes you can get an entire bin of bread for just a couple of dollars. You can share it with friends and family, freeze it, use it to feed the birds.

Beans are very nutritious and cheap if you purchase the dry beans. Break out your crock pot and use it to slow cook those beans. You can also cook your meat and it will tenderize the meat so you’ll be able to buy reduced price meat since it will cook better.

Remember to social with other retirees, you can learn a lot about discounts, saving and budgeting.