Eating Well on a Budget

If you follow my Instagram page you'll see story posts almost daily showcasing what we're cooking in the kitchen. We prioritize minimally processed whole foods as much as possible and cook most of our meals from scratch.

The question I get the most right now is how much does eating this way cost us financially? If you look around at the grocery store shelves, the 'healthy' or Organic labeled items always seem to cost more. So how can it be done affordably? Here are my tips below -

[Before I get started I want to preface this by first explaining the ways we offset food costs through self-sufficient or 'homestead' style practices; Gardening fruits and veggies, raising meat sheep and egg laying chickens. I know not everyone has the ability (or desire) to do these things but regardless, I'm factoring them into the below information to give you a full and honest picture! I will discuss setup and maintenance costs. I will not, however, be factoring in our labor as a cost input since we enjoy the work!]

Savings from Homegrown Items:

The Garden - Our annual veggie beds produce a good portion of the green on our plates. On particularly productive months in the summer there often went by many weeks before I purchased a store-bought veggie (besides potatoes! which I don't yet grow). Plant starts from the garden center at the beginning of each planting season only cost $2-4 each and I focus on planting crops with the highest return value, meaning as much pounds of food as possible, think zucchini, tomato, pepper and green bean plants. I also opt for planting seeds when it makes sense, like in the case of green beans which are very easy to start and one $3 seed packet will provide dozens of plants for the cost of 1 starter plant! There is of course garden setup costs to consider but I do recommend beginners start small and work with what you have rather than purchasing unnecessary tools/items!

Chicken Keeping - We have 6 backyard hens who have recently started laying. We'll soon have about 4-6 eggs a day, which should be plenty for not just us but enough to share with family or sell to neighbors. To put that in perspective it'll be10-15 dozen eggs a month, my husband and I normally eat no more than 4 dozen a month. If I were to buy 10 dozen eggs at $5 a dozen I would spend $50, our monthly chicken feed cost is less than a $16 bag of feed meaning each dozen costs under $1.60 to produce! The cost of feeding the chickens is also offset/lowered by feeding them kitchen scraps and garden waste which otherwise would end up in the trash. This includes items like weeds, bug damaged veggies or fruit, overripe fruit, or potato peels, carrot tops, ect. During the winter, chickens stop laying for a couple months and in that time we may buy some eggs for baking but otherwise we'll let the seasons effect our plate. Of course this does not include setup costs such as coop building materials which was just under $200 bucks since we made it ourselves, and I know not everyone has the space for them! But even if you can keep 2 backyard hens in a small coop, that's about 1 dozen eggs a week!

Raising Meat Sheep - This spring I started our little sheep business with the intention of raising meat for our home as well as selling extra lambs at the livestock auction for extra cash. Lots of ranchers raise sheep before working their way into the cattle business since they're smaller, easier to care for and have a lower barrier to entry financially. I purchased 4 just-weaned lambs from a sheep farmer I know, 2 females and 2 males. I spent an initial $760 for the animals, another couple hundred in fencing materials, feed/water troughs and a mineral block. After that I've been feeding them oat hay which is under $20 a bale and lasts the 4 of them about a month, but their feed cost is also offset by us giving them garden scraps, overripe tree fruit, lawn grass clippings, leafy tree branches. We just home-butchered one of the males, which provided meat which would have costed well over $400 in store. One single lamb will provide us 40+ lbs of meat, meaning the price per lb, even factoring in initial cost and the hay, was still under $6 a pound. Lamb can easily cost near or over $10 a pound in store. The 30-40lbs of meat off this one sheep will make around 25-35 meals, which is about a month of dinners! By next spring my 2 females will give birth to their first lambs, which may be twins since twins are very common in sheep. Males from those first 2-4 lambs will be raised for meat and females will be kept to grow the herd size. The cost per lb on those lambs will be ever lower at under $2 per lb since I didn't have to buy them and the feed cost to get them raised to butchering age is easily under $100 each.

Now onto the tips regarding shopping/cooking..

