Clean Eating on the Cheap: Variety may be the spice of life, but let's be real… that sh*t needs to be on SALE.

One thing I've always prided myself on is finding a good deal.  Now, I'm no thrift store shopper or coupon queen (not to say that I have anything against that, because I don't; it's just not the lengths I've ever gone with my bargain-hunting habits), but being raised the way I was, I learned early on that I needed to be able to make a penny stretch to the size of a dollar.  

I got my first "real-life" job serving ice cream at Haagen-Dazs just after my 15th birthday.  Since I was under the legal working age, my employer was able to take advantage of a labor loop-hole and charge me a full dollar less than minimum wage per hour. Still, every summer I would work my butt off because that would be the only money at my disposal to pay for my new school clothes and any other discretionary items outside of food and shelter that I would want.  

It was tough but it certainly taught me the value of a dollar, along with some other incredibly useful budgeting lessons that helped me survive college.  When it came to being a university student, not only was I now on my own to buy my clothing and such, but I now had to pay for books, tuition, food, and all my other bills as well!  I was a full-time student working part-time jobs to cover full-time adult expenses.  Therefore, naturally, one of the easiest things to control as far as expenses were concerned was the grocery bill.

Food is a funny thing, because most items really don't cost all that much.  $2.49 here, $1.99 there.  But boy, does it add up.  I think we all can agree that the difference between buying a regular apple for $0.69 and an organic one for $1.19 is rather trivial (is $0.50 really all that much???).  But if you eat one a day for a full month, we're talking about a difference of almost $16 a month. And that's just for apples! Add in all the other monies you would save by making cheaper food selections, and we're looking at a sum of money that could cover a utility bill, a credit card payment, or the cost of necessary monthly medications.  Simply put? Savings are savings.  And when money is an issue, opting out of organics is a non-issue.

Well, we can now fast forward several years to my post-collegiate life.  School loans are paid off, car is almost paid off, retirement account is [slowly] growing, and I have a respectably-paying job that allows me to live a decent middle class life.  I'm not buying a house anytime soon, but I certainly am not wanting for food and shelter.  Even still, limited resources are limited resources, and I seemed to have carried my same budget-conscious habits toward food into my adult life.  I wouldn't eat garbage food; I mean, I did make sure I got my fruits and veggies and proteins.  But I certainly would forgo buying avocados and nuts in favor of cheaper snacks like crackers or Easy Mac (Yes, I said Easy Mac... oh, the shame!)  So, one of the rudest awakenings I got when I undertook this clean-eating adventure was the massive shift in discretionary income toward my new food expense each month.  That was such a fat pill to swallow that I about needed the Heimlich each time I got to the front of the register counter. 

But you see, it wasn't that I couldn't afford "higher quality foods"; it was more the principle of the matter.  It was knowing that for the last 10 years I was able to feed myself 3 decent meals and 3 snacks a day, 7 days a week, for $65 or less...... but now my grocery bill has doubled!?!  Where is the logic in knowing that for organic produce -- with no added chemicals or labor to apply said chemicals, just throw a seed into the earth and let mother nature do the dirty work -- the price seemingly doubles?  It makes no sense!  But of course, the logic is there.  Chemicals off-set the cost of losing plants to bugs and blights, yada yada yada, I get it.  But what I don't like, is the notion that the second money becomes an obstacle, people take the path of least resistance by buying crap food instead of seeking ways around it.  And I can say that, because I used to be one of those people!  But now that diet has become something of importance to my life, I've felt the need to seek out methods of mitigating the colossal crush of rising food commodity prices and the added expense of eating clean and organic options.

I've done a lot of research on tips and techniques as well as trying out my own ideas.  This in no way is an exhaustive list, but it's certainly a start at creating a handbook of sorts for people of all ages and all degrees of income to find solutions that work for them in terms of increasing the quality of their diet while keeping costs static (or potentially at a minimum).

1.  WATER

It goes without saying that an instantaneous (and free!) way of reducing cost and increasing diet quality is to abandon all fluids besides water.  Juice, coffee, soy milk, almond milk, regular milk, soda, booze, coconut water, and even tea... none are necessary.  So when it comes to you being able to afford Ezekiel Bread over that cheap loaf of white bread devoid of all nutrition and chock-full of empty calories, ditch the decaf and opt for a glass of water instead.  And further, STOP buying bottled water.  It's the same stuff as tap!  Added minerals to alter the flavor doesn't make bottled water "cleaner" than tap.  Both are filtered, both are fluoridated, and both are perfectly safe to consume.  If you can, buy a Brita pitcher or another knock-off; one $7 filter can purify 40 gallons on water.  If you can't stomach the taste of water, buy a lime at the grocery store; it's usually less than 20-cents a fruit, can produce 4 water-flavoring wedges, it alkalizes your gut upon consumption, flavors your water, and adds a boost of natural vitamin C to boot.

