Today, another awesome guest post about healthy eating on the cheap. If you didn’t catch Wednesday’s post, check it out here…

How to Buy Cheap and Healthy Food

It is one thing to want to eat healthy, but it’s something else to try to pay for it! Unfortunately, unhealthy items, like boxed macaroni, chips, and cookies are often times cheaper than premium produce. If you are looking for the best way to buy healthy options in regular and organic foods, here are some tips to help you out:

• Start out by scouting out farmers markets. This is often the best way to purchase organic foods, which means that they are free from pesticides. If you have ever looked at the price difference of regular and organic food in the grocery store, I’m sure that you have noticed a significant difference. However, you can often barter at a farmers market, and you will get even better deals for purchasing in bulk if you can!
• This leads me to my next point, which is joining a co-op. This is something that you can do with friends or a group of farmers, but you will have a discount on organic foods from purchasing within the co-op. Co-ops are mostly within local areas, and you will pay small dues. However, you can create your own co-op with friends for organic produce by each purchasing in bulk to save money and share with one another. This is an affordable way to have fresh organic produce!
• When you are at the grocery store, look for beans as a healthy treat and a valuable protein source. Cooking dried beans, like pinto beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, and black beans are all low in fat, and they are full of fiber to beef up your diet. They can be used in soups, salads, or as a side dish, and they are much more filling and satisfying than a Big Mac any day!
• Look for sweet potatoes as a healthy and cheap side dish in the grocery store. Sweet potatoes are much healthier than regular potatoes, especially if you prepare them in a way where they are not fried or drenched in butter. Try a baked sweet potato or even baked sweet potato fries as a delicious treat that almost tastes like a real french fry!

These tips are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, when it comes to learning how to purchase healthy and inexpensive foods. It is so much better for you and the environment to eat organic, and it doesn’t have to

Chuggin McCoffee is a coffee fanatic that has spent the entirety of his career cultivating and studying all of the best uses and brewing styles for optimal coffee and espresso flavor. His specialty site for all coffee needs, supplies, and commercial coffee makers can be found at The Coffee Bump

To mix things up a bit, I thought it might be fun to run a series of posts about finding healthy, organic food for less. We all know that healthier foods cost more than unhealthy foods, but you don’t have to sacrifice quality to save a dime! Part one in this series: a special guest post by blogger Ellen Christian of Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

Thanks for the great tips Ellen!

Frugal, organic, gluten-free grocery shopping!

Most of what we eat is organic, all natural and gluten free. Both kids are gluten intolerant and I try to feed my family as naturally as possible to avoid artificial substances. We also have a fairly tight grocery shopping budget and that makes it hard to eat the way I want to eat.

I thought I’d share what I do to help others lower their grocery budget.

Vegetables & fruits - Start a garden in your backyard, your front yard, or on your balcony. Just about anyone can grow a few veggies, berries or herbs where they live. Growing your own is cheaper than buying fresh organic produce. If you must by fresh veggies at the grocery store, eat in season. Eating vegetables and fruits that are growing where you live at the time you buy them will be cheaper than buying Kiwis flown in from New Zealand. If it’s autumn in Vermont, that means apples. I buy a large quantity and eat, freeze and can so that in April when apples are very expensive, I can eat what I have stored. We also frequent pick your own places where we pick strawberries, apples, blueberries and potatoes when in season.

Meats - We buy half a cow and store it in the freezer. That lets us get grass fed, local beef at a much more reasonable price than at the grocery store. We have in the past purchased half a grass fed pig for the same reason. We only have one freezer so we alternate. If you don’t have room for that much storage, you can still purchase bulk packages of meats and break them down into smaller packages yourself. Don’t buy prepared, marinated, breaded meats. It’s almost always cheaper to do the preparation yourself. Most of what you’re paying for is the convenience of having someone else do the work for you not for quality ingredients.

Breads and baked goods – We make most of our own baked goods. Before the kids were diagnosed gluten intolerant, I made most of the bread we ate. I haven’t mastered gluten free baking yet so we have eliminated much of the bread for the kids. Learn to bake from scratch. It’s not difficult and it doesn’t take hgue amounts of time. Buy quality, organic, all natural ingredients and put together your own snacks. Oatmeal cookies are very inexpensive to make and very easy. If it’s summer & you don’t want to heat up the kitchen, make no bake cookies. You can easily make all your own baked goods from bread to pizza crust to brownies to pancakes to cookies without boxed ingredients. For emergencies, I like to keep a few ready to bake items in the house just in case. I always purchase these with coupons when it makes the price lower than a generic organic equivalent if there is one.

Side Dishes – You can make your own potato, rice and pasta side dishes without buying Rice A Roni, Betty Crocker or Lipton products. You start with plain potatoes, rice or pasta and create your own side dish. It’s better for you because you can control what you put into it and it doesn’t have any nasy ingredients like MSG floating around in there. Serve less carbs in your meal & it’s a lot healthier for you anyway.

