I’ve joined a “Healthy Eat-Along” on craftster (awesome craft website, also has a recipe board – cuz cooking can be crafty), and I’ve been reading other peoples’ blogs about healthy-eating in general, and vegetarian-eating specifically. Here are some of my tips for shopping, eating, and living healthier and more frugally.
1. Acquaint yourself with your fridge, freezer, and pantry.
Before you go to the store, clean them out. Anything past it’s date? Throw it out! Anything on it’s last day? Can you make that for dinner tonight? If not, throw it out.
Living in a house with 6 college-age people means there are always 4 half-gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, 3 cartons of eggs, and god knows how much leftover takeout. And that’s just the first two shelves of the fridge.
If you clean the areas out before you go to the store, you see what foods your family ISN’T eating. You’ll know what not to buy – or what to buy in smaller portions. Yes, sometimes buying the smaller block of cheese is more expensive per slice, but if you’re throwing half the block away at the end of the week anyway, you’re losing money.
Also, by cleaning out the fridge, you get a good look at what you have. If you check the dates of everything in the fridge, maybe you notice there’s a jar of spaghetti sauce you’d forgotten about in the back that’s about to expire in a week. Dinner some time this week? Sounds good! Then you can check the cupboard for noodles and spices in case you need some.
2. Make a list.
If you make a list before going to the grocery store (especially if you just looked through your fridge first), you are more likely to JUST get the things you need, and not stick random things in the cart.
What helps even more: Plan your meals in advance. Based on what’s in your fridge or about to expire, make a dinner plan for the week. Stick the plan on the fridge or the corkboard or wherever, and the whole family won’t have to ask you “what’s for dinner” every day.
Then, go through the list meal by meal and decide what you already have, and what you need to get from the grocery store to make each thing.
3. Eat before you go.
I can not stress this enough. Don’t go into a grocery store to buy food for the week on an empty stomach!! Sure, you’ll get the stuff on your list, but you’ll also end up with 2 bags of chips, a box of cupcakes, and some cookie mix. Oh, and that candy bar at checkout.
However, if you are full (particularly if you’ve JUST eaten), you won’t be tempted by all of those delicious sugar-packed treats. You’ll be able to focus better, and get out of the store with just the necessities.
4. Make meals in advance.
One of the things I have tried in the past (and it was working well for a while) was to make all of my lunches on Sundays. I bought enough Tupperware (super cheap at Target) for all of it in advance. Sundays I would cook a batch of chicken breasts, make salads, and had little Tupperwares for the dressing on the side. Then in the mornings, I would put the lunch in a bag along with an apple and a pre-made baggie of baby carrots. Sometimes I would want a sandwich too, but just making a sandwich in the morning is a lot less intimidating than trying to put together a whole lunch, and still have time for breakfast before work.
5. Apple slicer.
Growing up, I never had an apple slicer. As stupid as it sounds, I don’t like eating apples right off the core. I’m much more likely to eat (and finish) an apple if it’s in slices. However, I never wanted to go to the trouble of slicing the stupid thing, so I just didn’t eat them. Once I moved in with Sean, he showed me this nifty little thing called an apple slicer. Shaped like a spoked wheel with handles, you shove the thing down, and voila! 8 perfect slices, with the core separated. Now I eat apples all the time, because it takes me 2 seconds to slice it!
6. Pomegranates or cross stitching.
If you like to snack when you’re bored (particularly when you’re watching TV), like me, I’ve realized three things. 1. I can eat an entire bag of chips in a one hour episode of something (or god forbid half a quart of ice cream!). 2. I don’t taste it. 3. I don’t feel full after!!
However, there are two solutions. One is to eat things that require work. Pomegranates are fantastic for this! It takes me 45 minutes to eat half of one because I’m picking out the seeds one by one. Yes, they stain your fingers yellow, but whatever. It was better for me than a bag of chips! Other good foods for this are oranges, clementines, etc.
The other solution is to find something else to do when you’re sitting there. For me, cross stitching works really well. Particularly if it’s a show with mostly dialogue that I don’t even really need to look up that much. Other good things for me are crocheting, knitting, and even just doing the bills! Plus, it makes bill paying go by faster, and seem less painful if you are distracted watching your favorite celeb hottie doing his thing on TV. Just saying.
What tips do you have for eating healthy, vegetarian, or just saving money??
Mermaid Dance 