Saving money on supplements
I am on a very tight budget, and I have spent a lot of time trying to cut my costs but still get quality products. Some of these strategies may not apply to you but I hope this helps if you are in a similar situation.
Buy powders and cap them yourself
It is often far cheaper to buy bulk powder, a capsule filler like Cap-M-Quik, empty capsules and fill them yourself. The downside is the time spent filling capsules, but depending on how many supplements you are capping, this can be reduced to a once-a-week chore.
Many supplements are available in bulk powder form from iHerb, usually NOW Foods brand products. These include vitamin C, magnesium citrate, calcium citrate, inositol, and amino acids (e.g. taurine, glutamine GABA). Other specialty products are available in powder form from places like 1fast400 or Beyond-a-Century (e.g. bacopa, ALCAR, ashwagandha, etc). However you will need to balance the cost with questions of purity when it comes to no-name brands of powder.
Quality vs Quantity
If you have sensitivities, you might find that some cheap brands don't work too well. Here in Canada, Natural Factors is sometimes cheaper than NOW Foods, but I have had problems with some of their products. They are also bad at properly listing all the ingredients of their fillers. As a result, I buy few Natural Factors products.
For Canadians: ship with USPS
Never ship supplements from the U.S. via courier such as UPS/Fedex/DHL or you will be hit with customs brokerage fees and possibly closer scrutiny by customs. UPS is particularly notorious for excessive brokerage fees.
The best strategy is to find a vendor that ships with USPS (e.g. iHerb). Unfortunately this means no tracking number and sometimes dealing with Canada Post. You should factor in the costs of $5 in Canada Post's custom brokerage fee, and GST on the value of the goods. Where I live, Canada Post has an unfortunate habit of not attempting delivery yet claiming nobody was home!
Some posts
- Dana chelated 4 kids on $200/month
- Some ideas for those who buy a lot of supplements