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You are what you eat.
That saying is very true in about the way we act, feel, think, behave and function.
Eating healthy can literally change all of these things for the better! But the real, hard truth of the matter is that eating “healthy” is incredibly expensive. Isn’t it?
In this day and age budgets just keep getting tighter, well-paying jobs can be hard to find, and when you are so busy making or trying to make money often times fast food is just the only easy option.
But what if I could show you how we eat a healthy, nutritious, mostly organic diet and not break the bank?
Well that’s what I’m here to do. You can thank me later.
(This page contains information about health and uses affiliate links, if you want to read more about that check out our disclaimer page)
1. Figure out your budget.
First and foremost, you need a budget.
Figure out how much you are going to allow yourself each paycheck/month for groceries.
This will determine what stores you go to, and how much you can spend on essentials vs. wants.
You can also set a budget per store.
For us, say that I am going to Costco and I just got paid. I set my Costco budget to anything under $100, but make sure that everything in my Costco budget will either last us a while or make multiple meals.
2. Decide where to shop.
Know your stores and what they carry.
What options do you want?
For us in the Midwest, we have Hy-vee(a tad expensive, but they have some good healthy options), Costco (BULK everything!), Sprouts (my all-time favorite health food place), and Aldi (the most AMAZING place to shop if you are on a budget).
Find out what healthy items your stores have, and who carries it the cheapest.
A lot of places like Aldi, Wal-mart, Hy-Vee, Safeway, Albertsons and other popular grocers have started to add in health markets and sections with healthier options.
3. Know what you need, and look for options.
Figure out what you need to buy, and then see if you can’t find the healthier version.
Take Mac and Cheese for example: we buy Annie’s brand mac and cheese because its organic, not made with preservatives, artificial flavors and has no high fructose corn syrup.
I cant go back to eating craft ever again, and not just because of the ingredients.
Annie’s mac and cheese is amazing! So good, and in most grocery stores their brand is right next to the regular stuff in the pasta section.
That is just one example of supplementation in food products.
Don’t think that you need to ditch the foods that you love to lose weight or be healthier! Find those foods in a better, healthier version.
Trust me on this, most things DO have a healthy alternative.
(p.s. these steps can be applied to restaurants too…)
4. Price match
This step is the only real time consuming one. Do two of your local stores carry the same healthy item? What about veggies and fruits?
I know for a fact that multiple stores around us carry(and im gonna use this example again) Annie’s macaroni.
Hy-Vee carries it as well as Price Chopper,Terra and Sprouts.
BUT, Costco sells it in a multiple flavor 12-pack for around $12.
The other places have it too, but if its more expensive to buy single boxes and we know that we will keep eating it over the next month or two, then yes, I will buy the 12 pack.
As for Veggies…
It’s all about which place has the best quality and price when it comes to the veggies and fruits for us.
Sprouts is awesome simply for their LOW prices on produce.
Their prices are always good, and their produce is organic and free of pesticides.
hose two things are super important to me when looking for produce.
We could get produce at Hy-Vee or Aldi, and occasionally we do, but we end up spending more and the quality is not as good.
5 . Know what you want to be organic, and what doesn’t necessarily have to be.
This is key to knowing where you need to go to get things.
I only buy organic sugar, so I need to know where all sells it.
I know that Aldi has two options for organic sugar, and that one is a pretty big bag for $4 and is also no-GMO. If I go to Hy-Vee, the bag is still organic, but its a lot smaller and is $7.
I could get a cheaper bag of bleached white sugar for 99 cents. But to me, that bag is only worth the 99 cents I’m paying for it.
Boom. Decision made.
Know what quality you want in the products you buy.
Do you want organic spinach instead of the regular shredded lettuce? Then you need to know where sells a good quality spinach for a good price.
It IS possible to get a good price on anything you need.
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