I have gotten questions about this a lot. So I will tell you how we did it and stayed on a budget. I have always fed Riley organic but my husband and I were still eating conventional for most things. Mostly because the organic produce was really expensive at Publix. It wasn't until we started our workout that we went totally organic . I was spending about 120.00 at publix a week for groceries, and that was buying a few organic fruits and veggies, sodas for Jesse, and quite a few organic boxed items. When we started the clean eating diet it really requires you to eat different foods. Lots of veggies, fruit, lean protein and not a lot of breads and crackers. So we got into a habit of eating completely different than we had been. I now spend about 80.00 a week on groceries and 75% of that is organic fruits and veggies. We have a wonderful market here called Food and Thought, owned by Frank Oakes. He is also who teaches my gardening class. He absolutely has the best prices and a lot of his produce comes from the Amish. I have been getting 2 lbs of strawberries every week at 2.99-3.99 /lb from him. When I went to Publix to see how much they were my jaw dropped. Any guesses? They were the same organic Driscoll's strawberries and they were 5.99-6.99/lb. That is robbery! I started comparing prices and everything at Frank's was at least 1.00 cheaper. That adds up. So I stopped shopping at Publix almost completely. Now don't get me wrong, we love Publix. They employees are so nice and they really do have a great selection of organic and healthy food. I just can't afford to shop there anymore. I mean I can save 40.00 a week and buy everything organic instead of just some things.
Another way we save is I make a lot of things from scratch. I don't by sodas and I don't buy frozen pizzas or ice creams. If we want ice cream, we make it ourselves. We make smoothies for treats and if we want something really sweet like cookies or brownies, we make them . I make my own pasta sauce and sometimes my own pasta. I am going to start making my own yogurt, ricotta cheese, and whole grain bread. We also make dried apple chips in our dehydrator instead of buying chips to snack on. We really don't buy junk food and snacks. We make sure that every meal counts and is nutritious. So I am sure that it's a big reason we are able to save so much money. You get deceived by all the coupons out there for processed junk food and you think that you can save money. But all those boxed foods are expensive when you are buying a lot of them. Just think how many fruits and vegetable you could buy instead.
If at all possible grow your own food or buy local organic produce from a CSA, Co op, or farmer's market. I told you about the CSA we joined this year and I can't wait to see how much our grocery bill goes down during Jan- May. Plus we are growing ours in our own garden as well.
There are plenty or coupons out there for organic products. You just have to search harder. I found a lot by just going to the product's websites and signing up for their newsletter. Most of them have coupons that you can print off.
Plan your week's meals before you go shop. I always sit down and think about what I want to cook for the week and which nights we won't be home and then I write my list. I also buy organic chicken breasts in bulk and then freeze them individually. I usually cook 2 up at the beginning of the week and then shred one breast for a soup or bbq chicken nachos, and slice up the other for salads or whatever. I recently found an organic farm in Ocala that sells meat and poultry and am hoping to be purchasing from them in bulk and saving money there too.
I really think it is possible for a family to go organic and do it on a budget. It just takes some time to figure out what works best. The real way to do it though is to change the way you eat and that does take a serious commitment. But it really does work.
I hope this has helped some of you and if you have any questions please let me know.
2 comments:
this is awesome! we still struggle with where to find good organic meat that isn't outrageously expensive. i think i'll look for a farm around here and see if i can buy in bulk,too. we are still bad about buying some processed foods, but slowly but surely we are getting there. it's good to take baby steps when you are changing the way you live and eat. thanks for sharing!
That's great to hear! We've been making similar lifestyle changes the past year and have been also doing a lot of raw food. We also stopped shopping at the big chain grocery stores and ended up saving quite a bit each week on our food costs. If you stick primarily to fresh vegetables and fruit...your costs will go down, especially when you cut the pre-packaged snacks and chips back. We have a variable temperature dehydrator and now make our own raw (but crispy) tortilla chips and apple/raisin/cinnamon cookies...which taste sooo great. If you are interested, let me know and I'll send you the recipe.
Post a Comment