Creative and healthy cooking on a budget
No matter what happens in the world, no matter where you are, no matter your politics, one thing is sure: people are going to get hungry.
What’s for Dinner?
At 5:30 or 6:00 (or 7:00....) p.m., not knowing the answer can cause:
--high stress levels
--tossing the budget out the window
--healthy? Don’t have time for that
You can make a BIG difference
in the budget and your families’ health ( broccoli rice with baked fish and salad was only 350 calories and tasted very rich - and no one knew it was brown rice, very little cheese, and way more broccoli than most)
Through Planning, Learning, and Creativity, you can SAVE MONEY and TIME and BE HEALTHIER while cooking dinner. I've broken it down into four areas with four ideas in each - many have links to recipes or other information.
Four Ways To Plan Menus
1. Choose meals you like and plug them in on a calendar, use it to plan your shopping list.
*Name some dinners your family likes *what are ingredients you would have to buy
OK, this is the rich person method, but at least you can answer the question (what’s for dinner?). And the stress is way lowered because there is a plan. If you have trouble with this, get your family together and make a master list of all the dinners you can think of and post it on the fridge. Add to it as you think of others.
2. Plan around ads, sales, and in-season foods
Use grocery ads to plan around sales items and check what else is needed for your shopping list.
*Skim ads, plan meals based on good deals and in season foods
3. Consider ads, making sure sales are actually sales, but also take into consideration:
*What is in your freezer right now that needs to be used (or can be replaced from sale),
what your schedule will be like (easier meals on busier days)
*what ingredients in your food storage you can use with sale items - or need to be rotated,
make potential menu and note on shopping list what's on sale and what ingredients are not in your pantry or storage.
How many meals will you eat leftovers or what you can make using ingredients cooked for another meal? (crockpot roast broth for soup? leftover ham in casserole? etc.)
4. Informal method (this has become my method of choice over the years, I like something flexible so I can make what I feel like or have time for or fits the weather.....):
Make sure when you shop you have half a dozen ideas for dinners that you can have all ingredients on hand (Pantry, Freezer, as well as shopping sales) and note on whiteboard calendar along with perishables that need to be used so you can put together something to fit your daily schedule as it changes through the week.
Four ways to shop for savings
1 Plan ahead to use what's actually on sale and in season
know your stores and prices, price match, farmer's market
(making your own price comparison chart between stores is educational)
2 Use sales to seriously stock up pantry/food storage (they aren't really separate things) including freezer.
Having a can opener and knife in glove compartment lets you taste things on sale and then buy more.
3 Use a list! Stick to the list, stick to the list, stick to the list, don’t go to the store hungry or bring kids (babysitter can save three times the cost)
4 Shop your pantry/storage/garden, stay home from the store!
If your garden is doing well, use money saved to stock up on storage items, fill freezer, etc.
***How many meals could you cook without going to the store at all?
USE WHAT YOU HAVE
Four ways to save through creativity
1 Use imagination, experience, or Internet (pinterest) or cookbook research to adjust recipes to skip or replace expensive/out of season ingredients. For instance, an asparagus-black bean salad can be made with fresh or frozen corn instead of asparagus. See "almost ratatouille" coming to blog soon
2 Knowing basic cooking skills and principles allows you to create dishes with what you have as well as adjust to your family's preferences. Having a well-stocked basic pantry is essential.
( sample basic pantry list)
3 Prevent waste -
list leftovers on whiteboard calendar on date (or label)
Freeze (label!) extra almost anything - half can of refried beans, broth from crockpot dish, etc. and use in soups or other dishes,
*list fragile produce and leftovers on your whiteboard to prevent throwing out spoiled food and check this list when planning or preparing meals.
Buy What You Will Use - You can ask the store to package just how many chops you need. Bulk is not always cheaper, and throwing out food doesn't save anything.
4 Make sure you have a couple of super fast options to save having fast food emergencies. (Taco salad truly in five minutes!) Even if its just opening a can of spaghetti sauce and cooking pasta and a frozen veg, its cheaper and healthier than a drive-through dinner. And possibly faster.
Four ways to eat healthier without too much murmuring
1 Read up on nutrition, don’t jump on everything in the news - basically anytime you replace something with fresh (or frozen) produce or whole grains the nutrition goes up. (try whole wheat pastry flour)
Find one or two books every now and then when you are at the library, or read articles online. You need to at least skim a variety of sources because any one may lead you way off into unproven territory.
2 Adjust favorite recipes instead of changing everything you cook- many family-pleasers can become healthier fairly easily by simple means such as:
parboiling brown rice 15 minutes to use as white,
replacing sour cream with Greek yogurt,
adding de-stemmed chopped spinach on a pizza with whole wheat crust (you can still top with pepperoni)
Avoid spending money, time and calories on “empty” foods
(learn from healthy cookbooks too - free at library)
3 Many healthier breakfasts are way cheaper and just as fast and more filling than cold cereal or pop tarts - oatmeal/fruit/yogurt in a small jar in fridge overnight is a grab-n-go example. Whole wheat or brown rice or whole or steel-cut oats in a thermos with boiling water overnight, ready to serve in the morning.
4 Learning to use food storage items like dried beans and whole grains not only helps you rotate your storage, but is healthier and saves money and trips to the store. Think Mexican Fiesta Dinner! (ooops, another coming soon to blog)
CHALLENGE:
Take just one idea that might help you, whatever you need most -- planning ahead, saving money, eating healthier, and set a goal to take a first step, you can always come back and reread for more. And feel free to comment and add suggestions and ideas if you like. Try pinterest too, for healthy recipes and ideas.
