Eating healthier on a budget...I'm overwhelmed

[boltfam]

We're trying to cut out processed food and eat grass-fed meat, drink milk from grassfed cows, and eat local (preferably organic) produce on a budget. I feel like my life revolves food. If I'm not stopping at the grocery store or farmer's market, I am making breakfast, snacks, lunch, or dinner.

I've also switched over to all-natural cleaners, too, which also has taken some $ from my grocery budget.

It's a change I really want to make, but we're really struggling to do these things on $400/month. I feel like we are always low on food, too, because either I have to make more or we don't have $ that week to buy more.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Here's what I've done to try to save $:
- u-pick berries
- 1/4 cow (coming this fall...can't wait!)
-buy oatmeal, flour, rice in bulk at health food store
- buy whole chickens instead of breasts
- shop sales at grocery store/ health food store

Any other suggestions of how to not wear myself out?

[clc053103]

Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? I find that their prices (19 cents a banana!) are far better than grocery stores.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Check Amazon using S&S, saves me time and money. I buy Bob's Red Mill stuff, Annie's, etc. for cheaper than the grocery store, and it is delivered to my door, so less running around.

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Organic-Grocery/b/ref=sa_menu_nto7?ie=UTF8&node=51537011

[boltfam]

Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? I find that their prices (19 cents a banana!) are far better than grocery stores.

I SO wish! No WF, either. Thankfully, I do have Costco, which is one of my regular stops.

[marit]

One thing you can try doing is eat less meat and dairy and more lgumes such as beans and lentils. They are super healthy and cost nothing.

[brittone2]

I'm not sure exactly what part is the toughest for you right now. I'll toss some ideas out there:

In terms of not having to run out to the store, I'd recommend keeping some frozen veggies on hand, and then once you have your beef, there's always something you can cook, kwim?

I like to cook in bulk. I don't do OAMC but I do cook ahead. I double and freeze recipes (which will also require less running out to the store because you can often use some of the ingredients more efficiently that way or before they go bad), or make "planned leftovers." I might spend more time cooking a breakfast casserole on sunday, but then we eat it for the next 3 days (meaning breakfast cleanup is easy). You can throw steel cut oats in the crockpot overnight and reheat for the next few days. I might spend a little more time making chicken salad for the kids, but then lunch for the next 3 days is taken care of, kwim?

You mentioned healthier cleaning products are eating into your grocery budget. What are you buying? Most natural cleaning can be accomplished w/ vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, maybe something like Bon Ami. All of those are quite inexpensive overall. Things like eco friendly dishwasher detergent can be kinda spendy (like Ecover), but otherwise you can clean a lot of household items without special eco friendly commercial cleaners. It costs money to buy some of that up front but it is way cheaper than the eco friendly commercial stuff in the long haul.

eta: if you are new to this transition, I think it is a good idea to give yourself some breathing room and not strive for perfection!!! Otherwise, you risk getting frustrated and giving up. Maybe you can find peace w/ buying some things online (but not local) or buying non local frozen veggies to save running out to the store in a pinch, kwim?

If you give more specifics maybe we can help you brainstorm some ways to make the transition easier.

[boltfam]

Thank you all for your responses so far! I am new to this transition, and I think I might have bit off more than I can handle. DD (4 mo) doesn't tolerate dairy, so I've already basically cut that out of MY diet. DH and DS still eat it but a lot less, because I used to make a lot of casseroles with cheese and cream soups in them. :bag

Additional changes we've made (within about the last 3 mo.)

- non diary supplements for me (coconut milk, yogurt)
- the above mentioned (grass fed meat)
- eating less meat and more veggies, eggs, and legumes
- natural cleaners: I am mainly trying to use homeade, so buying vinegar, baking soda, castille soap ( I just bought a big thing of Dr. Bronners and have vinegar and baking soda but not in bulk yet)
- organic most of the time (except clean 15 fruits/veggies)
- trying to eat less cereal (DH and DS's breakfast of choice every.day.)
- natural personal care products (I'm using up the old first)


I used to spend about $550 - 600 on groceries, when our budget has always been closer to $400. I just way overspent, which I used to be able to do because DH was making more. We live in MI, and overtime is a thing of the past, so I need to stay closer to our budget. I think the expense is my biggest concern, which is leading me to run here and there.


brittone2, I agree with you that I probably should just buy some frozen veggies (organic at Costco, maybe) and make egg casseroles/ chicken salad - healthy food that will last for a while.

