Eating Healthy and Saving Too

-



You can save money at the grocery store without giving up healthy foods.

The key is to keep a kitchen inventory and plan your meals based on what's in season and what's on sale. Stock up on bulk, canned and frozen foods when they're available at a reasonable price, and buy only enough perishables to last until the next shopping trip.

Kitchen Inventory
Take a look in your kitchen cabinets to see what you've got on hand.

Make a list of everything you find -- either on paper or digitally. Personally, I prefer to keep a digital list that I can store on the cloud -- that way I can access my inventory when I'm at the store. That way when something goes on sale, I can see how much I have at home -- it might be worth picking it up -- if it's a good deal, and I know I'll use it before it expires.

Plan Your Meals
Make a full meal plan for the week, or at least, think about some of the foods you plan on preparing, or what you like to have on hand. Take a look at the ads for your local grocery store -- or look at their website -- to see what's on sale. Mix and match your meals so you can make the most of the least expensive items.

When you plan your meals, choose several recipes that use the same perishable ingredients. For example, if chicken breasts are on sale, plan on roasted chicken breasts one night and chicken caesar wraps later in the week.

Or prepare a spinach salad one night and sauteed spinach the next.

Plan for Leftovers
So maybe roast beef is on sale, and you don't want three nights of it. Go ahead and prepare some homemade frozen meals that you can store in the freezer. Freeze your foods in microwave-safe containers, or make foil pouches that can be popped into the oven.

Planning your meals takes time, but you'll save money. I've got plenty of tips for you:

Buy a water filter pitcher instead of expensive individual bottles of water.
Buy bulk items when they are on sale. Same with canned goods, frozen vegetables, fish and seafood.
Buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself.

When meats are on sale, you can buy larger quantities and freeze individual pieces in the freezer.
Use freezer paper or freezer bags so you don't end up with freezer burn.
Look for coupons online and in newspapers and magazines.
Use dry beans as a protein source -- they are much cheaper than meats (think black beans in your burritos instead of beef).

Fresh produce is often a good buy, especially when in season, but choose carefully and don't buy more than what you'll be able to consume within few days, so you don't waste any due to spoilage.
Look for different ways to prepare your foods so your meals don't get dull. Potatoes can be baked, boiled, roasted or mashed.

Keep your salads interesting by changing up vegetables and toppings.
Skip the convenience foods -- they're expensive.
Choose cheaper, leaner cuts of beef. You'll reduce saturated fat and save money.
The cheaper cuts of beef need to be cooked at lower temperatures and longer periods of time, so they're good for soups and stews.

Make your own snacks - with mixed nuts, dry cereals, raisins and other ingredients.
Divide the snacks into individual portions and keep them in bags to control calorie intake.
Explore Once a Month Cooking. With this method, you prepare a month's worth of meals in one weekend. Perfect if you have a larger freezer.

You can also go to meal preparation stores that offer high-quality ingredients at a reasonable cost like Fit Foods or Snap. Many large groceries like Whole Foods offer the same thing.

The trick is to be organized and don't just buy the sale items that the store is pushing that week. A good way to start is to only shop for a couple days at one time. I know it will take work, but most people don't realize how much money they waste in the grocery store. You don't need all those bottled and canned drinks that contain sugar or some other sweetener. You don't ever need packaged food. Even things like rice and beans can be bought in bulk. We have been indulging in so much that we as a society have forgotten how to prepare foods from scratch. We're more interested in watching TV and finding other ways to entertain ourselves.

Make this your mission, "I'm going to lose fat and get healthy".

I write several blogs and ebooks, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's the Mediterranean Diet?

-
Image
The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods eaten by people living in the Mediterranean region, especially Greece. It's loaded with healthy foods and research findings suggest following this diet may help reduce some of the risk factors for heart disease.  According to the Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, the Mediterranean diet was introduced in 1993 by Oldways, Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.  The diet includes: Olives and olive oil Whole grains, mostly in bread and cereal rather than pasta Very little red meat Fish and seafood Some cheese, but less milk Lots of vegetables and fruit Plenty of legumes and nuts A little red wine The Mediterranean diet is high in fiber and antioxidants from vegetables, legumes and nuts, far greater than the typical Western diet, and low in saturated fat. Very little red meat is eaten in this region, and milk consumption is limited as well, exc...
Read more

Changing Your Life To Lose Weight

-
Image
I can let you in on the ultimate secret for successfully making a change in your life. A century’s worth of psychological research reveals an interesting paradox in who we are. On the one hand, once we reach adulthood our basic personalities remain unchanged for the rest of our lives. We keep doing the same things—and feeling the same ways—over and over. But, on the other hand, every day we change our behavior drastically in response to different environments. Most of us are one person at work, for example, and another person at home. It is easier to change our environment than to change ourselves. So, if you want to change yourself, change your environment. Said differently: Whenever possible, don’t try to fight temptations – avoid them! The easiest way to make a change in your life is to modify the world around you in ways that will naturally drive you toward making, and maintaining, the change you want. There are many ways to change your environment, but let’s focus...
Read more

Cancer and High Protein Diets

-
On the Fox TV Network the other night, one of the big stories was about high protein diets. A new study has shown a link between the over consumption of animal protein and how it can stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It seems we all have cancer cells but they don’t normally grow, unless we consume too much animal fat, dairy or fats from processed foods. Before I continue I want to explain about the link to cancer. After all, Man has been eating red meat for millions of years, right. That's true but todays red meat is not the same. Most red meat that we buy in the supermarket comes from Steers that have been raised in feed lots on a grain diet that is full of hormones and other chemicals that shorten the growing time and put more fat on the animal. These hormones and other chemicals stay in the meat and what you're buying will contain the chemicals that the animal ate. Normally a grass feed Steer that lives on the range in big herds will take 18 to 20 months to grow to ...
Read more