2.  KNOW WHEN TO BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE, AND WHEN NOT TO

Not everything "needs" to be organic.  While it is ideal to eliminate all exposure to potentially harmful chemicals and pesticides that riddle our produce, sometimes that is not an option.  So pick and choose your own battles.  The rule of thumb is to definitely buy organic produce for which the peel is thin, or where you eat the peel.  Examples of produce you'll want to buy organic:  Apples, peaches, pears, berries, cucumber, zucchini, celery.  Examples of when you can buy regular:  Bananas, oranges/lemons/limes (assuming you don't consume the zest or peel), pineapple, spaghetti squash, cantaloupe, avocado, corn.

The 2012 list of the "Dirty Dozen" was just released by the Environmental Working Group recently which details the current top 12 "dirtiest" fruits and vegetables contaminated by pesticides and chemicals, as well as a list of the top 15 "cleanest" produce items.  EWS recommends that foods on the Dirty Dozen list should absolutely be purchased organic, whereas the "Clean 15" can be of the "regular" (non-organic) variety.

Lastly, it goes without saying that shopping at Farmer's Markets tend to always yield better deals than grocery stores since you're cutting out the "middle man".  There are no grocery store worker salaries, property rents, insurance and utility bills and all other expenses associated with operating a grocery store that you need to worry about paying for via the overhead applied to the cost of your food.  Buy straight from the farmer and you will naturally reduce those expenses.

3.  BETTER THAN BUYING:  GROW YOUR OWN!
Since I was young, I've had a fascination with life (which is ironic, considering as how I NEVER want children).  But cultivating plants was always an art and a thing of beauty to me.  So it's weird to me that it took me 20 additional years before I took a stab at my long-lost green thumb.

If you are like me and live in an apartment with no yard, fear not!  You can always buy potting soil and seeds for cheap and plants herbs and leave the pots by your front door, in the shared back yard, your balcony or window sill, even on the roof if you have access!  If you can't afford pots, just use old tupperware containers (though being mindful that the plant will eventually outgrow that bucket.)  Also remember to poke holes at the bottom of the container so liquid can drain.

If you have a little more room to spare, or have some significantly large Tupperware containers, you can try planting other things like zucchini, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.  I recently stumbled upon this idea (see picture) and think it's brilliant! My mom has TONS of these old Rubbermaid bins from back when all us kids lived at home that she does absolutely nothing with.  Granted it will cost some money to purchase potting soil, but in the long run remember -- growing your own produce is the gift that keeps on giving! Drop a couple seeds in, give it some water, sun and a little TLC, and put ole' Mother Nature to work :)

4.  MEAT, POULTRY AND EGGS
When it comes to meat, you'll have to pick and choose your own battles here too.  My rule of thumb which helps is to stick with what's on sale and then make decisions that way.   Sometimes it's a matter of altering your recipes to accommodate seasonal or sale meats than the other way around.  Regardless, you're just always going to want to buy hormone-free, antibiotic-free, growth hormone (rBST)-free, grass-fed/cage-free/free range meats and eggs as often as possible.

The one big thing you can do to reduce this expense is to choose frozen over fresh meats.  While fresh meat is always ideal, if it's a matter of buying a frozen organic chicken breast versus a fresh "regular" (read: tampered with) one, go the frozen route.  Just make sure that no preservatives were used in the freezing process.  Frozen meats are usually always significantly cheaper than fresh since they store for longer, ship more easily, and require less of a rush from slaughter to sale.  One final note - egg whites can be expensive.  A carton of cage-free Trader Joe's egg whites is $2.99, and produces 10 3-tbsp servings.  Each 3 tbsp serving equates to one egg white.  Which means this carton only contains the equivalent of 10 eggs.  You can buy a dozen of Trader Joe's cage-free whole eggs for $2.99.  There are a variety of things to do with the yolk, including making a hair mask out of them, using them in other recipes, feeding them to your dogs to make their coats shiny, mixing them with water and fertilizing plants with them, yada yada yada.  So it's more economical to go with the dozen eggs than the carton of whites and come up with ways to use the yolk if you don't want to consume it!

Lastly, there are many mainstream organic meat providers like Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm that offer coupons on their websites which is always a good thing.

