Image: Vaunte 

Fall’s here and search for the perfect party dress (and work ensembles) begins. Online luxury consignment websites are easier to use than ever and mean clothes that are budget-friendly, lower-impact, and best of all, help you avoid the trudge through the mall.

There’s no denying it, we’ve transitioned from sunny summer to the darkening days of fall. If you looked at your calendar recently, you know that holiday parties and the need for glamorous looks are on their way. When it comes to finding the perfect dress for the party or blazer for work, there’s a lot to consider for those conscious consumers with an eye on getting the most out of our clothes. 

Buying gently used clothes and accessories from luxury consignment sites online guarantees us clothing that is less trend and season driven and more unique. Who wants to look like they are dressed from the latest brand catalog or department store window? The best advantage to shopping consigner? Your new piece won’t be found on any other of the guests at the party, thus avoiding a same-dress disaster to spoil your night.

Here are our favorite sites for finding a special look that’s all your own.

 Vaunte

Vaunte taps into our voyeuristic passion for discovering what items our favorite style insiders wear and makes it easy to snap them up ourselves by shopping directly from their covetable designer wardrobes.

The RealReal

An impressive selection of secondhand designer and luxury brands for men and women, the RealReal features Gilt Groupe-style 72-hour-long sales presented by brand and style in a relatable, but high fashion editorial voice.

Yoogi’s Closet

For buyer and sellers in the market for pre-owned designer handbags, shoes, accessories and jewelry, Yoogi’s Closet stands out for their dedication to authenticity. If you are ready to shell out big bucks for that Chanel, Louis Vuitton or Hermes bag of your dreams, this is the place to find it.

Decades

Divided into 20th century vintage and 21st century modern, Cameron Silver and Christos Garkinos’ Decades is a now legendary vintage consigner in Los Angeles, responsible for outfitting the Hollywood elite in vintage treasures since 1997.

Fashionphile

While the focus is on high-end handbags and accessories, it’s Fashionphile‘s top-notch customer service, down-to-earth design and discounted prices that appeals to their loyal customer base.

Related on Ecosalon:

Thrift Store Reconnaissance: You’re On An Eco-Fashion Mission!

Secondhand Fashion Gets A Digital Upgrade

The post Best Luxury Consignment Sites Online: Budget Fabulousness appeared first on EcoSalon.

Money isn’t the key to a good time. Here are 20 free things to do when you’re bored.

You’ve got the day off, but your spending money is low and there’s only so much time you can spend sitting in front of the television. Well, get up and do something different. There are literally dozens of fun things you can do without spending any money at all. Drink some wine and look at some art. Bake some bread. Invite some friends over to watch a goofy movie. Here are 20 (more) ideas for totally free activities that will expand your mind, make you feel better about yourself and give you a break from stress-inducing responsibilities.

Attend a Gallery Opening

Two words: free wine. Art gallery openings for new exhibits will not only give you a close look at some of your community’s top artistic talents, but also access to free snacks and beverages. Plus, there are bound to be some pretty interesting people milling about, so it’s a great chance to make a few new acquaintances. But if you’re going to show up and drink the wine, be sure to display interest in the work and say a few kind words to the artist. Just saying…

Check Out Your Community Calendar

How many fun, practical and occasionally strange events are you missing because you don’t check your community calendar? Often published in free weeklies or in the local newspaper, these calendars can be a treasure trove of free activities. You could be learning how to assemble bouquets, taking walking tours of local historical sites, attending outdoor festivals or watching beefy young men wrestle in church basements. It’s a source of virtually endless entertainment.

Get Organized

At first, this doesn’t sound like fun. It sounds like cleaning, which is work. But that’s before you get addicted to the post-organization high of “Oh wow, my house looks amazing and I actually know where things are located.” Pinterest is a great source of inspiration and ideas for organization that often use items you already have on hand rather than requiring an expensive trip to the store.

Play a Challenging Word Game

Break out the Scrabble board, some tough crossword puzzles, or even Words with Friends. Games don’t have to be time-wasters; many of them can help you increase your vocabulary so you can sound smarter when you’re angling for a promotion or chatting up that Ph.D. down the hall. Being highly literate is sexy.

Bake a Loaf of Bread

If you’ve got flour and some yeast, you can bake a loaf of bread – even if you’ve never baked anything in your life. It may seem like some kind of magical alchemy to people who aren’t accustomed to baking, and it sort of is. But it’s magic that is totally manageable. Baking a loaf of bread will force you to slow down for an afternoon, giving you opportunities to fit in other activities as the dough rises.

