There's just no two ways about it...
Organic produce costs more than conventional. Good quality natural bodycare products are more expensive than those off the supermarket shelf, and avoiding fluoridated tap water can be a costly business.
So, how can you stay healthy by buying good quality products, while sticking to some semblence of a budget?
Below are my best 10 tips for doing just that!
1. Plan, Plan, Plan!!!
I really can't stress this highly enough. A weekly or fortnightly menu plan is one of the best time and money savers you can utilise.
Yes, it takes some time and discipline to get into the routine, but the savings are so worthwhile.
Before I do my grocery shopping, I go through my fridge and pantry and see what I already have.
Then I sit down and write out my main meals for the next week. Any ingredients needed for those meals, that I don't already have, gets written on my shopping list, along with fruit and snacks/nuts/seeds.
During busy times when my routine has gone out the window and I don't bother planning the menu, I find myself rushing to the shops for one or two items (but leaving with 5 or 10...) because I don't have what I need to make dinner.
It will save you so much time, and eliminates those evenings when you stand, staring into the depths of the pantry, dithering over what to make for dinner.
On my menu plan, I also list jobs that I need to do on a certain day, in preparation for the following day(s). For instance, today when I'm cooking the fish, I need to bake some pumpkin for tomorrow's roast pumpkin salad.
2. Grow Your Own.
This is really the ultimate in saving. Not only is tending a garden great exercise, a source of relaxation and interest, uses less fossil fuels and resources, there really is no better feeling than picking straight from the garden and onto the plate.
I am far from being a green thumb, and where I live has cold Winters, and hot Summers. Not exactly ideal for growing things, especially leafy greens. But there are some things that are so easy to grow, that even I cannot screw it up! These are: potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, zucchinis, rosemary, lavender, aloe vera and silverbeet.
Even if you don't have a backyard, a sunny windowsill will grow herbs and sprouts. You can grow a batch of wheatgrass on the windowsill quickly, easily, and for less than a dollar.
3. Make Your Own.
You pay for convenience. If you're willing to make things from scratch, there are so many savings to be made.
A yoghurt maker costs about $20, and making your own yoghurt is so quick and simple, it will pay for itself in no time. You don't need to buy the special yoghurt starter packs, just use a few tablespoons of a previous batch of yoghurt as a starter, then add 1 and 1/3 cup of milk powder and add water as per usual.
Rice and nut milks can be expensive if you use a lot, but they can be made at home, if you have a blender. There's plenty of instructions on the Internet for making your own.
Facial scrubs can be made with a little oil and sugar (or salt), with a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil added. Hair treatments which cost upwards of $5 in the shop, can be made using eggs or yoghurt (Wash the eggs out with lukewarm water only, or you may end up with a head full of scrambled eggs...Not pretty.). Face masks can be made using mashed up strawberries, or raw honey.
4. Make Use of Left-Overs.
Did you know that Australian homes and businesses throw out 7.5 million tonnes of food waste every year? That 7.5 million tonnes of food - quite apart from taking up vast areas of landfill - cost us about $7.8 billion. What a waste!!!
If you follow a menu plan, you should eliminate some of the food waste, as you will not be buying food on a whim, with no real plan for how you're going to use it up.
Spend your money on quality food, not quantity that will end up in the garbage.
Twice a week, go through the fridge and pull out anything that is going to be soon past it's prime, then work out how to use it up. Vegetables, both raw and leftover cooked vegetables, can be used up in quiches, pies, savoury muffins and fritters, stews, soups, fried rice, and casseroles. (See my "Really Easy Use-Up-All-Your-Leftovers Quiche")
On my weekly menu plan, I leave two meals for "easy" meals or leftover recipes.
Fruit and vegetable pulp left over from juicing can be used in muffins or desserts.
I recently discovered a great little product called "Forever Green" bags at my local market. Apparently these bags absorb the gases released from food, so that food stays fresher for longer. I bag all of my leafy greens and herbs in these bags now, and they last more than twice as long, so I rarely have to throw any out now. (I think they cost about $7 or $8 for a pack of 16 re-usable bags. They've more than paid for themselves already, with the added bonus that I now eat a lot more herbs because I can now buy herbs knowing I'll use them up before they spoil.)
If you steam vegetables, don't throw out the water underneath. Let it cool and either turn it into vegetable stock, or pour it onto your pot plants or herbs. They'll appreciate the nutrient boost.
Another thing never to throw out is banana peel. These are great little garden fertilisers, especially for roses and ferns. Rip them into pieces, and sprinkle on the soil. They will decompose and leach their minerals into the earth.
