The Road so Far...: Clean eating on a budget and how to plan it!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Clean eating on a budget and how to plan it!

I have never been one to meal plan...I have never been one to plan much past a grocery list for two weeks to be honest. I have followed plans when I am dieting and I am well aware of how to make one, just never much thought about it.

Then we had the changes in hubby work schedule and we are planning for the big shift from military to civilian life and all of this going down when I am getting serious about my health and the weight loss. So how can I do this? Simple, I pulled my coupons back out and I cracked open a few cook books and logged into saymmm.com, which is linked above!

See, I love to coupon, but I am trying to find a balance. I am one of the weird ones, I do not want a stockpile. I tried that and we ended up not using all of the stuff before it expired or I ran out of places to store it. So, I am taking a different approach now.

I start with a few tried and true recipes. I also make sure I pick a few new ones, out this is so we have some diversity. I also make sure that I mix it up so that I have like 1 or 2 red meat meals and 12-14 turkey and chicken. We don't do pork unless it is breakfast or an occasional sausage meal. I also plan for 1 meal out a pay period. I have to cut back on fast foods and things of that nature because of health stuff...so after I get my list done and the two weeks planned out, I hit this little button and it makes my grocery list.

Now when I do this, I get to see how much of my diet is gonna be processed and how much will be from scratch and "clean". Here lately I am going for an 80/20 split. 80% clean and 20% not so...

Since doing this I am feeling the difference. I also want to point out that I also make sure to grab a few quick fixes because of bad days. I do still plan for flare days. I mean just because I am hitting step goals, weight loss goals and since taking off the 16 pounds in phase one, I am feeling better, but I still have days that I am hurting so bad, cooking is a major chore.

So now I have a list of needs to make the meals for two weeks...

So now, I go through the list and look at the cabinets and the freezer and make sure that I am not buying double of anything. Then comes the coupons! This is the most time consuming part of the whole ordeal.

I spend a few hours on the Sunday before shopping day printing, clipping, and putting in my binders! I am going to take pictures of my recipe and coupon binders and put on my Spoiled Momma page
on Facebook. That is also where I am going to post a few recipes and little clips and tidbits through out the week!

I get 2 papers and I use printing sites. When I finish, I go through the ads and the sales and I figure out where I can get the biggest bang for my buck and how I can stretch my grocery budget.

Now in order for me to be able to feed my family and stay 80/20, I have to buy a lot of produce. What is there never coupons for...produce! So here is my secret...any of the processed food my hubby wants, any of the snacks for my midget, household cleaners, anything that you can find a coupon for....that is what they get! If I don't have a coupon for it and it is not on the meal plan as a need...I do not buy it. By doing this, I am finding that I can pay for my produce as needed.

The other thing I want to disprove right here and right now....junk food is not cheaper than healthy fixes. I can buy a box of cupcakes with 8 in it for 2.00. That is 8 snacks and that is it so that is roughly .25 a piece. I can also buy a container of oatmeal, a bottle of honey, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of chocolate chips, and a bag of craisins for 12.00. NOW that 12 dollars is gonna make at least 3 batches of energy bites...at 20 a batch so 20*3=60 bites so roughly .20 cents a piece. So not only cheaper by a nickel....there are also 52 more of them!!! They are 2-3 bites a serving so that is 20 servings minimum!!! So it is cheaper to eat healthy because, you get alot more...even buying 6 boxes of cupcakes you still only get 48 not the 60 that they energy bites provide!

It is all about stopping to think and spending some time prepping in the kitchen...I enjoy spending time doing stuff like that! It is a great time to put on some music and dance it out! Speaking of....

Here is the phase one results:

I am working on Phase 2...I found out that the Fitbit does something weird and resets the goal met every time you up your goals, so I am doing screen shots of the fitbit dash when I complete a phase before I move to the next. I am 23 days of 366 of making all step goals!!!