5 simple ways to eat more naturally

I've done a lot of grocery tours and sharing easy weeknight meals we're making in my instastories lately and the questions I get more than any others are...

What is your food budget?

How do you eat organically on a budget?

What do you typically spend on groceries each week?

Do you meal plan? And if so, can you create a post on how you do it?

I sat down with my husband and together we came up with 5 ways to make eating healthy, high quality food simple and budget-friendly. To be honest, I don't really meal plan far in advance and I also don't have a firm "budget" when it comes to groceries. I go to the store with a few ideas of what I'm going to make that week (I have about 15-20 meals I rotate through regularly each month) and I get my basic ingredients for those meals and then always try to incorporate things that are on sale or in season. I don't go in to the store planning to spend X amount of dollars, or trying to stay under X amount of dollars. I basically know what it costs for our family of 4 (soon 5, once Adaline starts solids) to eat organically + naturally and often stay within that range, but for every family that may look a little differently depending on the ages of your kids, portion sizes, if you double meals to make leftovers, how often you cook at home, how often you eat out, etc. 

If you are looking to make simple changes and eat more natural, organic foods without feeling like you have to stress out and break your budget, here are some tips.

1. Buy locally and seasonally whenever possible

Any time I see an item is "locally grown" in the grocery store, I buy it. The closer to home it was grown, the better the quality (and often the lower the price). I also love going to Farmer's Markets all summer long and into Fall; not only am I able to support local growers, farms and their families but I am also able to get fresh, quality produce at a fraction of the cost it would be in a store. Cooking with the season is also a fun way to incorporate ingredients that are readily available, making them lower in cost. For example, making dishes with squash and pumpkins in the Fall and meals with fresh berries and produce in the Spring and Summer saves you time (looking for ingredients) and money. You are going to pay way more for strawberries in the middle of Winter than you are in the middle of Summer because when they're in abundance the prices are lower.

2. Grow your own

Obviously, this isn't possible for everyone depending on where you live and what your year round weather is like, but the more produce you can grow yourself, the more you will save each week. Something like kale that costs a lot in stores, can be grown fairly simply (and quickly) in your own backyard. We personally don't grow much more than herbs right now (not sure I can keep a garden alive when I'm chasing after 3 kids) but we have a handful of friends who have farms and large gardens that give our family anything they have left over, and this always is such a blessing. Another way to grow your own (if you maybe don't have the backyard space or are too intimidated or limited on time to start a garden) is to become part of a neighborhood community garden. Often, you pay a small fee monthly or yearly and are responsible for regular maintenance like weeding and watering, but it's an inexpensive way to grow your own produce, share it with others, and also enjoy items other people in your neighborhood are growing. 

3. Shop the sales

Having a variety of your favorite go-to meals with different kinds of sides and proteins allows you to customize your ingredients with what is on sale. For example, if grass-fed beef is on sale one week, I will plan to make meals that include it -- taco salads, chili, etc. If ground turkey is on sale, I'll do a big pan of lasagna, stuffed peppers, etc. Not only does this stretch your dollar because you are getting more than what you would had there not been a sale, but you can buy extra and freeze it as well. If you plan to make fajitas and see that the organic red bell peppers are on sale but the yellow and orange aren't (which actually happens often, that one color is pricier than another), buy the more inexpensive ones. This seems so obvious but when you have a long list and kids in tow at the grocery store, small prices can easily be overlooked but they make a difference in the long run. Be flexible with your meals and incorporate sides and ingredients that are on sale that week, not just the ingredients in your recipe. If you are making a salad for a summer picnic and you plan on romaine lettuce but see that butter lettuce or spinach is on sale, switch your recipe up. Not only is this the smart way to shop, but you get to try new flavor combinations.