For those of you who shop several places (say Costco, grocery, health food store), how often do you go to each place?

Sorry my thoughts are SO scattered. Can you tell I'm overwhelmed?

.

[Kestrel]

We go through breakfast cereal in huge amounts, and have found that Costco by far is the cheapest place. Their private label "Kirkland" ones, in particular, are great, but they also have great prices on mini wheats, cherrios, and frosted flakes.

Costco is also a great place to buy vinegar and baking soda for cleaning.

[brittone2]

It is really hard trying to make so many changes at once, even when they are positive :)

I also think it is okay to fit in what you can with your budget and work in the rest as you are able. Buying grassfed beef, some organic, and cooking from scratch are all big, huge, great changes. If you can't do it all 100% right now financially or in terms of effort, that's okay too.

What other things does your DC like to eat for breakfast?
To save my sanity, my kids usually eat:
sprouted bread (ezekial) with nut butter
unsweetened greek yogurt with some fruit or 2 drops of liquid stevia (could sweeten with jam, jelly, a drizzle of honey, maple syrup, etc.)
smoothies in hot weather
steel cut or rolled oats
or something premade (by me on the weekend when DH is around to help) and easy like a breakfast casserole

Those are all pretty easy. The egg casserole kinds of dishes take some work up front but we eat it for a few days, and DH will take it for lunch, etc. if we have enough.

Can you also precook a bunch of grains? We don't eat rice or a lot of grains but if you do you could do a large batch of rice all at once and reheat as a side for several meals. Quinoa, etc. work like that too.

One other thing as it is getting cooler are soups. We do huge pots of soup which are great for stretching the budget. When we have a chicken, we use the leftover carcass for stock. I save the bottoms and leaves of celery, scraps of raw onion, etc. in a freezer bag in the freezer and add to it as I go. THen when I have a chicken to use for soup, I toss in all of the "free" veggies and make stock. I strain that and then add in whatever we want. My kids love chicken soup with a little corn, brown rice, and kale (hits every food group in one meal to boot). I freeze it in ball freezer jars and those are like having convenience food on hand. I just have to remember to thaw the night before, but I can even sit the jar in some warm water for a few mins and thaw it enough to get a big chunk of frozen soup out to reheat. You could freeze in whatever freezer containers you already have to save $ for now.

If you do legumes and grains it is really, really easy to stretch things even more. If you are already buying whole chickens, it is a great way to get some extra benefit out of them. if you can't get to your soup right away you can even toss the carcass (after it has been cooked and you took whatever meat off you want) into a freezer bag in the freezer until you can get around to making stock.

eta: with frozen veggies, I do watch country of origin. Costco in my area often sells "organic" but imported from China. You could even look for "clean 15" items that are frozen, kwim?

[edurnemk]

We cut a huge portion of our grocery expense when we switch to homemade cleaners, all based on baking soda, vinegar, borax and castille soap. We also don't use softener for laundry, just vinegar in the rinse.

Other things I do:

I buy a lot of stuff in bulk (Cosco, sales and coupons), cook double or triple quantity and freeze the extra portions. We keep a lot of stuff freezed to have as backup, including veggies as a PP suggested.

We buy produce that is in season.

We switched to cloth napkins and microfiber towels for the kitchen instead of paper towels. We also CD'd DS.

We eat vegetarian meals 3-4 times a week. I also don't buy beef, only chicken, turkey and fish (mainly because I decided to eat less meat and started out by cutting beef and pork). We use simple non expensive recipes.

I find that buying processed foods is more expensive so I avoid most processed things.

Using less of personal care and cleaning products, half the manufacturer's recommendation is usually OK.

I switched to the oil method for skin care, and I'm trying the no shampoo, as well (AKA no 'poo method). I'm saving a fortune on personal care products. I'm using almond oil instead of lotion for DS and me.

When I started transitioning to a healthier lifestyle I decided to do one change at a time, I set goals for each month or year. For example, the first one was to switch to natural cleaners by X date, then natural cosmetics by the end of the year, I started buying more organic little by little, now we're transitioning to a pescatarian diet this year. doing it all at once can be overwhelming.