Learn About a New Topic

Maybe you’re interested in the cannibalistic rituals of ancient cultures, or just want to learn how to apply 1960s-style eyeliner. You can find information on just about anything on the internet, so there are no excuses for not learning more about topics that interest you. Read up on something you’ve always wanted to know, or watch a few YouTube videos that will teach you how to do some kind of new hair braid.

Host a Movie Marathon

Ask your friends to bring their favorite movies, or choose a series from your own collection. There’s always the library, too, which usually offers free or very cheap DVD rentals. Whether it’s a guilty pleasure like Twilight or Mystery Science Theater, movie marathons are one of the most fun ways to forget about your worries for a few hours.

Learn a New Skill

Break out that musical instrument that’s been hanging on your wall like an art piece rather than serving its true purpose. Open the Beginner’s Knitting Pack that you got for your birthday that one year and haven’t looked at since. Or just identify something that you’ve always wanted to learn how to do, and commit to giving it at least a few hours of your time. Maybe it’s learning a new language, or maybe it’s just changing the oil in your car. Again, YouTube is full of videos that will guide you through all manner of tasks, making new skills more easily acquired than ever.

Call an Old Friend

We all have friendships that have fallen by the wayside because we just can’t seem to find the time to make a phone call. Now’s the time. You’re bored, you’re low on cash and cell phones have made long distance calls cheaper than ever. Take an hour or two to catch up. If you can’t seem to work out a time when you’re both available, write a letter, record a video greeting or start an email correspondence. If you both live in the same city, take the time to meet up! Friendships make our lives so much richer. They’re worth taking the time out of your schedule, however busy you may be.

Scan Your Old Photos

Most of us have boxes full of old film photos that we haven’t looked at in ages. Scanning them definitely takes a bit of work and a good chunk of time, but it’ll ensure that these memories are preserved in case of fire or flood. Plus, taking the time to organize and digitize them is a fun way to reminisce about the past.

Clean Up Your Neighborhood

You don’t have to join a local group or organize some kind of official outing. Just go out into your neighborhood with a pair of gloves and a trash bag and start picking up. Even an hour of effort can make a big difference, and it’ll make you feel better about where you live.

Take a Mental Vacation

Download a guided meditation app for your smartphone, or simply head out to a place where you won’t be disturbed and give yourself permission to let go of all your stress and worries. Wish. Imagine. Daydream. Let your mind go wherever it wants to go, as long as it’s not a negative place. Fall into the kind of relaxed mental state that can spark creativity and a sense of peaceful healing. Even if you only have five minutes, it’ll make you feel mentally refreshed so you can get back to your tasks with sharpened acuity.

Tackle a DIY Project

You know all those cutesy DIY projects that you’ve been collecting on Pinterest or bookmarking at Design Sponge, imagining that you’ll get to ‘someday?’ Someday is today. Many such projects make use of what you already have or reclaim free or discarded items, so it doesn’t have to cost any money. Spray paint some old mason jars into pretty vases, turn a men’s button-down shirt into a skirt or make a new coffee table out of wood pallets.

Push Yourself Harder

There’s some task or skill that you’ve taken up, but haven’t quite mastered just yet. Take the time to get that much better at it. Push yourself to the next level, whether it’s eking out an extra 10 sit-ups, playing a more complex song on the piano or trying your hand at some French pastries.

Revisit an Old Favorite

Maybe the movie you were obsessed with when you were a senior in high school, or the album you listened to over and over again to comfort yourself when you moved to a new city isn’t to your taste anymore. But it can be fun to revisit those old favorites, and recall what made us love them so much at the time.

Make a Pinhole Camera

The only special equipment you need to capture ghostly, eerie images is some photo paper. A pinhole camera can be made out of virtually anything – from a cardboard box to an entire room. You’re simply creating a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. When light from a scene passes through the hole, it projects an inverted image onto the opposite side of the box, where photo paper is taped. If you don’t have any photo paper, ask a local photography shop if they have any expired paper that they’re about to throw away; it may not be sensitive enough to capture the sharp images required by professionals, but its imperfections will contribute to the dreamy feel of a pinhole image.

Build a Fort

Who says adults can’t build forts, too? For many of us, building makeshift forts out of blankets is among our favorite childhood memories. There’s something so cozy about curling up with a book in a heap of pillows in what feels like a private little space of your own. It can be as simple as tying a string between a doorknob and a piece of furniture and throwing a sheet over it.

