5 ways to buy/eat natural, healthy food that won’t break the bank
In an ideal world, we would all be able to be environmentally friendly and eat whatever type of food we want as well as not having a limit on how much money we can spend. For many people, this includes consuming healthy food, such as natural and organic products. While in many respects we are so fortunate to have a rich variety of organic and natural foods to choose from these days, however, these foods are typically much more expensive to buy than other conventional food products.
If you are currently struggling with financial difficulties, and a high amount of debt – you may be wondering if it is possible for you to also be able to afford to eat these organic foods and not continue to spend beyond your means. The answer is, yes you can. Here are some strategies to help you incorporate some more natural healthy food habits into you current lifestyle, despite having bad debt.
How You Can Plan for Buying Natural/Organic Foods on a Budget
How to Shop:
1) Prioritizing Your Purchases
With the higher costs associated with buying all natural food all the time, it is faire to say that your grocery bill is like to go up almost double what you may have been paying before. With that being said, if you do wish to make changes to your shopping cart by added organic products and you definitely can not afford to pay that much, try instead to make this more affordable by prioritizing which organic products you will make a priority.
While you simply may not be able to buy everything organic, this does not mean that you can’t still start eating more natural products in general. By finding a balance between natural and conventional food items, you can save some money as well as eat more foods that are natural and free of many of harmful additives you may be especially concerned about.
For example, if you are most concerned with avoiding chemicals and pesticides that are often used in convention farming, then you can make shopping for organic fruits and vegetables your priority. Additionally, if you are highly conscious of issues of animal welfare, and want to avoid any animal food products that may have involve inhumane animal practices – then you may choose to buy all of your meat, eggs and dairy products from the organic section. Ultimately, you can decide which natural foods you want at the top of your list and buy other non-organic to help save some money.
2) Shopping for Store Brands
Another method of continuing to eat organic products is to consider buying the store brands. Typically, these brands are less expensive than the brand names. Stores like Walmart, for example have certain partnerships with some natural food product companies – and as a result offer various line of food brands for less than the other brand names. Overall, if you looking for a specific natural food product, consider purchasing the store brand line, in order to save some additional money.
3) Watching for Discounts & Using Coupons
Just as you shop for sales at your favourite retail locations, you can also keep an eye out for discounts on the natural food products you want to buy. You can also collect coupons and use them towards your food purchases. Subsequently, by combining both of these strategies at the same time while shopping, then this can be a real money saver for you and as a result you will be able to continue to buy many of these products, while worrying less about the added expense.
4) Buying from Bulk Bins
One final technique you can incorporate into your food shopping, is to search for the natural items you want to buy in bulk bins. On account of the fact that you will not be paying for packing, foods and items sold in bulk bins are generally less expenses per unit of measure (Lbs) than the bagged or boxed food variety. In addition to this lower cost, in certain cases some stores offer a discount or even a small rebate to customers who use their own containers. Either way, by buying some of your organic food items from a store offering products in bulk bins, this can still help you buy many of the natural food items you want for less.
Where to Shop:
Now this information would not be complete without letting you in on where you can shop in to buy the natural products, often valued at a lower price.
Shop for Deals at Online Retailers
Perhaps you may consider looking to online stores for many of your natural food items. In many cases, online companies can often afford to charge less for their products, as their total business costs, including cheaper retail location & smaller employee pool can be a lot lower. f you are able to purchase some of natural foods from an online company, this can enable you to still buy the products you want, as well as keeping more of your money in the bank.
Buy from Farmers
Another approach to lowering your organic food costs is to eliminate the middleman. This means that you can also consider buying your food products directly from the individuals who have grown it. It may depend on what types of farming is being down in your area – however, if you have access to the foods you want in your ‘own backyard’, then the potential for significant savings can be high.
Some organic farms, even allow visitors to come and pick their own food, such as fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Typically, these items can be purchased for a fixed price and will help you buy the certified organic products you want at a lower cost than other stores.
Growing your Own
A final method of ensuring you can buy some of the natural foods you want to consume, is by growing them yourself. This take ‘purchasing’ your food from your ‘own backyard’ a much more literal meaning. While this may seem like a time-consuming activity, one of the main benefits is that you know without a of doubt that the foods you are growing will be free of pesticides and any other genetically modified alterations.
Growing your own fruits and vegetables also does not require a lot of space, as many organic farmers have the potential to yield a high level of food from a 100 square foot or less vegetable garden. In fact, with even less available area than this, you can also grow your own vegetable plants in pots placed in sun-filled window sills or balconies. Even a small production like this has the potential to grow and can end up allowing you to save on these food items, and will have you avoid paying the supermarket or organic seller’s prices.
If you have bad debt, yet still want to shift towards eating more organically, give some of these strategies a try as they may help you to save a lot of money in the process. With more opportunities for natural food choices available from a variety of grocery stores, organic sellers, and farmers, there are many possible outcomes for you to pursue and see what will work best for you. In the end, by planning ahead and having some awareness surrounding organic food shopping, you can still maintain a natural food-based lifestyle – and avoid going into further debt to do it.
