Can’t afford to eat healthy…R U Sure???

One of the biggest complaints I hear and one of the biggest complaints I used to make is…”I can’t afford to eat healthy?” There is that “CAN’T” word…not a good word I tell you!

I have thought a lot about this lately and I have really changed my attitude on this over the past couple years.Healthy food may seem more expensive at first but when you break it down it really is not as expensive as you would think.

This past year fresh fruit has been on sale a lot. Some are still rather expensive but apples have been $4 for $1.00 for the snack size, bananas around $.55 cents per pound and grapes were mostly under $2.00 per pound. Last week and for the last 3 weeks blackberries and strawberries have been 2 for $3.00…consistently.

Now, a lot of people tell me all the time how expensive healthy food is and then those same people have cupboards stacked FULL of snack foods. Chips, pretzels, little debbie’s, boxed dinners, soda, juice boxes etc. OK…think about this…

One family size bag of chips is over $3.00…two packages of strawberries are $3.00. How long will they each last…not long but which is the better choice?

I have had other people tell me too how they have to buy cheaper food…as they light up a cigarette or drink a beer while they say this. I am thinking…how about beer and smoke money…could you afford healthy food if you got rid of those habits?

I buy the groceries and I keep track of what I spend…to the penny. I have to, we are lower middle class and we don’t make a lot. In fact we actually make a few thousand less then a lot of people that have told me, “we can’t afford healthy food.” I shop healthier then they do and I spend about the same as them if not less.

The key is to really sit down and figure out what you need and what you want. Do you want snacks…then your bill will be a lot more. Do you want to eat healthy and promote a healthy lifestyle to your kids…then don’t over by the snacks.

Friends do not like to shop with me anymore. That is quite alright with me. It is because when I have gone shopping with them I give them a hard time. Only because they ask for my advice constantly and when I see what they buy…I give them a hard time, I admit it.

Kids eat what is learned. If you cut the crusts off bread and peal the apples because you assume “their a child they will hate it,” then they will learn to hate it. If you feed them MacDonald’s, chips and bagged/processed snacks all the time, then that is what they will want.

Sit down and go over what you have bought over the last 2-3 months. Cross out everything on the receipt that you really do not need. Add it up and then put that money towards healthier food.

Grow a garden, even a small herb garden in your window. Herbs allow you to cook fresh meat (which has also been half the price as the pre frozen chicken at my Kroger for the past few months) and flavor it up with natural herbs rather then sauce and spices.

This was a hard lesson for me to learn…but I am learning it every day. My kids do not get bad snacks, they eat their crusts and peals on apples…why…because I have not trained them to do otherwise.

This post is not in any way shape or form to point fingers at anyone in my life. It is simply observation I have learned over the past few years. No one in particular instigated this post…it is general.

Have a good one!

Tawna

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