How To Eat Healthy Without Breaking The Bank

I’m going to be very honest and say something that a lot of you probably will not like:

THE “HEALTHY EATING IS TOO EXPENSIVE” EXCUSE IS TOTAL BS.

Of course, there are exceptions. The people who are truly unable to afford healthy food because they’ve come on incredibly hard times. The single mom working two jobs and trying to pay for her children just to get by. The elderly man, unable to work. Of course there are times when this isn’t just an excuse.

But let’s be realistic, most people choose not to purchase healthy food because they don’t prioritize it. People will spend $5 on a fancy drink from Starbucks, but will say $6 for a dozen organic and pastured eggs is too expensive. People will get their nails done, go out for beer with their buddies, go to happy hour with their girlfriends, get their hair done, pay for expensive sports or cable packages – but they won’t buy organic, whole, unprocessed food.

And I’m here to tell you that you can still how to eat healthy without breaking the bank. It’s possible. I do it and you can too!

STEP 1:

Prioritize healthy eating. Make a commitment to putting great food in your body. You are worth it and you deserve it. So many people assume they’re infallible and they can eat whatever they want. Listen up – 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer, most often a type of cancer that is largely preventable through lifestyle changes, mainly diet.

Diet determines so much more than just your body composition. Although it wouldn’t hurt to be a lil’ more confident in yourself would it? It determines your mood, your energy, your genetic expression, whether or not you’ll develop one disease or another. It’s time to spend more of your money on food. It’s one of the most important things you can do for your health and happiness.

STEP 2:

Stop buying junk food you think is healthy. This includes:

• cereal
• frozen “healthy” meals like Lean Cuisine
• low-fat anything
• 100 calorie snack packs
• diet brands of food, like Kashi or Special K

Simplify what you eat. You don’t need to buy fancy meals just like you don’t need to buy diet crap marketed to you as health. The more you buy food without an ingredient list, the better. Focus on foods like this:

• protein – pastured/organic chicken, steak, eggs, wild salmon, shrimp, cod, etc.
• veggies – all kinds of organic veggies and if you can’t afford organic, follow the Clean Fifteen + Dirty Dozen 
• fruit – buy minimally, fruit is not super nutrient dense and can be high in sugar so it’s good to focus on the healthiest fruits, like berries
• dairy – full-fat and grass-fed

STEP 3:

Meal plan! This is my top tip. It will save you a ridiculous amount of money. Here’s my meal planning template that I fill out every Thursday, then I grocery shop every Friday. I buy only what I need to make the meals on my plan. Never go into the grocery store without a plan. You’ll just buy random stuff and have no real plan on how to use it, which leads to a lot of food waste and a lost of $$$ waste. Don’t do it. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, ya’ll.

Just copy and paste my template.

Step 4:

Join Thrive Market. Seriously. This place is insane. It’s like, if Costco and Whole Foods has a baby and the prices are akin to Aldi. I don’t know how these people sell such great stuff for so cheap and I don’t care. I’m in love. I got all of this for $170. It would’ve EASILY cost me well over $400 at Whole Foods.

Here’s everything I got:

33 items
	Coconut Secret Organic Raw Coconut Aminos	2	$4.45
	Jackson’s Honest Potato Chips Purple Heirloom Potato Chips	2	$4.25
	Sea Tangle Noodle Company Kelp Noodles	1	$3.45
	Yogi Tea Honey Lavender Stress Relief Tea	1	$3.45
	Jovial Brown Rice Penne Rigate	2	$3.29
	Blue Diamond Cheddar Cheese Nut Thins Crackers	1	$2.55
	Epic Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar	1	$24.95
	Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard Vinaigrette with Avocado Oil	1	$5.65
	Primal Kitchen Dark Chocolate Almond Bar with Grass-Fed Collagen	1	$27.00
	Jovial Brown Rice Lasagna	2	$3.65
	Jovial Brown Rice Fusilli	1	$3.29
	Jovial Brown Rice Tagliatelle	2	$3.95
	Jovial Brown Rice Spaghetti	2	$3.29
	Frontera Green Chile Enchilada Sauce	1	$1.85
	Frontera Red Chile Enchilada Sauce	1	$1.85
	Red Boat Fish Sauce Fish Sauce	1	$6.45
	Organic Coconut Oil	1	$0.00
	NEXT ORGANICS Dark Chocolate Walnuts	1	$3.95
	Hepp’s Salt Co. Applewood Smoked Blends Sea Salt	1	$6.95
	ROYAL HAWAIIAN ORCHARDS Sea Salt Macadamias	1	$4.95
	Cultures for Health Kombucha Tea Starter Culture	1	$10.45
	Earth Friendly Products Lavender Auto Dishwasher Gel	1	$4.55
	Nutiva Organic Virgin Coconut Oil	1	$8.95
	Mrs. Meyer’s Lavender Dryer Sheets	1	$5.95
	gimMe Organic Roasted Seaweed Snack – Sea Salt	1	$1.75
	Frontier Natural Products Whole Organic Sesame Seed	1	$3.45
	NEXT ORGANICS Natural Dark Chocolate Cashews	1	$3.65
	Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour	1	$2.95
	Let’s do…Organic Coconut Flour	1	$4.45
	Acure Organics Lavender Body Lotion – Echinacea Stem Cell Calming	2	$6.45
	Aztec Secret Health Indian Healing Clay	4	$4.45
	Yogi Tea Kava Stress Relief Tea	1	$3.45
	Seventh Generation Natural Powdered Laundry Detergent	1	$13.95

Scott and I just moved, so I had to stock the pantry and get some household items like dishwasher and laundry detergent. I was originally planning to get all of this at the Whole Foods a few blocks from our new house, and I’m beyond glad I tried Thrive Market first. I saved a sh*t ton of money. Hundreds of dollars!

So here’s how it works.

1. Sign up for an account at Thrive. It’s $50 for a year which may seem like a lot at first, but I promise you will more than make up for that with your first order and all the money you save.
2. Check out all of their amazing products, some of my favorites are above.
3. Shipping is always free over $49.
4. Thrive Market at all times is running one awesome promo or another. Right now it’s free GoodBites cookies/desserts with every $69 order. They’re almost always offering some sort of awesome free product. And a lot of times, they’re also offering amazing discounts, anywhere from 10%-25% off, so keep an eye out for those.

So these are my tops tips for saving money. I hope you find them helpful, get some goodies and improve your health!