Saving Money on Shopping for Healthy Food

You might think you have to choose between saving money and buying healthy food for your family, but you don't, if you are able to give a bit more time to your meal preparation.

Buying fresh food and less prepared food give you both a financial savings and is healthier for your family, but it does require more preparation time in the kitchen.  Ideally you get as much local, seasonal, fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs, through a local box scheme (such as the OOOOBY Box Scheme in Glenealy Co Wicklow), a farm shop, greengrocer or supermarket. 

For items that are not available locally or are out of season, maybe you can you find a local substitute.  For example, many herbs are imported but also can be grown locally.  Or you might even consider doing without imported items that are clearly out of season (eg soft fruits in the dead of winter).  Your body is probably better off eating what's growing in your region at the time.

For some items that you still need, you can save money and get better quality / healthier versions by buying through a bulk buying scheme.  These typically let you get any of the items you'd see in a healthfoods shop, but at a lower cost.  You are usually required to buy by the case, but often that isn't as large a quantity as you'd think.  We started as a bulk buying group, so that we and other families could afford organic & wholefoods.  Our bulk buying scheme in Glenealy, Co Wicklow has now been running for almost 10 years; it's now part of Carraig Dúlra but we still are true to our roots and are still not-for-profit, run by volunteers, and keep prices as low as possible.  Many of our customers are still local, but we now also ship to anywhere in Ireland or Northern Ireland.  You can order online now; orders received by Thursday evening will be with you early the next week, or you can pick them up on the Saturday.  For more information please contact us

There are other bulk buying groups around the country, but many are just an informal collection of friends.  The granddaddy of them all is the Dublin Food Co-op, which has changed somewhat from its original setup but still worth visiting if you're in the area as they have a market alongside the bulk foods, and they are very helpful if you want to set up your own bulk buying group.

If you are running a buying group, please give us your contact details and we'll be happy to include them here for others to find.