Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.
I went shopping this morning and paid $45 for food to last me the rest of the week! You might be sitting there thinking $45.00 is a lot for one week for one person. But what if I told you that was for USDA organic food! Organic vegetables, organic fruits, and organic almond milk. (Keep in mind, some food that I’m eating during the week I already had, like oatmeal, rice, and other packaged foods that can be bought in larger quantities)
Just because I bought organic, doesn’t mean you have to. And if you don’t, you could probably save $5-10 on your average weekly bill. For me, I’m trying to heal some gastrointestinal issues, so eating the cleanest food possible is a priority for me right now. If you’re concerned about pesticides but are afraid of blowing your budget, try buying “the dirty dozen” organic, and everything else conventional.
I bought organic zucchini for $1.99 each. Conventionally grown zucchini is usually $0.99-1.50/lb. Because that’s sold in weight you’re already going to save, and the price is cheaper if it is per unit. The organic carrots were $0.99, I dunno how you could beat that when buying organic! A 3 lb. bag of clementines (conventional) was $5.49, but that whole bag will last me 7-10 days, that’s $0.55-0.78 per day if you break it down! If you buy that for a family maybe it lasts a week, but even still that’s only $1 per day! (So none of that eating healthy is expensive bullsh!t) Meats are naturally going to cost a little more. The chicken thighs I bought were $8.94, now what I bought was a higher end brand, the store brand would probably be closer to $5/6.00 (total, not per lb). I’m interested in finding higher quality, locally sourced meat. But if you’re just starting out and on a budget, store brand/packaged meats are perfectly fine. Just as long as it’s not bread coated and frozen! But my dinner all this week is going to be chicken based, so to break it down again, that’s a little more than $1 per day. See how it can sound expensive when you first hear “$45.00”, but when you break it down to day by day that weekly total no longer sounds as scary. You go from $45.00 in one trip, to about $6.50 per day. Meal services like nutrisystem can easily cost you $8 per meal, that $24.00 per day, 4x more per day when you sign up for something like that vs. buying your own. Compared to that $6.50 is not a lot! And if you choose not to buy organic that price is only going to go down.
Planning your meals is another way to save money. Find a few meals that you like and contain similar ingredients. If you’re buying a large onion, find 2 or 3 recipes you can use that onion in! If you like carrots, buy a bag and plan to include them in a recipe or eat them as a vegetable side or snack during the week so you finish the bag. Then that $0.99 doesn’t go to waste. If you’re worried about waste, buy bags of frozen veggies! They’ll keep longer and you can use them as you need.
See how planning ahead can save you money? Come back later this week and check out the breakdown of my meals. I promise, a little planning can go a long way! 🙂
