Healthy, Affordable, Organic

My wife and I aim to eat as healthily as possible while still not paying an arm and a leg at the grocery store. Let me share a few tips that we have found help useful:

1. Eat out as little as possible. Eating out is, quite simply, expensive. Sure it’s fun and convenient, but for us personally as a family, we cannot afford to both eat out and to eat healthily. For example, one meal at the waffle house could easily cost 1/4 of the amount we’ve budgeted for groceries for the week. So, if you want to afford eating well, the easiest way is to not eat out. All that money you would spend at the restaurant can now go towards healthy foods

2. For our meat, we primarily eat venison throughout the year. Lately I have not had time to shoot my own, but we have a hunting buddy that gets us as much as we want. But if you do not have a hunting buddy, you can still get wild game by contacting your local meat processor. Hunters bring in their game and often do not want it. So, you’ll simply have to pay the processing fee and then the meat is yours. The benefits? We never have to buy ground beef, roasts, tenderloin, steaks, etc. Also, wild game does not have the hormones and antibiotics that most store-bought does.

3. Become friends with farmers. By weekly visiting our local farmers market, we have gotten to know many of the farmers in town. Locally grown produce is fresher, plus you’re helping out someone in your community and making friends along the way. The benefits? Local produce from the farmer’s market is tons cheaper than stuff in the store.

4. Through a friendship, we have access to raw milk. The benefits? Raw milk is a lot better for you than pasteurized.

5. Do it yourself. We are unable to garden in the house we currently live in due to too much shade. Our garden the first year simply didn’t produce, and what meager vegetables did grow were devoured by deer and rabbits. But, we have begun to grow our own Kombucha (you can read about the benefits of Kombucha HERE).The benefits? Rather than paying $ 4 for a small can of Kombucha in the health food store, we produce a gallon of our own each week. Plus you can then share your cultures with friends who may also be interested in a healthy elixir. By the way, if you’re interested, let me know and we’ll be glad to give you a starter batch.

What about you? What are some ways you’ve managed to eat healthily on a realistic budget?