Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Think You Can’t Afford the Paleo Diet? Ways to Make It More Affordable

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The Paleo diet is gaining popularity, and it can be a good choice for people who have to avoid gluten whether because of a gluten intolerance or Celiac disease.

Sure, if you’re gluten free there are many great options available like gluten free pasta and breads, but those can be very pricy.  Sometimes it’s cheaper to just avoid those kinds of substitutes.

Long Term Savings from Following the Paleo Diet

If you’d like to follow a Paleo diet but think you can’t afford it, keep in mind a few things:

1.  A Paleo diet can lead to weight loss.

The savings here won’t be immediate, but over your lifetime, the savings is significant.  I began following a Paleo diet last September, and in the 9 months since, I’ve lost 75 pounds.  All of my numbers for cholesterol, blood pressure, and sugar count have improved.  I know I’ve saved myself on medical expenses in upcoming years than if I hadn’t taken the weight off.

As another point, I don’t know how many hundreds of dollars I spent on Weight Watchers over my lifetime.  With a Paleo diet, I eat until I’m full, and I don’t get hungry again for several more hours.  There’s no struggle, so weight loss is easy, and I don’t have to count calories or points or pay for the latest weight loss fad.

Making the Paleo Diet more affordable2. You’ll save hundreds by not eating out.

Of course, you can eat out on the Paleo diet, but we just don’t eat out as much.  We’re easily saving at least $200 a month on meals out.  Now we go out to eat only when we’re traveling or for birthdays.

3. You won’t spend money on processed foods.

You might think chips and candy and other processed foods are cheap, but when you buy them in quantities that most Americans do, they add up quickly.

So, keep in mind these initial savings once you switch over to a Paleo diet.

How to Save Money When Buying Paleo Groceries

If you do decide to follow a Paleo diet, here are some ways you can cut costs on groceries:

1.  Buy your meat directly from the farmer.

Ideally, you’ll want to buy grass fed and pastured meat.  We buy 1/2 side of grass fed beef from my cousin’s husband.  We get ground beef, steaks, roasts, etc.  The meat averages about $5 a pound.  There are also several grass fed and pastured suppliers near us, and we stock up whenever they have meat on sale.  We have a deep freezer to keep all the meat.

2.  Subscribe to a CSA.

A CSA (community supported agriculture) allows you to buy organic produce straight from the farmer.  This year, for $850 we subscribed to one that gives us 1 and 1/9 bushel of vegetables a week for 19 weeks.  There are enough vegetables each week to feed our family of 5 copious amounts of vegetables and some extra for us to freeze and use in the winter.

3.  Grow a garden.

I like to grow things that are expensive to buy in the winter like collard greens and kale.  We blanch them and freeze them to add to soups in the winter for an extra nutritional punch.  However, grow anything you like to eat that grows well in your area.

4.  Buy produce on sale and stock up.

If you live near a farm, consider going to the farm and picking the produce yourself.  Last year we bought 50 pounds of organic blueberries.  We froze 30 pounds and made jam and jelly with the other 20 pounds.  It only cost us $130.  However, within 8 months we ran out, so this year we plan to buy about 80 pounds to last us through the year.

Likewise, Whole Foods recently had organic grapes on sale for .99 a pound.  I bought 25 pounds and froze them so we’ll have grapes and grape smoothies in the winter.

Initially, buying Paleo food can seem more expensive.  However, there are many future costs you are eliminating by eating a healthier diet.  In addition, there are ways to save, especially if you’re willing to buy in bulk and preserve your food.

If you’re following a Paleo diet, how do you save money on groceries?

World Diets: A Week’s Worth of Groceries

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Ok, so I saw this post over at FStoppers about What a Week of Groceries Looks Like Around the World, and I couldn’t help but mark it for a second look, and eventually an article here.  Click on that link and go take a look.  Look at what each picture contains and then come back and see if you come to the same conclusion that I do.  I’ll wait.

Done?  Ok, first, let’s talk about some “givens” that I found to be somewhat ironic, simply because they also could be considered stereotypes.  I’ll start at the top.

  • Mexico: OMG, you guys like Coke!  
  • Germany: First thing I noticed was all the beer and wine right up front.
  • Italy: Lots of the expected breads and pastas
  • Japan: Fish, noodles, and rice.
  • Mali and Chad: That’s it?

Obviously, there are some things that we expect.  Countries like Mali and Chad that we’re hearing about starvation or near starvation like conditions in sometimes have an obviously lesser pile of food.  Japan is notorious for it’s high-fish diet.  And Germany.  Germany!  I suppose I can’t expect much else from the country of Octoberfest.

A couple of surprises.  I’m a little bit surprised by the lack of sausages in the Poland picture.  For the number of Polish sausages we eat here in the states that is.  (Ok, that’s kind of tongue in cheek.)

