Healthy, sustainable food is too expensive – what you can do, pt. 2

Eating healthily & sustainably is too expensive…

<In part 1 of this blog series, I touched on one of root causes of this problem read it here>

First, we gotta vote with our dollars.

Next, we need to rethink our food budget. 

I want you to take a hard look at where you are spending your money each month. 

Good quality food that supports local farms and the environment is a top priority for me and my family, so we spend an average of 13% of our monthly income on groceries (this does include alcohol…). Compare this to the average percentage of income spent on food in the US of only 6%. For perspective, the average percentage of income spent on food in the EU is closer to 15%2. A big part of the picture is where each family’s priorities lie.

If sourcing and preparing nourishing food is a top priority for you, does your budget show that? Where are you spending most of your money? For example, my family makes a conscious effort to reduce the amount of money we spend at restaurants, so we typically spend less than 5% of our income on restaurants. 

After looking at your budget & priorities, if you find that you still don’t have ANY wiggle room but you want to do the best you can, start by looking at how much real, whole food (ingredients) you are buying vs. how much processed/packaged/prepared/convenience food you are buying. 

If you can’t shift things in your budget to buy better quality, can you shift things in the hours you have in a day/week/month to find the time to prepare more real food?

Here’s the problem: Big Food has spent huge amounts of money in advertising making us believe we don’t have the time to cook; that cooking is below us and we could better spend our time on something else. 

Take a minute and reflect on that. Is this true for your family, or do you feel that time spent sourcing, preparing, and sharing a meal is time well spent? Is it time to start making small changes in the way you see your time & money budgeted for quality food that is good for you and our planet?

Yes, organic, good quality food is more expensive. And yes, you can get a meal for just $5 at a fast food restaurant. But it’s time to wake up to WHY this is and WHAT you as an individual can do to drive change for your family and for the planet. Is the food you’re eating actually nourishing your body, or is it leaving your stomach full but your body still starving for nutrients? What is the true cost of the food you are eating down the line – from how it is affecting your health to how it is polluting the soils and oceans (which someone needs to pay for the clean up, hint: it’s often the organic farmer trying to do right, hence making organic food more expensive).

I’ve left you with a lot of (quality) food for thought here, but I’ll be back soon with some concrete tips. In the meantime, I’ve put together a guide for you on how to source, cook, and use up the leftovers & scraps for a delicious family dinner – you can get instant access for FREE right here.