Healthy Family, Healthy Meals

Ever since my diagnosis of MS in January 2008, our family has been on a journey toward healthier living.  That journey got a jumpstart last week when I watched a movie called Food Inc.  I have since shown it to my hubby and the boys and they are on board with revamping the food we eat- I, at least, want to know where that food comes from!

We were already eating whole grains, had cut back drastically on sugar and cut back on red meat.  After watching that movie and doing some research of my own, we have decided to go organic and buy our meat and veggies from local farmers. 

We are concerned with how this will affect our food budget.  As most of my readers know I pride myself on feeding our family with a $350/month food budget.  That is accomplished by a lot of couponing, shopping sales and menu planning.  I will still be employing all three of those strategies but it is much more difficult to find coupons for organic items.

Here are some tips I have learned so far:

• Stock up when organic meat and dairy are on sale. Organic milk has a longer shelf life than regular milk and milk can be frozen for up to three months.  I will be watching for sales and coupons and stocking up when milk is on sale.
• One site recommended buying your veggies at a farmers market towards the end of the day.  Many farmers will decrease their prices to reduce the amount of inventory they have to take home with them.
• A great site for information about buying safe food is www.foodnews.org
• When you are buying beef look for the seal of the American Grassfed Association and for poultry look for the word “pastured”.

There is a list called the dirty dozen.  This is produce that contains the most pesticides and is the most harmful to the consumer.  Those are:

1. peaches
2. celery
3. cherries
4. grapes
5. apples
6. nectarines
7. kale
8. carrots
9. green bell peppers
10. strawberries
11. lettuce
12. peas

It is worth your money to buy those twelve items organic or from a farmer’s market.

There are some veggies/fruits that are okay to buy from the grocery store (this will be a way to save money).  They are:

• onions
• cabbage
• pineapples
• broccoli
• avocadoes
• eggplant
• watermelon
• asparagus
• sweet potatoes
• kiwis
• papayas
• mangoes
• tomatoes

I am learning so much about how our food is produced, what is healthy and how the food industry can be very misleading to the average consumer. 

I would love for you to enlighten me about anything you know about going organic that I may not have learned yet,  especially about how you buy organic on a budget.  I will be sure to keep you posted about our journey as well.  You can read our menu plans on my organizing blog.

Organized Grocery Shopping

With all our talk of organizing our finances in January, I turned to my favorite organizing program to get my shopping list under control.  When you use coupons, pair them up with circular ad sales and are shopping for hungry tween/teen boys, groceries can be a lot to keep track of.

Cozi makes grocery shopping a breeze for me.  Their online program {which is free by the way} has a grocery shopping component where I add things to my list as I become aware that we need them {much like the days of notebooks with a magnet on the fridge type of running list- do you follow me?}. No more sticky notes for this gal =)

One reason I love this feature is because I tend to misplace a paper list…especially when I am using it to keep a running tab of what I need at the store.  Unless I lose access to a computer, my Cozi list is always there for me.  Even if I forget to bring my list to the store Cozi is there for me {see next paragraph}

Another cool feature is the ability to text messages {to myself or the hubby}.  So, for instance, we are out of milk and I am not in the mood to go to the store.  Hubby is already out.  I can send him a text message via Cozi to pick up the milk or text him the ENTIRE list{or any other reminder…I will talk about the family calendar feature in another post}.

How cool is that?

When you log into your Cozi account you have a dashboard, similar to a homepage.  This has links to coupons.com and a search engine for recipes.  Menu planning can’t get much easier than that.

Those are just a few of the ways Cozi simplifies my grocery shopping.

Not only did I want to share the 411 on this time saving program with you but I also wanted to let you know about a HUGE giveaway that Cozi is promoting.

Cozi is giving away FREE groceries for a YEAR!  Entering is simple {click here} and you can earn extra entries by telling your friends, as well as playing their fun spin to win game.

Here is the fine print:

Cozi 2010 Shopping List Celebration: A Year of Free Groceries Sweepstakes. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY: Open to legal residents of the United States, except Rhode Island, 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Entrants must be physically located in the United States. The sweepstakes begins on January 14, 2010, and ends on March 11, 2010. Limit one entry per manual email address submission (additional entries optional for each friend that clicks through on referral link sent via “tell a friend” tool on cozi.com). All entries and referrals received by March 11, 2010, will be included in a random drawing on or about March 17, 2010. Entrants are responsible for keeping the email address used for entry valid until after the drawing has been conducted to remain eligible to win the prize.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go enter to win some free groceries and check out all that Cozi has to offer while you are there.