After reading some other blogs written by friends about healthy eating and the cost of it, I have been doing a lot of thinking. I will agree that eating healthy can be expensive. You can get a big loaf of white bread for 99 cents, where a loaf of whole wheat can cost almost 3 dollars, and they are smaller loafs. I have decided the trick to eating healthy on a low budget is making as much of your food as you can from scratch. I bake my own bread, and I figure it costs me about a dollar a loaf, and it is whole wheat bread (and so yummy!) Also when cooking as much as possible from scratch you avoid artificial flavors, additives and preservatives. Yes, fresh vegetables can be expensive, however a big bag of traditional carrots (not the baby kind) is very cheap and it really doesn’t take that long to peel and cut up. This is a good reason to have your own garden. You can also get a bag of frozen vegetables for about 1.20$, not too bad! A ten pound bag of apples and a bunch of bananas or grapes (when in season) are all cheaper per pound than a box of cookies, and much healthier. I have a family of 7, and a 10 pound bag of apples lasts me about a month and a half, where as we can go through a box of cookies in an evening. I think it all comes down to how much time you are willing to spend on preparing food. To me it is worth it to feed my family good, nutritious food, while saving money. There are some items I am willing to pay more for. I am a big believer in organic milk and milk products, and that is a lot more expensive than the regular kind, about double. I do like to use sprouts, which can be very expensive, so I learned how to do my own sprouting. Same with yogurt, my family loves it, I make my own. I don’t use cold cereals either (except on Saturday and Sunday) I buy 2 boxes a month of Cherrios and that it is. I make my own granola, it is only a little cheaper but I know what is going into it.Here is a really good article related to healthy eating and budgets

http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/foodchallenge.htm
or
http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm

P.S. In no way do I want to sound like I feed my kids 100% organic made-from-scratch foods, we eat our share of fast food and sugar! I would like to do better in this area!

I have a pet peeve that is sort of related to this post. It drives me up a wall when mothers say “oh, my kids won’t eat healthy, all they want are cookies/potato chip/juice….” I say…if they aren’t in the house, they can’t eat them. A child is not going to starve themselves. If they are hungry, and there are only apples in the house for a snack, they will eat the apple. I don’t buy chips, or cookies. The first reason is that if they are in the house I will eat them all, and we all know the last thing I need is more calories! The second is that if they aren’t in the house my kids won’t eat them. If you only offer the “good” stuff your kids will learn to like the “good” stuff. Now I am not saying that I never have treats, I love treats, but they are just that; a treat. I also have a dedicated “snack time”. I allow very little grazing. When the big kids get home from school they all sit down for a snack. I have a variety of snack foods. Cut up fruit, cut up veggies with dip, toast, sugar toast, hot chocolate and toast (wow that is a lot of toast!) pudding, fruit juice pops, yogurt smoothies (thanks Heatherann), graham crackers with peanut butter, graham crackers dipped in milk, cookies (I keep some in the freezer so they can be pulled out and baked quickly). They are things that are very simple, but will satisfy hungry tummies. Other times if the kids are hungry, they can always have an apple or a graham cracker. Remember, you are the mother; you are responsible for what goes into your kids mouths, at least when they are little. Don’t let a two year old decide what they are going to eat!