How to Eat Healthy on a Budget

How do I eat healthy on a budget?

Is THE MOST common question we get!

Let me start off by being upfront about the fact that eating healthy is something we prioritize so we cut back in all other areas in order to eat the way we want. We don't frivolously buy random things in the grocery store so I really think that we save money by eating this way.

If you do watch your budget, it is possible to eat healthy on a budget. I want you to try something new with your budget though. If you have categories for things like entertainment, personal pampering, shopping, etc. try cutting back on those and spend money on yourself by eating good quality food. You only get ONE body and you will hopefully be living in it for a LONG time. Invest quality time and money into your body.

Below are the ways that we save money while eating healthy. While I know that some of these options may not be available based on where you live, you can still implement a few, even if it isn't at the same stores. We don't live in a big city, we live about an hour outside of Atlanta. The closest Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and other similar stores are at least 45 minutes away. We have a Publix three miles from our house and Sams's and Costco about 20 minutes away.

Even if you think you know all of these, read them all the way through because I really think you'll find a few pointers you may not have thought about before!

>>>> Ever feel like you need to detox your money? Join our detox your money challenge here!

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5 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget

1. Get a membership to a warehouse club.

We started with a Sam's Club membership (this was before we ever started "eating clean") because that was the only thing close by and what my parents had growing up. A few years later we canceled that one and switched to Costco because of the amazing selection of organic produce and other items like liquid egg whites, bison, etc. We actually just got a new membership to Sam's Club again and we have been very impressed with the selection!

I'm going to be sharing more specific information soon on exactly how much money we save with our Costco membership but if you have one near you go check it out! We basically use it as our grocery store every single week (as you will see each week in our weekly updates).

RELATED: Eating Clean at Costco (Shopping List)

2. Utilize online stores.

As I mentioned, we don't have a Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or any other specialty stores that close. For some items, they tend to be more expensive anyway. Ever since we started living a healthy lifestyle we've utilized online stores for bulk items that Costco doesn't carry. Typically, we use Amazon Subscribe & Save for dry goods like oats, oat flour, rice cakes, etc. There are other online stores like Jet and Boxed that you can check out as well.

You can learn more about Amazon Subscribe & Save here.

Below are items that we typically order online:

• Oat Flour (less than $18 for a pack of 4)
• Quick Oats (less than $12 for a pack of 4)
• Steel Cut Oats (less than $12 for a pack of 4)
• Rice Cakes (less than $33 for a pack of 12)

3. Stock up when items are on sale.

If you have the room, buy extra when something is on sale (AS LONG AS YOU WILL USE IT!). Yes, we hate clutter and consider ourselves "minimalist" but we stock up when something is on sale. We do this because we KNOW we will use it. We don't buy random things because they are on sale but we do buy the things we need when they are on sale. I'm not a coupon cutter, although I could probably save even more that way, but if there's a coupon in front of the item I use it. I also make sure to check the sales ad at my local Publix. Every few weeks they will have a coupon for $10 off a $50 gas gift card with the purchase of $50 in groceries. That's like $10 free because we are always buying gas. Keep your eye out for things like this, even if it isn't specifically related to groceries.

Don't cut coupons and buy things you don't need but definitely use sales and coupons to your advantage on things you need.

4. Adopt a minimalist mindset.

Are you surprised by this one?! ;-) I never really put it together until recently, but I think our minimalist mindset definitely helps in our healthy eating journey. We aren't that picky and we don't mind eating the same thing each day for a few days in a row. Life is so much better when things aren't more complicated than they need to be. This also applies to the way you grocery shop and eat. When you make recipes usually the same type of ingredients and buy the same type of groceries each week it definitely makes it easier to watch for sales and to know in advance how much you will be spending. We typically buy the same items each week from the same stores. Grocery shopping is a breeze!

5. Shop only in season items.

Not only is buying in season items (basically talking about produce here) better for your wallet, it's also better for the environment. Don't try to buy strawberries in the middle of winter. If a recipe calls for a particular fruit or vegetable that isn't in season try googling for alternatives or just wait to make that recipe. If you don't eat your fruits or vegetables fast enough, buy them frozen! Our Costco has a huge selection of organic frozen fruits and vegetables! While we would love to buy all organic, we usually don't. We do stick with buying organic on the dirty dozen. Produce with a thick covering (like bananas) are typically okay to buy non-organic if they budget doesn't allow organic.

RELATED: Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

I hope these tips help you! Take some time to look at your budget and really dive into what is important to you in the long term. Of course, it's easier to spend money shopping for clothes and shoes because you see those items all the time but your body is much more important! Just because you won't have anything to "show off" for it, doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. I would argue that it makes it even more important that way! The way you invest in your health will show.

Life is short make it count. #1

It's 2017, time for me to do the things I said I was going to do in 2014, 2015, and 2016, right?! ;-) Weekly updates are something that I used to do when I also had my personal blog (under whitneycarlson.com), which is now re-directed to this one. It was too overwhelming to keep up with both but over the last few years I've kind of missed the updates. They allowed me to share what we've been up to but also document it for us.

