Eating Clean is cleaning me out.....In more ways than one.

My wallet is cleaned out. I have been dieting since January and have recently found a new magazine called Clean Eating. I have tried a handful of recipes from it and have really enjoyed them, the Banana split breakfast is my favorite. But anyway back to the reason for my post. The ingredients are PRICEY... and I can't find many of them locally. Would you believe I cant find fresh Tarragon anywhere in the groceries in my town. There are many more ingredients that are not in my local groceries. We don't have any health food stores for 30 miles and that makes it hard. I even looked up our local farmers market. They were suppose to be set up today so I went down to the location and no one was in sight. Does anyone know of a trusted health food site (reasonably) priced online. I'm used to shopping the sale flyer for groceries and I've almost doubled my grocery bill since low calorie cooking has entered my life.

oh and I need to lay off the Banana Split Bfast. I've eaten it for bfast and snack for the last 3 days and I'm suffering for it today. Lots of granola :|

Any input is appreciated

Most ingredients can be substituted, you dont need to follow a recipe exactly. If they dont have fresh taragon, although it may not be as delicious you can use dried. Itll have basically the same taste, minus a bit of freshness, but you have to ask yourself is following the recipes exactly worth the extra money?

In some cases, the answer may be yes, but not nescessarily in all.

Recipes are guidelines. Have some fun and experiment

Just remember as well though that if you used dried herbs as opposed to fresh, youll need to cut down on what the recipe calls for as dried herbs are much more potent

Well, That really takes the pressure off hee hee. I have adjusted one of the recipes today ( only because moths got into my whole wheat flour) I hope it turns out ok. I didn't add any flour at all. I'll add some starch if it is too runny. Anyway thanks for the reply, I'm going to have to get a new game plan for my budget.

 

 

Also Frozen meats and veg can be substituted, just make sure you read the label make sure there is nothing funky added, it's not as "good" as fresh but it's alot cheaper and makes clean eating more affordable.

 

Frozen fruits and veggies are good.

Also, go for the recipes that call for items that are local and/or in season - makes it cheaper than trying to eat pomegranates in July and red peppers in January.

Tarragon ... well, I'm assuming the dish wouldn't taste terrible if you just skipped or subsituted the tarragon, but you could check out a garden centre and see if you can find some seeds to grow your own at home (handful of potting soil in a carton on the window ledge should work).

Check out www.penzey.com -- It's a spice store that sells spices online and is quite inexpensive and the stock is always extremely fresh. They have terragon.

I totally understand what you mean.  Since I have been starting to eat healthier even before using this site, it is so expensive to buy the healthy food that I want to eat.  Cereal, fruits, veggies, are all so expensive.  You would think it should be the opposite.  All of the junk food needs to be a lot more expensive so we wouldn't buy it instead of the healthy stuff.  Being a single mom living on a tight budget, it's hard to afford the good stuff for me and my little guy.  One thing you may want to try if you are looking for inexpensive fruits and veggies is going to a farmer's market.  You might find some good deals there and have a good time.  Good luck!!

Groceries can be expensive, but there are some good websites out there with tips, and good threads on the CC forums with ideas for making the budget stretch to healthier foods.  I do think healthy foods make you feel fuller than junk food as well - if you eat a plateful of veggies you get more energy, more nutrients, and more of a full feeling than if you ate a plate of mac & cheese.

I'm on a pretty tight budget as well and some of the ways I try to cut costs are buying things in bulk (especially oatmeal, rice, lentils, dried fruit, dried beans, and spices), and being really careful not to over-buy and let fresh foods go bad (sometimes this means extra trips to the store though - luckily it's walking distance from my house).

Original Post by sagecamm:

Check out www.penzey.com -- It's a spice store that sells spices online and is quite inexpensive and the stock is always extremely fresh. They have terragon.

 this is for ink cartridges?

WOW, thanks for all the tips. You all are wonderful. I'm going to look for some stuff that fits into MY life.

