After all of the cooking, baking, buying presents, and traveling during the holiday season, money can get tight. When this happens it can be hard to eat healthy. Heather Rudnik, a Registered Dietitian at Lakeland Health, shares some helpful advice for cooking on a budget. When following the steps to prepare your meals for the week, make sure to remember the three P’s:
Plan your menu before you go to the store:
- Check local sales for deals on foods that you
normally purchase
- Collect coupons for foods that you normally
purchase – Bonus points if you can find coupons
that line up with sales
- Check what you have in the pantry, freezer,
and fridge before you go shopping
- Look for recipes that include foods you already have and foods that are on sale
- Choose multiple recipes that use some of the same ingredients in order to reduce food waste
- Create a shopping list based on the recipes that you choose and stick to your list when shopping
- Plan to eat a snack before you go grocery shopping. This can help prevent impulse purchases
Purchase your groceries:
- Buy the most “whole” version of a food. For example, purchase a whole cabbage rather than a slaw mix. By chopping up the cabbage for you, the producers mark up the price by about $1.00 per pound
- Check unit prices
- The generic brand may be cheaper than the name brand foods that are on sale – make sure to check
Prepare your meals:
- Cook double batches of foods that are easily frozen like beans and casseroles – that way, you have
low-cost “convenience foods” when you don’t
have time to cook
- Make recipes that require fresh produce or foods
that are easily perishable early in the week to
reduce food waste