Budget Friendly Healthy Eating Tips

          

          

1 Corinthians 16:2  On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

The biggest complaint I hear from people trying to start a healthy diet is the following.. "it's too expensive to eat healthy".  Well, first of all, the price of being unhealthy is much more.  You will have more medical problems, medical bills, and medication costs, if not now, you will have them later.  You are what you eat and eventually it will all catch up to you.  If you don't put the proper food and nutrients in to your body your body is suffering.  Not to mention what the added chemicals in your foods will cause.  Like everyone else in this day's economy, we don't want to go out and spend $300 a week on a grocery bill and we don't.  So how do you eat healthy and stay on a budget?

 

Budget Friendly Tips for Healthy Eating

1. Buy Local: it is much cheaper to buy from your local farmer or farmer's market than the grocery store for produce and other items.  There are many local farmer's markets and if you plan meals and buy what is in season that alone will save you money.  I not only love the farmer's market, but I love my local farmers and call them when I need items, such as grass fed beef, eggs, and produce.  If you live in the Tri-cities area and don't know about Indian Brook farm near our church, send me a message and I will hook you up with my favorite farm girl, Wendi!

2. Plan meals: If you plan your meals for the week, make a grocery list, and stick to it, you won't be buying impulse items or throwing things away.

3. Go to more than one store on more than one day:  No store has everything that I use and no store has their items at the same price.  I shop about three different places about two different times a week and I shop a little at a time and do not do one huge grocery store trip. If I shop on Monday for eating grilled chicken on Friday, the chicken isn't as fresh and some of the veggies I would have used are starting to go bad.  I don't like to waste and throw things away, so I will make a mid-week grocery stop often.

4. Shop the perimeter of the store:  Most of your items that are healthy and fresh are around the perimeter of the store.  Most of the processed junk food impulse items line the shelves down the middle.  If you don't go down them, you don't buy any extra junk.

5. Use coupons:  What?? They have healthy coupons?!?  Yes, they do.  Here are some links for healthy coupons.  Note: earthfare has store coupons, but most of the coupons on their site are from the manufacturer, which means you can print and use it anywhere.

Earthfare Coupon Homepage :  remember you don't have to shop there to use these!
Mambo Sprouts
Stoneyfield : sign up for free coupons