Keeping Processed Foods off the List & Cooking from Scratch:

One super simple way I keep grocery costs down is by skipping processed foods, not just junk foods, but even foods like premade frozen or dry pantry meals. By putting extra time into making my food at home I can save the extra dollars in-store. For example. 'Hamburger Helper' is just pasta and a baggie of seasoning. The box only costs a few dollars but the plain pasta costs even less and all I need to do is use seasonings I already have at home. Another example; instead of buying a $12 box of Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches I can make cheesy pork sausage biscuits with about $4-5 in ingredients. Instead of getting a 2liter of soda I can get a box of tea packets and a bag of sugar that I can make into several gallons of sweet tea flavored with any fruit I want. We bake our own sandwich bread and sometimes even our own hamburger buns or pizza doughs. When I bake cookies or cake I never buy box mixes, I just google recipes to try out. I especially love using Pinterest for recipes! Check out my Recipe page for some of ours!

By skipping on premade items we also gain the health benefit of easily avoiding unnecessary additives like colors, preservatives, artificial flavors, corn syrup and much more.

Focusing whole foods is really easy. If what you're buying has an ingredient label, read it! Lots of whole foods like fresh unseasoned meats, fruit and vegetable produce, milk and eggs or dry goods like rice and beans wont even have this label. Then for everything else I need I seek out items with very short or very natural ingredients.

How to Find Deals on Whole & Seasonal Foods:

Knowing which produce is in season and adjusting your diet to shift with the seasons is super important. In summer you'll find abundance of tomato, corn, pepper, zucchini, stone fruit and berries, fall brings apples, pumpkins, pomegranate, pears and winter brings in citrus, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and more! If you go to the grocery store in wintertime you'll find corn either only in the frozen or canned isle or in a plastic wrapped costly bag, however in the summertime you're much more likely to find it fresh in the big sale bins with the leaves still attached at a great price like 4 for $1! This is because corn is harvested in summer and fall locally, meaning grocery stores have lots of local suppliers with abundance that needs to sell quick before it goes bad, whereas in the winter corn only comes from other warmer countries and the cost is higher due to extra shipping to get it to the store. Corn shipped from other countries also has to be harvested early to be firm enough to withstand the journey, the local corn during our harvest season will be much sweeter since it was picked ripe! This principal goes for almost every fruit and veggie in the grocery store!

Another easy way to find in-season produce is to take your shopping out to farm stands and farmers markets! My top go-to's are Sons Farm Fresh in Oakdale and the Modesto Farmers Market but to find more local goodies you can use my map link HERE! Farm stands and markets will run great deals on fresh fruit and veggies in season when they need to sell it fast! This is your opportunity to make lots of goodies from great deals. Freeze tomatoes whole for sauce or sliced fruit for smoothies, pies and other treats.

When corn goes on sale I buy at least 4 ears at a time to make our favorite summer veggie bowl, the recipe can be found Here! Just this week I got figs at a buy one get one free deal and a late season watermelon for almost half off! Fruits like these will make great snacks to take to work.

As you begin to understand which produce items are in-season at which point in the year you can begin to anticipate those items and plan your dietary shifts accordingly. You'll build up an idea of which easy recipes you can make each season and memorize them! Trying new recipes along the way is really fun!

When it comes to meat, your local grocery store butcher will always have basic desirable cuts, normally at a steady cost. Good cuts of beef steak like Sirloin, New York, T Bone, will rarely ever go on sale. For chicken, boneless skinless breasts are the same case. But unpopular cuts like pork chops, pork country steaks, whole pork shoulder, chicken legs, wings or thighs - those can sometimes accumulate at the store too long, leading them to be put on sale! By diversifying the variety of different cuts of meat we buy we also get to eat in a more natural manner - our ancestors ate animals nose to tail, they didn't have the luxury of picking up only choice cuts.

I do encourage learning more about the different parts of the animal and how they're typically cooked. I've learned so much just from watching butchering videos on Youtube or googling diagrams. For example along the spine runs a length of meat which in beef is called Filet Mignon, often sold in thick small round steaks, in pork the same muscle is called the Tenderloin and is often sold whole in 2 packs, this meat is super tender and perfect for a quick pan seared steak, overcooking it will lead to toughness which is why Medium or Rare cooking is common. However large pieces from the shoulder or upper hind leg/rump area are called Roasts and are naturally tougher and do better with being cooked long and slow into stews or braised meat dishes.

