I've been thinking about writing about this for awhile, and just never really made up my mind how to approach it. But I've decided I'll just jump in feet first and hope that throughout my sure to be rambling post I can make some sense to someone out there!
First of all, let's go over who is in my household so my numbers can make sense to you when you're considering my mouths to feed versus your own. I am married with two children so there are four of us in my own family. My son is 17 and is homeschooled so most of his meals are here; except when he's at work because they feed him there. He is not a fan of our whole food lifestyle so he also does purchase some food in addition to what I serve. My daughter is 20, and is preparing to move out on her own. She rarely eats meals here, but will eat some leftovers. My husband works an off shift, so his meals are usually "breakfast" when he gets home from work, lunch and dinner as well as a packed lunch for work. I work from home and eat mini-meals throughout the day. Whew. That's a lot of explanation.
Now, let's add to that number. I do child care from home so I serve breakfast, lunch and snack to six children every day and I put my niece and nephew on the bus and serve them breakfast before they go.
So, to recap, on any given weekday I make:
11 Breakfasts, 7 lunches, 6 snacks and 4 dinners as well as my own meals and packing my husband's work lunches. Add in weekend meals and the monthly (I used a 4 week month to be uniform) totals are more staggering:
296 Breakfasts, 160 lunches, 120 snacks and 112 dinners. Plus desserts, packed lunches, etc. That is a lot of food.
So, do you want to know my grocery bill for last month? $733.00 so my cost per meal, per person (not including snacks or desserts) is $1.29. Compared to the same month for last year before we started eating all organic? $724.00 So, really, it's a net difference of $9. And, I'm only looking at one month, and I did do some flour stock up last month, so it may be skewed, but even so, wow. $9.
I know it seems like organic and whole foods are so expensive that they're out of reach, but for our family, and our child care family, it was more of a change of thinking that was necessary. If something is too expensive one week for the organic version, or I can't find an organic substitute, the meal is changed. My menu plan is not so set in stone that I get frustrated at the store when the organic blueberries are $6 for a 6 oz package. I either go find frozen ones, or we swap for organic strawberries which may be on sale instead. It's a choice we're making because buying organic is the closest to nature, in our opinion, that we can get. It doesn't mean that we are putting our food choices above all other choices, but we are placing a priority on the things that are important to us for our health.
Besides swapping out items that aren't within reach price-wise in a week, my biggest suggestion is to stock up when you can. I grind wheat flour myself and I have my wheat on Subscribe & Save though Amazon. Great program if you want to check it out. I have several of our must have items on that program and they just show up on the door at whatever intervals I've placed. But I'm getting sidetracked...as always! I grind my wheat, and use that flour as a half and half for the bread I make, because I like having the bread flour too for more consistent bread results. And I am completely addicted to King Arthur, so when that went on sale a few weeks ago at our local store, I bought every bag they had. It was a good price, I know I use it and and it made sense to stock up. To top it off, I got a bonus on gas bucks because I bought five or more. Win! But stocking up is my big weapon on cost savings. If something is a good deal, will keep well and is a brand or product I know I'll use, I will buy all they've got of it. Target had organic peanut butter on clearance for $4 a jar. I cleared the shelf and bought all 6 jars. Deals like that can't be overlooked. It's a big expenditure at the time but knowing I was saving $3 a jar made me happy!
Next thing I do to stretch our dollars? Freeze, can, dry - do whatever I can to not waste one thing! We drink green smoothies every day and part of that is cilantro and parsley. I kept getting frustrated because half of the bunch would go bad before I could use it up each week. I mean, at least I was composting it for the garden, but it was annoying! So, I decided to buy it, chop it and freeze it right off the bat. Worked perfectly. Same thing for pineapple. I hated paying the price for a can of organic pineapple, and so watched for the real deal to go on sale and bought 4 of them. Chopped them, froze them individually on cookie sheets and then bagged them. Be creative on ways to store things or find ways to substitute things you can package yourself, like the pineapple. Bananas are another good example. I keep a freezer bag in my freezer at all times and as bananas get too ripe to eat, I put them in the bag in pieces to be used for recipes or smoothies at another time. Little things like that go a long way!
Next thing is pretty obvious. Make your own food. When I go to the grocery store, I only go to the produce, meat, baking, and the dairy aisle. I don't even bother with the in between aisles unless there is something specific I'm looking for. Making my own food gives me complete control over what is in it and how it's made. No factories making our food, homemade all the way! I get our grains and pasta from a local health foods store that sells them in bulk as well as our seeds, dried fruits, etc. Whole ingredients=healthier foods. I also make our butter and bread, and that takes so little time, it's crazy. I can't imagine buying a loaf of bread anymore. We just have gotten used to this.
I think this post could go on and on, but I'll attempt to rein it in and wrap it up with this one last shocking tidbit. To buy the best whole foods you can for your family, sometimes organic is not the way to go. Yep, go back and read it again. I meant it. We get our milk, cream, eggs, beef and sometimes from produce from a local farm. They are not organic. However, they use sustainable practices, grass-fed, humanely treated animals with no antibiotics or steroids, and there is no middleman to process the items between me and them. No, it's not organic but it's healthy. I can see the cows, see the pastures and I appreciate what they do to make a quality product. I do my research and sometimes, especially when buying local, organic labeling is out of their reach. As long as I know they're engaged in farming practices that I approve of, that's good enough for my family's table. Don't be afraid to ask what they do, how they do it and where does it all come from. If they can't answer those questions satisfactorily, walk away and find someone who can.
I hope that some of this helped someone out there! I will have to think on elaborating on some of the points but I figure this is a long post already and it's time to wrap it up! I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this long post!
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