Clean Eating on a budget!
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AngelZealot
Posts: 49 Member
I am thinking of trying to incorporate more if not all organic/natural foods into my diet. Does anyone have any tips on how to do that on a budget? It seems that organic foods are very spendy. Thanks!
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Rice. Lentils. Whatever vegetables are in season.0
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Oh. No. Get ready for the onslaught of people demanding to know what you mean by "clean eating" and ridiculing and scrutinizing your every word. Just do a search on the forum to see what's coming your way...0
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They are all probably off eating candy bars and pizza and losing copious amounts of weight. They will be here soon.0
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They are all probably off eating candy bars and pizza and losing copious amounts of weight. They will be here soon.
I agree with you. I have been trying to give people constructive advice and been scrutinized by ALOT of individuals. It has made me question the real use of this app for some.
OP: Get ready to spend more for organic. I have been eating clean for a while now and have yet to find any organic foods for a good price or in bulk. I also only have a few options because of the small town I live in.0 -
Organic produce IS generally a lot more expensive, so you should research whether you think it's worth it. One thing to look at is the list of items that are generally most and least affected by pesticides, if that's an issue for you, so you can at least focus your purchases. It's all over the internet, here's one place:organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214
I don't worry about organic, but I do like to buy local when possible, in part because I think local, in-season produce tastes better, and in part just because I like to support small local farms (this is in part romantic more than anything else--my grandparents were farmers, some relatives still are, and I like the idea of the family farm though I could never actually live on one). If you buy from farms/green markets, you might be able to find good prices on organics without the mark-up you get at the supermarket or, of course, WF.
You can also look into frozen--I'm not actually sure what the options are for frozen organic, but frozen in general tends to be cheaper and off-season is likely healthier (although I still tend to prefer non-frozen just because of how I cook).
For meats, look into less popular cuts and ones that take longer to cook, although those will often be less lean (also tasty). (You can also possibly get meat from farms depending on where you live and if you have the ability to buy larger amounts and keep it frozen until needed you might be able to get deals.)
For eggs and dairy be aware that a lot of the humane/organic labeling is misleading/a rip-off and chickens are not naturally vegetarian (they eat bugs). There are also big industry organic producers these days. But it all depends on what you are after.0 -
Oh. No. Get ready for the onslaught of people demanding to know what you mean by "clean eating" and ridiculing and scrutinizing your every word. Just do a search on the forum to see what's coming your way...
Yep...just put on a flame resistant suit. The jokes at your expense are coming.0 -
Well I do appreciate all and any advice. I am not looking to become crazy about clean eating, but I would really like to cut out a lot of the processed crap I eat everyday. I think I might start to feel better if I do. Thank you so much for the tips! I think I'll start slow by incorporating as much as I can afford, and work up from there.0
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FitnessTrainer69 wrote: »They are all probably off eating candy bars and pizza and losing copious amounts of weight. They will be here soon.
I agree with you. I have been trying to give people constructive advice and been scrutinized by ALOT of individuals. It has made me question the real use of this app for some.
OP: Get ready to spend more for organic. I have been eating clean for a while now and have yet to find any organic foods for a good price or in bulk. I also only have a few options because of the small town I live in.
I'm not sure why people get so defensive about clean eating. It's just trying to eat natural and not processed! I'm going to slowly add in the more affordable organic foods and see if I can't just slowly add more as I go. I want to feel better!!0 -
It's not a bad thing to do. But I'd estimate that my grocery budget would be three times what it is now
You can do e.g. bean casseroles and stews and just use less of the good meat.0 -
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I feed myself and my boyfriend, virtually all meals eaten at home or brought to work, mostly "clean" whole foods, on about $200 a month in the Bay Area. Here are my tips:
Focus on seasonality. You can find seasonal vegetable charts, often tailored to your general area, with a google search. Vegetables and fruits that are in season are usually much cheaper (and, I think, tastier!).
Focus on whole foods. It's usually a lot cheaper to buy the ingredients for things than the finished item. If you're not really into cooking, a few simple recipes will save you a lot of money.
When non-perishable items that you use a lot go on sale, stock up and store them away.
Don't be picky. Dinged cans have totally acceptable food inside, pasta tastes the same no matter what shape it's made into, and if you planned on buying cheddar but edam is on special, that will probably work just fine.
Meal plan. It's boring and sometimes annoying, but it makes sure you use up every bit of what you buy and don't throw money (and valuable resources) into the bin.
Avoid animal products. Meat is expensive, dried beans are not. Think of meat as a side dish or flavor, not as the star of most meals (I'm not saying we all have to go vegetarian, but cutting back on meat will save you a lot of money!). Consider "less desirable" cuts and animals.
The date on most packaging is a "sell-buy" date, not a "consume-by" date. I get a lot of stuff on special that is still perfectly fine as long as I use it up (or cook and then freeze it!) in the next few days.
Good luck! You can do this!
ETA: As others have said, prioritize your organics. Some things are really worth it, others are not, in terms of potential health benefits.0 -
I am going to open up a can of worms here. I am sorry.
