Does Buying Whole Foods Save Money?

I think so.

Nope, I'm not talking about Whole Foods Market AKA Whole Check, but whole ingredients -  fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts & seeds.

Vegan meal planning can be expensive (it used to be very expensive for us) but focusing on whole ingredients, planning your meals and having a well-stocked pantry will save you tons of money long-term.

We spend between $600-$650 a month on groceries for our family of 5.  I shop once a week and usually work off a grocery list using recipes from cookbooks and blogs.

Some weeks I spend less than $100 on food for the whole week. No lie. I find that I spend less when I have a well-stocked pantry of beans, legumes, rice, quinoa, flour, spices, canned tomatoes, oil, flax seed, canned coconut milk and nutritional yeast.

This didn't happen overnight for me, though. It took me a while to get the hang of meal planning because it was hard not seeing meat as the center of a meal. The good news is, I was willing to experiment and made the decision early on that I wanted this lifestyle to work long-term for our family.

I wrote a post a while ago talking about a few of my go-to meals that not only save time but also tons of money. Check it out here.

 

What about your grocery bill? Do you save money by sticking to a lot of whole foods? 

The $100 Vegan Challenge is Coming & Grocery Haul

I've learned a lot since my last $100 challenge and look forward to doing another one in the next few weeks.

If you're not familiar, last year I spent $100 on food for one week to debunk the myth that all vegan eating is expensive.

We typically spend about $650 per month on food, so $100 was really pushing it. We survived.

I'm feeling more confident this time around and look forward to sharing the recipes and our experience.

Be sure to subscribe to receive updates on the challenge and future blog posts.

Read more about the $100 challenge here.

Here's a video of my last grocery store trip...

I spent $135 on this trip but several factors went into the cost...

*I had all 3 kids with me

*I purchased a lot of organic products

*I purchased some vegan pre-packaged food-always a budget buster

Without those factors, my bill could have easily been reduced by about $25.