How to eat healthy over the holidays, on a budget
Eating healthy while on a budget is often considered a difficult recipe to master, especially heading into the holiday season.
To help, Nana's Bakery owner, Doug Romanek, hosted a cooking session Tuesday night alongside the Windsor Family Health Team with a platter of ideas.
Here are some tips to help save time and money while planning a healthy holiday feast.
- Plan your big meal now — Don't want until the last minute. This allows you to shop the sales and purchase only what you need.
- Make two lists — One set of items you purchase a week before the dinner. And the second list is for the fresh items the week of the meal. Plus, you can purchase the items you may have forgotten on your first trip to the supermarket.
- Buy bone-in meat, it's cheaper. — With chicken, for example, you can make the main dish, then use bones for stock and turn the tenderloin into chicken fingers.
- Re-purpose your leftovers — Never throw anything out. Take a few days to eat through your fridge and freezer. And you can take those items and make a new dish, such as Chicken A La King or a baked potatoes topped with all the leftovers in a creamy sauce.
- Avoid shopping while hungry — That's when you'll buy things you don't need.
- Shop the perimeter of the store — You'll find the fresher items and fewer processed foods. Inner aisles are usually pre-packed items that cost more.
- Look high and low on the grocery store shelves — Often the more expensive items are placed at eye level.
- Compare items to the store brand — It will save you a few bucks. And look at unit prices to see what is the best value.
- Store fruits and veggies properly to make them last longer, and save you money.
- Plan meals around produce that's in-season, which will be less expensive.
- Meatless Monday — It will allow you to consume more fruits and veggies, while keeping out expensive meat.
- Substitute meat with things like lentils, black beans, chickpeas and kidney beans.
