I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the cost to eat well. To eat foods that aren’t filled with chemicals, meats that are raised in humane and nutritious ways, and largely, about the misconception that families can’t afford to eat this way. I’ve casually talked in many different groups of people and money is always a hot spot, but somehow, we’ve been brain washed into thinking that the reason that we don’t eat responsibly is because of the cost in doing so. In saving money we become consumed with the idea of coupon clipping, and sales, and discounts. But I think sometimes, we don’t just use our heads.
So I gave this some thought. Then I did some research. From the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture they believe that the low end of groceries for a family of 4, is$146 a week, and the high end, is $289. Our family buys locally raised meat, in bulk, with a quarter of beef for about $700, and a whole pig for about $750. I realize that sounds like a LOT of money, and I also realize how difficult it can be at times to come up with this kind of cash all at once. But for us, it’s a choice, and we make it happen. So we spend about $1,450 on pork and beef annually. That’s $27.88 per week. Let’s say it was about 240 lbs of meat, or about 4.5 lbs of meat a week. That comes to a scary rate of $6.19 per lb. But my local grocery store sells organic ground beef for $6.99 per lb, and that’s JUST ground beef. For my $30 a week, and 4.5 lbs of meat, our family is consuming fresh local sausage, and pork chops, and steaks, and roasts and hams and stocks and broths. We don’t need to slather our meat with high sodium sauces, or gravies or seasonings. Sometimes we do, purely for the sake of an overall dish, but our meat doesn’t need it to be palatable.
I’ve read lots of posts on how to save money by eliminating processed foods, and making things from scratch. And I believe in this 100%. However. I am a full time, outside of the home, working mom. I believe in extended nursing, I cloth diaper, I provide lunch for my children, and we cook from scratch. So forgive me, but I’m not also making my goldfish from scratch. Through the Feingold organization, we’ve been able to identify safe brands of processed foods that I can use as shortcuts. When we’re trying to get in the door between 5 – 5:30, with a beginning bedtime of 7:30, when the kids are screaming for food, and we’re trying to make a from scratch dinner, I don’t have time to stop and set them up with a nice little healthy from scratch snack. They get what I can throw at them, quickly, and shovel them either out of the kitchen, into the dining room, or heck, into the living room, even better. The moral here, is that I do buy processed snacks, I think smart about these things. I shop around, and I don’t assume who is the cheapest. I buy many healthy approved products through Amazon, on the Subscribe & Save plan, as an Amazon Prime Mom member, when I receive 5 items in 1 month on the subscribe & save plan, I get to save an added 20%. When I’m buying full cases of snacks, I can drop the per box price significantly. I spend about $100 a month in this way, so I can add another $25 a week to my budget. I’ve also just started going out of my way to shop at Whole Foods. Not because I believe they are the gospel of healthy shopping, but because many of their store brands are approved through Feingold. And as many frugal shoppers can tell you, you can save massively if you can substitute a store brand. And when my choices are very expensive healthy, organic, natural processed brands, vs the Whole Foods store brand. I can in fact save a lot of money. However, side note, don’t buy Domino sugar from Whole Foods. That’s just a rip off. Buying in bulk on trips to whole foods to fill out the remainder of my kids snacks is about another $100 a month, or another $25 a week.
We don’t buy soda or juice regularly. Our family drinks water or milk. My children are just fine thank you. Your children will drink as you do. My husband and I were like this before we had children, so it was no big switch for us. But if you have to have soda, or juice, then it is understandable why your children will mimic this ‘need’. It’s expensive, nutritionally empty, and more often than not, full of things you don’t even want to think about.
So from the low end budget, I still have $66 a week to spend. How do I spend it? How do we make fresh new healthy meals without eating the same things day in, and day out? Honestly? I use a menu planning service. I use a website called; “The Fresh 20”. And I love it. Really it’s kind of entertaining because my husband and I have more cookbooks than space, and some that we’ve never even made a recipe from. My husband likes to wing it. And then sometimes loves to find a recipe to try out. But to guarantee we’ve got the ingredients on hand, and variety available, and dinner hopefully on the table BEFORE the kids have to go to bed. We use a menu service. I subscribe to the annual plan for $54 a year, or about $1 a week. I get access to the archives which contain all the menus since the service started. And then I search out menus that sound tasty, yummy, and rely heavily upon what we’ve already purchased (pork, beef). We only ever add fish and chicken here and there as we want to. The benefit to the Fresh 20, is they build you a weekly menu using only 20 fresh ingredients, and an established list of pantry items (like broth or salt, or garlic). 20 fresh ingredients gets you 5 menus. The advantage is you don’t find yourself buying a bunch of cilantro, using a tablespoon worth, and then tossing the rest in 5 weeks when you find the soggy mess in the back of your fridge. With the fresh 20, you buy a bunch of cilantro, and then you use it in 4 out of 5 dishes. Their menu’s cost about $80 a week. But it includes the purchase of protein. Which I already have built into my menu. I try to buy multiple weeks at once, only buying the really time sensitive ingredients the week we need them. But I buy across 3 – 4 weeks of menu’s making sure I have all the onions, and potatoes, and lemons. A sample week that I’m planning now, includes Spaghetti Bolognese, Blackened Salmon Tacos, Southwest Chili Con Carne, Steak Fajitas, and Quinoa Ministrone. What she estimates at an $80 menu, $20 of which is purchases steak and ground turkey. We’ll use steak, and ground beef. Now I only need $60 worth of ingredients. I edit it as needed, our family will love minestrone soup, skip the quinoa. And that’s ok.
I still have $6 left, and honestly, I probably need another $30, and that’s to cover healthy lunchmeat, cheese, bread, and fresh fruit, to go into lunches and breakfasts for my husband and children. So I come out $24 over budget for the most frugal budget allowed in the US Agricultures estimates. And that’s for locally raised healthy meat. It’s for fresh from scratch meals. And healthy organic chemical free quick snacks for my children. If we look for the average spent by a family, it’s $217.50, and I’m $47.50 under average.
So, before you tell me you can’t afford to eat this way, ask yourself how much you are ACTUALLY spending on food for your family. Take a look at WHERE you are spending those dollars, and then, make your own educated decision. It’s fine if you don’t want to make any changes. But it isn’t because you can’t afford to. It’s because you don’t want to. Maybe you don't want to do the work, or the research. Or you’re scared of change, or just don’t think you can do it. But you CAN afford to. We started small, and it grew, and we wouldn't change it for anything, and other families can do it too.
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