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"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." Titus 2:3-5 (NASB)
~ 2009 Theme Verse ~
"Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" I Thessalonians 5:24 (NASB)
"If you would like to join me in having a theme verse for 2009, click below.
•Praying God's Word Day By DayBy Beth Moore
•The Bible
•For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and SchoolBy Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
•Munich SignatureBy Bodie ThoeneFrom The Zion Covenant Series
Feb. 17, 2009~ Eating Healthy on a Budget - Part 1 ~
I know when I wanted to start eating healthy on a budget, it helped me tremendously to read about how other people did it. It was so helpful to me to see what other's menus were like and find healthy recipes that I could try. I thought that what I have learned and what I am doing may be helpful to others out there wanting to adapt a healthier menu on a budget. Today I want to discuss the first important key to having a healthy, whole foods diet on a limited income. But before we dive into that, let me just say that first of all, our budget is $100 a week for groceries and non-food items. Keep in mind that we are still buying diapers and wet wipes. So $100 takes care of our food, toiletries, diapers, wet wipes, etc. When considering produce, it is very tempting to look at the weekly allotment we have and think - there's no way we'd be able to consume fresh fruits and veggies daily in addition to whole grains, protein and such that comprise a whole foods diet. When I decided to make the transition to a more whole foods menu for my family, I figured we would have to increase the food budget. I was pleasantly surprised to find that after carefully planning out my menu and shopping for the items needed, I actually was under budget some times and very rarely went over the $100. In fact, most times I stay within our $100 weekly allotment. Are you surprised? I certainly was! I mean, $100 for only food even seems to be stretching it. Let alone $100 for food and non-food items!
It is so possible! Now consider we're feeding four - one person being little Sugarplum who is a year old and eating regular foods. So a family of six would most likely need more money per week. There are a couple of key factors I find in having a healthy, whole foods menu plan for the family. Here's the first:
Planning. One thing about trying to eat healthy on a budget is that there's no way around it. You have to plan. Sometimes you have to know a day ahead what you're planning for dinner the next night in case you have to set something out the night before. If you're making homemade pizza dough, you have to plan out how long you need to get the dough made in order to make the pizzas in time for dinner. The other huge reason for planning is that making a grocery list is imperative. Healthy eating can't be a fly by the seat of your pants affair. At least that's been my experience. Many of the times I haven't planned things out well resulted in us having to eat something not nearly as nutritious. And in my perfectly honest opinion, canned ravioli soup is not as healthy for you as the commercials would like you to believe. :) Granted, circumstances happen and you find yourself not well prepared. In fact, I was right in that position last week. On Monday, my plan was to go and pick up our remaining groceries for the week. But plans changed and we went to look at a used mini-van that was for sale. We ended up not home until almost 10:00pm. So there I sat the next day thinking - what am I going to do for lunch? I didn't get my bread made at that point so there wasn't any homemade bread. So a sandwich was out. I hadn't had an opportunity to go the grocery that morning. So as you can see, there are times when things happen and you aren't able to stick to your original plan. However, the goal is good planning and good execution of the plan.
To plan more effectively, I recommend a few things. First, check the weekly flyer(s) for your local store(s). See what's on sale. I typically shop the sales for fresh fruit and meat. One week, Kroger had all-natural, hormone and antibiotic free lean ground turkey for $0.99 a package. I bought five packages and now have that in my freezer. My budget wouldn't allow me to buy anymore or I would have because it was such a great deal. Then last week, our local Kroger had organic cameo apples on sale for $0.98 a pound! That is a bargain for organic produce! They also had 4lb. bags of organic navel oranges on sale for $4.29. Once again, another great bargain. So that week's fresh fruit selections were apples and oranges and bananas. We usually always keep bananas around.
Once you've checked your flyer(s), check to see what you already have on hand. Maybe there's a bag of beans in the pantry that would make a great bean soup. Utilizing what you already have on hand can help save you money at the store.
Next, begin making your list of meals for the week (or two weeks, etc.). I include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks when I plan my menus. You can see one of my sample menus HERE.
Finally, it's time to make the grocery list. I write down what I need and even how much of some things I might need. If I need 5 tomatoes, then I make sure and right down 5 tomatoes. That way I don't buy more than I need or not enough of what I need.
Great tips! One thing I have noticed is how much longer the food is lasting in the freezer since I insist that we eat all the leftovers. We absolutely cannot afford to be wasting food during this economic crisis. It has really hit us hard.
Yes planning and taking the time to go over the flyers is soooooooo very important. I find that by making a weekly menu better in some ways you can take advantage of the weekly sales.
Thank you for your TWT tip this week.
Blessings and ((HUGS)) my SSiC
In Him<><
-Mary
The ultimate goal of Christian home education is to train children to impact the world for God. We want our children to not only hear and learn God's Word, but also be doers of God's Word. Therefore, we strive to teach them:
SERVICE - How to serve God and others
ACHIEVEMENT - To do the best they can in all they do from academic subjects to chores to serving others and more
LOVE - To love God and one another
TRUTH - To live their lives based on the absolute Truth of God
The name of this blog is the acronym for these four areas that we strive to teach our children:
S.A.L.T. - Service, Achievement, Love, Truth
