Eating healthier definitely costs more than eating highly processed, high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar offering these days. But that doesn’t mean you have to always pay more. Here’s where smart shopping comes into play, and it’s the reason I launched a smart shopping page here.

Know what items you want from which stores in your area and pounce on those items when they go on sale. I recently did that on a shopping trip to my local supermarket, Jewel, and saved 30% from the normal prices of what I purchased.

My trip included some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms on sale, along with three different kinds of either low-fat or no-fat cheeses. I eat very little cheese these days because cheese includes high amounts of fat and high levels of salt. But when I make certain Italian favorites of mine, I need some cheese, so I’ve switched to low or no-fat varieties of Parmesan and ricotta, as you can see in my shopping photo here.

I’ve also found fat-free feta cheese, which I enjoy adding in small amounts to salads. I say small amounts because salt and cheese are inseparable.

A recent shopping trip included low-fat cheeses, salmon and low-salt olives, all on sale.

I saved 30% on my low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar choices.

Also here are cans of low-salt olives. Olives are brined which means salt, but at least one major brand I’ve found is now offering lower-salt olives, so I buy those and stock up when they’re on sale.

Also in my shopping haul is a low-fat frozen yogurt, Kemp’s, a low-salt salsa and salmon, which has become my mainstay protein as I eat less red meat. Salmon has been on sale repeatedly in my area lately, so I have bought several whole sides and cut it into portions to freeze for later use.

John