Clean Eating CAN be Affordable

For the longest time, I have grocery shopped with a monthly budget.

via google images search

Some weeks, I go over our "weekly allotment" and have to pull from the next week. Other weeks, we come in just under budget and have a few dollars left over.

In the past, I also used to do a lot of couponing. It was handy, and allowed us to buy more on the same budget.

So when I decided that we needed to eat cleaner, with the exception of a few things here or there, I was worried.

Worried about how we were going to afford it. How it was going to affect our already "high" grocery budget, in my opinion. And if we would have to drastically cut back in other areas just to afford our weekly groceries.

I signed up for the Clean Eating breakfast and dinner plans on eMeals, and even just reading the names of the recipes, still worried.

Short ribs? Lots of shrimp? Quinoa?

These things, at least in our area, are either hard to come by, or quite pricey.

I got groceries this morning with the kids. [Which also means I was asked a million and one times "Can we please have this? But Mom ... I promise I will be so good if we can have this snack this week!"] There were a few things I put in the cart that were not on our grocery list.

Healthier options -- like Back to Nature cookies instead of Chips Ahoy. Non-Fat Vanilla greek yogurt instead of ice cream [I nixed the ice cream when they asked ... luckily, they both LOVE yogurt].

And can I just tell you this?

We stayed within our budget!! Easily. And that's with less than $2 in coupons ... coupons I only found in the store by the products we were already going to be buying. Products that are healthy. 100% whole grain. Breakfast staples. Nitrate free bacon.

So if you are out there, wanting to change your eating habits, looking for healthier options, but worried that you can't afford them?

STOP thinking that way. And know it can be done!! I can attest to that!

[And for the record, our weekly allowance for groceries isn't extreme -- for a family of 4, I shop with $100. I went over this week ... and spent $105.]