A friend of mine explained her healthy eating dilemma . She wants to eat healthier but frankly doesn’t because it’s very hard to do. She said plain and simple – it’s expensive to eat healthy.
She would love to choose healthier options, buy organic and even pick non-gmo foods but she ends up spending almost 3 times the amount on groceries and has a family as well. My friend pointed out it’s not the stores but what to spend your money on in the stores. She needed some tips for Broke, Health Conscious Folks.
Like her, many people have this same issue. The lower your income is, the more difficult it is to be particular about what you feed your family. In a previous post, I listed my top 10 Places to Find Healthy Produce and Meats On A Tight Budget but I wanted to take the issue further.
Just because your wallets are a little light, doesn’t mean you can’t have healthy foods. If you are in a situation where you have to feed your family and don’t have a lot of money to do it, you need to do your research. While this list isn’t comprehensive, here are some things to consider about conventional grocery store offerings. Here are a few choices and tips thanks to Eat Local Grow.
What should you eat when you’re broke?
Grains
If you can’t swing organic grains, look for whole grains with few or no additives.
Wheat flour
Brown rice
Pasta (with recognizable ingredients)
Couscous
Quinoa
Barley
Meats
If you can’t afford grass-fed organic meat, at the very least look for options that are guaranteed to be hormone and antibiotic free. The USDA does not allow the use of growth hormones in pork, which makes it a slightly better option.
Here’s a little primer on those confusing meat labels:
Hormone-free: This means something with beef, but is nothing but a marketing ploy when you see it on poultry or pork, as the USDA does not allow the use of hormones with those animals. Hormone-free does not mean antibiotic-free
Antibiotic-free: Because of poor and stressful living conditions, factory-farmed animals are very susceptible to illness. Antibiotic-free means they were not prophylactically treated with antibiotics. This does not, however, mean that the animal is hormone-free.
Grass-fed: Grass-fed cows are allowed some access to the outdoors and are not fed grains or corn. This does NOT mean they are organic, because the grass they are grazing on may have been chemically fertilized and sprayed. Unless you have actually seen them roaming around the farm, keep in mind their access to the outdoors may not be the lovely rolling pastures that you have in your mind, but a crowded corral with hundreds of other cows.
Free-range: This label doesn’t mean diddly squat. It means that the animal is allowed a minimum of an hour a day outside. This could mean that they are crammed into an open area with a billion other chickens, still, without room to move, or that their cage is put outside, leaving them still tightly confined. Like the grass-fed cows above, unless you actually see the farm with the gallivanting chickens or pigs, take the label “free-range” with a grain of salt.
Your best options, if you can’t afford organic meats, are to go for the hormone and antibiotic free options as a supplement to vegetarian protein sources like local eggs, beans, and organic dairy products.
Fruits and Vegetables
If organic produce is not an option, look for the items with the lowest pesticide loads. (This list by the Environmental Working Group is based ONLY on pesticide loads – some of the items they recommend could be GMOs). Fruits and vegetables that can be peeled often subject you to less pesticides than thin-skinned items. If you must buy conventional, wash the produce carefully and peel it if possible. Look to these stand-bys:
Apples (peeled)
Asparagus
Avocados
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Eggplant
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Mangoes
Mushrooms
Onions
Oranges
Pineapples
Rutabagas
Sweet Peas
Sweet Potatoes
Turnips
Dairy products
Conventional dairy products are absolutely loaded with hormones. Dairy cattle are given high levels of female hormones to make them produce a greater quantity of milk. This makes little boys develop female characteristics and makes little girls hit puberty at a far younger age than normal, which is the reason you see 4th graders with large breasts and hips. These hormones can also trigger obesity in both genders. Because of the public outcry, some dairies have pledged not to use rBST, the most commonly used of the growth hormones. Do your research to discover if there are any such brands available to you. The Lucerne brand from Safeway is guaranteed to be hormone free. (It’s interesting to note that Monsanto, the company that pushes rBST, wants the FDA to disallow dairies to put this on their labels, and that the FDA forces those who label their products rBST-free to also put the following disclaimer on the containers: “No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST treated cows.” (source) )
Organic dairy is still better, because the cattle are fed a healthier diet and are free from antibiotics. If you can’t swing it, at the very least, search for rBST-free dairy products. For products, you can save loads of money by making your own from untainted milk. Learn how to make yogurt, how to make yogurt cheese, and how to make cottage cheese. Plain yogurt can also be used as a healthy substitute for sour cream.
EGGS
Try to pick eggs that are pastured raised or local ones from a CSA or Farmers Market. While they may cost $1 to $2 more than the regular or organic eggs, your body will thank you now.
Eggs from pastured hens contain up to 20 times more healthy omega-3 fatty acids than those their less fortunate cousins, factory hens. What does this mean to you financially? You’d have to eat 5 supermarket eggs to get the same amount of nutrients from one pastured egg. Check out this great article on how pastured raised verse cage free eggs by clicking here. You can find local pastured raised or local eggs by visiting Local Harvest.
If you don’t believe me.. You can look at the eggs
Water
If you are on city water, chances are, your water is loaded with chemicals, from fluoride to ammonia to chlorine. I won’t drink this water, and I won’t let my children drink it either. The large 5 gallon jugs provide the least expensive way to buy water. Also look for sources of spring water to fill your own containers. (This interactive map can help.) I use the Santevia water filter system but I also recommend the Berky system. One of the best investments I have made.
Other Tight Budget Tips
Build your pantry. It’s hard to think about building a pantry when you have barely enough food in the cupboard to make it between paychecks. But if you can purchase one bulk item per shopping trip, in a few months you will have a pantry that will allow you to make higher quality grocery purchases on your weekly trips. At that point, you can start going to the farmer’s market, which in many locations is very reasonably priced, buying in enough bulk to preserve your foods, and have the occasional splurge. Go HERE to learn more about building a whole foods kitchen on a half price budget.
Be scrupulous about food hygiene. Wash your produce very thoroughly and soak it in a baking soda bath. Also remember to careful wash your beans and rice. (Click HERE to see some photos of the dirt that comes off of a cup of rice!)
Get growing. Even if it is the off season, you can sprout some seeds on your counter to add fresh nutrients. You can grow some salad greens and herbs in a sunny windowsill. Invest a few dollars each week in some seeds and you will soon be able to supplement your diet with nutritious, organic, home-grown veggies. Go HERE to get more ideas for growing your own food on any budget, in any location.
Visit outlet stores. Sometimes places like Big Lots or grocery clearance centers have organic options at good prices. You might be able to pick up canned goods, cereals, and crackers at a fraction of the normal grocery store price.
Plan on at least one extra frugal meal per day. Have peanut butter and crackers, a bowl of oatmeal, or soup for one meal per day – not every meal has to be made up of protein, veggies, and grains.
Don’t give up. If you are feeling financially defeated, it is sometimes easy to say, “*bleep* it!!!” and just get some Ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese and call it a meal. Don’t do it! Do the very best you can with the resources you have available. Remember, if you can’t afford good food, you definitely can’t afford bad health – it’s even more expensive.
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