Make a List of Your Goals

It’s easy to get so swept up in the rhythms of daily life that you lose your sense of where you want to go. Maybe you’ve lost sight of what’s truly important in your life, or fallen off track in your business goals. Write out what you want, and steps that you can reasonably take to get there – even if they’re really small steps.

Get Frugal

If you’re looking for free things to do, chances are, you’re trying to cut costs and be careful with your money. Write out a budget if you haven’t already, and identify additional ways to save. There are literally hundreds of money-saving tips available online; start with The Budget Diet’s list of ways to cut up to $400 from your budget every month.

Take a Nap

Perhaps making a pinhole camera, thinking about finances or playing the piano is just way too much for you right now, considering you can barely focus on the computer screen. It’s okay. Don’t feel guilty. Set your alarm, lay your head down and take a nap. You deserve it.

Photos: sleepyjeanie, nayukim, surlygirl, katerha, glitter weddings

The post 20 (More) Fun Things to Do Without Spending a Dime appeared first on EcoSalon.

A test for your bike IQ.

You know it. You love it. The bicycle is a clean machine in a carbon-fueled world. Here is a quiz to test your transportation IQ.

Q: On average, the annual operating cost of a car is $8,220. How much does it cost per year to maintain a bike?

A) $308

B) $3,020

C) $20

Answer: According to a 2009 report published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the annual maintenance cost of a bike is $308. Cyclists can lower that amount by joining a bike co-op and learning to repair their own machines.

Test more of your bike IQ:

Pedals vs. Pumps

Bikeways vs. Highways

Federal Transportation Funding

Read more: Japhy Dhungana rode his bike from Los Angeles to the tip of South America. Can you guess why he named his bicycle Bucephalus?

Sierra is the magazine of the Sierra Club. Our motto: Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet. Follow Sierra magazine on Twitter.

Image: moriza

The post How Much Does a Cycle Centric Lifestyle Cost? appeared first on EcoSalon.

“Why not give me a choice besides french fries or french fries?” Morgan Spurlock asked the American food industry and regulators in his 2004 fast food exposé Super Size Me. President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2011 begins to answer that question.

Of particular interest to slow food activists and locavores is the administration’s plan to invest $400 million, through public-private grants into the development of super markets, farmers’ markets and other health food stores across the U.S.

The financing should help small businesses provide healthy alternatives to plastic wrapped snacks, burgers, fried chicken and shakes in communities lacking options. President Obama’s plan, made public on Feb. 1, 2010, included overall food-and-nutrition expenditures far beyond this, of course, which will have a lasting impact on our food and agricultural economy, land and health.

According to Bloomberg financial reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spending overall will rise 2.3 percent to $132.3 billion in fiscal 2011.

Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said the money would continue to pay for major nutrition assistance programs, with $1 billion split between the Women Infants and Children, and National School Lunch Program; $1 billion for efforts to reduce foodborne illnesses from USDA-inspected food products; and a whopping $75.3 billion towards the food stamps program SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan).

Even though food stamp spending is rising to meet the needs of record-levels of unemployed and under-employed people in the U.S., there’s a silver lining: food stamps are increasingly allowed at farmer’s markets, these days.

Farmers’ markets, which we frequent and frequently write about at EcoSalon, reduce the fuel consumption and other environmental costs of food transportation by selling produce within 100 miles of its origin and by featuring in-season items only, eschewing huge amounts of plastic and packaging, among many other environmental benefits.

Everyone, from lunch lady bloggers to twittering accountants, had something to say about the budget this week online. Decide for yourself if the plan spends too much or not enough on food, with these basic reads and resources.

Basic Reading:

“A record 37.9 million people, or about one of every eight Americans, received food stamps in October 2009, as the jobless rate reached a 26-year high, the USDA said on Jan. 12, 2010. ‘Thank gosh we have food stamps,’ Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a news briefing in Washington. ‘One, for the families who are struggling, and two, for the farmers who want to sell commodities to 300 million Americans.’ – Bloomberg news story by Alan Bjerga examining FY2011 budget in light of food programs

“Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) said. ‘Every day millions of Americans walk out their front doors and see nothing but fast food and convenience stores selling high-fat, high-sugar, processed foods. This lack of retail outlets that sell healthy food options results in higher rates of obesity, diabetes and other health-related issues. The success of the Pennsylvania initiative should be used as the model for a national plan to improve children’s health, create jobs and spur economic development nationwide.'” – A PolicyLink press release via The Medical News

