Be sure to read Is It Expensive to Eat Healthy Food, Part One if you missed it!
As you consider your grocery budget, and try to make changes in your diet so that you can eat healthier without breaking the bank, here are three important things to consider:
1. Transitioning to Healthy Eating is a Process
If you’re looking to replace every single not so good ingredient in your kitchen with all of the best, healthiest, organic, free range, grass fed, yada yada ingredients, all at the same time – yep, you’re looking at a hefty price tag right from the get-go. Why not take a step back, make a list of changes you’d like to make, then prioritize them and start making small changes – one at a time? What changes can you make that will help you feel better about feeding your family, but that might not hit so hard on the pocket book? Read through this Simple Steps to Healthy Eating Series for some ideas to get you started. But don’t feel like you need to take all the steps at once. Any small step you take puts you on the road toward healthier eating. Some of those steps might just not cost much at all. And some might actually save you money. How ’bout that?
2. There’s Not a “One Size Fits All” Plan for Eating Healthy
What works for our family may not work for your family. My food resources are likely to be much different from your food resources. The cost of food where I live may be much different from the cost where you live. I’ve heard of free range eggs costing people all the way from $1.00 per dozen to $8.00 per dozen. I’ve gotta say, if free range eggs cost me $8.00 per dozen, I’m pretty sure we’d eat very few eggs and I’d simply buy the regular, cheap ones from the store to use when I bake. Thankfully, I’m blessed to get free range eggs for just $2.50/dozen – a great price if you ask me!
Each family has a different amount to spend on groceries each month. Every family has different dietary needs. Every family has different circumstances. There is no “perfect dollar amount” standard for how much any of us should be spending on healthy food.
I shared more on this subject in this post: “No Grocery Budget Comparing Allowed”.
3. God is in Control and He Knows Your Heart
No matter what you buy, how much you spend, what you eat, or how you eat it – your choices can honor the One who provides for our every need. If you aren’t blessed to find free range chicken that doesn’t cost the same as your mortgage, you will still honor God and your family by eating a regular ol’ chicken. At the risk of sounding goofy and sacrilegious – God can bless your chicken whether it’s free range or not. God wants us to be wise stewards of our resources and to simply do the best we can with what we have. He knows our individual circumstances and He knows our heart. He understands our desire to do what is right for our family and He will provide what we need to do just that.
Don’t leave God out of the picture and think that you must be the one doing a perfect job selecting, purchasing, and preparing food. God’s gotcha covered. Do not be so focused on trying to make healthy food choices that you lose sight of the One who matters most.
No matter where you are on your healthy eating journey – no matter where you land on specific dietary choices for yourself and for your family, God can and will be glorified.
And that, my friends, is what it’s all about.
What would you consider your biggest struggle in regard to the expense of eating a healthy diet?
