The way I see it, there are two main road blocks to eating real food: time and money. Doesn’t everything come back to that?
So I decided to google “real food on a budget” and see what helpful tips I could come up with. Ironically, 5 of the top 7 hits are blogs that I already subscribe to. Here are some articles that might help if you want to eat more of a whole food diet but aren’t sure how you’re going to afford it:
Eating Real Food on a Budget. Food Renegade says, “There are two components to eating Real Food on a budget. One is learning what foods to prioritize sourcing well, and the other is learning how to manage your kitchen properly to stretch those dollars.” And she goes on to give advice on both points in her post. This is a must-read.
Nourishing Food on a Budget and Feeding the Hungry — Nourishing Gourmet. Kimi shares her thoughts on the topic and a few tips for how she extends her budget.
Saving Money While Eating Real Food — Naturally Knocked Up. Donielle shares how she budgets for food, and she does it on $300 a month. I’m going to consider this envelope system because I spend, well, a lot more than that on our food.
Eating Healthy on a Budget — 12 Tips. Kelly the Kitchen Kop shares 12 practical tips for making real food affordable. There’s a lot of great advice in this article. It’s definitely worth a read.
A Peek at Our Real Food Budget — Passionate Homemaking. Lindsay shares her real food budget. I found this post incredibly fascinating, not only do you see her budget, but what she prioritizes. Since reading this article, I’ve begun making a trip to Trader Joes one of my weekly stops. Now I need to learn to can fruit and tomatoes. GAH.
Well, that should get you started.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the link! Stumbled it for you, what a great list of posts!
I will definitely come back to read these articles later today, hopefully. Our food budget can always use tweaking, whether in the whole food category or not.
Thank you so much for these links. I truly need them. I have found it very difficult to stick to our budget since we began making real food changes. I am hopeful that the e-course will help, as well.
Thanks for the info. I tried this week to buy more fresh fruit and vegetables, it cost so much extra than my normal groceries. I will definitely check these out.
I’m always looking for ways to cut our budget–and these are excellent ideas! Thanks for posting them!
I love this post, I have always gone back and forth w/ this topic too. Thanks for putting these links up!
Ashley
This is a great list!! Yes, I often fall into the “but it’s so much more expensive” trap. Thanks so much for sharing:)
Thanks for the great links.
I think my hardest thing is prioritizing what I must buy first.
Here it’s cash only for groceries and normally spend $60-70 weekly. Right now I am trying to set $ aside for upcoming purchases like a side of beef, chickens and garden supplies.
I never can tomatoes, and very little fruit (unless I just want to make marmalade or jam) – freezing works so well! I’m just about out of last summers blueberries, strawberries, corn and tomatoes!
Here is how I freeze the corn and tomatoes:
http://friedchickenandcheesesteaks.blogspot.com/2008/09/freezing-summers-goodness.html
We do spend more money on real food than we ever did on fake food, but I’m confident that eventually we’ll spend less on health care because of it.
Nell
Look at that, another Trader Joe’s post:) I’ll have to go read all of these. Especially the one with the $300 budget…um, yeah. That’s not what I’m spending…yeah.
Well, that just scared the bad fats right out of me. I was all “go me” on using whole wheat flour and succanat, and now I feel like a worm for not making my own mayonnaise. baby steps, right?
LOL!!! Hey, I don’t make my own mayonnaise either. We’ll take baby steps together, okay??