Doing the Program on a Limited Budget

So you have gotten excited about your healing. You are ready to make changes. But when you think about the impact on your budget, you get overwhelmed. Things are tight already. However can you do this plan when you are trying to work with a limited income. Sometimes you read the struggles people are having about how many grams of protein and you groan because you are struggling with making ends meet let alone counting protein grams. You know you can't afford fancy foods and the costs of the foods in health foods store is beyond your means.

The secret to making change is just like the program. You do it in baby steps and you plan carefully. Let's start with the proteins. They don't have to be fancy. Pinto beans are great. Tuna, eggs, chicken all work. And they all go on sale. Don't spook yourself. You are already skilled at stretching things. What you are going to do is make artful trades. For example, if you buy plain oatmeal instead of sugared cereals and spend the difference on extra tuna, you will be on your way. So, try this experiment. Next time you go shopping, add up what you spend on the sugar stuff and the junk food stuff. NO judgment. Just add it up and see how much of your food budget goes for that. Let's say it is $30. You can buy an awful lot of pinto beans for $30 (grin). I know you have huge creativity. You have been using it to get by on not much money for years. The trick in the process is to shift your thinking on what you buy. Let's say you have been eating Kraft Macaroni and Cheese 3 nights a week. Not much nutrition but it fills you up. So now you buy whole wheat macaroni and use commodity cheese and add a can of tuna. Same meal, 1000 times better for you. Or you learn to make whole wheat tortillas or pancakes and you fill 'em with beans and cheese and vegetables. Or you serve oatmeal and eggs instead of poptarts. Lentil soup on brown rice is about as good a meal as you can get. And dry milk is a great protein source. Add it to all sorts of things. When people talk about making a shake in the morning, you can do the very same thing using dry milk powder, oatmeal and day old bananas. We asked some of our folks what changes they have made. Maybe some of these will ring a bell. Send us your ideas by filling out the form below and we will post them. I KNOW you are an expert at this (smile). Share your secrets! I buy items in bulk by going in with my friends and shopping at Sam's Club. We started planning together sort of as a game. Now, it is fun. We kinda have our own little buying club.

I buy items on sale and stock up. I know the basic things I use and PLAN for when the sales come up. I think the planning thing is the biggest change. Of course the longer *I* am doing the program, the less helpless I feel about having such a limited budget.

I buy the fruits and vegetables that are in season. My store has a place for bruised or cut vegetables and fruits and I get them and just cut out the damage. I have talked with the produce guy and he told me the best day to find things. In fact, he loves to help me get the good stuff. I go to my local farmer's market or grower and get extra and then freeze what is leftover. I was surprised how easy it is to do this. And at the end of the market, a lot of the growers are willing to give me what is left for a very low price. I talked to my neighbors who grow things. They let me take the drops from the field for free. I got great apples and made lots of sugar free applesauce. Then froze it and use it with all sorts of stuff. My kids even put it in the oatmeal they are eating now. I planted my own tomatoes and veggies. My kids helped. We had fun and they LOVED eating from their own garden. They used to turn their noses up at vegetables. But when it is their own vegetables, they rub 'em and scrub 'em. I started to can my own foods. My mother used to do this and I thought it was way too hard. But now I know why she did it. Great food and very low price. I got a lot of the supplies for it at the flea market. That was an adventure. My mother has lots of tips and is having fun passing them on. I shop online for vitamins/protein powders and watch for the sales. I was surprised at how much cheaper things were. I started to make my own whole grain bread. My kids love it so much they haven't even noticed it is brown. We use it for peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. They have that and a glass of milk and it seems to work really well for them. I grew up on beans and rice and corn and tomatoes from the garden. Funny, we were never sick. I went away from this as I got older. But I am trying it out. My brain remembers what to do. I am making brown rice instead of white. My family is actually pleased. We even made some homemade tortillas and they were great! I get food stamps and usually just roam the aisles deciding. Last time, I actually made a plan before I went. I left the kids at home so they wouldn't ask for things. I ate before I went. What a difference it made. I spent the same amount of money but got totally different things. I am even thinking about using my commodity foods in a different way. I made this HUGE pot of lentil stew with ham hocks. It smelled so good, my kids are asking for it every week. Then I got brave. We usually have franks and beans on Saturday night. Last week, I MADE the beans and made some brown bread. Surprised even me! When I started, I thought this was silly. But we have been doing this for a year. My doctor bills are almost nothing. My food bills are more, but my doctor and prescription bills have dropped so much, that we actually have a little extra. And we all feel so much better. When we looked at what we were spending for cokes, beer and chips, it stunned both me and my kids. We bought some more protein, got better bread stuff and spend some on videos. It is a nice trade. My sister and I lived closed to each other and both of us were on tight budgets. What we did was invest in some plastic baggies and plastic food containers with covers. Then we'd go shopping together and buy foods/staples and paper products that were on sale and/or in larger amounts than we would need individually. After shopping we'd go on over to her house and divide the stuff up. We also used store coupons on the sale products too. This was great. We saved money and we didn't have to worry about finding a place to store the extras in our tiny apartments. (c) Kathleen DesMaisons 2006 All Rights Reserved