Eating healthy on a tight budget

[Anonymous]

When chicken breasts go on sale, we buy in bulk and freeze. It really helps to pre-cut some for stir-fry, chicken tenderrs, etc.

I do at least two meat-free dinners a week. I try to make meat only a small portion of the other meals.

Use veggies and fruits that are in-season. Buy frozen and canned a lot in the winter. Trader Joes has the best frozen (that we have found so far). They have some green beans that taste fresh.

We try to grow some veggies in the summer, but they end up being squirrel food.

Use a lot of rice and whole-wheat couscous as side dishes.

Sometimes it is less costly to buy "more covenience foods" like prepared veggie burgers and pre-frozen Salmon, at least for us. Then you only make what you use (and we don't overeat trying to get our moneysworth).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In your house we barely throw anything in the trash.

Left over rice becomes pudding for desert or risotto for next day.

We buy the fruit whole so we can use the stem, peel, leaves, nuts, pit.

banana - the inside of the peel is very rich in fibers and tastes good - awesome baby food.
pineapple - the skin makes a delicious sweet bread spread/desert - we cover yellow cake with it.. yum!!!
watermelon - the inside makes a delicious desert/bread spread too, the outside is fun bird/fish food to let the kids have fun with during summer.

I could go on.. we've found several uses for different parts of every food you can think of.

How do you turn the pineapple skin and watermelon skin into a dessert spread? This sounds good.

they're 2 different procedures.
I'll explain briefly and let me know if you need details...

pineapple

we remove the crown and wash the pineapple under running water with a brush.
with a knife we remove the outer bumpy part of the skin - the pointy parts that hurt when you touch - just the very top of the bumps - the pulp (yellow) part is not even visible by this time.

now, you really peel the pineapple - you can start cutting of a more flashy peel in case you never tasted the spread before just to make sure it will be juicy and sweet - but I can assure you, the peel of the pineapple tastes just like the pineapple itself.

cook it in sugary water (1 cup of water for each pineapple you peeled - 3 tb sp of sugar for each cup of water) to tender it - you can use splenda or honey

once it's tender, blend it or use your food processor to create the creamy texture

put back in the pan and add 1 more cup of water for each pineapple you peeled and add sugar to taste - splenda or honey if you prefer.
the amount of water depends on how thick the peel is and how dry but I like to start with less and add on as I watch it cooking.
turn it off when you reach the texture desired, cool down and enjoy!

we use it also to fill and cover yellow/white cake. YUM YUM!

now, the watermelon spread:
2 cups of watermelon peel cut in cubes - you can start just with the white pulp and later add the soft green part - the outside, hard green part we use to feed the animals/birds outside.
1 1/2 cup of sugar - you can try also honey or splenda
1/4 cup of water
6 cloves - if you like it spicier you can add more

make a "broth" with the water, sugar and cloves, add the cubes of watermelon pulp and let it "melt"
once you reach the desired texture, again, let it cool down and enjoy!

we do it using also pear, apple and guava peels.
the kids love it!

sometimes during winter we add cinnamon to it to change the taste and bring some different mood to the house - the kitchen will smell so good!

enjoy!

[Anonymous]

RE: pineapple -- DH makes a sort of juice with the peal from pineapples. He uses the whole outer bumpy area, boils it in water, and then strains the parts. What you have left is a juice/tea drink that is actually good for you and has no sugar!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://redemptionunlimited.blogspot.com/search/label/cheap%20healthy%20weekend

Thanks to our friend who posted for us originally! We've started the post of Cheap, Healthy Weekend for this weekend, Friday 03/20 - Monday, 03/22. Hope that it helps you!

I just wanted to say thank you to the moms of these blogs! I have found other similar blogs, but they post about grocery stores from other areas of the country. I plan on frequenting your sight daily!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RE: pineapple -- DH makes a sort of juice with the peal from pineapples. He uses the whole outer bumpy area, boils it in water, and then strains the parts. What you have left is a juice/tea drink that is actually good for you and has no sugar!

PP here...
we do this kind of juice too, the left over we mix with the raw grounded beef before making hamburgers or pasta sauce.
it adds up to the flavor and you won't wast the fibers.

[Anonymous]

We've gotten into using barley this winter - we buy it in bulk, and it is really filling and nutritious. I put a cup of cooked barley in a sloppy joes (make with ground turkey or buffalo - this is a good recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sophisto-Joes-240266)

We'll cook extra and reheat it as breakfast cereal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition my in-laws live on the water and we will get fish and crab from them all summer.

Is it pretty easy to catch enough fish and crabs for two households?

Ewww, is it on The Bay? Are the fish safe to eat?

Are you serious? Do you think grocery store fish is safer to eat? Think again.

Yes, I think the fish I buy at Whole Foods is safer than something pulled out of the largest dead zone in the world... The Chesapeake Bay.

I used to work at Whole Foods - several years ago. You are paying a lot of money for the same fish you will find at other grocery stores. And I am talking about the exact same fish from the same supplier. In fact, WF used to have distributors that would sell them wild caught seafood and it ended up being farm raised. Customers were paying over $20/lb for fish that was worth around $5/lb. Their products are not any better than what you find anywhere else and there is no way to monitor the authenticity of company selling the products that you turn around and re-sell. They do have a lot of choices, but the only way to make sure a product is what it says it is, is to do your own research, which would be very time consuming. FWIW, I do not shop there. No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition my in-laws live on the water and we will get fish and crab from them all summer.

Is it pretty easy to catch enough fish and crabs for two households?

Ewww, is it on The Bay? Are the fish safe to eat?

Are you serious? Do you think grocery store fish is safer to eat? Think again.

Yes, I think the fish I buy at Whole Foods is safer than something pulled out of the largest dead zone in the world... The Chesapeake Bay.

I used to work at Whole Foods - several years ago. You are paying a lot of money for the same fish you will find at other grocery stores. And I am talking about the exact same fish from the same supplier. In fact, WF used to have distributors that would sell them wild caught seafood and it ended up being farm raised. Customers were paying over $20/lb for fish that was worth around $5/lb. Their products are not any better than what you find anywhere else and there is no way to monitor the authenticity of company selling the products that you turn around and re-sell. They do have a lot of choices, but the only way to make sure a product is what it says it is, is to do your own research, which would be very time consuming. FWIW, I do not shop there. No way.

I don't know if they have a fish market around here but in some places store and restaurant buyers get their supply from catches brought in off boats. So it's generally all the same supply no matter how much they charge.