GL!

[edurnemk]

For those of you who shop several places (say Costco, grocery, health food store), how often do you go to each place?


.

I go to about once a week, like one week I'll go to Cosco, and the next to the health food store, oh I also have my groceries delivered when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes I'll go to one place and then a quick stop at the another for whatever few items I didn't find at the first place.

When we lived in Chicago I found I spent a lot less when I started using peapod.com I'm not sure why, but I think I stuck to my list more and didn't buy any extras. That's why I like to order and have groceries delivered. Plus I save a lot of time.

[amldaley]

You have already gotten some terrific suggestions, so I will mostly just add my voIice to the chorus for making homemade cleansers, using vinegar and baking soda, eating less meat & using Costco and Amazon to save in bulk. I use Country Save detergent which is SUPER cheap, safe for He, enviro friendly and has no problems with my chemical sensitivities or DD's sensitive skin.

I stopped eating meat but still buy organic, grain fed, cruelty free eggs and meats for DD and organic milk for her, too. I no longer eat any dairy products at all. I stopped buying anything with refined sugar or enriched or bleached flours.

Most Americans think we need more protein than we actually do. Following a vegetarian and raw foods diet is actually more affordable than I thought it would be. There are lots of good protein sources in plants. http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm Beans are cheap and have good protein. I make a 2 bean chili, homemade hummus, black bean burgers and more.

I buy organic quinoa at Costco for $9.99/2 lbs. SUCH a good deal! And my 2 yo LOVES it. I buy rice in bulk and keep a container of cooked rice and a container of cooked quinoa in the fridge all the time. I end up cooking those every 3 or 4 days.

You might consider Googling "30 meals in one day"...skip the company that cooks with you, but check out the related articles. The idea is that you set a budget, shop and then cook 30 meals in one whole, long day and freeze them to use throughout the month. This helps with both budget and time management.

I love eating raw...I prep a weeks worth of veggies on the weekend and use them all week long. Easy to grab and eat or use when they are already prepped. http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/

And, as a side benefit...I lost 13 lbs the first month I cut meat, dairy, sugar and refined wheat out! DD loves to copy me, so as a result, she now loves broccoli, hummus, kale, quinoa, romaine lettuce leaves (though she has a hard time eating these) and tomatoes.

This may seem extreme, but it works for me! My budget is at $300 for 2 adults and 1 toddler. The first month was expensive as I bought alot to get started and some things will last past one month.

[Pepper]

It is really hard trying to make so many changes at once, even when they are positive :)

...

One other thing as it is getting cooler are soups. We do huge pots of soup which are great for stretching the budget. When we have a chicken, we use the leftover carcass for stock.
:yeahthat:

I am not so good at sticking to a food budget! But, I try to make the most of what I buy, which means eating everything up and saving bones and veggie scraps for stock, like brittone said. We are doing both meat and veggie CSAs so I don't go to the grocery store very often - just TJs to pick up some basics, sometimes Whole Foods as well (but I try to avaoid it, I spend too much money there!).

We eat soup and/or rice porridge a couple of times a week, for breakfast, lunch or dinner. If I have leftover rice, I use about 1 cup of cooked rice per quart of water or stock. If i'm starting with uncooked rice, I use 1/2 cup. I grate whatever odds and ends of veggies are in the crisper drawer and add them to the porridge, dice up any leftover cooked chicken or beef, ham, etc. This is a great way to use the stalks from broccoli - I peel them and grate them fine, they disappear into the porridge when cooked. A little soy sauce and some kimchee (if we have it) are all we need for condiments, tho sometimes I'll fry up some eggs too if I'm serving the porridge for dinner.

The rule for soup is basically the same - stock is made from scraps and frozen, add whatever veggies and/or meat that needs to be used up. Barley (I prefer the "hulled" kind to the "pearled" kind, but either is great in soup), rice, lentils, dried beans etc. all contribute protein to veggie soups. You can make a batch of soup and servie it with supper so you don't need to have as much meat.

For breakfast, you could make a big batch of granola - it's sooo much cheaper than buying it. We usually eat it with yogurt but I think it tastes just fine on it's own, too, or with a little fruit. I also like to make "overnight oatmeal" from steel-cut oats - I posted the recipe here before from my blog, but will repost for you:
http://neighborhood-dish.blogspot.com/2009/01/ode-to-easy-oatmeal.html

Homemade waffles and pancakes also freeze really well. Make a big batch on the weekend and then freeze the extras. Oh, and muffins freeze well too.

