Nertz to you Whole Foods!

$18.99 

You know what you can buy for $18.99?

• 1 1/2 albums on iTunes (oh I miss the days of 99cent songs)
• 9 1/2 tall coffees at Starbucks (or 2 fancy coffee beverages)
• 18 pairs of fabulously fun and seasonal yet understated tacky pairs of socks in Target's dollar section
• This fabulous scarf

Or one 16 oz jar of Maranatha Organic Raw Almond Butter. 

Yeah almond butter or a cute scarf? 

But it's so tasty, creamy and delicious. 

Who needs to pay their rent anyways?

Student loans can wait. 

I need raw almond butter Sallie Mae, why can't you understand that! 

A lot of people talk about how expensive it is to be a healthy eater, let along a vegan or vegetarian. Buying organic food is more expensive, many ingredients used in vegan recipes are harder to locate or more costly, kitchen gadgets tend to be pricier (hello Vitamix!) and the need to go to the store is often more frequent than someone who's kitchen is stocked with preservative filled food. 

But it doesn't have to be if you are smart about what you are buying. When buying organic, I usually try to stick to the dirty dozen (no, not your dad's favorite movie that you were forced to watch over and over again. No? Just me?) 

And yes, Whole Foods is to vegans what Target is to any woman (seriously, I go in there with a list but no matter what, I come out with useless things that I deem absolutely necessary. Pink hippo? Yep.) but if you are watching costs, it's better to limit it for special occasions, special ingredients or when you are having a REALLY BAD DAY. I buy the organic house brands at Kroger and Martins and find that they are actually really high quality. 

I've also embraced the coupon. I'm not up to TLC status yet but I can clip a mean coupon. Mambo Sprouts  offers some great deals on health and organic products and definitely check out Vitacost for savings. 

I buy things that I use frequently (lentils, bulgur wheat, Agar, Chia, Hemp, Chickpea flour, dried beans,  nuts, cinnamon etc) in bulk bins. If properly stored these products will stay great for months and save you oodles of cash in the long run (yay shoe money!). 

Last weekend I went to Ellwood Thompson's (our local healthy grocery store) and purchased 3lbs of raw, organic almonds (I had a great coupon) and proceeded on another money-saving venture: making my own almond butter. 

I had no idea how simple it was. What on earth took me so long to do this? 

Raw Almond Butter

(Makes enough to fill a half-pint mason jar)

Ingredients:

2 cups raw (organic if possible) whole almonds

Gadgets:

High speed blender (like a Vitamix) or a food processor (this is what I use)

Rubber spatula

•  Dump almonds in food processor
• Turn on food processor
• Wait
• Wait
• Wait
• Watch
• Watch 
• Watch some more
• Enjoy the deliciousness and smugly stick it to Whole Foods and their nearly $20 almond butter

The key to this process is to be patient. You will have some moments of self doubt: Did I do something wrong? Should I add oil? Is my blender breaking? Why is it smoking? Am I going to blow up my house? It can take nearly 20 minutes for the almonds to become smooth and creamy but it will happen, trust me. Yes the blender might start to smoke or steam, it's fine. Turn it off, let it rest, scrape everything down from the sides and turn it back on. Just keep doing that until you have the desired consistency. Store in an airtight container. (I use glass mason jars)

The possibilities are endless with what you can add into it. But the best part is it's cheap and easy to do, you know exactly what is going into the recipe and you get self-satisfaction that you are on your way to becoming a little vegan Martha Stewart. 

Unless you are me and forget to put the top back on and your blender explodes and you spend the next two days cleaning almond butter off of your ceiling. 

And dog.