'b' is for (wholefood) budget - part 1

The Federal government budget announcements last week got me thinking about family finances and when my mind had enough of that my thoughts quickly turned to dinner :)

Thinking about money and food did though prompt me to put this post together. Many people I meet who want to make better food choices ie. eating less processed, switching to organic wholefoods say "But it's so expensive!" And yep if you shop in fancy organic foodstores in the city I'd have to agree. There are though a number of tricks and tips to eating well without going broke.

I asked some of my favorite wholefood bloggy mamas for their insights and valuable two cents worth (pun intended :) on wholefoods and budgeting. I think you'll find their stories honest, useful and inspiring. I have decided to post their answers in two posts, otherwise it would have been the longest post ever!

I'll go first with my wholefood budget story:

We are a family of four, two adults and two boys age 3 and 6 who have rapidly growing appetites. We spend on average around $100-$150 per week on food and I consider ourselves very lucky to be able to eat 95% organic on this budget.

How do we do it? Living outside of the city means that we have direct access to farm gates, this greatly reduces the cost of buying organic fruit and vegetables plus we grow some of our own. Not all of the fruit and veg we buy is certified organic but I know and trust the farmers, one farm gate we go to the farmer actually pulls the produce that you want out of the ground while you wait!

I am very fortunate to be married to a fisherman who actually comes home with a catch and not stories of the one that got away. Mussels, squid, scallops, flathead, whiting, Australian salmon and snapper are a regular part of our diet and I don't have to part with a cent.

Organic meat we usually buy on special either at the supermarket or the local fruit and veg shop stocks Cherry Tree Organic meat and more often than not I can pick up good discounted cuts of meat there. I do plan to look into buying meat direct from Cherry Tree. We also eat kangaroo from time to time.

We are part of a bulk buy co-op which means incredible savings - half price or more - on rolled oats, lentils, rice and rice milk.

My top 3 tips for saving money on wholefood:

1. Waste nothing. It is easy to fall into the habit of shopping on auto pilot ie. today is pay day let's go grocery shopping. Resist doing this. Instead, before you go look in the cupboard and fridge and make a meal plan based around what you already have and then fill in the gaps. Use what you have and you won't throw money and other resources in the bin.

2. Prioritise, and rotate buying expensive ingredients. I am a foodie, I love trying out new foods and products but eating a wholefoods diet doesn't mean my pantry needs to contain every wholefood there is. If I can't afford to buy coconut oil one week I cook in butter or ghee. I love raw cacao but can't justify the expense all the time so will use organic cocoa instead. Eating a wholefood diet is a priority for me and it doesn't feel like a sacrifice to spend money on food over expensive haircuts, lots of new clothes or other new things. Choosing to eat this way is about more than the food I eat, it is a way of life. It defines where I shop, how I shop, who I get to know and I like that. The wholefood way is about awareness, more awareness of what you are eating, where it comes from and how it makes you feel.

3. Seek out bulk buy co-ops and farm gates or farmer's markets.

Oh and beware the marketing machine - organics and wholefoods have become big business and they are looking for customers to buy products. Real food is from the earth not factories. Avocados, macadamias and spinach are all 'superfoods' and cheaper than something from the Amazon Rainforest not to mention the lower food miles.

Sonia from Natural New Age Mum

How many mouths do you feed in your house? Adults? Children? Teenagers?

We have two adults, one teenager and one tween.

What percentage of the food you buy is organic?

At a guess around 80%

What would be your average weekly spend on food?

Between $300 and $350

What are your top 3 tips on saving money on food? 

1. We try to eat vegetarian every second night as it is cheaper than meat.

2. We buy in bulk where I we can - often online.

3. We look for marked down organic meat at the supermarket.

To those who say eating wholefood is expensive what would you say?

I would say that with a little menu planning and clever cooking, whole food eating is not that expensive. When you compare the cost per kilogram of apples to Mars Bars, you can see that fresh food comes out on top. We also save money in other areas by eating whole food. We rarely go to the doctor, specialists or chemists. We also look at whole food as an investment in our health and quality of life. You can't put a price tag on that!

