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happymama
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| Posted: Sept 17 2007 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
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Dh & I have decided that the one place in our budget that currently needs the most pruning is our monthly grocery bill. And that task lies most squarely on my own shoulders!
There's a never-ending dilemma in my mind about how to spend $ on food. I've read through a few long threads here on groceries but I'm still confused. Each time I buy food it seem like I have a choice between two things - and the "healthier" choice is almost always the more expensive one. Organic food vs. non-organic; fresh vs. canned or frozen; unprocessed vs. processed.
And then there's the constant "guilt" about our meals never being healthy enough. I know people have all kinds of opinions these days about what foods we should be eating, and the more I read, the more confused I get. I'm looking for suggestions of your absolute favorite books about nutrition, and examples of how you choose which foods to buy. Many thanks!!
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: Sept 17 2007 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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I am really no help, because I am caught in the same struggle. However, one thing I just decided to do was to subscribe to Menu Mailer's Frugal Menu. I needed to take some decisions off of my shoulders. So, I will trust Leanne, who is a nutritionist, to find that balance between frugality and nutrition.
Just a thought. Love to hear what others have to say.
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mom2mpr
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One thing I did was get the list of the foods that hold on to the pesticides most and make them my priorities for buying organic-apples is one example. I find the organic price only slightly higher, and occasionally the same as conventional. Grapes are another high on the pesticide list but I rarely find them organic--so I just buy them on sale since they are usually expensive anyways.
I also read somewhere that it is good to eat vegies and fruits and follow a healthy diet organic or not! Frozen or fresh, etc. That and following the LLL principle of eating things as close to their natural state as possible keeps me in check as far as keeping control of costs in my grocery bill and nutrition.
For cookbooks, I really like Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely, Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind(my new rave cookbook), and Cooking Light magazine and their website.
Anne
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Sept 17 2007 at 9:36pm | IP Logged
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I didn't know that about the apples- and our organic ones are usually about twice the price 
I am in the same quandry. When we had just two children, we lived off the grid, grew all of our own veggies, root cellared and canned, and had a plethora of organic grocery stores near by (they were the norm in our backwoods then). We ate almost completely organic.
Now we live smack dab in the middle of a city. We have twice as many kids that eat way more than twice what our two littles did back then. I am all for organic foods, used to completely indoctrinate people in my less mature younger days  But we just can't afford organic foods now. We really pinch already with little to no meat, cut back on the cheese, and eat LOTS of beans and lentils. We wish we could go all organic again but we can't right now.
So now, to start, I try to buy organic milk. Not all my milk, most months not even 1/4. But we would love to have it all organic at some point.
More With Less, a cookbook put out by the Mennonite Central Committee is a fabulous cookbook for thrifty cooking- those women are DEDICATED (we say frugal around here as we are in Mennonite country ). Lots of bean dishes, lots of meal stretchers and flexible recipes.
Good luck, and let us know if you find some good ideas...
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MrsKey
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 8:00am | IP Logged
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If you're on a budget then I would suggest skipping the organic (not everything labeled organic is really organic anyway). But definitely go with whole foods, less processed foods.
I think, personally, that cutting out the preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavours, artificial sweeteners, and artificial colours as well as the highly processed franken-foods is probably more beneficial than the occasional inclusion of organic produce.
As for fresh v frozen ... speaking strictly from a nutritional standpoint. Frozen is often more nutritionally "in tact" than "fresh" produce. Fresh produce has often been picked, packaged, shipped long distances in less than optimal conditions and then it sits on the shelves or in the bins - often being misted with water than rinses away nutrients.
By the time you actually sit down to eat your produce it isn't really "fresh."
In contrast frozen produce has been picked, washed and frozen in a very short period of time preserving most of the nutritional value.
Now freezing does tend to alter the consistency and texture of produce ... but it doesn't significantly alter the nutritional value.
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Lori B
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 8:25am | IP Logged
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We have a lot of dietary restrictions here, so I understand how difficult it can be to eat healthy *and* keep the grocery budget down.
Tricks we use regularily:
* stock up when any pantry foods or freezer items are on sale (canned beans, whole wheat pasta, frozen fish fillets, roasts, etc.)
* eat local produce as much as possible
* eat seasonal produce, or locally-grown frozen
* plan a couple of meatless meals each week (we have eggs on Fridays, and beans or lentils at least once)
* plan meals and snacks ahead of time, and buy only what you need- this reduces waste as well
* we use the "dirty dozen" rule for buying organic (list available here: http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf )
* make as many things from scratch as possible (pre-made muffins, cookies, granola bars are very expensive!)
