You CAN Afford to Eat Healthy!

$950.

Do you have any bills at your house that are $950 / month?  Maybe that's your house/rent payment.  Maybe that's your combined car payments.  Or, maybe that's your combined credit card payments.  Ouch!

$950 was our grocery bill one month when we first started this health journey.  When you combined that with medical bills that were over $500/month then we had what you might call a problem.  (I mean, if you call the vein on the side of my husbands forehead popping out a problem.)

Without me bringing in an income right now, we cannot swing $1400/month on health.  Maybe that's hypocritical in your eyes.  However, if I really analyze it - how realistic would it be if we could swing $1400?  I mean, how can I open this website and try and help as many people as I can by teaching them what we've learned and yet spend that much each month?  Because while you might be able to swing it, the majority of people cannot swing that amount each and every month.

So, I set out to try and figure out how to eat this way, live this way, breathe this way - for less - and here is what I've learned:

Coupons Work EVERYWHERE

If you watch TLC, you've probably seen the show Extreme Couponing.  It's an awesome show, but don't expect to be able to pull off those kind of savings eating well.  Yes, you can use coupons to get chips, cereals and sodas for free.  But, in all my research you will never find coupons that will get you organic apples, oranges and bananas for free.

However, before you give up - I have a rainbow in this storm.

While there are some things that you will just always pay full price for if you want to eat healthy, you can save money in other areas so that overall you reduce your grocery spending.

Coupons work and they work everywhere.  However, you rarely see people using coupons at Sprouts and especially Whole Foods.  (That must be nice!)  That doesn't mean that you CAN'T use them though!

The first time I ever used coupons combined with things that were on sale at Whole Foods, I saved $25 off my total bill.  The cashier asked me if she could take a picture of my receipt because she'd never seen anyone save so much there.  Twenty Five dollars isn't a large amount in the grand scheme of couponing, but every little bit helps.

Whole Foods puts out a coupon list each week that you can get in their store and also online.  Then, I take those coupons and see if the manufacturer of each good offers a coupon online as well.  I do the same thing at Sprouts.

You can maximize your savings if you combine your coupon with what is on sale.  For example, if they put Udi's Gluten Free White Bread on sale, I use a dollar off coupon I found online combined with a $1.50 off coupon they put in their flyer combined with their sale to get the bread for $3.00 instead of the usual $5.99.  It's not free (like on Extreme Couponing) - but it's much less expensive and it's one of the only breads my son can ingest.

Order in Bulk

This is one that won't make you a millionaire, but every little penny counts.  Whole Foods (and Sprouts as well I think) have a hidden secret.  If you order any item by the case, they will give you a 10% discount. 

So, how can we work that to our advantage?

Well, if you find you're eating a lot of something (like Udi's bread or Kettle potato chips, like us) then it would benefit you to order it by the case.  (A case is 8, 10 or 12 items.  It varies depending on the item.) 

So, how can we work this EVEN MORE to our advantage?

I like to wait until they put a particular item on sale and THEN I jump in and order it by the case.  For example, my most recent find was my favorite sweet tea:  Sweet Leaf.  This tea is normally sold for $1.50/bottle making it a treat I enjoy only on occasion instead of each and everyday.  However, recently it went on sale for $1/bottle.  So, I ordered a couple of cases taking advantage of the 10% off making each bottle actually $.90 instead.  Now, that's a bottle of tea I can enjoy each day!  (At least - that is - until I run out.)

Order Online

I know some of you that read this and I know you're terrified to order things online.  You're going to need to get over it for this part of the savings.  (And it's going to be a very important option for those of you not living in a city.)

Truth of the Day:  Things online are (almost always) less expensive than in the store.

I have found this to be true over and over again on this journey.  I know what you're thinking:  "Kristen, you're losing when it comes to the shipping!"  However, I've only paid the shipping on one item in the last six months.

My favorite way to find out if I can get a grocery item for our home cheaper online is to visit Amazon.  (However, I have also found good savings ordering directly from the manufacturer so don't forget to try that as an option!)

My most recent finds on Amazon include our Amazing Meal (that we drink daily) and the kid's favorite gluten-free, egg-free, dye-free, salicylate-free, artificial-sweetener-free, sulfite-free cereal:  EnviroKidz Leamin' Lepur.  I found the Amazing Meal at a 25% discount and the cereal at a 50% discount and got free shipping on both.  Score!

Farmers Markets

It's a little bit hard to shop at a Farmer's Market if you don't eat vegetables.  However, this is where you can seriously save in your grocery budget. 

If you live in the Austin area, it is very easy to find a farmer's market near you.  You could start here in your search.  (If you don't live in the Austin area, I'll be happy to help you locate the market nearest you.)

My favorites (so far) that are near me are the market on Saturday mornings at Lakeline Mall, the Pflugerville market on Tuesday afternoons and the Dell Diamond on Wednesday afternoons.  Lakeline has about 50 vendors and they have everything from seafood to flowers to dog treats to vegetables.  Pflugerville is small, but good.  Their selection of vegetables is awesome and they happen to have a gluten free bakery that brings cupcakes that my kids adore.  Dell Diamond is made up of about 25 vendors and their selection of vegetables is great as well.  They have meat, plants, bread, honey and even some ice cream as well.