Now, let’s see if you noticed the same thing I noticed.  Every single country on that list eats way more fresh food than the American family.  Seriously. Look at that picture.  There’s a little section of it that’s got some produce (a couple of tomatoes, some onions, and some grapes), and another small section of fresh meat.  That’s it.  The rest looks to be processed and packaged foods.  The only other countries that appear to even be close are Canada, Great Britain, and Australia.  Which is funny.  In an ironic sad way.

All four of those countries are usually lumped together as “first-world” countries.  We’re rich!  We have everything we could ever want!  And somehow, every other country on that list eats better than we do…  Heck, let’s look at Mexico.  Most Americans tend to think of Mexico as a drug addled, gang run, hovel.  But, look at that food!  Fresh herbs right off the plant!  A whole table of fresh fruits and vegetables!  Same story for India, Bhutan, Guatemala, and Equador!

Why is it that we all think that produce is so expensive, but we’ll gladly pay $10 for a large pizza?  Or $10 for a burger and fries?  It also makes me wonder just how much of that food those people grow themselves.  It’s not that expensive to start a garden.  Heck, even a container garden will do.  We’re just getting ready to plant out our second season (see season one’s results) of container gardening.  So far, I’ve spent about $2 on seeds.  Buy a few pots, get some soil, and plant some plants.  Fresh produce!

I’ve gotten a bit ranty, but it amazes me how poorly we eat in our “rich” country.  You’d think we’d be smarter than that…

 

Is Convenience Food Sucking Up Your Food Budget? The Rice-a-Roni Example

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Take a look at your past grocery receipt. Do you like the total of it? Chances are you may have been a little mortified once the cashier told you the final total of your groceries. You are not alone! Many individuals and families struggle with keeping their grocery bills down. It can be disheartening to spend $200-300 one week on groceries and then feel like you don’t have enough food the next week. You just shake your head and ask yourself, “Where did all the food go?”

Convenience foods suck up a lot of your grocery budget.

While they may save you a few minutes in the kitchen, they don’t save you a lot of money. Take example Rice-a-Roni and similar rice dishes. Yes, you may be able to get them for about .60-$1.20 per box, which is not horrible, but still not the best. However, consider this: a 25-pound bag of brown rice cost $8.99 at Costco (I am sure you can find similar pricing elsewhere). An average box of Rice-a-Roni has 5.9 ounces in it.  You could make 67 Rice-a-Roni servings from your 25-pound bag of rice! Now consider these scenarios:

I eat a box of Rice-a-Roni once a week with my family’s dinner. I pay $1 per box (1 cup of rice). At the end of the year, I paid $52 to feed my family this side dish once a week. Not too bad…

Or

I bought a 25-pound bag of rice from Costco or similar store for $9. I use a little less than ½ pound of rice (2.5 cups of rice – which actually makes more than the Rice-a-Roni box) per meal, at one meal per week. At the end of the year, I have spent $9 on rice and probably even have a little leftover rice.

Cost difference is =$43 per year

I know you skeptics out there have two things on your mind. First, Rice-a-Roni has a lot more seasoning than regular brown rice. Very true. You can either calculate the costs of seasonings or the savings of your future health bills (Most packaged rice meals have about 600-700 mg of sodium per serving!). Here is a Rice-a-Roni copycat recipe that cost .12 per batch.

Secondly, I know many are scoffing at the idea of saving $43 a year. For some, that is an hour or so of work, for others scraping by, it is a little more than five hours of work. I also want to point out that this is just one convenience food example. I am certain you can find 5-10 more foods like it on your grocery list, here are a few I came up with:

  • pizza dough
  • canned biscuits
  • bottled sports drinks
  • sodas
  • pRice a Roniotato chips
  • beef jerky
  • cereal
  • instant oatmeal
  • canned soups
  • salad dressing
  • pancake mix
  • frozen waffles
  • yogurt
  • trail mix
  • frozen dinners
  • ready made chicken strips (for salads, wraps)
  • cream of ____(chicken,mushroom…)

Think about some of the convenience foods you buy. Break down their ingredients to simple terms. Can you make that at home for pennies rather than buying it at the store for dollars? Let’s not forget the health factor that comes into play here too. Many convenience foods and prepackaged foods are full of artificial flavorings, fillers, and chemicals to make them have a longer shelf life. Not only are these foods hard for your body to digest as real food, but the packaged version usually has more fat, calories, sugar, and sodium in it too, which can lead to a thicker waistline.

If you can find at least 5 convenience foods/junk foods you buy on a regular basis and either remove them for your diet or replace them with an inexpensive homemade version, you will be surprised at how much money you will save. I challenge you to make a list of every packaged thing you buy and eat on a regular basis. Then decide which ones you want to learn how to make yourself and which ones are a waste of time (i.e. I am looking at several easy crockpot yogurt recipes that I hope will save me a good chunk of money, but I would never make my own corn tortillas – they are so cheap in CA, that it is not worth my time to make them from scratch).

img credit: Sörn on Flickr.