Paper Products – Switch to cloth. Paper is always more expensive than non-disposable alternatives. You don’t need paper plates, paper napkins, disposable cups or plastic silverware. It’s not even remotely difficult to wash a few dishes or toss a few cloth napkins into the washing machine. We buy only eco-friendly toilet paper and facial tissues. We always use coupons & shop on sale. If you have babies, seriously consider switching to cloth diapers & wipes. It’s so much more frugal and better for the environment too! If you have the need, there are a number of cloth alternatives to feminine products that work very well too.

I have contacted many companies directly to ask them for coupons since it’s so hard to find coupons for organic and gluten free products in regular newspapers. Just try searching online for your favorite food product & use the “contact us” button on their site to ask if they have coupons they can send you.

Request free samples when you see something you’d like to try offered. I’ve gotten some fantastic free samples from Kashi before and I recently got a free coupon from Stacy’s Pita Chips for fanning them on Facebook. Keep your eyes open for good deals.

Barter when you can. Maybe you make awesome strawberry jam & your neighbor has extra eggs or zucchini in her garden? Offer to swap. I’ve bartered my jewelry for homemade English muffins before and have bartered my fudge for some yummy homemade soap too.

Fish or hunt if you enjoy it. Make sure you evaluate the costs of licenses, travel, supplies, etc. when you’re figuring out if this will work for you. Consider raising your own chickens or rabbits for meat if it’s allowed where you live. Or you can raise chickens just for the eggs like we do.

Wildcrafting is a great way to find free edibles in your area. Pick up a book on wild edibles and never eat anything you aren’t certain of. Start with something simple like dandelion greens or wild blackberries or apples. I regularly hunt for wild edibles and it helps with the grocery bills!

Confessions of an Overworked Mom is written by Ellen Christian, a wife and mother of two in rural Vermont who is passionate about self sufficiency and natural and organic living.

I haven’t seen a blade of grass in so long, I’m not sure I’ll recognize it when (if) spring arrives. Also at odds with indoor workouts. So I’m seriously considering snow shoes. I figure, if you can’t beat Old Man Winter, might as well put the snow to use.

Snow shoes.

I have never tried snow shoeing, but I know it is a great way to cross-train during the winter months. As luck would have it, REI is having a snow shoe sale. Hop over to REI.com and grab a pair. Most shoes are 30% off, but some are more. Oh, and the Redfeather Snowpaws for kids are adorable too, and only $20!

Bonus: Snowshoeing burns roughly 500 calories per hour (on par with jogging). Obviously, if there are hills, the calorie burn could be more. Snowshoeing is also great for strengthening the hips (hip flexors and glutes).

Traveling can sure throw a wrench in your workout agenda. If you find you are among the many who intend to make up your workout when you get home, rather than work out while you’re on the road, I have good news – IHRSA (the International Health, Raquet & Sportsclub Association) can make it easier for you to stick to your regimen, no matter where you are.

The IHRSA Passport program gives you access to gyms that are close to your hotel (and if, like me, you’re tired of hotel gyms that have minimal equipment, and more patrons who want to use the equipment than there is equipment to go around, an alternative workout locations sounds pretty good.)

The deal: Pop over to Healthclubs.com and locate a IHRSA-affiliated gym near your hotel. You can also narrow down your search by activity or special requirements, such as “Spa Treatments,” or “Group Exercise.” Once you locate the gym of your choice, follow the instructions on the website, call the gym to verify specifics (guest fees, availability, reservations), and you’re good to go.

Note: you do need to be a member of an IHRSA club to participate in this deal, but many, many clubs are members. Ask your club if they are IHRSA members – many times your home gym will make these arrangements for you if you ask.

Happy travels!

The economy has many of us tightening our budgets. If you’re goal is to tighten your waistline as well, you may be shocked to find out that the average, monthly fees for a gym membership range between $40 and $80 per month. If you go to the gym 20 times per month, $3.50 per visit doesn’t seem unreasonable. But let’s face it, life happens. There will be months when you may only get there 4 or 5 times. Are you okay paying $17 or more per visit? If you’re in the market for a new gym, or would like to save on your current membership, read on:

5 ways to save on a gym membership:

1. Don’t be afraid to negotiate. If they won’t budge on the fees, ask if they can waive initiation fees or offer a flexible contract (say, 3 or 6 months rather than a full year.) This way, if stumble upon a better deal, or find a gym that more closely matches your needs, you won’t be tied to a lengthy contract.
2. If your employer offers a discount for gym memberships, use it. Some employers will offer to pay up to 1/2 of the annual fee.
3. Choose a gym that meets your needs. There is no use paying for all of the bells and whistles if you won’t use all of them. Consider what you need in a gym, the equipment you know you will use, and the types of classes offered. Most gyms have a free trial period – this is an excellent opportunity to try before you buy!
4. Don’t sign up at the beginning of the month – wait until the last day of the month when the sales staff will be more likely to negotiate to meet their sales quota.
5. If you travel to major cities, like Chicago, Boston and New York, buy a PassBook. You can get free admission to many of the best health clubs and lots of other free stuff. It costs $75 for one passbook (there is a discount for multiple PassBook purchase), but if you like to stay on top of your fitness routine when you travel, the investment is priceless.