“President Obama’s Budget became public recently and one of the many items in the massive $4.5 trillion expenditures is $1 billion per year for Child Nutrition split between the National School Lunch Program and the Women, Infants and Children Program. At first blush, given the economy and the call for a 3-year freeze on discretionary spending, this might seem like a win for America’s children; and groups like The School Nutrition Association, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest have applauded the proposal. I believe we need to take a closer look at what this really means and perhaps rub the shine off of this offered apple.” – A Chef Ann blog post, by “renegade lunch lady” Ann Cooper, criticizing the president’s FY2011 budget

Further Resources:

Further plans for U.S. government spending on environmental initiatives, especially in solar energy, described at OnEarth.org

Eat This, Not That, a Men’s Health guide to swapping convenient comestibles, for healthier, still-tasty green fare

A photo essay in Fast Company showing new, luxe restaurants started during the recession

A list of food-related budget items by the industry blog The Packer

This is the latest installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring environmental news, trends and tech highlights by Lora Kolodny.

Image: mckaysavage

The post EcoMeme: Healthy Food Gets a Budget Boost appeared first on EcoSalon.

My lovely, celebrity-style dressing room is a spare bedroom I stole in the house, a spare that once housed a maple crib, green nursing glider and armoire of precious, spit-up stained Baby Gap dresses on mini-hangers.

Today, it’s my own little retail Mecca (organic, of course). But I do allow my daughters to visit and check out the blouses and shoe rack, and yes, even borrow on occasion. That sort of thing was taboo when I was growing up. Moms were moms.  Friends were the ones loaning stuff.

My own stylish mother (here with me and Grandma Zelda) towered over me at 5-foot-9 (not counting the beehive do) and always wore at least a size 14. She wasn’t a Laker like Julia Child and her sister, Dorothy, but when she got married, she wore flats so not to surpass 6-foot dad.

I hung out in Mom’s cavernous walk-in closet while she was away at luncheons. But no way could I actually borrow one of those gowns since they hung on me like a puddled curtain. I also was drawn to her off-limits, pointy, size-10 pumps, dyed to match her Jacky suits.

I was the fourth child and the runt of the litter – considerably shorter and smaller than the rest. (My theory is mother smoked a few more cigs and sipped a few more martinis when she was preggers with me.) But to be fair, I’m also considering the DNA link to my small, Polish ancestors.

Cut to my gorgeous teenage daughter with a great sense of style, who caught up with me in stature a few years back. I provide her with her own little Nordstrom Rack down the hall. I take full credit for cultivating her sense of entitlement since I have been most gracious about loaning her items, and have only kvetched a few times when they weren’t returned on time. She is very responsible and that counts.

Combined, Syd and I have a substantial inventory. I’m proud to say a chunk of it is the ski apparel we share for our annual Mommy-Sydney ski weekends in Lake Tahoe.

I was glad to squeeze into a pair of my daughter’s skinny jeans for my birthday outing with friends in August, and only felt a pinch after the second drink. You dirty martini, you!

How does the sharing work? Sometimes we fall for the same cardigan and it can make more sense during hard times to buy one to share and take turns – you know, like college co-eds on a strict budget. Call it the The Daughterhood of the Traveling Pants.

I also prefer to loan rather than buy her a dress for the countless B’Nei Mitzvah parties and other events she seems to attend. If she wears something of mine, it feels like new to her, even though I’ve worn it a dozen times.

This whole lending thing is why those smart couture rental shops, like Boutiqueville in Chicago, do so well. Why own something costly when you can rent for the occasion? When the high is over you send it back. Thank you, it was a great date, but onto other matches.

I should point out it isn’t just us girls sharing the wealth. My daughter also gets warm and fuzzy about wearing her dad’s old sweaters. I seriously think it brings her closer to him in a very sweet way.

Guess teens have been burrowing in oversize wool since Ann-Margret sang “How Lovely to be a Woman” in Bye Bye Birdie. He doesn’t mind her using the old sweaters, or at least, has never complained.

I got to wondering if other kids and parents are comfortable with community closeting or if most families are fiercely territorial about their closets. It certainly requires trust and respect, and the right kind of green deodorant.

I did a bit of research online and found little has been written on the subject. Hurray for me!