Lately, we've had numerous people tell us we should share more about our life (specifically minimalism, how we save money, etc.) and while I knew for years that we should, I just never did it. I've been a lot more open and sort of "behind the scenes" on Snapchat (hesheeatclean) and Instagram stories but I'm excited to put it all in one place on the blog every single week.

We actually do have a LOT to share and I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing this sooner. I just thought that it had to be perfect and that I needed to have it all separated into "real" posts like, how to save money when eating healthy, weekly food prep, etc. I'm taking my own advice though and just sharing our story without it being in "perfect" posts.

Each week I'm going to share our grocery shopping, food prep, workouts, minimalism journey, etc. This will also give me a place to dump all of the food pics that I take and never post anywhere else. ;-) This week you'll see our grocery shopping, food prep, and learn how I made over $415 selling things we no longer use!

I almost didn't even share this because I told myself I should really finish our trip recap from Jackson Hole and the last 3-4 hiking trips we've taken (yes, I'm that far behind haha) but I'm starting NOW. I'm not sure which day of the week I'll consistently share these on but my goal is to post them weekly.

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Now onto the good stuff...

We have A LOT going on right now. We are working hard to not only get our house ready to sell but not pack things we don't need or use anymore. For the last few months (and I could really even say years) I've been going through our house room by room and either selling or donating things we don't need. It's so freeing to do this and almost becomes an addiction. Our goal is to rent the smallest moving truck they have! I'm not sure where we are going yet, it just depends on how quickly our house sells. We have family we could shack up with temporarily but we will probably move into a small apartment instead and try to get a short term lease. Once we find land to buy we plan on building our own home. The house we currently have is around 2,400 sq ft and we are going to build one around 800 sq ft after we fight the local government and their minimum square footage requirement...

The first week of January was pretty crazy, I feel like we haven't been in a routine since early September when we went on our trip to Montana and Canada. This past week was no exception. Scott had three weeks off over the holidays and didn't go back until Tuesday (01/03). Personally, I've been so slammed with everything: the website and trying to get the house ready that this was actually one of the most inactive weeks I've had in a long time. It's a good thing that my new years resolutions involve working out less and eating more (no joke). I tend to over-exercise and not eat enough so I'm really going to focus on not doing that. I felt my energy starting to crash towards the end of last year because of these reasons plus just a lot going on with losing my aunt. Thankfully, I can already feel an energy difference just by cutting back on my workouts and eating the right amount.

We released our Winter Workout Challenge last week and Pam also came over so we could record a few new podcast episodes (listen to those here).

Over the weekend we were supposed to get 4-6" of snow and ended up with NOTHING. Many people were upset but I wasn't really expecting anything. The weather forecast in Georgia always changes and those few degrees really make a difference. It was (and is) still very cold but, never fear, we will be back up to 70 degrees by Friday.

Be sure to follow us on the following social media accounts (and snapchat under hesheeatclean) and also sign up for our newsletter so you never miss anything!

Grocery Shopping:

• Costco: $122 (view our Costco shopping list here)
  • Quinoa ($11.49)
  • Organic kale (2 bags - $4.49/bag)
  • Asparagus ($8.49)
  • Organic frozen blueberries ($11.89)
  • Lemons ($6.99)
  • Juice ($8.99)
  • Egg whites ($8.99)
  • Avocados ($6.49)
  • Ground bison ($19.99)
  • Beets ($7.99)
  • Whole wheat tortillas ($5.59)
  • 5 dozen cage-free eggs ($8.59)
  • Cottage cheese ($4.99)
• Publix: $10
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Organic lettuce

Dining Out:

• Diablos: $19
  • 2 burritos bowls with chicken, Scott's with extra meat
  • no drinks ;-)

Food Prep (I will also try to share our meals each week but I haven't had time to put them together for this update):

• Bison burgers (ingredients from Costco)
• Zesty grilled chicken (chicken from Publix, ACV from Costco)
• Juice (mine and Scott's - ingredients from Costco)
• Protein bars (mine and Scott's - ingredients from Publix)
• Ground turkey (just seasons with sea salt and pepper)
• Sweet-sweet potato cubes

Workouts:

Our workouts were kind of all over the place but I pulled workouts from the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation. I plan on starting the transformation completely this week or maybe the run builder. I haven't decided yet. ;-) Disclaimer: I normally never stay on a piece of cardio equipment for longer than 30 minutes MAX but for some reason had a lot of energy, was climbing a mountain, and was watching Netflix. The mile walks you see are me walking around my neighborhood just as a way to break up my day. Since I work at home, I try to get out and stretch my legs literally by walking and listening to podcasts. If you are interested in the same, you should do our 30-Day Walking Challenge!