I'm impressed that you're trying to make so many changes at once! It's been a more gradual process for me...and it's turned me into a food snob. But I do think it's worth it, and it makes me feel really good that my kids are eating so well. We are lucky!

[boltfam]

Check Amazon using S&S, saves me time and money. I buy Bob's Red Mill stuff, Annie's, etc. for cheaper than the grocery store, and it is delivered to my door, so less running around.

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Organic-Grocery/b/ref=sa_menu_nto7?ie=UTF8&node=51537011

Wow! Is there anything Amazon doesn't sell?! I am so excited! I am definately going to get some maple syrup off there! It's much cheaper than what I've been buying at the health food store.

Thank you all, too, for ideas of what I can make ahead and freeze to cut down on running around for groceries and making food so often. I'll have to do one big shopping trip and get some of it prepared - hopefully, tomorrow.

For those of you who freeze veggies, do you freeze them yourself in season or do you buy them?

Also, how do you budget your $? I'm used to doing it weekly, but I think I need to re-work that so that I'm not going several places a week. For instance, maybe I need to set aside a certain amount per month for Costco, a certain amt. for meat (bought at a separate store), etc.

[wellyes]

I've saved a lot of money (and time and stress) by vastly simplifying my diet.

I have 2 breakfast options: steel cut oats with fruit or yogurt with granola & fruit.
*Oatmeal in bulk, yogurt homemade, granola in bulk.

I have 2 lunch options: quiche with salad or cous cous with veggies.
*Cous Cous I buy in bulk, veggies are organic but bought frozen so not too expensive

I'm working on winnowing down my dinner options as well.

I realize this kind of voluntary simplicity is not for everyone. But I found I wasn't really enjoying trying to be creative in the kitchen. I just want nourishing food that makes me feel good. When I improvise or try to get creative I end up 1. being wasteful because I buy too much at the store and end up throwing some away 2. eating much junkier stuff.

Just throwing it out there as an option to consider. My grocery bill is utterly slashed and I'm actually happier this way.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Wow! Is there anything Amazon doesn't sell?! I am so excited! I am definately going to get some maple syrup off there! It's much cheaper than what I've been buying at the health food store.



Children and black market organs!:rotflmao:

Check SD, too. Here is a maple syrup deal
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=807245&t=2227763

[boltfam]

Children and black market organs!:rotflmao:

Check SD, too. Here is a maple syrup deal
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=807245& (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=807245&t=2227763)
t=2227763 (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=807245&t=2227763)

Funny! I just ordered that maple syrup 10 min. ago (with that deal)!

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I either buy Highlands or Coombs, whatever is on sale at Amazon. Both are good. I buy a lot at Amazon!

I just bought this for fall/winter b-fast. (http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Flaxseed-20-Ounce/dp/B000KEPBGO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1283535571&sr=1-5) Bob retired, and now his employees own the company. Such a great company!

Great for cleaning products, too.

[essnce629]

Children and black market organs!:rotflmao:

Check SD, too. Here is a maple syrup deal
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=807245&t=2227763

Awesome deal! Thanks for posting! Just in time too since we just ran out of maple syrup a few days ago.

ETA: Ugh, I totally didn't see the coupon code posted on SD for the syrup!!!! I could have saved another dollar! And it says I can't cancel my order even though I just ordered like 5 minutes ago. Oh well!

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Awesome deal! Thanks for posting! Just in time too since we just ran out of maple syrup a few days ago.

ALWAYS check SD for deals on syrup before you buy, and I do S&S along with whatever code is on SD. They have syrup deals on a fairly regular basis.

[boltfam]

I either buy Highlands or Coombs, whatever is on sale at Amazon. Both are good. I buy a lot at Amazon!

I just bought this for fall/winter b-fast. (http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Flaxseed-20-Ounce/dp/B000KEPBGO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1283535571&sr=1-5) Bob retired, and now his employees own the company. Such a great company!

Great for cleaning products, too.

Wow! Another great deal! I'll have to make SD one of my regular websites to visit, too.