1. Shop at the local "small box", no frills grocery store first. In our area this store is Aldi's. I love this store! I can get approximately 60-75% of our groceries here, at the lowest prices without coupons by shopping here first. At this store I focus on getting nuts, dried fruit, eggs, canned salmon, bacon, vegetables, fresh fruit, frozen fruit and some meats.
2. Shop at the "big box" store every 4-6 weeks. In my area this is Sam's Club. Sometimes it is good to stock up. Here I can get large bags of almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, dried apricots, cranberries, blueberries, dates, raisins, honey and real maple syrup, and vanilla for baking. They also have really good prices on Omega 3 eggs.
3. Shop at your local grocery chain. In my area this is HyVee or Price Chopper. This is where my background of coupon obsession serves me well. After looking at the weekly flyer I will buy the meats that are on sale that week, use my coupons to buy Almond milk, canned coconut milk, Lara bars, etc. This is also where I do most of my splurging and will occasionally fork over the money for almond butter, sunflower seed butter and will treat myself to a GT's Kombucha (so glad my HyVee carries this)!
4. Shop the local healthfood store. In my area this is Mother Nature's Health Market. On Friday they give a 10% discount on all gluten free flours. This is where I buy coconut flour.
5. Shop our local farmer's market. In my area this is here every Sat. morning from 7-12. Going to the farmers market is a real treat for me. I love to talk to the farmers and learn about where and how the food is grown. This is where I try to branch out and try new produce items like: beets, carrot tops, and next up hopefully dandelion greens!
These are the stores where I have been buying our groceries but the other part to this for me is learning how to source our food locally. We have put an order in with a local ranch that produces fully grass-fed meats for 1/4 beef and are expecting our order later this month. I am also looking into purchasing our eggs from a local farm that I found through craigslist. Craigslist has a farm+garden section, that is where I have been looking. From my calculations, the beef will average out to be 3.50 lb. which is only a fraction of the price for grassfed meat as compared to my local grocery. The eggs will be about the same price, if not slightly less, as compared to the Omega 3 eggs at the store.
Lastly, the picture of my 2 oldest, beautiful children with the basket of blackberries! I thought it would be fun to find a couple of U-pick farms to take the kids to this summer. We had a lot fun at Mule Barn Berries earlier this month picking on their much appreciated thorn-free bushes! The berries were ripe for the picking and we picked 9 lbs. in about 30 minutes! We also ate them about that fast as well!
I hope this gives you a good idea of how I shop Paleo on a budget. Don't get me wrong, the grocery list is usually longer than the amount of money I have in my pocket and I still have to get creative in the kitchen frequently. Luckily, I love to cook and bake and try new things! That is part of the fun!
How about you, what are your strategies for doing Paleo on a budget?
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