I spend more money on food than almost anything else that I purchase. When I say this however I spend more money on individual food items than food as a whole. I go to the grocery store with the intention of eating healthy each day. I have days when there is very little money in the bank and I have to eat on a budget, I go in to the store and I think, I can do this, the food doesn't have to be perfect. What ends up happening is I spend at least 30 minutes looking at food labels when I am buying something new. Each new food causes me to read labels, I look at the cheapest item first and see all the high fructose corn syrup and then put it back. I continue to read labels until I get to the higher end of the price scale and find something that doesn't have half of the chemicals in it that other foods do.
If I could I would make most of my food, here's the problem I'm a single mom that works full time. My days are filled with busyness. The way to make the most of what we have is to make our own food. If you have the time, that we can all find you can make your own food. There are some items that I make on my own, such as peanut butter, it's cheaper than buying it and takes less than 20 minutes to make. 1 single ingredient is peanuts.
In a world where we are all busy running around, hectic, it's not easy to plan ahead. I am in the same boat as everyone else. I work long hours and on my weekend I have so much to do that making food for an entire week doesn't look like fun. My goal is to take one day for at least two weeks and plan what foods I can make and store for work, and what I can make. Foods such as rice, wheat pasta, and beans are not expensive. Make these items work for you, veggies can be bought at discount prices at a farmers market. If you don't have one near you make the most of add match at your local grocery store.
For some switching to healthier eating makes you eat more, while there are less calories in most healthy foods, some are not. Be aware of what you are eating and know your calorie intake. It's a lot of work, but anything worth having is worth the work. My health and my life are worth it.
