Top 10 Tips for Clean Eating on a Budget

Looking to make a crack at clean eating this year? Here are my top 10 tips for making clean eating work for your family on a budget.

What a year! Personally, my biggest accomplishments have included juggling two kids under three  in a country far from home, and surviving (the bags under my eyes may however tell a different story), and getting my little home on the internet to a place that makes me happy. I hope you have enjoyed tagging along on this clean eating journey with me, and will continue to do so.

I feel like we have been pretty good at sticking to our 80% rule for the year. Don’t get me wrong, there have been bad days, pizza days and ice cream days, but hey, that is totally called for on occasion IMO!

So what have I learned over the past twelve months? A lot! I want to share with you a couple of tips I have picked up along the way, which I think are imperative to having a good year, in terms of clean eating (on a budget) at least.

(1). MEAL PLANNING is king.

 

Spending a half hour over the weekend planning what you are going to eat throughout the week really is the key to staying on the right path. If you have clear goals as to what you will be eating on what night, and you have shopped accordingly, you are more likely to avoid that ‘hmmm, what are we going to eat…let’s order pizza/sushi/chicken korma and lots of garlic naan’ predicament.

Don’t get me wrong, there will no doubt be nights when the pizza will win, there definitely have been around these parts, but hopefully less and less.

 

(2). The FREEZER is your friend.

Having two under three certainly has it’s moments, and there have been nights where I really could not muster the energy, or the wherewithal, to get into the kitchen and do some cooking. Having a couple of back up meals in the freezer really has been my saving grace more than a few times.

My main tip is to always make some extra if you are making something that is freezer friendly. We definitely don’t have a big freezer, but we still manage to store a good selection of random dishes in there. Bonus: if you forget to label them, you even get to have some freezer surprise on occasion.

Black Beans, muffins and soups are always in our back up supplies. I definitely plan on making more of an effort with freezing extras this year.

 

(3). Another friend you need to keep close is the SLOW COOKER or crock pot.

We have a cheapie $30 slow cooker/rice cooker/steamer combo contraption, and it has been waaaaay overworked this year. I have a few staples I make in there about once a month – including refried beans, black beans, vegetable stock, and I always make one or two dishes in there throughout the week.

In summer, I stick it out on the back porch and let it cook away, to keep the heat out of the house (of course, beware if you have a dog, or over curious children).

Slow cookers certainly make light work on busy weeknights, and you can even have them working overnight for you, if you want to wake up to some oats etc. Like I said, my poor little machine already needs to go into retirement after just a year of use. That’s commitment for you! Check out Pinterest for some boards dedicated to clean eating slow cooking recipes – there’s plenty to be found.

 

(4). Shop in SEASON.

I can’t emphasise this one enough, especially if you are clean eating on a budget, and want to save a few pennies this year.

Before I started thinking about what I was eating, I just bought what I wanted, when I wanted it. It could get so expensive! For example, if I buy strawberries at the height of summer in Sacramento, I can get a whole tray of local strawberries for $10 – that’s about 6 punnets. Right now (in winter), if I pop into the local supermarket, a single punnet is $6 and comes from God knows where, sprayed with god knows what.

Why do that, when there is so much awesome stuff you can be eating fresh every season? If I go to the Farmer’s markets at the moment, applies are 5lbs for $5, persimmons are 3lbs for $3 – makes sense to buy those things now right? When the season is ending, and they are selling off the last of the produce for cheap – preserve it (see below).

 

(5). PRESERVE the season.

You don’t have to get into the whole canning thing (although I highly recommend it – we are currently enjoying home-grown and canned peaches in the middle of winter, and it is nothing short of ridiculously satisfying). But if you preserve the abundance of the season when it is at it’s cheapest, you can enjoy the best bits for months to come, at a fraction of the cost of buying produce out of season.

For example, this summer our peach trees produced so much fruit I had to learn how to can, because no one wanted to take anymore peaches off my hands (imagine!), and I didn’t want them to go to waste. I now have peaches for the rest of the year – some canned, and some in the freezer.

Again, when it got to the end of summer and heirloom tomatoes were being sold in HUGE trays for $6, we bought several trays and got to work making tomato sauce. I didn’t can it, but we now have a freezer full of tomato sauce, perfect for pizza and pasta on a whim, for a fraction of the cost of the stuff available at the supermarket (and so much better).

It really pays to get the good stuff when it is at it’s cheapest and preserve it for the rest of the year. Plus, it doubles as great accidental meal prepping 🙂

 

(6). GROW some herbs.

Seriously, this is the biggest money saver around! I was in Target today, and they were selling tiny little punnets of dodgy looking herbs for $2.99 – that’s more expensive than a whole pot of living herbs, that will last for months!

I haven’t put in my full edible garden yet, that is a slow, slow, slowwww work in progress. However, what I did do straight away, was buy little pots of mint, parsley, coriander/cilantro, thyme and rosemary. I pick some when I need it, and then just let it do it’s thing on the counter. You don’t even need a garden, or much space at all really.

(7). Buy some GOOD Meat

Ok so this one may seem counterintuitive…we are going to spend money to save money.

 

BUT investing in some good meat can save you money in the long run.

Last year I started using Butcher Box. Their meat is pasture raised and grass-fed and it tastes amazing. It works out to $6 a portion…

BUT when we started using it we started reducing the meat we ate and upping the veggies included within a meal so in the end, it works out cheaper, healthier and better for the environment.

(8). Eat Leftovers

I live and die by the mantra ‘Waste Not Want Not’.

Do not waste food. Yesterday’s leftovers can be turned into a perfectly respectable meal the next day.

Try these:

• leftover risotto: Baked Leftover Risotto Cheesy Rice Balls (Arancini);
• leftover mashed potatoes: Leftover Mashed Potatoes Tater Tots;
• ricotta lying in the back of the fridge: Ricotta and Cauliflower Tater Tots;
• cranberries leftover from the holiday season: Rejuvenating Orange and Fresh Cranberry Smoothie;
• more mashed potatoes: Pillowy Potato Biscuits using Leftover Mashed Potatoes

 

 

(9) Make Your Own Dressings, Sauces and Broths

These are the things they will gauge you for in the supermarket. Something that costs less than nothing to make at home can end up costing $4-5 a bottle at the store, especially if it has the words organic attached.

By now you are (hopefully) buying organic where you can anyway. Take advantage of that. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Fresh Heirloom Tomato Sauce;
• Naturally Sweetened Fresh Peach BBQ Sauce;
• Light and Creamy Green Tea Salad Dressing;
• Light and Creamy Miso and Toasted Sesame Dressing;
• Homemade Vegetable Broth.

(10). Costco (and other big box stores)

 

I feel like I sound like a broken record here.

Don’t get me wrong, don’t get everything from these places.

But seriously seek out those discounts in the big box stores. I know, I know….shop local and all that. But there comes a point when the huge bag of spinach for your morning smoothie at $4 a pop which will last all week far outweighs anything else. It’s organic and tasty. Spend the money on the in-season fruit from the farmers market and it will all be ok.

I get my staples from here like coconut water, açaí berries, big bags of spinach, maple syrup and bananas. Everything else I try to buy local. Do what works for you!

 

 

 

Do you guys have any tips I have missed? I would love to hear them so be sure to leave a comment!

Happy Eating

Donna

xx