* cut down on the amount of milk we drink (if we are having yogurt or cheese as part of a meal, we have a glass of water with it instead of milk)
* buy expensive items like soy milk by the case
* avoid cold cereals- they are a budget-buster for us!
* pay attention to serving sizes of meat (many people eat more than they really need to stay healthy)
* give up the idea that we need a lot of variety. Sticking to some basic, low-cost meals and snacks has brought our grocery bills waaaay down.
* during the spring/ summer we eat a lot of salads, and during the fall/ winter we eat a lot of soup. Cheap, easy, and unbelievably versatile.
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Martha
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 8:43am | IP Logged
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What Lori said.
And I'll add,
Do NOT eat your calories - drink water! Saves a fortune.
Cut all the junk foods. They don't fill you up, have little to nil nutrient value, and are expensive.
A caution on making from "scratch", it can be cheaper often times, but not always, so calculate the cost first. For example, Walmart has bags of pretty good frozen pancakes for cheaper than I can make them for all my kids.
Also, be real. It may be cheaper and taste better to have homemade bread, but the reality is I'm not going to have that kind of time and if I do - that's not what I'm going to do with it. It isn't better/cheaper if it wastes away unused in the pantry because you don't have time to make it or everyone hates to eat it.
Lastly, dh has to help by always eating at home or taking his meals to work. Seriously, my dh can spend of our grocery budget on junk at work or fast grabs on the way in for breakfast or out for lunch! He didn't notice that those $3-5 stops for a pop and sausage roll at the quik stop add up to about $60 - 100 a month.
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happymama
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 8:45am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the ideas! I admit I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who struggles working this out.
I will share one idea I heard from the author of YOU On A Diet - regarding variety, which I always thought was very important. He said that a lot of variety will inevitably invite more "bad" foods into your diet, and suggested having the same, healthy meals for breakfast & lunch everyday, and then try a variety of dinners. He said he has steel-cut oatmeal every day for breakfast, and a turkey sub on wheat loaded with veggies for lunch or something like that... I wouldn't serve my boys the same thing every day for lunch, but at least this idea took off some of the pressure I used to feel to offer constant variety.
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Mary Chris
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Happymama,
I am right there with you. I thought I knew a lot about nutrition and then I would get so confused with all the articles I would read, I didn't know what was right. And I feel I spend way to much money on food.
I have started to adopt Elizabeth's idea of eating the same dinner same day each week. We don't follow it exactly. But no one here complains if they have greek chicken or taco salad every week.
I used to buy almost all organic, now I buy organic milk, yogurt, and organic veggies I find at Costco (both fresh and frozen). I find I am not buying the organic meats as much these days. In part because Whole Foods is a hike and we have a huge house payment. My dh and I are talking about buying 1/4 cow, we are close to making a decision on it.
I too try and follow the LLL (La Leche League) principles of shopping the perimeter of the grocery store and eating food that has not been processed. We try and have salad every night and at least one other vegetable, sometimes it is just baby carrots.
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Lori B
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I also meant to add that we stopped purchasing sliced deli meat. We didn't eat a lot of it before (too many icky ingredients), but still bought the nitrate-free sliced chicken for Saturday lunches. At almost $6 for enough for our family, I could buy a whole chicken 
And Martha, I agree about not everything being cheaper if you make it from scratch, or not being worth the extra time- for instance, I don't make my own bread, crackers, or pretzels.
And Hubby *always* brown-bags his lunch- huge savings there, for sure.
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KackyK
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 11:42am | IP Logged
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So I'm probably behind on this concept of shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, as Mary Chris says. That makes SO much sense!!!
I do make my own bread...but for us the cost was only more in initial investment (of my mill) which was considered a Christmas present, so it doesn't count So for us we break even and I can feel like I'm giving my youngest dd, the pickiest eater we have ever had, a decent piece of bread (since bread is truly only 1 of 6 items she'll eat, I needed to give what she would take some more nutritional value  )
I also have tried to cut out cereals. They can break the bank. Oatmeal I have found is a great substitute. Also, my kids love cinnamon toast...so I make plenty of bread for that too.
But pretzels are way way cheaper than chips...love those huge bags from Costco for under $4, snacks for 6 kiddos to last 2 weeks! Popcorn is a great cheapo snack. And although nuts aren't "cheap" they last longer because you don't tend to eat as many at one time.
