While  Brandon and I were doing our grocery shopping yesterday, which we do every Sunday, we got to talking about how much money we save by buying good food, having it prepared and ready to eat. Made me think about a lot of comments that I have heard in the past, well not comments but more less excuse why someone is “not able” to eat healthy. One of the the excuses I have heard is, “It cost too much and I can’t afford it.”  Lets talk about this for a minute, I won’t even dwell on the obvious, like if you don’t take care of yourself now I can GUARANTEE you will spend more in doctor visits in e futur. It seems to me, that it should be a pretty easy concepts for everyone to grasp that prevention is cheaper than medication.  Lets talk about hard numbers of good/clean food vs. processed, fast food, etc.

Brandon and I spend roughly about $160 a week on food, that will feed us for the whole week, so about $80 a person. Now keep in mind he eats about twice as much as I do so the numbers aren’t totally correct but for agruments sake that’s close enough. If I eat 5-6 meals a day, for 7 days that is 35-40 meals. Let’s say 35 to err on the side of caution, that means that I spend about $2.29 a meal, and $11.43 a day on food. Now I am certian that  there are VERY few places that I can go and spend $2 on a meal.  Possibly a fast food place that has a dollar menu, maybe, but even with tax what does that buy me? I don’t know the answer to that cause I haven’t had a fast food hamburger in 15 years, but I am guessing maybe it gets me a basic burger and a small fry? I know that NONE of you are eating fast food, so we have to take that out of the equation and go with something at least slightly healthy. Let’s say you buy your lunch everyday from a deli or somewhere comparable, and you buy a salad with chicken, and don’t get a drink just water, how much are you going to spend? I would guess about $9-10. Which means that in one meal you have spent as much as you would have in your whole  if you had taken your own food. if you are thinking that you can’t eat healthy because you can’t afford it you are wrong, I would say you can’t afford not to eat right! Here are some tips to make it more afforadable!

• Shop at Costco or Sams(we go to Costco so I know that you save a ton on money buying produce and meat/chicken there)
• Shop at Sunflower Farmers Market or Sprouts for the things you can’t get at Costco. Sunflower has great prices on produce and meat, they are not like Whole Food or  Wild Oats where you pay twice the price. The quality is way better too because they go through so much quanity the it is always fresher.
• Avoid the traditional grocery stores for fresh fruit and veggies(Safeway, Kings, Albertsons etc) because you will pay twice as much and get worse quality food.
• If you cannot eat the quanity that comes from buying bulk, freeze half of it or buy frozen instead of fresh, so you will always have it, or find a friend or neighbor to share with.

The other reason that we shop on Sunday is that we can then take the time to come home and clean, cut and prepare all the food. We are at the gym all day so we have to have our meals prepared just like everyone else. My best advice is to cut and measure your food out into blocks so that all you have to do is pack it in the morning and go. You are much more likely to eat well when it is ready to go, and being prepared will also save you money! One of my favorite quotes from Bill Philips has always been, “Failing to plan is planning to fail!”

Here is the breakdown of how our money got spent:

Sunflower Farmers Market:

• 2.21lb of Fuji Apples $2.85
• 2.09lb of Grapes $3.53
• 2.08lbs of Italian Squash $3.10
• 2.21lbs of Yellow Squash $3.29
• 1.05lb of Asparagus $4.19
• 3.16lb of  Tomatoes $4.71
• 1.1lb of Nectarines $1.10
• .85lbs of Green Beans $1.69
• Fresh Basil $1.69
• Organic Strawberries(small container) $.99 x2
• Lean Ground Beef $5.36 and $4.85

Total $38.34

Costco

• Top Sirloin $23.28
• 5 Dozen Eggs $4.99
• Stir Fry Veggies $6.99
• Grape Tomatoes $4.99 x2 =9.98
• Blackberries $3.29
• Red Bell Peppers $5.79
• Blueberries $6.99
• Strawberries $6.49
• Mini Cucumbers $3.89
• Almonds $9.79
• Avocados $5.79
• Bottled Water for the home $4.99
• Bottled Water for the Gym $3.45
• Trash Bags for the gym $19.69( I left this in our figures because normally we would buy chicken too that is about $20 but we already had some at home for this week)

Total $120.78

Hopefully this will help you see that you can eat healthy and that your body  and your wallet will thank you for it! Questions or thoughts, please post to comments!