What if we can't afford the "organic" lifestyle?

Feeding a large family on a budget can be pretty tricky! Eating healthy, wholesome and clean foods doesn't have to break the bank!  It may take a little thriftiness on your part, but you can be frugal and still make your family delicious and nutritious meals!

It can be quite overwhelming to be constantly bombarded with information that seems to tell you everything you do is poisoning your family. There are many great clean products on the market, but let's face it, they are expensive. Some families have only one or limited income. 

So do we as parents have to decide between working long hours and spending little time with our kids in order to provide them with clean products and food?! Ugh, no!!! 

Here are some helpful tips to keep your fridge stocked and tummies and bank account full as well some cheap tricks for making your own body care and cleaning products: 

•  Buy from a local farmer's market. You can find amazing deals here while supporting local farmers!

•  Buy in bulk from a wholesale store like Costco or Sam's. They have a lot of organic options and you can clean and freeze produce as needed.

•  Buy organic when you can, especially the "dirty dozen" items and the rest, clean thoroughly with an organic produce cleaner. We use Thieves Fruit and Veggie Soak from Young Living.

• Become a member of an organic co-op. They usually have great deals and monthly specials with low yearly membership fees and they will usually work with you to meet your needs.(the bonus to this is you are helping a small business flourish!)

• Plan your meals weekly or monthly and shop according to that list rather than just going grocery shopping without purpose. You can save so much money if you know exactly what and how much you need. You may invest a little more time initially, but after a few runs, you'll become a pro and won't require so much planning time.

• Food prepping is a HUGE component to staying on a healthy regimen and a healthy budget. When we fail to plan ahead we end up grabbing anything that resembles food. The trouble with this is that it's probably not very nutritious and if is more costly than a home prepped meal.

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Substitute fresh, whole meats (even if not organic) for processed meats like hot dogs, chicken nuggets and lunch meat. They have chemicals added to them for preservation and tend to be the worst, leftover parts of the animal. Yuck! 

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Buy box container over canned. Some companies are catching on and removing BPA from cans but the food is still leaching the metals from the can. 

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Make your own soaps and body cream out of responsibly sourced ingredients. My favorite combination for body cream is coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerin, vitamin E, and Young Living Essential Oils. Soap is simple. Castile soap mixed with some essential oils of choice makes an excellent substitute for chemical laden body washes and soaps. You can even use as shave cream and shampoo! 

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Making cleaning products is simple. We use olive oil and Young Living Lemon Essential Oil as furniture polish, vinegar and water for preventing mold in our shower, Thieves All Purpose Cleaner for counters, floors, and toilets and baking soda for tough scrubs. 

Making your own food and products can be a little work but it's a fun and rewarding process that can eliminate a ton of environmental toxins we are exposed to each day! 

Remember to make shopping and meal prep fun by viewing the process as a personal challenge to see how much you can get, and how much you can save! Good luck, healthy crusaders!!