I have no hints on dinner...still figuring that one out myself!
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SusanJ
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Everyone else has said pretty much everything I would have said. I might add (sorry if this was said already, too), use meat as an ingredient. One example of a simple change we just made: I take a package of frozen bacon out of the freezer, hack off a piece of it with a big knife, cut that into small slices, fry it and then add my eggs and make it all into one big scramble. We eat about a third less bacon this way and it tastes better. Bacon might already be a luxury item for some, but it's something we've made more affordable cooking this way. Most meat can be prepared this way: stirfrys over roasts; fajitas over hamburgers, etc.
We are pretty committed to organic meat, eggs, poultry and dairy but we're lucky to have a pretty affordable source for this stuff. I don't worry about organic or not if I can wash it.
Also, try to go to the store as infrequently as possible. I always end up buying drinks and snacks for myself and the kids when we're out running errands, so keeping them to a minimum saves money (of course, you can bring your own drinks and snacks, but part of the problem with making everything from scratch is there aren't usually readily available snacks--I'm working on it!)
Best of luck. This is a really hard area. We give groceries a high priority in our budget and go without other places, but not everyone can do that or wants to do that.
Susan
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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So many great suggestions! I am pretty committed to cooking with traditional, whole foods. I would suggest "Real Food" by Nina Planck or "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon if you are interested in a book on the subject. (Though, Fallon's tone can turn some people off).
A lot of the changes were so radical and hard to make affordable at first, but since the concept is cutting all processed foods and eating nutrient dense foods, we have found that it takes less "quantity" to satisfy now that our bodies are more nutritionally satisfied, if that makes sense.
We have a local farm where I pick up our milk (raw) and produce (a lot of farmers can't pay for the organic label, but if you look locally, many are using organic practices which saves both you and them $$$). Eating organic is more affordable if choosing those that are local and in season. We also went in with 3 other families to get a 1/4 cow at whole cow price. I have friends who are in CSAs and save money that way.
I also try to make my own breads and things. I find that if I have to put forth effort for something, we are less likely to snack for no reason. Popcorn is our crunchy snack of choice (I don't buy pretzels and only occasionally by corn chips or crackers), but just the fact that it takes more effort than sticking my hand in a bag of chips means that I am not going to eat it idly.
I second the More With Less Cookbook. It is a good resource even though *I* don't find everything in it to fit my current ideas of healthy. Beautiful ideas about how healthy meals can be simple and still be shared in a feeling of celebration or hospitality.
I try to use "all" of things. For instance, I buy free range chickens from the farm, but I also portion it carefully (or pick all the meat off entirely to add as an ingredient), and then I make a nutritious broth from the carcous. I skim the fat off once the chicken cools. I make my brown rice or soup with the broth (adding nutritional value you don't get from canned broth) and use the fat for refrying beans.
I'd say the biggest thing that enabled us to eat this way has been discovering unconventional sources for things (like the cow or the small, local wholesale, organic buying club I recently discovered by word of mouth).
and MEAL PLANNING. I have a spreadsheet where I have recorded our regular purchases and what they cost at the various stores I frequent. I plan meals, make the list, and can calculate what I will be spending before I set foot in the store. I can finagle, change, or whatever to help stay in the budget. Then I know my list is thorough and there are few midweek runs for a forgotten item (which often turn into grabbing other items).
Plus, bulk helps. I am blessed to have a hfs with a bulk section that is comparable to buying club prices (so I don't have to buy 25 lbs of the item at a time to get the price). Even there, it is amazing the difference between organic steel cut oats sold by the pound and those sold in a package with a name brand. The same with organic grains and legumes, nuts, and dried fruit.
This is something I am passionate about, and I confess to having the zeal of a new convert! It also was something important enough to find ways for us to be able to afford it, and it took a lot of work to change my habits. I think even if you don't buy organic, just planning more helps stay in budget. Best of luck! I know how every mom wants to nourish her family the best she can!
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Mary G
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CrunchyMom wrote:
I would suggest "Real Food" by Nina Planck or "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon if you are interested in a book on the subject. (Though, Fallon's tone can turn some people off).
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I agree -- Nourishing Traditions is a WONDERFUL book ... it's where I found out that fresh coconut is not that hard to prepare and the shreeded stuff tastes TONS better than buying the super-sweet prepackaged kind! She's got tons of great info in there including statistics and study-results, encyclopedic info about different whole foods and great recipes. Her recipe for chicken stock makes the BEST stock I've ever tried.
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Topic: nutrition & budgeting
