Blending on a budget

If you’re new to eating lots of fruits and veggies, your grocery bill may be a little shocking with the extra fresh and frozen produce in your cart. Over time, you'll eliminate a lot of processed food items which will bring your grocery bill back down. Here are a few quick tips for making healthy living easy on a tight budget:

Make a shopping list: Making a weekly meal plan + shopping list that covers what you'll eat daily will help you buy only what you need. Make sure to include snacks in your meal plan and on your shopping list, too.
Buy seasonal fruits and veggies: Purchasing produce in season is typically cheaper. And if you see a good deal on fresh fruits and veggies, purchase in bulk and freeze for future smoothies.
Purchase out-of-season fruits frozen: Costco and Sam’s Club sell large bags of organic frozen fruit at good prices. If your freezer can accommodate bags in bulk, take advantage of these.
Buy from local fruit stands, farmers markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture): For the tastiest and freshest organic produce, buy locally. Not only has the produce been grown and harvested close to home, but buying locally also helps our environment by eliminating the time and resources needed to deliver that produce. Visit LocalHarvest to find your local farm, farmers markets, and other local food sources.
Follow the EWG’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen: These lists from the Environmental Working Group will help you reduce your exposure to toxic pesticides by listing the produce that has the greatest exposure to chemicals (therefore, it's worth buying the organic versions) and the produce that likely contains fewer toxic pesticides, and less of each one (so it's easier on your wallet to buy the conventional versions). Dirty Dozen | EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce Clean Fifteen | EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Still believe drinking nutritious green smoothies on a budget is too hard to do? Jen prepped 36 green smoothies using ingredients from Costco and spent a total of $48.33 (That’s $1.34 per smoothie in case you were wondering.) Check out how she did it here: DIY Frozen Smoothie Packs on a Budget.