One part of living a healthy lifestyle is to have it in every area of our lives. It is essential that we live on a budget. So yes I want my family to eat healthy, clean foods, but I also have to be realistic about it. We have to stick to our budget to keep a healthy lifestyle for our bank account. The question was where do I begin. I had never really eaten like this before. Obviously I had eaten fresh foods, but cutting out processed foods? That was a challenge for me. I thought I would be spending $600 or more every two weeks, that is how often I go shopping other than odds and ends, but I have been very surprised that I do not spend anywhere near that. Yes eating clean can be done on a budget!! You just have to be willing to put a little work into it.
The best place to begin is to first figure out exactly what clean eating is. It is exactly what it says. You want your foods to be clean. They should be the way they were intended to be found in nature. Your meats and dairy should be antibiotic and hormone free. Preferably grassfed or even grain fed. With my fruits and vegetables I try to buy fresh organic produce mostly. Obviously everyone's budget is different. I cannot afford to buy everything organic. So I try to stick to the clean 15, dirty 12 as much as possible. Now if I find something off the clean list that is organic at a great price. I will go ahead and get that as well. I do buy some frozen vegetables or fruits, but I look at the label and if anything other than that fruit or vegetable is in there I do not get it. I never buy canned. For my carbs I only get complex carbohydrates, no white pasta, bread or rice. You want to try to get those unprocessed if possible. I look for the non-gmo label on my products as well. The best tip I can say is try to buy as many foods as possible without a label. That way you know they are fresh. If there is a label you want a very small list of ingredients, and make sure you can pronounce everything. You don't want a bunch of crap in your foods. Try to stick as much as possible to this. Now obviously like I said everyone's budget is different. Try to make as many healthy choices as possible while still sticking to your budget.
So now that we know what clean eating is where do we get started. I found that the best thing is to gradually wean yourself off of the unhealthy stuff. You may very well be able to cut it all out cold turkey and not have any problems at all. That was not the case for me. I had to start slow. I am still working on "cleaning" up some areas for our family. Snacks are the biggest area we struggle with. A good idea is to start building a stock pile of basics that can go for a lot of different recipes. Yes spending $10-15 on a grassfed roast, but if you can split that into 2-3 meals. It is actually not that much in the end. Obviously shopping at whole foods and earth fare are great options for clean eating. The problem for us is 1) we do not have those stores in our town, they are about 45 minutes away. I do try to go to them to get things, but it is not the main place I go. 2) I do not have the budget to buy everything at those places. I find that a lot of the grocery stores around us have great prices on the foods we are now eating. I go to the farmer's market, Aldi, Sam's club, Publix, BI-LO, Target, and yes even Wal-Mart for our clean eating. Sometimes I will go to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or Earth Fare, but like I said that is a bit of a drive for me, and dragging 3 kids 45 minutes for groceries does not sound fun to me. You just have to look in the right places at these stores. My big advice stick to the outside aisles. Do not go up and down the processed food aisles. There are things that I buy down these aisles, but the main things are from the outer aisles. I try to buy staples monthly and then fill in the other things throughout the month. I do have a big chest freezer. So I can make some things ahead of time and freeze them for later which will definitely save you money in the long run. I used to think making things from scratch was so time consuming and expensive. That is totally false. It is actually cheaper to make things from scratch as long as you have your staples. For your staples think of the things that you can use in multiple recipes.
Clean Eating Staples
quinoa
flour (whole grain, coconut, oat etc. I like the King Arthur brand)
Oil (coconut, olive, sesame, grapeseed etc.)
seeds (chia, flax, sesame etc.)
nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, sun butter. I try to get the organic versions of these)
Pasta (quinoa pasta, whole grain pasta, brown rice pasta)
Rice (brown or wild)
Oats (oatmeal, oat bran, steel cut oats)
couscous
millet
frozen veggies (the biggest one I get frozen is broccoli or cauliflower, but look for no sodium for your frozen veggies and no other ingredients, just do not buy canned)
frozen fruits (look for the organic frozen fruits if possible. Trader Joe's has a lot of good options)
Milk (coconut, almond, if you are doing cow's milk try to get the milk without antibiotics or hormones. I know milk can be a big expense)
Nonfat plain Greek yogurt (I like Fage the best, I use this in a lot of things so I buy the big container and it goes very far)
Breads (Ezekiel brand or Rudi brands are good ones. They are in the freezer section. Although my hubby loves my homemade breads. Which you are using some of the staples you already have on hand :) )
Salt (sea-salt, I like no-salt it helps me watch my sodium intake)
Sweeteners (agave (this goes very far as you don't need a lot), raw honey, organic sugar)
Beans (black, pinto, chickpea etc. You can buy the organic low sodium beans in the can, but they are of course a little more expensive. The bagged ones are going to be very budget friendly. They just take a little more work to use.)
Meats (look for lean meats, chicken, turkey, fish, certain cuts of beef and pork. As I said look for meats that are grassfed or grain fed, no hormones or antibiotics, and very little fat on them). This area is probably where I spend the majority of my budget. We try to get proteins in a lot because that is what has helped us with our weight loss. Protein is essential to this process. Obviously there are other areas that we can get protein than just meats, and we do eat those things. For our meats though I have planned in our budget for this area to be 1/3 of it by itself. That way I am not worried about feeding my family hormone ridden meat. I also will find when there is a good sale on these meats and buy a lot of it and freeze it. I know that some of the nutrients are lost when we freeze them, but like I said budget is a factor as well. I have to buy what is best for our budget. I also will prepare some meals before hand with some of the meats and freeze those to pull out for easy meals later.
I don't buy any condiments other than ketchup (my kids love ketchup. I want to find a recipe to make my own). We do not eat salad dressing, mayo, mustard etc. If you do look for one's that are organic maybe with low sugars and low sodium and low fat.
Raw nuts (almonds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans etc. I get the ones that are unsalted)
Fresh fruits and vegetables (try as much as possible to look at the dirty/clean list)
I know there are a lot more foods that I did not address in this list. This is a basic list to get you started. I suggest meal planning and meal prep. Those are essential. That way you are not buying a bunch of stuff that you will never use. Feel free to comment with any questions about clean eating or send me an email sadie822@hotmail.com
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