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One of the most frustrating things that I've found over the last few years in being “an adult”… It it can be difficult to eat healthy and avoid processed foods while trying to lower your grocery budget. With a small amount of effort, it is easy to find coupons and shop sales to get boxed, canned, and frozen items for cheap or even free. But, who wants their family to eat that stuff all the time? Not me! Who has time to constantly cook from scratch and labor for hours to make good foods? Again, not me! It's been a journey to figure out how to marry these things: saving money and eating healthy without slaving for hours each day.
Since moving from full-time work to part-time work this past spring and later in the summer to being a full-time stay-at-home-mom, I've been trying to cut our grocery budget because our income had decreased. Since I had more time available, I started focusing on clipping coupons more regularly again. But I wasn't satisfied with the results for the amount of effort. Bad food for little money doesn't make bad food taste better or better for you. So, I stopped making a big deal out of getting the Sunday paper. Instead, I focus on printable coupons. I use money-saving blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter to alart me to good deals. I focus on what I know we will use and is healthier for us.
Now, I'm working on the next step: cooking more from scratch to avoid additives/preservatives while trying to save money. That makes it sound like I've never cooked from scratch; not true. Josh doesn't like a lot of boxed and packaged foods so I've always steered clear of most pre-processed things that are out there. So, I don't use a lot of convenience foods as it is, but I knew that there were some things that I could replace and make myself. At the same time, I can't spend all day in the kitchen. I've got a preschooler to teach and play with and now a baby who wants to eat and needs attention too. I needed time saving ways to manage this endeavor as well.
So that's where the story begins. Any guesses on what pre-package item I tried first to replace?
