http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-ways-to-eat-healthy-on-a-budget.html
5 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget
By Lisa Turner, Delicious Living
Keep your family eating well without spending a fortune in the grocery store. Here’s how.
1. Focus on veggies. No more than one-fourth to one-third of your plate should feature meat, or cheese-heavy dishes. Instead, highlight less expensive and nutrient-rich combinations, such as beans and rice or leafy greens with lentils and tofu. For extra protein, use nuts or eggs, which cost less than meat and provide vitamins and minerals.
2. Use beans. Organic legumes are the cheapest and most nutritious protein sources available. Dry beans offer an even better value than canned and are easy to cook in quantity. Learn about cooking beans here.
3. Purchase protein wisely. When you do buy meat, shop carefully for affordable lean cuts that you can stretch in stews, stir-fries, and casseroles. Organic ground turkey, whole fryer chickens, or chicken thighs, as well as grass-fed chuck roast and bottom round, often cost less than $3 a pound.
4. Eat in season. Off-season produce can cost double its peak-season price. Tailor your cooking to seasonal foods and freeze or can items like corn, tomatoes, and berries. Root vegetables and some leafy greens and fruits tend to come cheap nearly year-round. Oh, and revel in leftovers! See recipes and learn about the benefits of root vegetables.
5. Buy in bulk. Rather than prepackaged options, hit the ever-economical bulk aisle to save on costs (and reduce packaging). And remember: canned soups, cereals, snacks, and frozen meals, add up quickly on your bill. Make Vegetarian Irish Stew with inexpensive root vegetables and bulk barley, or try a Green Rice Salad with bulk brown and white rice.
Delicious Living is the go-to resource for the natural and organic lifestyle, helping readers eat well, live green, and stay healthy. Visit deliciouslivingmag.com for more articles and free recipes.
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Konteyner
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We grow huge vegetable garden and buy local fruits locally which we use an Excalibur food dehydrator to dry the fruits and vegetables for later use. Yes, we can some as well. But drying helps compact the flavor as well as make for lighter storage. We use dried fruits, vegetables when backpacking and for snacking. And yes you can dry fish, beef and chicken.
Its amazing how much a person can grow on a small lot. And kids who are involved in planting and picking vegetables or fruits, often are more excited about trying the foods they have helped grow. And gardens attract healthy insects and birds.
And where can you buy over a hundred dollars worth of food for the price of a packet of seeds? And for things like organic rice grains etc go in with friends and buy in bulk.
~Beth~
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Some wonderful tips here! I like the suggestion of buying in season and freezing for off season consumption. We have some beautiful tomato plants getting ready to produce some fabulous tomatoes, and I figured whatever we couldn't consume right away can be canned for future use in other meals.
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Jennifer, I suppose there are exceptions to everything. I learned awhile ago that many people respond differently to the same therapy. That's because we all start from a different place. Any therapy worth it's salt should first consider where we are *before* determining where we should go.
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The estrogen in soy does not help women who already have too much (which is quite common, actually). Look up "estrogen dominance" to find out more.
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These are great ways to keep your self in good state of health. I think every one of us must follow these even if we are not on tight budget.
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Soy is not consumed on a regular basis in China or anywhere else in Asia. It's a falacy, for instance, that the Japanese eat tofu every day.
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The estrogen found in soy is phyto-estrogen, which is helpful for women with hormonal symptoms, without the negative side effects of estrogen therapy.
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Lol I don't know about the brain-soy relationship, but I am concerned about soy estrogens, that most soy is genetically modified and that a lot of it is flown in from Asia.
The best part of leftovers is that they can usually be frozen in individual servings for lunches or quick dinners later on. That way you're not eating the same meal for days.
Another way to cut food costs is to plant a garden, especially if you partner up with neighbors and friends so you can split the costs and labor and enjoy the rewards.
I've found the biggest savings come from treating processed foods as luxury items, and only buying them when I feel like splurging, not as staples to my diet.
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Richard R. said, "Don't eat soy to keep your costs down. Unless it's fermented,, soy ages your brain faster (than normal), leading in the long run to dementia."
This must be why we Chinese are so demented, since about 80% of our soy intake is from non-fermented soy...
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