Eating "clean" on budget

I realized recently, that I sort of abandoned this blog. But, healthy eating and fitness continues to be important to me, even if I do occasionally fall of the bandwagon sometimes.  So, I've decided to come back and try again. Hopefully, I'll manage at least a weekly update.

For 2013 I have chosen to break my new years resolutions in 12 - one for each month. In February I decided to cut out all foods from a box. If you've seen any before/after picture or heard anyone talk about weight loss and healthy eating they usually say they "eat clean." For many this just means picking the whole food over the processed food, choosing lean proteins over the fatty greasy ones, and skipping the fried foods.

Of course this begs the question - how do I afford the grocery bill to make all my own food?
You've probably heard the excuses - Fast food is cheaper than real food, or that a bag of Doritos is cheaper than a bag of produce (and depending on the time of year or type of produce, this could be true, but that's no excuse to throw in the towel).  But in many cases these are just myths. Check out this comparison:

Fast food for a family of four, vs. a home made meal for four.
The last one would be even cheaper if those beans were vegetarian!

Clearly, when feeding a family it's cheaper. And with a little planning, and some food storage containers, even clean eating for one can be cheaper.

Tip #1) Buy in Bulk You can save money buying more at once. A bag of dried beans is much cheaper than buying them canned. Cooked in your, you don't even need to pre-soak. Dried goods like oatmeal, flour, and whole grains likequinoa might come in a box, but they still fit the whole food rule and you'll like find them cheaper in bulk. If there is a particular item you know you eat often, or that you can preserve, some items do come in "bulk" in the produce section. Bags of onions, potatoes, apples, celery, and carrots can all be found in the produce section and quite often if you compare them to the per pound price they will be cheaper. Personally, this is how I buy my apples if I can find them. And I will typically cut up and freeze produce for use later if I don't think I can eat it before it spoils.

Tip #2) Buy fresh produce in season Sure it would be nice to have blueberries in my oatmeal every morning year round, but blueberries aren't in season year round in the mid-west where I live. In the dead of winter those blueberries are being imported which means they the price increased.  It might also be a great way to try different fruits or vegetables you wouldn't have considered before.  Still, you'll want to compare prices because sometimes a fruit or vegetable might be in season, but if there was a particularly bad harvest (like last fall's apples, or 2011's pumpkins), it won't matter. Scarcity will make the price soar.  But, what happens when the only thing in season near you is a Christmas tree?

Tip #3) Check out the freezer section. It's true, we are once again in the it's in a package territory, but frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as it's fresh counter part, and it didn't lose nutrients as it ripened on the trip to your grocery store. When it comes to eating clean though, make sure you're buying just the produce and not the fruit steeped in sugar, or the veggies covered in low-cal fuax-butter sauce. The point of eating clean is stay away from all those chemicals and additives.

Tip #4) Check the paper for coupons or weekly specials It's true, you won't find too many coupons for the fresh produce aisle. But your grocery store may be printing out $3 off your next purchase coupons that you're leaving behind at the self-check out. Take a minute to look at the grocery store's weekly ad and you may notice some of the produce you like going on sale. If it's an option for your busy schedule, you can also try to comparison shop - check the ads for the grocery stores near you and hit up different ones for different deals. Or, find out when your grocery store puts their produce on "manager's special" and shop on that day.  Once an item is close to it's "sell buy" date the store will usually put it on sale. I routinely find bagged salads, or packages of pre-cut fruits and vegetables on manager specials. These items are usually too expensive for me to buy, but they are convenient and if I eat them with in the next few days, I don't worry about that pesky "sell buy date." For my store mark downs happen on Wednesday, and sometimes I can snag them early by shopping on Tuesday night.

Tip #5 Know your basic buying healthy guides - shop the perimiter of the store and avoid the junk food in the middle aisles. Don't go to the store hungry you'll have less will power and your body will tell you to load your cart with high sugar, high fat items because it wants energy now! Make a list and stick to it.


When clean eating means going Organic 

Fore some people the term "clean" not only refers to whole foods, but to organic whole foods. When trying to decide which produce you should buy organic think about whether or not you'll eat the skin. The skin is where all those pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on your food are going to be. If you're going to eat the skin you'll want to buy organic.  If you are cutting through the skin instead of peeling it (avocado vs. banana) it's important to wash the non-organic well first preventing your knife from carrying those chemicals through the food.

You can also check out the Environmental Working Group's list of the most and least important foods to buy organic, so you can spend your hard earned cash wisely.

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/