What do you need to know before you go?

1)  Farmer's Markets only take cash.  (There is an ATM on site if needed.)
2)  Farmer's Markets deal in whole numbers.  Nothing is marked $3.99.  It's all $4 even or $3 even.  For some reason, this makes me feel like I'm spending less.  You have to watch yourself!
3)  Farmer's Markets offer baskets of vegetables instead of weighing in some cases.  I buy my cucumbers by the basketful (small basket - about 5 cucumbers) for three or four dollars.
4)  Farmer's Markets house some seriously friendly people.  Our churches could take lessons.

Meal Substitutions

We substitute our breakfast each and every morning with a shake.  The one we have chosen is outlined on our Products page.  The reason we've chosen to do this is three-fold: 

a) It is much healthier than anything else we could choose for breakfast.  It's loaded with probiotics, vitamins, nutrients, etc...

b) It enables us to "coast" through that part of the mornings, yet make a wise decision in the meantime.  I don't know how morning go at your house, but ours are packed with lunch making, kid dressing, folder signing chaos at times.  In all of the confusion and chaos I have been known to just grab a cupcake or some cold pizza.  Having this "plan" enables me to not have to think about breakfast and be able to focus on getting everyone out the door.

c)  It is actually less expensive for us because we aren't using the cereal, the milk, the eggs or the bread each and every morning. 

(This is also great for weight loss, but we're talking about how to save money on your healthy grocery bill.)

Meat Straight from the Rancher

If you want to save money, go straight to the source!  That's what we've done with our meat supply.  I order straight from the rancher which a) helps the rancher and his family, b) assures me I'm getting quality meat and c) cuts the middle man therefore cutting my cost.

Instead of paying $5.99/lb of organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, hormone-free ground beef, I now pay $4.50/lb.  That tends to add up each night at dinner! 

(If that still sounds pricey to you, it might be because you're still paying $1.97/lb at one of the large grocery chains.  If you have time later, you might want to take a look at what's really in that meat your eating.  Here's a few things:  red dye (to make it look pretty), hormones (from when the cow was alive), preservatives (so it will stay on the shelf longer).  Why do those things matter?  Well, that's another blog post for another day, but do you think it's any coinsedence that our cancer cases, diabetes cases, autism cases, and even just plain obesity cases are at an all time high?  I don't.)

While I order our meat an entire month at at time (because I have a deep freeze), I also have reduced the amount of meat we ingest.  Rick and I have a little laugh each time we eat a meal without meat because a year ago this was completely foreign to us.  I mean, it can't be a real meal unless there's meat, right?!

Our meat (for the entire month) now costs me less than $150.  If that still seems steep to you, divide it out.  Let's say we eat 20 dinners a month that contain meat.  If you divide that, it comes out to $7.50 per meal.  That's $1.87 per person.

Go here to find a rancher near you.

Wash, Wash & Rewash

Let's say that you just cannot afford organic fruits and vegetables.  Maybe you're a single parent doing the best you can.  Maybe your spouse was laid off from their job.  Maybe you spend all your money on the organic beef and can't do the other.

Whatever the reason, this would be my recommendation:

Wash the fruit or veggie with a vegetable wash.  Then, soak the fruit in a mixture of water and Agrisept.  (Agrisept can be found on our Products page.)  Agrisept is known as being an extremely powerful anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-bacterial, anti-viral product.  While you wouldn't be getting all of the benefits of organic produce, you could eliminate so much of the bad just by using Agrisept.

One other tool you might employ is peeling.  This is a good rule of thumb if you can't go completely organic:  If you are going to eat the peel (like an apple or pear) buy organic.  If not (like a grapefruit or cantelope), buy conventional.

Articles

If this particular post hasn't been long enough for you (ha), then take a look at some of these for more information and a little extra reading.

Can you afford to eat right?  I don't think you can afford NOT to!

How to Cook Whole Food from Scratch - And Keep Your Day Job  Or, like me - it has become my day job!

Your Family Could Be Eating Organic Food for the Same Price as Processed Foods - or Less This one is a goody!  Don't miss it - very eye opening!

Six Foods that will Give You the Most Health "Bang" For Your Buck - These are staples in my house!  (except the raw milk ... we use rice milk when possible)

A Special Request

One last thing before I head out .... I am now getting about four phone calls or emails a week.  Some of them come from friends.  Some of them come from friends of friends.  Some of them come from complete strangers who found our site in their search for truth.  Their calls/emails range in degree from children with behavior problems to serious diseases like Lupus.  Our desire is to help as many families as we can.  Who can you tell about our site?  Who could you email?  Would you be willing to post it on your Facebook wall?  Help us out by passing it on.  Maybe you don't need it, but bets are - someone you know does!