For more inspiration from Sonia read her post 'Start Menu Planning to get Healthier and Save Money'

Catherine from A Time to Create

I have to admit that although I stick to a list and work to a weekly amount I am not necessarily really strict! I mostly manage our cash flow for grocery shopping. For me my best tips are, I write up a menu, stick to a list and buy what I need.  If I see things on special that we use regularly then I will put them in the shopping trolley as well making sure that I always have a back up. I always bake things for our lunch boxes too as it's much healthier and cheaper too.

Vanessa from Slow Heart Sing

How many mouths do you feed in your house? Adults? Children? 

Actual mouths? Five. Two adults, two children and one chocolate Labrador with a big appetite.

What percentage of the food you buy is organic?

Around 80-90 per cent. All fruit and vegetables are organic as are meat, eggs, milk, butter, coconut oil and grain. We catch our own fish and grow all our herbs and a few vegetables. Some things are just chemical-free (whole almonds), and others are not organic at all (spices, jars of passata, cheese, pulses, olive oil, jam etc).

What would be your average weekly spend on food?

Oh lordy, now you're asking. Anywhere between $200 and $300. It's hard to say exactly because it's not a weekly supermarket shop; I buy a lot of things in bulk once every few months (wholegrain, flours, dried fruit, nuts and seeds) and we've been ordering our meat once every 1-2 months from a butcher. 

What are your top 3 tips on saving money on food? 

Keep it simple, make it from scratch and buy in bulk. Saving money on food, whilst staying true to your values, takes time. It's not about throwing a few specials into the trolley each week. It's been a long journey finding my way to a local food co-op where I can get organic carrots for $1 a kilo and a separate sister co-op where I can get a big tub of virgin coconut oil for exactly half the price I had been paying for over a year. I buy $2 organic chicken carcasses and make broth each week in a big pot and then use it to make a silky pumpkin soup with softened onion and garlic. I used half a jap pumpkin this week and the boys devoured bowls of it more than once over dinner and lunch. The other thing is eggs! I will always make more rice than we need and use it the next day for egg fried rice with coconut oil, tamari and a few other bits and pieces. 

I still need to rein it in occasionally because I go weak at the knees for good cheese and good sourdough bread and I spend too much on both. I've gone through phases wanting to make my own sourdough (which would save us a fortune) and my own yogurt. But then the list I have in the kitchen gets overwhelming. I make yeasted spelt bread and we treat ourselves to a loaf of sourdough once a week or once a fortnight. Saving money is important, but it needs to be balanced. You can't do it all.

To those who say eating wholefood is expensive what would you say?

It's comes down to priorities. Do I think eating the way we do is expensive? No, it is what it is and there are ways to make it more affordable once you commit to that path. It isn't expensive to me because the alternative, the mainstream, the westernised way of eating isn't real food. It also comes at a huge price, not just for our health but for animals, farmers, our landscape, our planet. I think it comes down a lot to connection too. Some people are disconnected, disengaged from food, the way it is produced, the way it is raised and farmed – disconnected too from nature and our place here on the planet. When you're disconnected, it's a lack of education, I find, that means a cheap packet of sausages will happily end up in your trolley and you genuinely feel it's a good deal. I think education is key in many ways, but sadly most people believe what they see advertised and preached in the media. It's why, in order to change habits for the next generation, we ought to start with our children. We ought to be teaching them about food, about connection... It's a very complex issue, and yet it's really simple when you step off that noisy place driven by big names and hidden agendas. If you shut it all out, it all starts to make perfect sense. 

For more wise and honest words from Vanessa you can read a post on her blog about spending money on food (and not much else!) here.

THANK YOU ladies for sharing your stories here. For me the great thing about reading your honest words is that you each remind me we are all doing our best to nourish ourselves and our families with wholefood and it takes some effort and creativity but it is worth it. Bit by bit, step by step we are all doing our best and living well.

I look forward to sharing more wholefood budget wisdom from other bloggers in part two of this series next week. 

Over to you. Was this helpful? Anything to add? Tell us your tips and tricks. Thank you! xx