I get asked all the time,  “Do you really buy and eat that produce in all your pictures?”  The answer is YES!  We do!  And we’ve become super efficient about eating it all and not wasting anything.  I don’t know about you, but we used to go to the grocery store and just buy food, which means a lot of impulse purchasing and wasteful spending.  Then in about a week and right before we do another grocery store run, we’d clear out the fridge.  We were always pretty amazed at how much food we didn’t eat and how much was rotten and had to be thrown away.  What a waste!

We decided a couple years ago to go on the Dave Ramsey all cash program.  Basically, you don’t buy it unless you have the cash.  And I don’t mean cash in the bank or on the credit card.  I mean cold hard paper and coin cash, envelope style.  I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of the envelope program that Ramsey promotes, but suffice it to say, it freaking works!  If you want to be debt free, I suggest you take a look.   So, we allot $400 a month for food for a family of 3 {albeit a 4 year old who doesn’t eat too much, but starting to eat more and more}.  I am adamant about eating organic as much as possible, not so much because the nutritional value is higher {it might be, but who really knows}, but the main reason is that I don’t want the extra chemicals on my food, nor do I want to consume genetically modified food {GMO}.  With this in mind and my budget, we have had to plan and become more efficient in our purchasing power.   We purchase organic chicken and meats from Costco in bulk and freeze once a month.  Then, I usually plan the weekly menus on Friday night and buy what we need for those meals.  No crazy impulse purchases!  Often times, I just show up at the local farmers market and buy a few things that are unique or look yummy at the time.  This week I got some bib lettuce so I can make some healthy lettuce wraps or perhaps some tacos using the bib lettuce rather than a tortilla {ya 140 calories saved right there}.  I also got some purple cabbage and kale for yummy green smoothies!  Nothing like drinking your veggies.

So back to my fridge!  Here is what I got at the farmers market today:

 

And here is my fridge after I made some grab and go snacks {hard boiled eggs whites, hummus, yogurt, etc}, washed and put away all the produce.

And just to prove this really is how my fridge looks at any given time here is a photo I took a week or so ago because Nicholas was helping me around the kitchen!

I know it pretty much looks the same.  We can be incredibly boring with what we buy, but I have to say that we’ve become incredibly creative about not getting bored with the menu items.  So while a lot of the food is the same, we don’t eat the same thing all the time….sheesh…give us more credit than that, will ya? 🙂

And now for shits and giggles, here is my pantry…I know, I know, I am crazy organized – it’s just my nature!!!

 

We pretty much always have a good supply of healthy grab and go snacks and it makes life so much easier if it’s all organized.  Nicholas has his own bucket of snacks and I love it when he just goes in the pantry and gets a healthy snack.  Believe it or not, his two favorite snacks are the Shaklee 180 Lemon Cranberry bars and Nori Chips!  Crazy….takes after his mommy on those – his daddy won’t touch either with a ten foot pole!  More for us, I say…

So there you have it!  We do buy and eat those fruits and veggies I post.  And we do it on a budget!

As a side note and to be fair, our food budget might be less than some others because we don’t buy cleaning products or personal care products from the grocery store.  WHAT?  You might be thinking, “Gross, you don’t clean your house or bathe?” No, that’s not the case at all.  We actually save a lot of money on cleaning products by purchasing the Shaklee Cleaners – not to mention we share the Shaklee products with friends, who also save $ and in turn we get a bonus check which pays for our products {cleaners, personal care products, Shaklee 180 and all our vitamins and protein shakes} – this really helps with the budget ALOT!  Does your grocery store pay you to refer your friends?  Nope, mine neither, but Shaklee does.  I won’t go on and on about this, but if you want to save money on your grocery bills, then let me know and I will help you all the way!

Happy organic, healthy & clean eating my friends!