I am a retired food microbiologist and have worked in the food manufacturing industry for 34 years. It was mostly food formulation, dairy farm management and food industry quality assurance management. The first thing you learn is that there is no big difference different between the two kinds of foods.
Watching the industry grow it was apparent that organic food started as a niche market by farmers that couldn't survive any other way. Their fields were weedy. Their cows had untreated mastitis and their greenhouses had no glass in the windows. They could not compete with larger farms. Then they started promoting their foods as natural foods and it took off.
Now I have made organic products for two different food industries. The organic industry started off without any regulation all the way down to the farm level. Finally, there was a requirement for formula and ingredient approval. Fly-by-night organic certification companies popped up everywhere. It was very easy to become certified and they never ever came to visit the factory! Today as far as regulation goes, only the big food companies that use foods as ingredients follow up with certification compliance. Dept of Ag (at least here in Ohio) and FDA are unconcerned.
There is no added benefit to buying supposedly organic foods and if they are truly organic then you have to deal with premature spoilage and food defects.
Defects commonly occur in foods. For instance ketchup normally has a lot of worms in it. Food technologists count the number of worm heads in a microscope and the number of tiny bugs in broccoli, things you can't see. Can you imagine what is in organic foods. If you don't see defects, then ask yourself why.
It is better to buy foods without those defects and just wash them. This whole debate started with Alar on apples and antibiotics in meats. FDA DOES do a very good job of controlling anything added to foods. It doesn't do a good job controlling what is not supposed to be there across the organic industry.0 -
nicoleklein33 wrote: »FitnessTrainer69 wrote: »They are all probably off eating candy bars and pizza and losing copious amounts of weight. They will be here soon.
I agree with you. I have been trying to give people constructive advice and been scrutinized by ALOT of individuals. It has made me question the real use of this app for some.
OP: Get ready to spend more for organic. I have been eating clean for a while now and have yet to find any organic foods for a good price or in bulk. I also only have a few options because of the small town I live in.
I'm not sure why people get so defensive about clean eating. It's just trying to eat natural and not processed! I'm going to slowly add in the more affordable organic foods and see if I can't just slowly add more as I go. I want to feel better!!
For me, I dislike the term--it's not really about other food being dirty or unclean, so it seems needlessly insulting, and people also mean a bunch of inconsistent things by it. But I'm in favor of people trying to eat healthy and cook and focus on eating more locally and in season or the like if they are into that (I am too), so don't want to get into an argument about the word. For the record, though, quite often when people object to it, it's not because they are against eating healthy; probably most of the people who get involved in the discussion here are interested in nutrition and eat in ways that should be considered healthy.0 -
Wow, great discussion!! Thanks so much everyone!0
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I ate clean and lost 30 lbs in 4 months and I was just going on my little afternoon walks everyday . I didnt eat organic fruits n veggies but I did eat hormone and antibiotic free meat.0
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I only buy organic for the "dirty dozen" fruits and veggies. Do a google search as to what they are. It's things like bell peppers, spinach, berries, apples etc. But sometimes I buy conventional for this produce as well.0
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nicoleklein33 wrote: »Well I do appreciate all and any advice. I am not looking to become crazy about clean eating, but I would really like to cut out a lot of the processed crap I eat everyday. I think I might start to feel better if I do. Thank you so much for the tips! I think I'll start slow by incorporating as much as I can afford, and work up from there.
If that is the case, just do that. No need to go to another extreme. Home cooking is almost always much better than heavily processed foods. You can find cheap and healthy ingredients and produce in most stores.
I'd like to leave this one here too: False dilemma
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kommodevaran wrote: »nicoleklein33 wrote: »Well I do appreciate all and any advice. I am not looking to become crazy about clean eating, but I would really like to cut out a lot of the processed crap I eat everyday. I think I might start to feel better if I do. Thank you so much for the tips! I think I'll start slow by incorporating as much as I can afford, and work up from there.
If that is the case, just do that. No need to go to another extreme. Home cooking is almost always much better than heavily processed foods. You can find cheap and healthy ingredients and produce in most stores.
I'd like to leave this one here too: False dilemma
This right here!0 -
nicoleklein33 wrote: »I am thinking of trying to incorporate more if not all organic/natural foods into my diet. Does anyone have any tips on how to do that on a budget? It seems that organic foods are very spendy. Thanks!
If you want to get organic foods, you have to be prepared for the cost.
I buy tons of fresh produce; the only organic product I buy is Olivia's Organics salad mix, and I can get one of the larger tubs for $4.99; enough greens for 2-4 salads for me.
I've found that couponing for my staple items; pasta, pasta sauce, rice, dairy, snacks, ect; helps me offset the costs and apply those to the fresh meat and produce that I buy. If you can start saving on your staple items, it will give you some extra cash to work with to afford the organic produce you want. Try to get what you can in season, freeze what you can get in bulk on sale, and test out your intake for a while so you can learn how to buy what you need for the week, so you aren't wasting money on produce that may go bad. I would also recommend seeing what produce items are okay to get non-organic, and prioritize what you want that way. If you absolutely cannot afford to go all organic, pick a select amount of items to buy organic, and go non-organic for the rest.
Good luck!
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Costco has some fairly priced organic foods.0
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