I also shop the sales when it comes to my favorite non-refrigerated food, such as Simple Mills almond flour crackers (the tomato basil ones are our fav), Canyon Bakehouse bread (the yummiest gluten free bread I've ever had), and other favorite snacks and pantry staples. I try to keep a variety of things on hand for the girls for lunches, but stock up on the foods we love when they're on sale. If our favorite eggs (pasture-raised eggs by Vital Farms brand) are on sale, I'll buy an extra dozen and hard boil them for Dustin's lunches and egg salad (we love adding in celery, radishes and red onion and using an avocado mayo) for lunches at home for me and the girls. I freeze a lot...including butter, meat, veggies, etc. If it's on sale and something I regularly shop for, I buy it and find a way to incorporate it into meals for the week or freeze it for the future.

4. Be mindful of the "dirty dozen" and "clean 15"

These are two lists that guide my grocery shopping. If you haven't heard of them before, the dirty dozen is a list of the 12 foods that are most highly contaminated with pesticides, so those are the ones you definitely want to buy organically. The clean 15 is a list of 15 fruits and vegetables that have the lowest contamination levels, so if you are on a budget and unable to purchase 100% organic, buy those 15 items conventionally. 

DIRTY DOZEN: Strawberries, Spinach, Nectarines, Apples, Peaches, Pears, Cherries, Grapes, Celery, Tomatoes, Sweet Bell Peppers and Potatoes -- Buy all those items organically

CLEAN 15: Sweet Corn*, Avocados, Pineapples, Cabbage, Onions, Frozen Sweet Peas, Papayas*, Asparagus, Mangos, Eggplant, Honeydew Melon, Kiwi, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Grapefruit

*One other thing to note is that some of these crops grown in the US are genetically modified, so buying sweet corn, papayas and summer square organically allows you to avoid this (which is incredibly important)

5. Overlap ingredients

When meal planning and grocery shopping, I plan meals for the week with overlapping ingredients so nothing goes to waste. One box of Spanish rice makes more than I need for one dish, so I'll plan to split a single box into two meals by making stuffed peppers on a Monday and chicken enchiladas on a Tuesday. I also do this often with herbs. Basil is one of my very favorite herbs, and I use it in a warm summer quinoa salad with tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella. Instead of tossing what I don't need for that recipe out, I chop it and add it into breakfast scrambles and chicken dishes. Cilantro is another one; making a few Mexican dishes over the course of a weeks' time allows me to use it all up instead of tossing it out. If I find myself with a lot of extra veggies on hand after a week of cooking but no way to use them all before they spoil, I get out my le creuset and make a big pot of what our family calls "lovely lentils" (recipe here).

As far as meal planning goes, I'm not one of those people who can sit down and plan out meals in 1-2 week blocks, mainly because what I'm "in the mood for" changes every hour. What I buy when I shop and what I cook is based largely on what I'm craving, which comes in handy being married to someone who will literally eat anything I make and cooking for kids who don't have a choice ;) We eat a lot of Mexican food (stuffed peppers, chicken enchiladas, taco salads with grass fed beef, chicken quesadillas, fajitas, etc), a lot of salads (chicken caesar salads, garden salads with whatever veggies I have on hand and Italian dressing, and then salads with butter lettuce, veggies, nuts and salad girl dressing), and a lot of chicken and turkey, beef a few times a month, no pork. We aren't pasta eaters, and in fact I don't think I've made traditional spaghetti in years, other than spaghetti squash with meat sauce (which is one of my go-to meals in the Fall), but we love lasagna (and love the leftovers...even better the next day; I pair it with a side caesar salad and usually steam some kind of green veggie) and anytime we're having something that doesn't naturally have lots of veggies, I try to add sides with what I have on hand in the fridge or freezer. I also keep a big glass bowl (here) of chopped, washed romaine lettuce on hand in the fridge at all times to throw together salads in minutes for my lunches. My girl Kendra over at Hen & Co wrote a post that totally echoes how our family shops and stocks our kitchen to meal plan without actually being a meal planner, check it out here.

I hope that was all helpful and if you have any favorite go-to recipes for weeknights, meal planning tricks, favorite products from grocery stores, etc. I'd love to hear them, so feel free to send me a DM or email anytime! XO