- Base your diet/meals around potatoes, rice, beans and bananas. These foods are normally very inexpensive and easy to find. A main component of my dinners is always potatoes, rice and/or beans. Then I round out the meal with other veggies and greens. The main component of my smoothies is always bananas, and I top them off with other ingredients like frozen fruit, mango, berries, super food powders, etc.

- Grow your own food, if it's possible. My family has a big backyard and garden so we are able to grow a lot of what we eat. It is super cheap, not a huge amount of work (depending on what plants you choose to grow), and ends up feeding you the highest quality food around all season long. When I move out in the next few months, I plan on at least growing my own herbs and tomatoes. If you have no space to grow food, find a community garden in your area and sign up to help out and reap the bounty!

- Forage. It's fun, it's easy, it's educational, it saves a ton of cash! Berries are super expensive here right now and yet they are growing all around us, just begging to be picked and eaten for free. Pick all the edible plants you can find (but make sure to do your research so you don't poison yourself), then freeze what you don't eat right away. Add to smoothies and anything else all year long!

- Buy in bulk; buy discounted produce. I eat a huge amount of fruit, especially bananas. So I buy boxes of them at 10% off. I also buy mangoes in bulk and save a few dollars that way. You can also get discounted prices on overly ripe fruits and veggies. Simply freeze that produce and add to smoothies, soups and stir-frys later on! If these options don't seem available at your regular grocery stores, just ask the employees about buying bulk and buying overly ripe produce.

- Shop around; compare prices in stores and between stores. Sometimes different places have different prices, and sometimes there is a huge difference between organic and non-organic (often organic is double the price here, so I have to decide what is most important to get organic, and what I will compromise on). Check out this list to see what is best bought organic.

- Keep updated with your local grocery stores on sales, customer appreciation days, and discounts. I get email flyers that let me know when my fave food stores are having sales, and what specific produce is on sale every month.

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