And lastly, invest in a compost bin or worm farm. Not only will you never have to buy garden fertiliser again, you'll be amazed at how much less waste ends up in the garbage.
5. Find Other Uses for Things.
Coconut Oil is an awesome cooking oil. But it's also a wonderful face and body moisteriser, lip balm and hair conditioner. I never buy body or facial moisterisers. I just use my organic cold-pressed coconut oil from the pantry.
Vinegar is not only great for salad dressings, it's the only thing I use for cleaning the house and the windows(along with a microfibre cloth). I use it in the washing machine, along with bicarb soda. I use it in hot water, to wash the dishes if I've run out of detergent.
Not only that, but you can double your amount of vinegar for free. Mix it half and half with water, and leave in a warm place for a day or two, and you get double the vinegar for the same amount of money.
I really cannot see the point in paying high prices for all-natural cleaning products or beauty products when you have all the ingredients in your pantry, for a fraction of the price. The only individual products I do buy are organic shampoo and natural dishwash detergent, because I still have not figured out how to make my own with satisfactory results.
6. Less Meat, More Vegetables.
As a general rule, vegetables are a lot cheaper per kilo, than meat. Especially if it's good quality, grass fed, organic meat. Use the meat sparingly, but fill out the meal with plenty of vegetables.
Not only that, but most vegetables can (and should) be eaten raw, and further save you money on energy costs.
7. Experiment With Different Grains and Pulses.
Pulses and grains like lentils, chickpeas, split peas, barley, and broad beans are not only cheap, they are highly filling and nutritious. Once or twice per week, replace a meat meal with a meal based on one of these.
If you've never tried rolled oats for breakfast, give it a go. It's just about the cheapest breakfast you can eat, and far better for you, than any of the sugary, highly processed boxed cereals. Sprinkle with ground nuts, cinnamon, sultanas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, add some raw honey, or whatever takes your fancy. If you add the sultanas at the beginning of cooking, they swell up and become deliciously juicy.
Soak the oats overnight in water, then you really only need to warm it up in the morning, as the oats will have already absorbed the water.
8. Pack a Snack.
Any time I step out of the house, I throw into my handbag a.) a bottle of water b.) a piece of fruit and c.) a little container of nuts. Even if I'm only planning on going out for a little while.
You never can tell how long you'll be, and expensive fast food or packaged snacks are hard to resist when your stomach is grumbling.
When heading off to work for the day, I got into the habit of packing more food than I thought I needed. It was better to bring it back home again, then be caught out hungry and sneaking to the vending machine for a packet of chips.
9. Always Keep a Little Bit of Convenience Food Handy.
I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it actually works (for me, anyway). I don't mean keeping choc-chip cookies in the pantry, where your hand can keep sneaking in whenever you get the urge. No, that's not what I mean. I'm a big believer in winning the battle at the checkout. Once the junk food is in your house, the battle is all but lost.
But I have found that keeping things like some frozen fish and wedges, or tinned tuna on hand is a good idea. Unexpected things come up, people get sick, you run late, and let's face it....sometimes you just don't feel like preparing a meal. If you are running late with hungry children it is too easy to simply go to the nearest drive-thru, if you know that you still have a time-consuming dinner to prepare when you get home.
It's easier to resist the fast (but expensive) junk, if you know that you have a back-up at home, that can be on the table within 15 minutes. Sure they're not the most healthy thing you can eat, but it's gotta be better than KFC....
10. Take Advantage of Discounts.
I know it sounds like a mute point, but a little bit of organisation (see Point number 1!!!) can save you plenty of money.
My local health shop has 25% discount on the first Monday of every month, so during the month I make a note of any supplements and superfoods we need, and I wait to buy them on that Monday. (By the way, this discount is not advertised, I found out only by asking instore. It pays to ask!!)
Sometimes you can pick up good bargains in the last hour before closing at the local fruit and veg, or farmers markets. It can be mutually beneficial for you and the seller. You get a discount, and they would rather sell the produce for less, than taking them back home again, or having to throw them out.
Get together with friends to make the most of bulk discounts, or when buying products online. Many online stores offer discounts or free postage on orders over a certain amount.
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Please feel free to leave your money-saving health tips in the comments section below. I believe that good health should be available to everyone, no matter what their income. Our current food system sometimes makes this hard to do. (Why, oh why, are imported 2-minute noodles cheaper than the fresh vegetables?) Let's see to it that good, nutritious food are within reach of everyone, including low-income earners.
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