How Clean Eating Saved Our Grocery Budget

What the heck is Clean Eating??

While there is no technical definition of clean eating or eating clean, it typically means a diet rich in whole foods with very little or no processed foods. Whole foods does not necessarily mean organic food, just raw foods such as fruits, veggies, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy.

I love eating clean. In fact, I really don’t believe that my family will go back. Don’t get me wrong, we still purchase some processed food. But limiting the amount of processed food purchased in favor of more whole foods has had a dramatic affect on our grocery budget.

I’ve always tracked how much I was spending on groceries while still shopping so there would not be any surprises come check out time. However, there would be many times that I felt like I truly did not have enough food in my cart. And it would turn out that our pantry and fridge were practically empty by the weeks end.

When I decided to get a handle on my meal planning, I signed up for the clean eating meal plan with eMeals. I had heard about the whole eating clean thing and I really wanted to try it for our family. I was really nervous about how it would affect our grocery budget. I just didn’t think that it would affect it in a positive way.

Before we went clean, our $150 weekly grocery budget did not go very far. Now, however, my cart is so full that sometimes I have to carry bags on my arms because they will not fit in my cart.

Eating clean allows more room in the grocery budget to afford diapers, wipes, and baby formula. Those 3 things are super expensive even if we purchase the generic brands (we have two kids in diapers, yikes!). Limiting the amount of processed foods has helped to generate more room in the budget for these items.

Ways I make the grocery budget go further with clean eating –

I purchase fresh produce when it is in season and purchase frozen produce when it is not.
I always check the discounted meat section first for any great deals.
I limit the processed foods I buy to: pita chips/tortilla chips, cereal, Goldfish/graham crackers, noodles, and non-dairy creamer.
I use coupons – from the Sunday paper, printed from Swagbucks (I earn 10 Swagbucks for each one that is redeemed!), and coupons uploaded onto my Kroger Plus card.

I will tell you, that you can get way more bang for buck if you’re clean eating by shopping at Aldi. Aldi’s produce prices are AMAZING! 🙂

Wondering what kinds of meals you can make with clean eating? Here are a few of my favorite clean eating recipes:

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ultimate Blueberry Muffins with Oat Streusel
Budget Friendly Greek Chicken Nachos
Chicken and Rice Broccoli Bake
Spicy Kale Chips

Have you tried clean eating? Love it, hate it?

This post was written as part of the eMeals Blogger Network. As always, all opinions are my own. I personally use eMeals and love it!

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Budgeting, Clean Eating, Finances, Green Living, Meal Planning, Tips & Tricks, Where to Start,

13 Comments

We have two in diapers too! That can be rough! I wouldn’t say I’ve actively been trying to eat clean, but we totally do because I’ve been trying to eat healthy. There really aren’t too many processed foods I buy. I used to try to coupon too, and just couldn’t make it work with the amount if time I had as the fact that we don’t have any great grocery store like Kroger where I live. We do have an Aldi now, so that’s why I pretty much dropped my couponing – we can do so well there! I love your times – it would be fantastic if you’d share the. Over at {Healthy} Tips and Tricks Tuesday – live tonight. Being budget conscious is always a main concern for people buying healthier foods!

Jessi says:
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Hi Kristin! I just added my link, Thank you so much for sharing. Aldi has definitely changed my couponing as well. I love Aldi! 🙂
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I agree with the discount meat section! Also the bulk bins at places like sprouts, whole foods or central market are loads cheaper than buying packages (oatmeal, spices etc)

I don’t think clean eating is all that expensive. We have always eaten “fresh” for the most part and I make a lot of homemade stuff. I have focused a lot more in the past year on eliminating processed items but it is hard to do when you have 3 teenage sons that want that stuff. I think a little in moderation is okay. I just don’t eat much of it myself. I agree Aldi is a great place to save $$ and they have decent inexpensive produce.

I think eating healthy and not necessarily “organic” is a great way to save. My motto is to shop the outside of the grocery store an then I hit up the cereal and can veggies/fruit isle. It has made our very very small budget work for a family of 4 (with coupons) for over 3 years now. Thank you for sharing!

Jessi says:
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Thank you so much for commenting and I love hearing how small budgets work. 🙂
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We always shop the outside of the grocery store first and stalk up on yummy fruits and veggies. I can’t keep fresh fruit in the house with the way my daughter eats it! I don’t buy very much processed food either, though I’m trying to cut out more:) I wish we had a Aldi as I’ve heard great things about it!

I’m coming by from the SITS sharefest:) Have a great weekend!

Jessi says:
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My 2 year old is the same way with fruits! He didn’t have his first piece of candy until Halloween last year. I love that he prefers the ‘real’ stuff to the processed stuff. 🙂 And Aldi is awesome and I hope that y’all will get one soon – it will change your grocery budget for the better! 😀
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We buy lots of fruits and veggies. Most of what I cook is really healthy. I also have two kids in diapers, so I know how it is.

I’m looking at the portion control and I don’t understand the serving sizes what does it mean when it says 6 servings @5 each or 1/2 a serving at 0 each

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