It's the end of another year and we're coming up on a New Year.
Many of us like to review the past year and think about what we could improve or start fresh. I know I do!
Does the food budget top this list for you, too?
It sure does for Mariah:
“I just went over the past year of my finances. I'm shocked to find out that I spend an average of over $1000 per month. I have 5 people in my family. My kids are tween aged. I'm so sad that it costs this much. What do other families spend? Do you have budget friendly menu tips?” –Mariah
Mariah's question is GREAT and I'm devoting today's podcast to sharing 8 tips to help her — and you — rein in your real food budget.
My list can't possibly be exhaustive, so please add your tips in the comments!
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Video from Periscope
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8 Tips To Help You Rein In Your Real Food Budget
In today's podcast, here are the 8 tips I shared. What would you add? Please share in the comments!
If you are newly married or just starting out, go to this post first to learn how to set yourself up for success to avoid having to reign in your budget in the first place!
Tip #1: Take the right perspective — compare the right things.
Junk food is not as cheap as you think — when you consider the host of problems it has the potential to cause in the future. Poor health, doctor bills, lack of productivity, low quality of life… some of those things cost money, some of them cost happiness.
Real food does cost more money. And it can cost quite a bit in some parts of the world. I can’t believe how much raw milk costs in certain areas! But it doesn’t have to be Whole Foods expensive and we’ll get to that.
Tip #2: Prioritize — What's the big picture?
Spend some time thinking about the most important food issues for your family… and make sure those get priority in your budget allocation.
Tip #3: Stop feeling guilty!
Remember, food is right up there with having a roof over your head and water to drink. We have to eat! And food can either make you sick or nourish you.
It's sad that our convenience-food society has cheapened the value of food to the point where most of us feel guilty about spending money on quality food.
Don’t feel guilty — make the best choices for your family according to your priorities.
Tip #4: Make instead of buy.
What foods do you buy now that you could make and save money? Items like:
- sourdough bread
- fermented foods like Kombucha or sauerkraut
- herbal coffee
- gomasio (see recipe below)
- your own toiletries like soap, deodorant, or toothpaste
Seaweed Gomasio
Gomasio is a Japanese style condiment made from sesame seeds and salt. Gomasio is a tasty way to enjoy beneficial sesame and sea vegetables. Make it at home and save money! Makes 2 cups.
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic raw sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup kelp or dulse flakes (or powder)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sea salt
Instructions
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Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly. Don't let them burn!
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They're ready when multi-colored brown, fragrant, and they begin to release their oils.
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Remove from heat.
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Let cool.
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Mix with seaweed and salt.
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Optional: lightly crush in food processor or blender.
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Put in shaker container or jar.
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Sprinkle liberally on your food. Enjoy!
Idea: use one of these sesame seed crushers to crush the mixture while sprinkling it on your food.
Tip #5: Allocate certain amount of your budget each month to bulk foods.
What share of your food budget can go to bulk purchases each month? Like buying a quarter/half/whole grass-fed beef, or toward larger quantities of grains, beans, coconut oil, etc.?
Tip #6: Watch sales!
There are certain local and online suppliers that I watch (or get on their mailing list) just to be able to pounce when they have a sale.
For instance, Vital Choice has the best, hands-down, canned salmon. It doesn’t taste fishy and it has a great texture. Periodically, they will issue a 10% or 15% off coupon. When they do, I buy 3 to 4 boxes of 24 cans of salmon. This uses tip #5 (the part of the budget for bulk buying) and I save 10% or 15% on top of that. I stock up on this excellent canned salmon about once per year.
We’ve worked out members-only deals with einkorn.com and Jovial Foods for einkorn grain and flour. In fact, members: your deals expire on December 31, 2015 (unless we get an extension…) so stock up on your einkorn! (Details in the Member Area on the Recommended Resources page.)
Tip #7: Choose and use the cheaper form.
Looking for quality protein? Some types are cheaper than others. And this is true for most major food groups — there are cheaper, yet quality, types. Such as:
- Protein: ground beef, eggs, and organ meats
- Chicken is cheaper overall — use the whole thing! even the bones to make broth
- Use pasteurized milk for culturing (because you can make it better) and drink your raw milk fresh and uncultured
- Your baking fat — what’s less expensive for you — coconut oil or butter? Use that.
- Dessert — seasonal fruits and veggies may be less expensive than baking
Regarding the last (fat), I love to make homemade mayo with avocado oil but it's more expensive. So I use 1/4 cup of avocado oil and 3/4 cup of a less expensive oil like expeller pressed grapeseed oil or a milder olive oil.