But I did stumble upon an interesting post on How to Share Clothes with a Cross-Dressing Husband.

Okay, the ground rules killed me: Killed me! They included keeping his paws out of your underwear drawer, making him replace anything stretched, torn or stained, and drawing the line when it comes to your most precious blouses or skirts (i.e. the ones with price tags still attached). The helpful primer also suggested shopping together to make sure you have the same taste. Oy!

None of this would work in my marriage. My husband is a large man who prefers high-wasted, baggy slacks to hip jeans. If he were a cross-dresser, he’d still be swishing around in those Dean Martin pants.

I do like some of his Oxford shirts and could see slipping into one after a post-sex shower and cocktail in bed, but since we don’t schedule those kind of Hollywood encounters (we don’t eat Chinese out of the box either), it’s all just another fantasy, like wearing my mother’s Yves Saint Laurent caftans.

I do have friends who are married to dainty men with little feet and excellent taste, and I could see trading with one of those fellows, swapping Indian tunics and Moroccan slides for a tux and velvet slippers when those Victor-Victoria mood strikes.

Of course, the well-dressed gay husband is top drawer when it comes to swapping, assuming he would cooperate. His rules might be too stringent for even me. I sort my closet by color but not by texture and season and don’t iron a thing. Crisp is not in my vocabulary.

No, I think I’ll stick with sharing with the girls, my wonderful girls, grabbing a wrap for Lauren when leaving for a party, pulling a dress for Sydney for a Bat Mitzvah. Selecting a hand bag that works. Maybe a trinket or earrings to tie it all together.

Does sharing benefit my daughters more than me? Well, naturally. It goes with the territory when you’re a consummate stylist and mother – who still misses dressing her dolls.

This is the sixth installment in Luanne’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Main Image: In Style

Image One: Luanne Bradley

The post Sharing Family Garb Is Good Savings (if You Can Stand the Loan) appeared first on EcoSalon.

In light of the recent survey finding many of us secure a better night’s sleep in separate cocoons, it might pay to return to the days of twins. You know, lie back and watch a show, roll over for fun, head home to your crib for a snooze so you can get up for work. Just like dating!

Think of the fun of sneaking into the resting chamber of your better half for a “hello stranger” kinda session, while saving all kinds of bucks on the bedding ’cause twin sets are so much cheaper than kings.

Many hotels in Europe feature twins with headboards pushed together to form one chic unit, dressing them in matching finery. I’ve slept best in a twin since summer camp and think in some ways, we were meant to have a compact cot with a narrow margin to feel safe and secure as we garner our much needed zzz’s.

So what are the most stylish ways to produce twins in your own home? Probably the best source for a cool pair is vintage. If you’re more contemporary, you can always customize upholstered headboards or beds with eco fabrics. But that’s another story!

Subtle Vintage Pairings

ebay is undoubtedly the wealthiest source for matching twins, such as these woven Scandinavian beauties from Antique Bedrooms with tapered, capped legs. $1500.

I’m a total sucker for caned furniture, and in fact picked up a set of beds for my daughters at auction when they were small. These precious French guys were harvested by French Finds.

Man, you could have fun with these circa 1970s rattan vintage twin headboards with a decorative diamond insert. Order good green mattresses on frames sans the chemicals and geometric organic bedding. From Objects in the Loft at 1st Dibs.

Pair of curvaceous, French Oak Louis twins, $990 at Abba Antiques.

Main Image: Posh Living

Image one: Rhymehatcher

Image Two: Coco+Kelley

The post Grown Up Twin Beds for the Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em Set appeared first on EcoSalon.

The signs seem to be everywhere: We are becoming a more frugal nation that needs to be fed deals and discounts as we plow through increasingly difficult financial times.

According to a new report by the Associated Press, frugality is the now the new norm in America and it stems from necessity. We are working less and earning less while the costs of food, schooling and housing remain pressing obligations we struggle to meet. So everyone seems to be cutting back across the board – white collar, blue collar, affluent, illegal.

The report finds consumer spending will never return to pre-recession levels, unlike what we witnessed after all other recessions since World War II when thriftiness took a back seat to the demand for new cars and shiny goods.

But this recession has taken such a huge bite out of spending and our old ways, Baby Boomers are unlikely to return to the affluenza that got us here in the first place. While the new frugality is good for the family budget and the planet, it is hurting the national economy including everyone associated with the housing market (sellers, contractors, laborers, suppliers) as well as gardeners, handymen and domestics.