5.  CELEBRATE MEATLESS MONDAYS :)
Another way to cut back on budget expenses and still eat clean, is to actually forgo a day of animal products.  Meat (especially the organic kind that we really should be consuming) is the most expensive item on anyone's list.  Even when you consume animal products that are in season, or produced in abundance for certain holidays (turkeys, hams, etc), that price still adds up.  Not all of us have a rifle and a forest or stream in our backyards to go collect our proteins ourselves, so Meatless Mondays is always a decent way to save a dime (my mom calls this Poor Man's Vegetarianism, haha).  Essentially, you trade out all of your meat items for non-meat proteins -- preferably, you buy a bag of kidney or black beans and cook them up at home ahead of time, and eat them instead. (Stay away from the canned varieties which can be tainted with BPA).

But there are other options.  Quinoa -- a great grain substitute -- is loaded with protein.  You can buy a box of Trader Joe's brand organic quinoa which yields enough to feed you for a whole week, for only $2.49.  Not to mention it can be added to just about any meal, including oatmeal, to boost protein content and improve food consistency and satiation.

6.  BUY IN BULK AND BEFRIEND THE ARCTIC!

Another major saver tip is buying in bulk and freezing what you don't immediately need to use.  And sometimes you don't even have to buy in bulk; sometimes just regular sales are too good to pass up!  Recently, Ralph's (Kroger) had a MASSIVE sale of Driscoll's organic raspberries.  They were selling entire pints of them for only $2.00.  The problem is, raspberries are extremely perishable, even when kept in the fridge.  So I bought up about 6 pints of those suckers, kept 2 in my fridge for mass [guiltless] consumption, and froze the rest.  Berries are delicate and don't thaw the way something like grapes or peach slices would, but that still doesn't mean they can't be used in any number of ways -- in your protein shakes, in baked goods you make... heck, I even just baked a pork tenderloin in half a bottle of leftover Charles Shaw "2-Buck Chuck" Cabernet with a 1/2 cup of those frozen berries and it made the most delightful raspberry-cab reduction sauce to go with the meat.  

The point of buying bulk is that, even though the price tag is higher, the per-unit cost is lower.  So hypothetically speaking, if you can afford $14.99 at Costco for a package of 15 frozen organic chicken breasts that will last you three weeks, that would be better than spending only $6.99 per bag for 5 breasts that will only last you 1 week, and end up costing you about $6 more than the price of the $15 bag at Costco in the long run. Another helpful trick with this tactic is to cook (or prepare) everything all at once, and then freeze the items.  That way, you can bypass repeated food prep chores, dirty dishes, etc.

7.  KNOW YOUR ECONOMIES OF SCALE
Along the topic of buying in bulk, another tip which I personally find to require the most time and attention but is REALLY helpful in the end  is to know your math.  Especially when you buy in bulk.  Sometimes, some deals aren't as appealing as they seem.  Other times, something might look like an excessive and extravagant purchase, but when you break it down by serving size, it becomes much more palatable (pun intended).  Case in point:  Shakeology.  Just about the healthiest protein shake you can find.  Problem?  One bag costs $120.  That's twice what I was used to paying for an entire week's worth of food!  BUT -- it provides one meal (one shake) a day for the whole month.  And we're talking a complete, WHOLESOME meal.  It breaks down to the following:

So, that's to say that that $120 bag actually provides an entire meal each day for you for less than a cup of your favorite coffee drink.  Economies of scale, people!

8.  BRANCH OUTSIDE OF YOUR RECIPES "COMFORT ZONE"
So you were raised being Butler'd caviar on a silver platter, eh?  Well, circumstances change, and so do your tastes.  But there are plenty of good substitutes for what you're used to, and when it comes to eating healthy on a dime, you may want to switch out your old Betty Crocker cook-book for something more -- how shall I say this, "flexible"? -- to the constraints of your wallet.

This really needs to be your best friend.

For me, I've found that a FANTASTIC way to eat healthy and clean on the cheap is to really embrace my inner-stew lover.  Stews, soups and chili are all hot, hearty, healthy and SUPER inexpensive to make organically.  Buy whatever produce is in season (particularly the varieties sold at the Farmer's Market) and make a stew in the crockpot.  Don't have a crockpot?  No worries, there are plenty of stew and soup recipes for just plan old soup pans on the stove:  Here's an example.

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So, obviously not an exhaustive list of tips and tricks (after all, I'm still learning these things as I go), and yes there are other money-saving ideas like using whole butter instead of olive oil in your cooking if you are able to be careful about portion controlling, but this is what I've come up with so far.

I would love to hear any ideas or tips you may have come up with to help save a dime on organic, clean eats.  Leave a comment! :)