 

 

Original Post by starlitocean:

Original Post by sagecamm:

Check out www.penzey.com -- It's a spice store that sells spices online and is quite inexpensive and the stock is always extremely fresh. They have terragon.

this is for ink cartridges?

there shoudl be an 's' at the end of penzeyS.(www.penzeys.com) while i love their store here in town (great place for unique seasonings) i've never seen anything fresh there. think i'll go check out their web site.

Adding to these great suggestions, when shopping for produce I weigh the items - the stores usually show price per pound, but package multiple pounds together. I've saved a lot by taking just enough grapes to last me a few days and not the whole jumbo bag, or starting my own bucket of berries, and taking half of a bundle of asperagus instead of feeling obliged to buy what the store puts together.

 

 

Also make sure that your cashier is ringing up your produce properly -- sometimes I've noticed them entering the wrong code and then you get charged too much per pound!

I know Kroger carries one brand of tarragon in the spice section. I looked for it for a customer one time and was only able to find that one brand. Every Kroger may not carry it (depending on sales), but more than likely they do. Of course, any grocery store should carry it, but I can only tell you what I know. It took me almost 5 mintues to find it sifting through all of the different spices.

I don't think eating clean should mean things are expensive.  Recipe books will often stipulate foods without any consideration for seasonality etc.   If you're trying to make Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes at a time of year when the blueberries are being flown in from vast distances, you'll pay the earth. 

I'd always suggest that you start with what you can find that's cheap and wholesome and then find a recipe to suit it, instead of the other way around.   Follow the seasons when it comes to fruit and veg and your diet will not only be fresher but more varied.  If you can't find herbs, buy a packet of seeds and grow some in a tub outside the back door or on a sunny windowledge. 

What foods are you trying to find that are PRICEY?  Maybe we could suggest some cheaper alternatives.

Original Post by terribear:

I totally understand what you mean. Since I have been starting to eat healthier even before using this site, it is so expensive to buy the healthy food that I want to eat. Cereal, fruits, veggies, are all so expensive. You would think it should be the opposite. All of the junk food needs to be a lot more expensive so we wouldn't buy it instead of the healthy stuff.

The healthy stuff would be cheaper, except for two things:

1. Demand and economy of scale.  It's cheaper per serving to make a million servings than to make a thousand.
2. Farm subsidies.  These basically use everybody's taxes to make junk food cheaper.  This is an absolutely absurd policy, but politicians just can't seem to get elected if they oppose it too strongly.
   

Just to echo GI Jane, one thing you can do is find a recipe website that generates recipes based on your ingredients (fatfree.com is one, I think epicurious.com has the same function but its recipes are VERY gourmet and call for vanilla pods and such!)

So head to the grocery store and see what's cheap.  In my neighbourhood we've had a bumper crop of zucchini (it's practically free these days) so I've been looking up recipes based on that.

Mmmm, lentil zucchini salad ... lentils, grated raw zucchini, green onions, lemon juice, salt pepper ... drool ... pat wallet ... drool some more ...

Hello again,

 I guess it is just culture shock. My high weight was 212 so I was not in the habit of eating healthy. For instance I would buy ground beef on sale for .99 cents a pound, now I've switched to ground turkey and chicken that is 2.49 per pound on sale (and it's only on sale occasionally) My pantry is not stocked for healthy eating so I'm having to get it stocked as well. Veggies are just more expensive than junk food. I could go and get 10 bags of Nabisco snack foods (cookies, chips etc.) 10/10.00. now a lb of some veggies and fruits are 3.50 or higher. I am going to get frozen when I can add some more freezer space. And most produce is in season now. I do have a plan for next year. We are moving to a 38 acre mini farm and I will have a large herb and a small veggie garden. This will help a lot. We are also putting in a pond and stocking it (yeah fresh fish). My son wants to hunt so we will more than likely have venison and wild turkey.  Oh and that reminds me. I've started buying more shellfish and they are really high compared to ground beef. I spent 15.00 on 3lbs of shrimp and 21.00 on 8 large scallops. I have a family of 6 so it really is adding up. I think it will taper off some when my pantry is stocked with "better for me ingredients" I will take all the tips here to heart.

Thank