Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Good Alternative Markets to Buy Specialty Foods

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Good Alternative Markets to Buy Specialty Foods

In our family, we’re gluten free and dairy free due to food intolerances. Although we’ve been this way for about 10 years now, when we first eliminated gluten and dairy from our diets, I was shocked by how much gluten and dairy alternatives cost. Thankfully, in the years since, we’ve found good alternative markets to buy our specialty foods.

Save Before You Shop

Of course, if your grocery budget is tight and you’re on a special diet, the first way to save is to make meals that naturally don’t require substitutions. For instance, stir fries are meals that don’t require any gluten or dairy substitutes (except the soy sauce). An All-American meal of meat, potatoes, and a veggie is another one. Try to make the bulk of your meals the kind that don’t require any substitutions.

Having said that, sometimes you just want meals as close to what you used to have as possible.

Good Alternative Markets to Buy Specialty Foods

Azure Standard

Good Alternative Markets for Buying Specialty Foods
Photo by Alex Motoc on Unsplash

Azure Standard is a family run health food store that delivers food throughout the United States. You can buy food in bulk at significantly discounted prices.  (For instance, we buy gluten free oatmeal in 50 pound bags for $62, which is a price I can never match per pound in the grocery store.) In addition, each month, Azure has different items on sale.

Their trucks deliver once a month at places called drops where several people help unload the truck and then pick up their individual orders.

Vitacost

Vitacost is an online retailer that sells both vitamins and supplements as well as food. They have a large specialty food section, whether you’re looking for dairy free, gluten free, vegan, soy free, Keto, Paleo, or many others.

If you place a $50 order or larger, shipping is free. In addition, if you sign up for their mailing list, they will frequently send discount codes, often for 15 to 20 percent off.

Again, when I use their discount codes, I find the prices lower than I can get at local grocery stores. Plus, you can’t beat the convenience of having food delivered right to your door.

Thrive Market

Thrive Market does have a fee of $5 per month, but the people who use the service say the fee is worthwhile, especially since shipping is free if you buy $49 or more in an order.

This online retailer has more choices than VitaCost, and your order is delivered right to your door. However, like Vitacost, there is no fresh produce available.  (You can get fresh and frozen produce from Azure.  Azure’s organic frozen berries are much cheaper than you can find in stores!)

If you’re not sure about paying the monthly fee, you can try Thrive Market for free for 30 days and cancel if you find it isn’t what you’re looking for.

Final Thoughts

If you have dietary restrictions, you may be frustrated because you can’t find the foods you need at a traditional grocery store. However, these three alternative markets for buying specialty foods will likely have what you need. I use a combination of all three throughout the year.

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How To Accumulate Assets and Diminish Liabilities

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Accumulate Assets and Diminish Liabilities

There are a few financially intelligent, dedicated among us that are intent on creating wealth early in life. But, unfortunately, most younger Americans are more interested in accumulating homes, cars, clothes, and other items to make life more comfortable. However, if we can change our mindset and realize when enough is enough, we can more easily accumulate assets and diminish liabilities.

Change Your Mindset

So many of us spend our 20s and our 30s trying to accrue items. We buy houses, buy a car, furnish our homes, go on great vacations. While there’s nothing wrong with any of these things, they do hinder our ability to accumulate assets and diminish liabilities. Most Americans this age think their 20s and 30s are a time to accumulate things and show that they’re successful. This mindset is wrong if you’re looking to retire comfortably.

Instead, think of your 20s, 30s, and even 40s as a time to accumulate assets and diminish liabilities. For instance, Tom graduated from college with $35,000 in student loan debt. He landed a job out of college paying $85,000. For the first two years of that job, Tom rented a room rather than an apartment and ate the proverbial beans and rice. He lived a completely spartan life so he could pay off that student debt in two years. His only object was to diminish his liabilities. That is the type of thinking and acting that helps secure your financial future.

Recognize When Enough Is Enough

Accumulate Assets and Decrease Liabilities
Photo by Scott Lorsch on Unsplash

Likewise, many of my friends are in their 40s and have teenagers. Time and time again, these friends upsize their house, spending perhaps 1.5 or 2 times what their original house cost, so they have more space. But, just a few years later, the teens go off to college, and now the parents are empty-nesters in a big house.

My husband and I already live in a modest house, but we’re looking to relocate. Even though we have three teens or nearly teens, when we buy a new house, we plan to buy one the same size or smaller than our current house. We know the empty nest is right around the corner and don’t want to pay more for a mortgage, utilities, and property taxes than we have to. Buying this way will help us diminish our liabilities so we can continue to save for our retirement.

Final Thoughts

If you can change your mindset and recognize when enough is enough, you can easily accumulate assets and diminish liabilities. When you save yourself money by not buying a fancy new car but instead contenting yourself with your 10-year-old car, or when you forego buying a bigger house when you have teens, you can use that extra cash to invest. As you invest more and more, you are accumulating assets.

Realize that most of your life is about building wealth. Then, when you’ve reached your financial life goals, you can ease up and spend a little more freely.

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Do Fitness and Frugality Go Together?

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Fitness and Frugality

Maybe it’s just because of the impending spring-like weather, but it seems like I’ve seen a large number of fitness-related posts on many of the personal finance sites that I read.  This made me pose the question, do fitness and frugality go together?

Ways Fitness and Frugality Go Together

The answer is complicated.  Fitness and frugality can go together.  Think about this–by its very definition, frugality is the rationing and careful spending of resources.  In being frugal, we carefully budget our money.  We carefully check over the fliers and find the best deals on groceries.  Eventually, as we continue doing these things, they become second nature.  We do them almost without consciously knowing that we are.  It becomes a way of life.

Fitness is very much the same.

Ration Resources

In being fit, we ration our resources, eating only what our body needs.  This can lead to a slimmer physique and a reduced grocery bill.  There are also other ways being fit can help us ration our resources

Not Buying Junk Food

Save on Groceries by Limiting Junk FoodJunk food is expensive, and it also can be a contributing factor for piling on the pounds.  If your fit and healthy, you’ll likely buy more natural ingredients like vegetables, fruits, healthy grains, and proteins.  These can help you stay fit and lower your grocery bill.

Not Going to Restaurants

Even if you eat what you think is a healthy salad at a restaurant, you’re likely consuming many more calories, fat, and sugar than you think.  Plus, restaurant food isn’t cheap!  If you eat at home more, you’ll not only save money, but you’ll eat healthier because you know exactly what is going into your meals.  As a result, you’ll feel better.

Track Our Progress

We frugal people keep close track of how we are spending our resources and are constantly trying to find ways to improve our outcomes.

This skill can easily translate to fitness.  We can keep track of our fitness progress while also trying to run a faster mile, bench press more, and do more sit-ups and pull-ups.  This drive can make us fitter over the years.

Lower Medical Costs

People who are frugal are patient.  They’re used to waiting for a good deal.  They’re used to waiting to see their retirement grow, knowing that each bit they invest will help secure their future.

Likewise, in fitness, each exercise you do and each healthy food you eat helps future you by reducing your long-term medical costs.  Ideally, the more fit you are, the less you need to spend on medical bills in the future.

Final Thoughts

Fitness can be expensive if you let it.  You can pay for a monthly gym pass.  You can buy the latest exercise equipment.  But you don’t have to.

If you are frugal, you can find ways to save money while getting fit and improving your lifestyle.  Simply improve your diet and find frugal ways to exercise like walking, biking, running, or lifting weights at home.

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