Was one of your New Year's resolutions to eat healthier? Organic foods are expensive, but you can save money and eat healthier, too.
There are four ways that I can think of that will help cut the cost a little:
1 Grow your own whenever possible. You can container garden even in an apartment.
2. Buy in season only. Fresh foods are always cheaper when they're in season. No watermelon in December and no apples in July . They don't taste good then, anyway.
3. Buy locally. Get as close to the source as you can. I know you can't buy everything straight from the farmer (baking powder doesn't grow on farms!) but buy meat in bulk from a local grower and you'll get better quality: buy fresh produce from the producer and it's bettr quality and often less money, too.
4. "Naturally grown" means something different to the small local producer than it does to the big compaines. Guess which one is closer to the truth? Organic is good but if you can't afford organic, shoot for naturally grown.
Healthy food on a budget is doable, especially if you are vegetarian. Our family belongs to a CSA, where we get a share of produce from a local farm during the growing season. We eat half then and freeze the rest for the winter. I've written about our farm, and lots of healthy veggie recipies on my blog, frugal upside.
ReplyDeleteBuying from a CSA is a good idea, but if you can, growing even a little of your own will cut costs even more.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone is satisfied to eat a vegetarian diet, but if you can, I'm sure it helps with the food bill.
You can absolutely still eat healthy and stay on a budget! Print coupons at mambosprouts.com - coupons for organic, natural foods and products. Plus you can even sign up to get free coupon books in the mail.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, annie, about the coupons. Not only Mambo Sprouts, though. Organic Valley has some very good coupons as do several other organic product sites. Just look for the ones you're interested in.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder about growing your own food at home, does it actually work out cheaper? By the time you buy containers, tools, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and even dirt, it might work out to be more expensive.
ReplyDeleteI keep an open mind, so I am happy to be proved wrong if anyone has worked it out.
Bryan, you can make a home garden as expensive or as cheap as you want. Containers? How about coffee cans, 5 gallon buckets from a restaurant, juice cans? Seeds? Save your own, get some from a friend, trade for some.
ReplyDeleteTools are simple. A shovel, a rake and a water hose. You might even have all of those already. If you have to buy them, they'll last a lot of years. Do the math.
As to pesticides and fertilizers, go organic. It's much cheaper had healthier. You can make your own compost (fertilizer) and healthy plants don't attract pests. Whether a garden saves money or not is all in the way it's approached, like so many other things.
I agree, you can grow your own without spending too much. We have a few vegetables in milk cans at our place.
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