• Monday: Boot camp class at the gym (first time taking this particular class)
• Tuesday: 1 mile walk around neighborhood + Leg day + 10 minutes on the stair climber
• Wednesday: 1 mile walk around neighborhood + Arm day + 20 minutes treadmill incline
• Thursday: OFF (2 mile walk around neighborhood)
• Friday: Cardio class at studio + Back day + 1 hour treadmill incline (while watching Lost)
• Saturday: 30 min full body workout + 45 minutes treadmill incline (while watching Lost)
• Sunday: OFF

What I Sold (Total: $415):

• Clothes (eBay): $90
• Clothes (Plato's Closet): $170
• Shoes (eBay): $57
• Board Games (Facebook Yard Sale Group): $30
• Christmas Ornament (eBay): $68 - This was an expensive crystal ornament given to us as a wedding gift from one of Scott's co-workers at the time. We had no attachment to it.

What I Donated:

• Christmas storage items (boxes, wreath holders, tree bags, etc.)
• Laundry baskets
• Glassware
• Clothes
• Shoes

What We Watched:

• Keanu
• Everest

Related: How we ditched cable TV but still watch our favorite shows and sports!

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P.S. It took me wayyyyyy to long to come up with a name for these weekly updates. Naming it "weekly updates" was just not good enough. I'm not 100% excited about the name but I think it makes sense and it's what I'm going with for now. :-)

4 Books That Every Single Person Should Read

As we go into the new year, I wanted to take this time to share with you a few of our favorite books. As you may have noticed over the last year or two, we've moved away from being a website totally focused on clean eating and working out to a website that also incorporates another very important part of our lifestyle which we refer to as minimalism. You can read more about what that means to us here and here. Not all of these books are new books but they are the ones that we personally love. Take our word for it when we say you should read them...they are definitely worth your time!

I've shared these books a few times on Snapchat (hesheeatclean) and Instagram Stories and always get a lot of questions so I wanted to do a "real" post here too. Enjoy! :)

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support! 

Here's Rambo in front of the books, not pictured is Better Than Before because I only have the Kindle version of that.

4 Books Every Single Person Should Read

*single: not as in relationship status ;-)

The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own - Joshua Becker

If you are new to the concept of minimalism or even just living within your means this is a must-read book. If you already consider yourself a minimalist this is still a must-read book! I was able to get an advanced reading copy before it was released (and it was signed!) and I could not put it down. I finished the book in one day which is almost unheard of for me. The author, Joshua Becker, is a father of two and the creator of BecomingMinimalist.com and one of my favorites because he is so easily relatable. Minimalism doesn't necessarily mean living out of a suitcase, living in a tiny home, only having white furniture, etc. He shares his story and shows you how you can also find the life you want under everything you own!

This book helps you (as seen on the back of the book and I can attest to as well):

• Recognize the life-giving benefits of owning less
• Realize how all the stuff you own keeps you from pursuing your dreams
• Craft a personal, practical approach to decluttering your home and life
• Experience the joys of generosity
• Learn why the best part of minimalism isn't a clean house, it's a full life

Essentialism - Greg McKeown

I'll admit, this was my favorite book before Joshua Becker released his book The More of Less. Now I can't truly pick a favorite! I know I've mentioned numerous times that I think that the best way to live your life is to not care about what other people think of you and quit being a "people pleaser". I remember reading this book the first time and thinking...I've said that a million times. ;-)

As found in the book, essentialism isn't about getting done in less time. It's about getting only the right things done. If you feel any of the following questions pertain to your life, you definitely need to read this book ASAP!

• Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin?
• Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized?
• Are you often busy but not productive?
• Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people's agendas?

Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits -- to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life - Gretchen Rubin

This book is everything. If you truly want to change your life, you must change your habits. This book will help you learn how to make your habits work for you. Many times, it's best to embrace who you are and how you do things instead of trying to change. This book has made me completely obsessed with learning everything I can about our habits. In order for us to be better parents, sons or daughters, friends, teachers, coaches, etc we must learn how people react to certain things and form habits. We can’t just expect everyone to be like us.

• Do you know those people who train for a half marathon or marathon and then never run again?
• Do you know those people who will do something that someone else wants them to do but nothing they want to do for themselves?
• Can you really wake up early to workout if you are not a morning person?
• Can you even train yourself to be a morning person?
• Why can some people develop habits that others can’t?
• Why do some things seem so easy to some people, yet so difficult to others?

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! - Robert T. Kiyosaki

It has always frustrated me that our schools typically do not teach kids how to manage their money. Kids go all the way through high school maybe taking one or two classes on finances. Then they go to college and unless their major is related, they still do not take any classes on how to manage their money. This HAS to change. I see it all the time where people don't know how to do a budget, they don't know how to balance their bank account, they have no idea that they don't have to live paycheck-to-paycheck. 

Rich Dad Poor Dad will (as listed on the book):

• Explode the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich
• Challenge the belief that your house is an asset
• Show parents why they can't rely on the school system to teach their kids about money
• Define once and for all an asset and a liability
• Teach you what to teach your kids about money for their future financial success

Chime in and let me know what your favorites books are. Have you read any of these?