13 Budget-Friendly Food Swaps To Help Cut Your Grocery Bill

1. Oyster crackers

Instead of purchasing specialty crackers, buy oyster crackers or pretzels. There are tons of expensive crackers, like Goldfish, Wheat Thins, Ritz crackers that are much more expensive than a bag of oyster crackers. This easy food swap gives you more for your money.

2. Frozen berries

For a healthy food swap, instead of purchasing fresh berries, buy frozen berries. I love frozen berries, because they are still at their peak of freshness, with all the fantastic antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

During berry’s off-seasons, frozen will always be cheaper. However, when berries are in season, this tip may not technically apply. Then, it’s a great time to stock up on fresh berries and freeze them yourself.

3. Pizza toast

Instead of purchasing frozen pizzas, we love making pizza toast instead. I use leftover sandwich bread, the easy pizza sauce recipe on my website, vegan or dairy cheese, olives, or whatever toppings I have in the house. Then I pop them under the broiler.

You also buy English muffins or bagels on sale and use them. You might be thinking, “yes, but I can purchase a pizza for three dollars at Walmart.” Well, that’s not going to get you very far. With this easy food swap, you can get more for your money than a frozen pie that doesn’t even fill you up.

4. Buy local eggs

Instead of buying high-priced eggs at the grocery store, find someone locally who raises chickens and sells the eggs for cheaper. Facebook is probably the place to go to find this.

Health food stores sell eggs for around ten dollars a dozen, and claim that they’re free-range and grass-fed. But, you can find that locally. If this healthy food swap isn’t available in your area, I recommend purchasing eggs from Costco.

5. Popcorn

Instead of purchasing chips, we purchase corn kernels, pop the corn ourselves, season it, and enjoy a healthier snack. We like the Azure Standard kernels; they have a rainbow variety that my kids love, with white, yellow, red, and blue kernels.

It’s fun to get creative with toppings. We add Parmesan cheese with Italian seasoning and pepper flakes. Cinnamon, sugar, or honey are other toppings you can use. My kids like ranch seasoning.

Save buying chips for special occasions, so that you don’t feel tempted to buy them every week.

6. Lentils

For an easy food swap, swap Italian sausage for lentils. I have a recipe on my website for meatless zuppa toscana that my meat-eating family loves. Last weekend I made lentil shepherd’s pie that I brought to a family function. They all loved it.

So, don’t bash on lentils. Lentils are an amazing food swap. You can use fennel and Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes to flavor a recipe without Italian sausage.

7. Homemade popsicles

Oh my goodness! People spend so much on popsicles in the hot, summer months. We purchase silicone popsicle molds from Amazon and fill them with apple juice or orange-carrot juice or even chocolate, peanut butter, banana, and almond milk smoothie.

It’s such an easy way to save money on food. Apple juice is like $1.50 a bottle at Aldi’s (and 99 cents on sale). This healthy food swap saves you so much money.

8. Homemade breakfast bars

We were going through about a box of Cliff brand breakfast bars a week, which cost about $25 a month. How could I save some of that cash?

I bought a silicone mold in the same shape and size as a breakfast bar and made an oatmeal Cliff bar from only four ingredients. The recipe is on my website, along with a pumpkin version and a trail mix version.

9. Homemade fruit cups

Instead of buying fruit cups for school lunches, make a food swap with frozen fruits that you package yourself. It’s cheaper to purchase frozen mango or pineapple, and put it inside a little container from Dollar Tree (don’t get frozen bananas for this).

If you pack them in the morning, they are thawed by lunchtime. Another option is to make a jello salad because jello is inexpensive and goes a long way.

10. Homemade pasta sauce

I use the same recipe for pizza toast sauce as I do for pasta sauce. I take two cans of tomato sauce, and sometimes a can of diced tomatoes. Then, I grind up dried fennel seeds, oregano, basil, and rosemary, with my mortar and pestle and mix them in.

It’s so much different than just adding the seasons directly to the pot without pre-grinding. This homemade version is an easy food swap that is much cheaper than a good quality store-bought pasta sauce.

11. Dried beans

Instead of buying canned beans, cook your own. A can of beans typically costs between 50 cents to one dollar. But I can buy a pound of dried pinto beans and get four cups of beans once they are cooked, for the same price. It’s a fantastic way to save money on food.

12. Whole lettuce heads

Instead of buying bagged lettuce, purchase the whole romaine lettuce (or whatever lettuce you want) and wash and cut it up yourself. A pre-washed container is about three dollars (slightly cheaper for iceberg lettuce, but we are talking about better quality lettuce). I can get a whole head of organic romaine lettuce for 99 cents. 

13. Homemade granola

Instead of buying expensive granola, make your own. I was shocked to see how much store-bought granola costs, and it has so many unnecessary ingredients. Homemade granola usually costs less than a dollar to make. I make a super-simple recipe with only four ingredients.

Budget-friendly food swaps

My goal is to inspire you and teach you how to save money on food. These 13 food swaps are perfect for helping you save on your grocery budget. What do you do to save money at the grocery store? Let us know in the comments.