Frugal Fridays – Eating Organic & Saving Money by Keeping it Simple!

Can I tell you a secret?  Our grocery bill has actually gone down by around $400 since we stopped eating processed foods.   We even added a family member during that time.

I know it can be really difficult to make ends meet sometimes so I want to encourage you that you don’t have to give up (or stay away from!) natural and even organic foods because of the price tag.

What’s the key?

Simplicity

For us, it’s been simplicity.  I no longer load up my grocery cart with packaged chips, cookies, poptarts, and pre-prepared dinners that don’t really nourish us anyway.

I instead buy food as fresh as possible and as local as I can.   I can buy organic eggs, apples, juice, etc because I’m not sinking my dollars into empty calories.

I also pick simple foods that I know my family will eat.  I don’t experiment with recipes much because I’m not a very good cook, and I don’t want to waste ingredients!

Costco has been a great help!  I can buy organic pasta, organic tomato sauces, organic green beans, and snacks there for often a good discount.

Snacks for on-the-go are about the only thing we still buy packaged – we really like the Brothers All-Natural freeze-dried fruit and the Annie’s Bunnies snack.  Those and some cheese sticks make excellent grab-and-go snacks for us.

One thing that definitely costs more but is well worth it for us, is raw milk!   The nutrition and the taste can’t be beat, and we are big milk drinkers.  A big part of my grocery budget goes towards our milk.

Meals

Thankfully, my husband doesn’t expect gourmet meals (because I couldn’t deliver them even if my budget was unlimited! Unless I could hire a cook… now there’s a thought!)    He’s happy with simple too – and he’s even happier now that he realizes how much better he feels NOT eating all the junk!

A few simple meal ideas:

Lunch:  tuna fish sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, dinner leftovers

Dinner: Spaghetti, tacos, quesadillas, crockpot lasagna, taco soup, chicken pasta, & tuna salad.   The Internet gives us an unlimited supply of recipes and meal ideas.  I like Heavenly Homemakers for ideas too.

Meals might be rather boring at our house, but they are both cost-effective and nourishing! 

What are your go-to simple meals?