Tip #8: What can you do without?
Save elsewhere in your budget so you have more available to food. This is sort of like tip #1 (prioritizing) but you're focusing on other areas of your budget to reduce those.
Can you stop or reduce any of these?
- eating out
- entertainment, including movies — look at Netflix or Amazon prime
- extra trips to town (gas)
- stay home more
- get out of debt so you aren’t spending extra money servicing the debt
- buy used instead of new
- don’t use paper or plastic products — or be very choosy about using them
Links Mentioned:
Looking For Frugal Meal Ideas? Try These!
- 35 Best Real Food Dinners On A Budget (+3 Tips For Frugal Meals!)
- 25+ Healthy Ground Beef Recipes For Easy Meals (Paleo, Whole30, Keto)
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Anything to Add?
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These are really good tips, Wardeh. I think it’s really hard to have a low-cost food bill when you eat real food. I’m feeding 5 people on around $1000 per month doing all these things. I live in the desert so farms are typical 3-4 hours away. A lot of stuff is ordered online or through Azure Standard. I look at it as part of our medical care. We don’t spend much on medical care because we are healthy. Also, I’ve talked to people who don’t eat organic and they spend an average of $700-$1200 per month.
I just wanted to leave this suggestion somewhere.
Each year we get a sizable tax refund, also having 3 children. So we take a chunk of that and devote to bulk buying. I like to order from some local food co-ops like Azure standard and Country Life and some other local resources we have for that.
The first year we took $1000 and bought a deep-freeze, a quarter of a cow and coconut oil and pantry staples.
The second year we got half a beef, some chicken, a lamb, a grain mill and grain.
And on it goes each year !!! What has happened is that we have meat in the freezer for MOST of the year. That also frees up more of our grocery bill through the year for things like fresh produce from the farmers market (way cheaper than the grocery) and raw milk.
I also like shopping at Aldi’s and can get things like organic produce and canned goods, imported cheeses and chocolates, sprouted whole grain bread and paper products there at very reasonable prices !
Those are my tips. Hope they help someone !
Oh, I almost forgot. Another thing we do as a family is volunteer at a local community garden. Since I also have a few teens/tweens, we can help them quite a bit. In exchange we take home several pounds of fresh produce weekly. It’s a great experience for my “city kids” too !
You can check with people at your local farmer’s market or county extension office and see if there is anything like that in your area.
This was my question. Thanks for answering it. I appreciate the tips! Here’s to a great new year!
If you have freezer space, buy foods that freeze well in bulk and package for the freezer. Also buy frozen organic fruit, vegetable and fish. These foods perish quickly when fresh so you will save money by buying frozen because you won’t have spoilage loss. I buy a big bag of frozen kale/spinach and use it to make green drinks. You can also make green drink freezer packages from fresh produce. Cut up the produce you would use for a green drink smoothie (or really any type of smoothie) and put enough for a serving or two in a quart freezer bag and freeze. Saves time and money and keeps produce from going bad before you can use it.
A great way I’ve found to save money is to see if the farms you’re buying from have any deals when you buy in bulk. At the farm I buy cream from to make butter, you can get a whole quart of cream for free if you get a case, which is 6 quarts. I usually order 2 cases at a time and have a big butter making day! Also my raw milk farm has a punch card where you buy 10 gallons, and get the 11th free, which brings the price of each gallon down by 50 cents! These are also all great tips, I use many of these methods. Fermenting your own veggies is definitely a huge savings, because wow, buying quality made ones are crazy expensive. As far as meat I stick to mostly ground beef, whole chickens, and chicken livers, which are fortunately really cheap for me. I eat liver more often than any other meat. I can get 3 or more batches of stock from the bones of one chicken along with the feet. When coconut oil goes on sale, I get several jars and stock up. For my birthday and Christmas, I have even asked for and received gift cards to my local health food store and used them for some wild salmon and coconut oil or a jug of maple syrup or raw honey. Surprisingly, my local grocery store has good quality wild salmon frozen in fillets or thawed in the seafood case which sometimes goes on really great sales. Like Genet said above, I also help in the summer with our church’s community garden and for the past 2 years I started to take home all of the tomato seconds which would have just gone to compost. I just chop off the bruised or split areas and freeze them. Now I have an entire freezer full of tomatoes for sauce, soup, or paste over the winter which would have all gone to waste otherwise!