Anyone else surprised how much their grocery bill went down after starting?

My quick background, 49 male, tall runner. Trying to get healthy again after my COVID hermitage years. Put on 20 stubborn lbs that have refused to come off. Recent blood work was fine, except for surprisingly high blood sugar. The Dr. said "pre-diabetic". Too much juice and fruits the only possible culprits. Didn't think I was overeating when I run 50k per week. With pre-diabetic ringing in my ears, I was strongly motivated to change. Water only now, no more indulging in grapes, pineapple, mellon. I've been 4 weeks, started 16/8, but drifting towards 20/4, have done a couple OMAD. Having good success. Some of those initial hunger pains were HARD. Lots easier now, and or more used to them. I recall a friend saying quite seriously, it was easier to quit heroin than it was to quit sugar. All that said, the discipline of having a set eating window has really highlighted just how much mindless snacking and comfort eating I was doing! My weekly grocery bill for myself feels halved! Which is a great savings in these times. Anyone else experience a healthier wallet along with the other bonuses?

Answer

This is spooky, I was just thinking of putting a post up saying this the best time to do IF during the cost of living crisis and you beat me to it. I was running minimum 35km per week myself before but was eating junk so saw no difference. The only thing I have done is I do either 18:6 or 20:4 and a 48hr fast per week. Gone from 36 inch waist to 33 inch waist. I break my fast at 4pm with a bowl of cornflakes with sugar in it lol and them a few cashews and walnuts. Then I just have what I like but stop at 8. As there is only so much I can eat I don’t spend money or have the time on mcdonalds anymore, bread and milk last way longer, my dozen of eggs now takes a whole month to be eaten up. Basically my food bill has gone down a lot and less gas used for cooking etc. It would be good for media to promote IF as a way of saving money rather than just scaremongering us with bad finances.

Answer

I find myself wasting a lot of milk now. I don’t drink milk, but I use it as an ingredient in recipes, but without using it in cereal, I find it goes bad before I use up the half gallons I usually buy.

What really saved me money was quitting coffee. Admittedly I was a coffee addict, but not buying the Folgers or going to Starbucks saved me a lot of cash.

Answer

I have noticed a big savings in my time. I pretty much exclusively eat food I cook so cutting out breakfast saves me a lot of time. I snack at work and they provide unlimited snacks as a return to office perk. I left lock down in the best shape of my life and that quickly went out the window. I haven’t noticed much savings as I cut out rice and pasta which are cheap and added more veggies and things like hemp hearts which are expensive. I’m also more careful about eating organic and buying a variety of fruits and veg so that adds up.

Overall I’m spending less but it’s not significant. I wasn’t eating out or getting takeout, I don’t do Starbucks etc. so there was nothing to be saved there. I was traveling recently and got Starbucks. I was shocked at how much it was. With tip it was around $7, which adds up fast. Restaurants were a lot more expensive than I remember too so I can see huge savings if you’re buying food others prepare.