I figured out how to eat mostly organic spending anywhere from $35 to $55 a week for one person in Lala Land. That’s $5 to $7 a day in Los Angeles. As an experiment the idea was to see in real life how to dispel the myth that your only choice is to have to eat unhealthy junk food if money was tight. If you are on a budget better to pack your meals with high value nutrition and chi rather than empty calories or things that trigger the sugar crack receptors in the brain. It’s not just about eating on a tight budget when funds are low. It’s also about conscious eating and developing habits that positively affects every aspect of my life which includes not wasting. Having some discipline, figuring out exactly how much one needs for the week and planning meals helps to keep me from tossing out food that falls victim to some healthy living pipe dream.
Real Quick Tips to lower your shopping budget
- Buy grains and non-perishables in Bulk – To cut costs
- Eat more vegetarian meals – Saves water & money
- Avoid sugary foods, artificial sweeteners and empty calorie foods – They make you have cravings and feel hungry or slow the message to your stomach that you are full!
- Pack your lunch and Breakfast – Lunch adds up fast!
- Drink only water & Herbal drinks – Keep hydrated and less inclined to buy soda or drinks
- Get produce from your local Farmers market – Cut out the middle and other middle man
- Shop on Weds or Thurs – Or whenever the sales are on in your area
- Buy produce when it is in season – It’s not just budget friendly but healthier
- Make your own Nut/fruit Bars & Healthy Snacks – It’s just nuts dried fruit, oats, and honey usually.
- Grow your own food – Anything from a small garden to small pots in your kitchen, ex. regrow onions instead of throwing the roots away!
For this Experiment I shopped mostly at Sprouts and would have done even better at a farmers market. I usually maintain most basics at home like cooking oil, grains, organic frozen vegetables, tea, organic honey, mung beans and lentils, my go to spices, nuts and seeds etc so I am not buying them regularly. Fresh fruit, vegetables and other perishables are purchased weekly.
My Shopping lists look something like this:
Week one $44.92
Organic Rice $1.99 / Organic Greens $5 / Organic Raw Milk $4.75 / Ground Turkey $7
Deli Turkey Meat $2.18 / Organic Carrots $1.99 / Organic Apples $2 / Organic Tomatoes $3 / Organic Sweet potatoes $3.49 / Organic Brussel sprouts $1.99 / Organic Potatoes $3 / Green Plantain $2 / Coconut Milk $1.75 / Sourdough Bread $3.99 / Organic Bananas $1.74 / Organic corn flakes $3.79 / Organic Eggs 1/2 dozen $2.99
Week Two $42.12
Organic Greens $4 / Tilapia Fish $5.20 / Deli Turkey Meat $2.22 / Organic Carrots $1.99 Organic Tomatoes $3 / Organic Sweet potatoes $2 / Onions $1 / Raw Organic Honey $6 / Mung Beans – $3 / Acorn squash $1.99 / Organic Potatoes $3 / Sourdough Bread $3.99 / Organic Bananas $1.74 / Organic Eggs 1 dozen $4.99 / Pasta $4
My Diet
My approach is to follow Ayurvedic recommendations to diet. It is a learning process and I have been adopting it in steps. When I eat the appropriate balance of whole foods for my constitution, nix the processed “food products,” maintain healthy digestion, then my body will be able to assimilate the nutrients it needs. It’s not only vitamins and minerals, but also the pranic value of food that is considered.
Vegetables, grains, and meats are rotated and purchased for the week, not for the whole month. Generally my diet is a high vegetarian low meat diet of Chicken, turkey or fish. No beef, pork or shellfish. I drink raw cows milk or raw goat milk and raw cheese sometimes. Nuts, seeds, and honey are also always raw. For drinks it’s water and herbal teas for the most part. I don’t buy sugar for the house and only use maple syrup, honey, or dates as sweeteners, raw stevia would be another option.
What I exclude and/or monitor
Nothing is ever microwaved. White sugar is not bought for the house. Soda, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and most candies are avoided. Juice is not purchased unless from juicing fresh fruits and veggies. Frozen meals, pre-cooked meals, are generally avoided, save for the occasional frozen pizza or the like. Very minimal on canned foods of any kind. (Working on eliminating canned foods)
On sweets
Is sugar bad? Short answer, well yes. This is how I’m currently dealing with it. Chocolate cake with mouse and black tea with honey, Please! No corn syrup, cheap imitations, and no cutting out the fat, or flavor on these treats. That’s why it’s important to adhere to my healthy eating plan all day long, all month long, and never keeping sweets in the house. The first general rule is to save it for the moon cycle cravings once a month. Deserts should be something generally impractical to access. Being healthy as a rule and in practice means I don’t feel guilty if I have a desert. If I want something sweet and healthy it’s fruit or honey end of story.
But What about when I work a regular job?
During this experiment I was not working a regular job, but working from home, and would often cook grains or legumes in the morning for lunch and dinner, and then prepare the meats and vegetables fresh per meal. I’d love to go in with a group of friends to shop cook and exchange, but most people I know are not urban homesteaders, are very busy working 9 to 5, we live relatively far apart, or their lifestyles can’t fit it in, plus I travel a lot.