Our local grocery store in the last year has done some great deals on less popular cuts like the ones discussed above. I've picked up 8 packs of chicken thighs for just $6! I got a chunk of pork shoulder for $11 and ground it down and seasoned it to make my own breakfast sausage packages. In fact I just recently picked up a 2 pack of nice thick pork chops for just $3, which I served with veggies on the side, making dinner that night under $2 per person! By studying the meat isle I've tried out plenty of new cuts and found great substitutions for costlier cuts. For example thick Colette beef steaks can be found for under $10 for 2-3 serving size pieces, a very worthy alternative to fancier steaks! Quickly an fry them and pair them with potatoes or veggies on the side, you're done! Chicken thighs, which are darker and fattier than breasts have great flavor and more nutritional value compared to skinless breasts! I've served them simply fried, or chopped up and tossed into soup or salad, or with gravy on potatoes, as breaded tenders with ketchup or even crispy cutlets with pasta! Pork tenderloin can often be found for $10-11 for 2 in a bag, which makes 4 meals worth for us, my recipe will be available on the site soon! Its super easy, even for dinner parties and perfect with mashed potatoes! Ground pork, chicken or beef can be made into potstickers. Ground beef can be made into so many things, my favorite right now is crispy pan seared meatballs! A whole chicken in the bag is $8-11 each and easily makes 4 hearty meals, I usually roast it whole with seasonings in the oven and eat the super juicy breasts with the crispy skin with dinner and then use the leftover meat for a soup, tostadas or sandwiches the next day. Chicken legs or 'drumsticks' often go on sale and cook up great in the oven or air fryer. We enjoy them with barbeque sauce or a sweet/savory mix of seasonings.

Seek Quality Nutritional Value over Quantity:

I am not afraid to spend money on food items that I know hold high nutritional value, because I know I have room in the budget for it by not buying unnecessary junk foods. For example; a dozen eggs will make 3-4 breakfasts, but a box of cereal at the same cost will make 8+ breakfasts BUT which breakfast is better for your health? The cereal is made of highly processed refined grains, oils and sugars, with low protein and synthetically added vitamins, the eggs are rich in protein and healthy fats as well as natural vitamins. It can be hard at first to re-train your brain, get into new cooking habits and shop for nutritional value. I find it helps me to think in terms of the human ancestral diet.

Would a person from 300+ years ago recognize the food? Cereal, no! Eggs, yes they certainly would!

On the flip side, some basic whole foods can be found really cheaply! For example a 10lb bag of brown potatoes can cost just $5 or less if they're on sale. Brown russet potatoes sold bagged or loose are always really cheap and make the perfect side to many meals. I can chop them or grate them for breakfast with sausage and eggs. I can roast them in the oven or peel and boil them for mash to go with dinner. I can even cut them into fries to go with steak, burgers or chicken tenders! Potatoes are a must-have in our house!

Other super cheap produce any time of year includes lettuce, used for salads and sandwiches. White or yellow onions to season dishes. Whole bagged or loose carrots for fresh eating, sautés or soups.

Beyond these basics, following seasonal produce availability will certainly help you save!

Pork tenderloin dinner

Look for Quality Generic or Unbranded items:

Lots of food items are a higher price just because they have a name brand on the box! If you need something pre-made, like lets say sour cream for example, instead of reaching for the Daisy brand, look around and see if your grocery store offers the same item at a cheaper price. Lots of grocery stores now have their own generic brand, like Target has 'Good & Gather'. My local grocery store has a generic brand called 'Wild Harvest' which sometimes even comes in organic versions. These items are often just as good if not identical to the name brand stuff and will save you big in the long run. This goes for all sorts of food items and medicines too!

Use Grocery Lists:

Throughout the week as I think of things I add them to a list on my phone for things to grab next time I go to the store. Then when I shop, I'm careful to grab just what I need and leave! No impulse shopping! Once you get the hang of knowing what to look for and what to avoid you might choose a couple hot-spots in the grocery store to be places to always check, for example I always still check the bulk produce bins to see if there's any good deals, and I always walk down the meat isle to see what's on sale.

making cheesy sourdough bread

Buying Basics in Bulk:

If there are certain items you know you eat a lot of, try to find a good deal on a bulk box or big sack of it! This is easy to do with grains like rice and beans especially. We like to get our organic bread flour from Costco in double packs. I also have 2 large bags of baking soda and Redmond brand salt that I shouldn't need to buy again for several years!

Eating at Home versus Eating Out:

Eating out less means we have more to spare for higher quality ingredients like organic produce, milk or pasture raised meats.

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I could go on and on forever but I think this covers the basics for our home! Please leave a comment below with your thoughts!