And anyone who hangs at the local mall has seen how quiet things are, as shoppers buy what they need and buy it on sale rather than loading up on seasonal items they can do without.

The auto industry has seen a huge decline, from sales of cars and trucks averaging 16 million a year in boom times to a recession level of 10 million a year. The result could be further consolidation among auto makers and a loss of new vehicle taxes that aid state and local governments.

The report cites a Gallup survey taken last month which found seven in 10 Americans are cutting weekly expenses consistently through the summer. This is linked to the worst downturn since the Depression with unemployment currently at 9.7 percent and rising to double digits before the end of the year. Those who have jobs are earning less and have lost sizable percentages of their investment nest eggs.

We have always seen frugal behavior in some Americans, those wise enough to save more than they spend, to reuse what they can, to eat leftovers and take public transportation, turn off the lights and the heat and air whenever possible. Without even knowing it, those people are the real deal when it comes to being green. And now as the rest of us jump onto that bandwagon, they can proudly say, “I told you so.”

Image: timparkinson

The post Frugality: the ‘F’ Word Americans Can’t Live Without appeared first on EcoSalon.

Every time I go to the grocery store, I’m shocked to see how much the prices keep climbing. In a moment of penny-pinching madness, it’s tempting to live off 65-cent frozen burritos. That is, until you look at the nutrition information. So, I’ve done some research to find the healthiest foods that even the strictest recessionista budgets can afford – if you’ve got a dollar, you can get at least one serving (and often several) of the following foods.

Yogurt

Rich in calcium, this nourishing breakfast or snack costs next to nothing. To get the most for your money, stick with bulk containers and stay away from yogurt that’s packaged for single servings (and packed with sugar).

Oats

Oats are a great source of fiber and can even help lower your cholesterol. Although individual packets of instant oatmeal may shave some minutes off your morning routine, stretch your dollar by buying them in bulk.

Eggs

Whoever came up with the slogan “the incredible, edible egg” really hit the nail on the head. Whether poached, scrambled, sunny-side-up or hard-boiled, this protein packed food is as inexpensive, wholesome and tasty as they come.

Bananas

A great source of potassium and fiber, bananas are one of the most economical fruits around. Eat them plain or slice them up as a healthy topping for cereal and yogurt.

Beans

Whether you prefer garbanzo, pinto, black beans or other varieties, this filling food is high in protein, potassium fiber and zinc. Thrifty tip: go for dry beans instead of canned.

Broccoli

Folate, calcium, fiber, potassium, vitamins A and C: broccoli has it all. Not only is it good for your health, it’s easy on your wallet, as well. Plus, it contains phytonutrients that can help keep diabetes and heart disease at bay.

Tofu

Unfortunately, tofu gets a bad rap when it comes to taste. But, this protein-rich meat alternative can make your mouth water with appetizing recipes like Korean-inspired soft tofu soup with kimchi or Southeast Asian tofu lettuce wraps.

Spinach

Crammed with iron and vitamin C, this low-cost, low-calorie vegetable tastes delicious in omelets and salads. Plus, it’s the perfect topping for a vegetarian pizza.

Sweet Potatoes

High in potassium, fiber and beta carotene, sweet potatoes are a cheap and healthy way to garnish salads and enjoy a snack between meals. Just don’t waste your money on cubed packages; peeling and cutting them yourself will save you some cash.

Apples

An apple a day? Yeah, you’ve heard it before, and for good reason. This juicy fruit boasts loads of pectin and vitamin C, not to mention a low price tag.

Sardines

Like salmon,  the sardine is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Unlike salmon, it’s relatively cheap and eco-friendly. For a healthier meal, substitute mayonnaise with a little oil and vinegar.

Nuts

Nuts are rich in protein, essential fatty acids and vitamin E. Just buy them raw, in the shell, for the best bargain and stay away from costly varieties like pecans and macadamia nuts.

Don’t miss Lower on the Food Chain, Lighter on the Wallet: 18 Easy Elements of a Sustainable Diet for more economical, eco-friendly diet tips!

Images: FotoosVanRobin, foodistablog, drewgstephens, cursedthing, clairity, colecamp, JACoulter, avlxyz, FotoosVanRobin, FotoosVanRobin, DeusXFlorida, stu_spivack, macinate

The post Cheap, Green ‘n Lean: 12 Tasty, Healthy Foods for Under $1 appeared first on EcoSalon.