Finding real, whole foods on a budget has become a passion of mine! Slowly, one food at a time have been converting to real whole foods since it can be expensive to eat healthy!

So this year I have started buying more local fresh produce, knowing what I need to buy organic {and what can do without}, making smart choices about dairy {although this doesn’t always mean raw for our budget}, and finally eating more grass fed and pasture raised meats. It just takes some simple steps to start saving money and incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet is an excellent way to reduce cost and get healthy!

I have some goals for this year {i.e. buying only organic {& raw} dairy products, learning to can this summer, making all breads from scratch, ect.} and the one I am working on right now is converting our family to all {or mostly all} pasture raised and grass fed meats. You can see why this is so important to my family so I have been working hard on making this a possibility.

Natural & Healthy Shopping on a Budget: Meat & Dairy!

The first thing I want to point out is, buying healthy meat…is expensive. Plain and simple, it costs more to raise healthy meat. The farmer who lets their cows graze all year in their hundreds of acres of land has to charge a lot more for the beef he raises as opposed to the large farm that grows cows in half the time {with the help of growth hormones} on very little land. There is just a difference in price but the different in taste & health can’t be beat!

If you are making it a priority this year {like we are} then there are some great ways to help offset the cost:

Eggs

Because eggs are easy, this was the first thing our family started eating healthier. Here are a few ways to get cheaper healthy eggs

Costco

When all else fails, head to Costco. They have a great price on their organic eggs. You will get a better price at Costco then heading to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods for organic eggs.

Find a Local Farm

Other than growing your own chickens, this is my favorite option! Find a local farm down the road that you can visit. You can see the living conditions of the chickens and that they are free to roam. You can often get a good deal on organic {or at least organically grown even if it doesn’t have the label} eggs!

Raise Your Own

Other than making sure they have food and water once or twice a day, raising chickens really isn’t that hard. I know it may sound gross {because chickens just seem gross} but buy some chicks, wait a few months, and you will have fresh delicious eggs all year for pennies on the dollar! Don’t think you have enough room for chickens? Get this book. Right now. The Backyard Homestead

Dairy

Right now, my family is committed to eating healthy organic dairy products as much as possible. I hope to switch to raw products in the near future but while I work on our budget, organic it is for now!

Thankfully, you can purchase organic dairy products everywhere {even target & walmart}! So search for area for the best prices.

Whole Foods

While they can be a bit on the pricier side for some things, they offer a huge variety of organic milk, yogurt, kefir, cheese, butter and more!!

Trader Joe’s

This is a favorite stop of mine each week. You can find a decent selection on organic butter, yogurts, kefir, & milk at a decent price.

Costco

Of course Costco has a great price on organic milk and some organic cheeses but not all Costco’s carry the same things.

Find Local Farms

Find some local farms that offer raw or organic milk and cheeses. Or buy the raw milk and make your own cheeses & yogurts!

Chicken

My family eats a lot of chicken! While I’m not the biggest meat eater, I do like chicken. I started realizing that the growth hormones and antibiotics in the chickens I was buying was not okay! But at $14.99 for a chicken at whole foods I didn’t think I could afford it! So my family and I are raising meat chickens this year. They will be ready in about 6 weeks and we will have fresh, healthy, and yummy chicken for the rest of the year for a great price!

Find a Local Farm

Again, find a local farm near you. Ask how they treat their chickens, what they feed them and if they are free range. Ask if you can bulk order a bunch at once to get a good price.

Raise Your Own

This is my favorite option! I never thought we could grow our own chickens for meat but it really isn’t very difficult or time consuming. You can even have a butcher come right to your house to slaughter them all for you {you just have to make room in your freezer}! Or if you are brave enough, you can even slaughter them yourself {we are still trying to decide what we are going to do this year}. Don’t think you have enough room to do this? Go buy {or barrow} The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals. Seriously, it rocks!

Beef

Azure Standard

You can actually order grass fed beef from Azure standard! I haven’t personally done it but I do know some people who get all their beef from Azure.

Buy a Cow {or a half}

This is what we are in the process of doing right now. We found a great local farm that raises grass fed and grass finished beef and we are buying a WHOLE cow. My in laws are taking half and we are taking half. This will give us enough beef for an entire year! And we are getting it a pretty decent price for grass fed beef.

Raise Your Own

What? Raise your own cow? That sounds crazy! Actually, raising a cow for meat is really easy! You just need some room for them to graze and you have everything you need! The butcher will come right out to you and everything. We will be doing this for next year. Find out more about raising cows {even on small land}: The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals

Make one vegetarian dish a week

My husband is NOT a big fan of this suggestion. He feels like a meal just isn’t a meal without meat. So I have to get creative. I make homemade pizza or yummy bean and cheese burritos for dinner. Great creative and your family may not even notice that your meal doesn’t have meat!

If you family isn’t as extreme as my husband, then try skipping meat in your dinner 2-3 times a week. This way you can still get the great healthy meat each time you eat it.

Where to Find Local Meat:

• Local Harvest – This is the best resource for finding local farms, co-ops, farmer’s markets, and natural stores!
• Azure Standard – Grass fed Beef and free range chickens
• Eat Wild – Another great resource for local meat
• America Grassfed – Learn everything you could ever want to know about grass fed meats

Other Great Resources