There seem to be two major concerns battling for superiority when it comes to the subject of eating well.  Firstly, everyone can agree that eating healthfully is important, but at the same time, with the increasing cost of food prices, there is a strong emphasis being put on saving money on your grocery bill. Is there a way to be able to reconcile the two?

In spite of the astronomical rise in food prices (especially in fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy) there is a way to ensure that you are not only able to eat well but to spend less doing so.

Guidelines to Eating Well for Less

Cut out Convenience Foods: We are an incredibly busy society, and to help ourselves out we’ve created (and have come to depend on) ‘convenience’ foods; things that can just be popped into the microwave or that only take a few minutes to fix on the stove top.  The problem is, convenience foods may be quick and easy, but they are usually quite expensive and are definitely not good for you; the list of additives and preservatives in even the most basic of ‘convenience’ foods should be enough to make anyone sick just looking at them.

Cooking from Scratch: Choosing to cook from scratch is important if you are looking to eat well.  If you cook from scratch you get to choose all of the ingredients that will be in your food including seasonings and so you don’t have to worry about chemical additives or questionable food preparation methods.  Cooking from scratch may seem like a daunting proposition, but it is really not as difficult as it may seem.  Yes, it is going to take longer to prepare the food, but on the plus side, you will know exactly what has gone into the food you have prepared and can take pride in the dishes that you have prepared.

Prepare Ahead: One of the biggest things about convenience foods is that they are ready NOW.  You can take away the sting of removing convenience foods from your diet by preparing food ahead of time.  There are many dishes that can be prepared from scratch in advance and then frozen in smaller sized containers to be re-heated when a quick meal is needed.  This will prevent you running out for fast food or a quick convenience food when the urge hits you.

Buy Locally: Purchasing locally grown foods can not only cut down on your grocery bill, but also on your concern as to the quality of merchandise that is being purchased.  When you buy food at a large chain grocery store; even fresh foods; you really have no idea where the food came from or how long it has been on the road.  Purchasing as much fresh food locally as possible can go a long ways towards your peace of mind when it comes to the quality of your food and will also help to encourage a closer sense of community between neighbors.

While there are plenty of other things that can be done to ensure that you can eat well and actually spend less money doing so, these simple guidelines can go miles toward ensuring that you can start eating better now, and actually save money in the process.

How do you save some green while still making sure you eat healthy foods?

Awhile back I posted about how to make your own natural first aid kit. At the time I kept thinking it would be really awesome if someone offered a ready made product like this and surprise I recently found one. NaturoKits is offering naturopathic first aid kits with a nice collection of natural remedies for common ailments and accidents. This kit doesn’t have bandages and bandaids but those are easy to take care of on your own… the real meat in any first aid kit is the remedies and medicines.

The one you see above was graciously sent to me by NaturoKits and it is their Basic Kit. It has the following remedies:

Activated Charcoal – Intestinal upset – diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, and gas
Apis 30c – Stings
Arnica 30c – Bruising and muscle soreness
Calendula Succus – Burns, cuts, scrapes
Cantharis 30C – Burns and sunburns
Crisis Calm – Anxiety, irritability, fear, worry, grief, loss, and nervousness
Hypericum 30c – Nerve Pain
Ledum 30c – Bug bites and stings
Wild Weed Salve – Soothing itchy skin, chapped skin, minor cuts, and scrapes

It is full of flower essences, homeopathic remedies, botanical (herbal) medicines, and dietary supplements. All of these remedies come in a nice canvas tote bag and full instructions for each remedy, which it advises you to read over BEFORE you actually need anything from the kit.

The creators of the kit are actually naturopathic physicians and moms and they filled it what they consider to be the essentials. The ingredients merely aid your own body in the healing process, not interfere with it like so many conventional medications do. I haven’t had the need to actually use anything from the kit yet but I am happy to have it on hand just in case.

Check out there website to purchase kits or buy via Amazon. Enjoy!