When I had to wake up at 5 or 6am I would cook my dinner as usual and make enough to pack for lunch. To avoid using microwaves I would reheat my lunch, boil water while getting ready for work, fill a hot water bottle and put that at the bottom of an insulated lunch bag. This way the food was still warm by lunch time and I did not have to eat cold food. Otherwise I pack foods that don’t need heating. A smoothie packed in a jar for a pre lunch snack, or two scrambled eggs and some toast, unsweetened oatmeal sometimes purchased from a local shop for breakfast. Getting to work early enough to eat before I had clients was key.
So what do my daily meals look like and how long does it take?
Breakfast
Two eggs scrambled with, some tomato, onion, spinach or plain eggs sunny side with greens on the side and some sourdough toast with olive oil, avocado if I have one. – 10min or less
Oatmeal/hot cereal with banana or raisins topped with raw milk after it’s cooked, toast with coconut oil, pinch of pink salt and honey, ginger tea, a sweet potato or baked apple with coconut oil cinnamon and honey. – 10min or less with prior baked apple/sweet potato. (Bake time apples and sweet potatoes 30-40 min Usually done the night before, but better to eat the same day.)
Vegetable Soup from dinner and a baked sweet potato. 45min-1 hour depending on the kind of soup.
Mung bean Dhal, veggies, rice and an egg. 30-40 minutes If left overs just preheat time and quick fresh veggies 10 minuets or less
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Supper
Green plantain porridge with skin (Haitian Labaouye Banane) with coconut milk, cinnamon, and star of anise, top with raw milk and have that for breakfast, a side for lunch and sometimes for supper with some sourdough and peanut butter. Lots of iron and nutrients from plantain with the skin. But if you want more iron don’t use any cow milk since calcium blocks iron absorption where Vitamin C helps FYI. About an hour For sure more involved, but makes a big pot and worth it!
Vegetable soup from scratch. 45min-1hr
Spinach and onion or leek and vegetable quiche sometimes with goat cheese and eat this for breakfast lunch or dinner. Sometimes I buy pie crust or pastry bread and sometimes I make it without the crust. 30-40 min
Warm raw cow’s milk with turmeric and honey, or cinnamon sticks & anise (evening with nothing else. )
Snacks
Banana and Hemp seed smoothie with with maca powder, cinnamon, chia seeds, and coconut oil (or raw coconut butter if I have it!). Eaten 1-2 hours before or after lunch 5 min
A Banana Pineapple Ginger Smoothie frozen pineapples and warm ginger tea with a little cinnamon. The warm ginger tea will bring the temperature up so the smoothie isn’t cold. But fresh pineapple is better. Eaten 1-2 hours before or after lunch 5 min
Ant’s on a stick! (Celery, raisin, and peanut butter)
Baked apple or sweet potato, salad, fruit, or a piece of quiche, goat cheese and crackers, tuna and crackers, toast with avocado or tomatoes in olive oil and lemon.
Lunch
Fried egg and turkey sandwich, add some yellow Peruvian chili paste to the mayo, and top it with tomatoes and cooked greens instead of lettuce.
Turkey Tacos, rice and beans or lentils. 25min or less if lentils and beans are already cooked.
Mung Bean Dhal, rice and veggies. 30-45 min
Dinner
Soup or Pasta topped with olive oil, side of baked vegetables and/or turkey meatballs. 45min- 1 hour
Mung bean or Red lentil Dhal rice, and sautéed vegetables and greens cooked in coconut oil or homemade ghee when I have made some Soooo good! Or a side of baked vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots with coconut oil and onions. Or oven roasted brussel sprouts in Balsamic vinegar, and coconut oil, with baked whole garlic cloves. 45 min to 1 hour.
Rice with cilantro lemon cayenne pepper white fish, and sautéed vegetables a small amount of pan cooked potatoes occasionally. 25 min The rice takes most of the time followed by the potatoes. Fish and veggies cook fast 5 min give or take! Always start the rice first and let it cook while you prepare the faster foods when the rice is almost done.
Some of My Tricks go against Ayurvedic recommendations….
In an effort to stretch food and save time, some of the tricks such as making enough for left overs and freezing go against Ayurvedic recommendations. So it’s not the ideal, but it works better than eating out or buying convenience food-like products. Still, eating as fresh as you can and following whatever dietary plan right for you is always the goal.
Freezing Food & Cooking for Left Overs
Leftovers that were cooked more than 8 hours prior, previously frozen or refrigerated over night, frozen and canned foods are not to be eaten. Frozen food adds cold energetic qualities which creates toxins in the body. I sometimes freeze bananas for smoothies to avoid wasting bananas, stretch them and save money. It’s not ideal but this is when I consciously break the rules when trying to balance available time, budgets, and health goals. I do make sure any smoothies are combined properly, taken without other foods, are more room temperature and never icy to really cold. Also limit how often and how much of my meals are from leftovers. I prefer to just put overly ripe bananas in oatmeal or hot breakfast cereal instead of freezing them or make banana hemp flower cookies. Fresh is always the default.
One of the healthiest meals you could eat, that doesn’t cost much, was Kitchari (mung bean dhal, vegetables and rice). Its a great way to cleanse during winter, on short term or longer term, and nourishing to eat when sick. Thats why it shows up on the breakfast lunch or dinner menus. I still go out and eat, however my desire to eat restaurant food anywhere has plummeted.
Certainly you can save some money, waste less, eat healthier on whatever budget you are currently working with. I was even able to share meals with my roommate on this budget. A little bit of money does not automatically mean a lack of Abundance!
Peace and Blessings!
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