Thriving on nutrition and a budget

Before the marathon

   With my littlest red in tow we set out for our biweekly marathon of food gathering in the urban jungle yesterday. For a family of six plus my niece at times,  it's all the marathon I ever care to participate in. It's not the worst chore I have to complete as my laundry piles on my dryer.  However, we do love to eat with the goal of our health. There is strategy involved to keep our wellness goal and less my pain in the after math.

1. List. List. List.

I am a list freak.  Largely to help me regulate my thoughts and ADHD. But I do love them and labels.  I like being able to find things too. But that's beside the point. It does mean meal planning and less reliance on emotional eating when you use a list.  That's a good thing.  Pad in your health favs and a few not so healthy favs for those cheat days.

2. Develop a love affair with the stores in or near your neighborhood.  The close you are the less gas which saves and the more you shop there the more you can recognize sale patterns which leads into three....

3.  Shop sales and in season. Healthy food on sale. Not junk food on sale.  Companies are starting to recognize the demand and putting natural/organic/healthy items or produce on sale more often.  This past month at one of our local stores, between sales, in season produce, and digital coupons, I cut my bill in half.  We saved almost $150.   

4.  Use loyalty programs and digital saving programs.  If I receive a paper coupon in store or the mail I will use most of the time. Otherwise all my coupons are on a loyalty card.  Saves paper and money.  The more I use the loyalty program at one of our stores the more I am rewarded. There are grocery apps that do the reward the same way just for uploading a receipt.  Use them.

5.  When you have some extra budget room and sales are really good take advantage of the abundance.  If you have the room, squirrel it away.  My kids have organic crackers for months thanks to the sales last month.

6. Take advantage of shopping clubs, online services, and pick ups.  If you benefit from buying in bulk then a shopping club like Cosco or Sams may be worth it for you.  Our shopping club is online and delivers right to our door- my make up, laundry, toothpaste, etc. Which is my absolute fav- safe products and value that I didn't have to fight the urban jungle to get.  During this summer we used store pick ups alot and delivering to your door is becoming an option.  For us it was necessity as I was recovering from a foot injury.  Now its just nice when time is tight. Pick ups prevents impulse shopping if that is a struggle of yours.

7. Meatless Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays....

Meat can be expensive, especially lean meat.   Lately, I am finding one of our stores putting meat substitutes crazy cheap.  We are riding that gravy train for as long as it last. We also like using cauliflower and cauliflower in every form is suddenly every where. Cauliflower is cheaper than most meats.  Cauliflower is a great substitute because of it's nutritional value and protein content. Another plus.  Too much meat protein can be hard on some of your organs, especially kidneys.  Just a thought to keep in mind on how many meatless days you want to try.

We survived our day and meal prepping began today (future blog?).  If you have a small family, family of two, or just you then a meal delivery service may be a better option for meals.  Our family is just too big and I find I can keep the cost lower in shopping myself.  Blessings in your endeavors to eat well and thrive. 

Namaste.

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