Here it is - my very first post!
It's taken me a while to get one up here. I started this account quite a while ago but then I got engaged and started planning a wedding in addition to a large workload increase at my normal job. Phew! I'm tired.
Today, I'm considering the grocery-budget redo. It's one of the areas where we consistently overspend. We're personally committed to living a mostly organic, natural lifestyle. In fact, we've been switching over to this lifestyle in steps over the past several months. I've lost 18 lbs. and Mr. Mojo has lost 30 (yes!! 30!!...MEN!) since last fall.
My point is that, for us, it's challenging to follow an organic diet and maintain a decent budget. Sure, it's cheaper with Farmer's Markets and the abundance of produce (and therefore, falling prices) during the warm months but it can add up during the off-season. I won't lie - we're meat-eaters - but we believe in eating humanely pastured/raised meats when we do buy meat. This adds another Ch-ching! to our budget.
Still, with our Big Day coming up and the overall economy taking a pretty significant toll on us, we just have to reduce our spending.
Some things I've considered:
1) Eat less!
2) Eat less meat!
3) Find inexpensive, unusual sources of organic/natural products (can they be found at a dollar store? bakery outlet? Outlet store?)
4) Do I really need to shop for everything at a large "natural" chain or can the same products be found elsewhere?
5) Gardening
6) (Mostly) Organic Grocery Delivery
So, here's where we stand:
1) We've definitely been doing this and succeeding - check out that weight loss above!
2) I've succeeded. Mr Mojo, who should be renamed Mr. Meat & Potatoes, not as much.
3) I'm not having a lot of luck here.
4) I have found some hit or miss luck at some unusual spots - natural juices at the local Dollar General, organic coffee at the Ollie's Outlet, etc. By and large, I haven't found as many cheaper sources as I would like. We've checked out your everyday chain grocery stores and have found an increasing organic and natural-foods section. Still, they tend to be overstocked with what we don't use a lot of: prepared meals, prepared soups, etc. and they tend to be more highly priced than places like Whole Foods on some items. These stores can be great though when they are clearancing their organic/natural items. For example, just found Horizon Organic Butter (4 sticks/1lb.) for $1.50 each at Kroger. You can freeze butter, so I loaded up and froze it. I bake a fair amount and this is a fantastic savings! So, we don't shop exclusively at WF but we do buy certain products there (for example, organic milk, it tends to be cheaper than elsewhere, unless someone is having a sale; some meats, etc).
5) Ahhhh gardening. I love it. It requires patience which I don't always have though. Worse yet, we live next to woods, which means: squirrels, deer, and rabbits. We keep it fenced and I use a natural (homemade) spray deterrent that helps keep them off a bit but they still find ways to get to some of our plants. I'll never forget the one summer morning I went out to show Mr. Mojo our first roma tomato. THE FIRST TOMATO I'D LITERALLY EVER GROWN. Yes, as I was showing it to him - a squirrel scurried down a tree, sped top-speed to the plant, and grabbed it. I didn't even know squirrels ATE TOMATOES! "Aren't they sort of a tree rat," I asked myself. I researched it and yep, they eat them and they like mine.
We also have clay soil and a tiny gardening budget since we're paying for most of our Big Day.
6) (Mostly) Organic Grocery Delivery - I priced this compared to our CSA and compared to shopping Organic at the grocery store. While the CSA is definitely the cheapest (when you divide the total cost across the months of pickups), our CSA got rid of our pick-up point entirely. Other CSAs cost more and were already booked up. Compared to the grocery store chain, this was actually overall cheaper. I was surprised but I did the math and it came out somewhat less expensive; however, I would imagine this would vary depending on how many and what types of veggies and fruits a person eats.
The delivery also lets us choose items if we don't like what they've "pre-chosen" for that week's delivery. We get a delivery every 2 weeks. We also find that because we are more interested in the produce, fruit, and groceries we receive and use them up; therefore, reducing waste and not throwing our money into the trash.
So, for those of you out there that try to eat healthily, organically, and/or naturally - how do you cut yourself back on grocery spending? Do you have any shopping strategies or secrets? Do you have ways of stretching a couple of ingredients into several meals?
